Search the Community

I've dropped out of angling pretty much for the past two seasons due to a serious cycling habit - but the allure of the rivers is drawing me back. Once June 16 hits I hope to wet a line. Unlike my my inventive fishing partners who employ a range of fishing techniques for a range of species, I will invariably drop into a trotting session with float and fixed spool reel (my centrepin days never really took off). I guess my hopes for next season include a summers day, sun shining (yes I know that knocks my chance of catching), hearing the water burbling past and my float smoothly edging down the swim, across gravel beds between streamer weed. I'll probably lug my gear along by train and public transport. Happy to cough up a few spondoolies for a day ticket. But where? Countryside or urban I don't care. I don't want you to put me on your fish. But somewhere interesting where I'll have a sniff. Thanks folks Tiddler Tamer

Northcroft Stream & River Kennet - Newbury 0615 - 1000 plus an hour at Hambridge*. Bright, frosty start. Soon clouding over. River full, pacey and gin clear! 2 Chub; 4lb 8oz & 2lb 11oz. 5 Dace & 2 Grayling* Chub were the initial target and thankfully it paid to get bankside early (it got rather busy later). Both chub in the first half an hour. Spent the last hour trying to catch a large (12-15lb at a guess - got a good look at it) pike which repeatedly was attacking my trotting float. Unusually for me I had some deadbaits with me (for Plan B later in the morning) so put on a dead roach and trotted that through the swim - only for the pike to keep attacking the float on the retrieve and not the bait!!! - it happened half a dozen times yet also showed no interest in a floating plug when I switched to that. Plan B was to fish a large slack on the river proper with trotting gear and pike rod - but already 2 other anglers in occupation so I was left with a short trot in 3rd choice swim for a couple of grayling. Frosty chub - covered in black spot - though pic's a bit over exposed so can't really pick them out...

Northcroft Stream 0930 - 1400 Mild, overcast and VERY breezy. River in great winter shape - quite pacey with very little colour. 3 Chub; 4lb 6oz, 3lb 15oz, 2lb 11oz. 23 Dace. Couldn't decide where to go today - the mild weather suggested a canal perching session - the howling gale whistling around the house when I awoke at 0530 suggested other wise!! So a lay-in and Plan B - Chub - always a winter favourite. Smaller one in the weir-pool - the other 2 plus most of the dace from a nice run above the bridge.

River Kennet, Nr Thatcham 0830 - 1315 Bright start, clouding over - quite chilly in the breeze. AT & WT 45ºF. River in great winter nick - quite pacey but well within its banks with a slight tinge of colour. 4 Chub; 4lb 2oz, 3lb 4oz, 3lb 0oz, 2lb 12oz. 1 Grayling, 2 Brownies both 1lb+. Very satisfying morning in a swim a rarely visit in the winter!! Can't think why - though it is quite a long walk and there's very few back up spots if this doesn't produce. But wading out to mid river to get a good trotting line to a nice slack I had slow but steady sport all morning with bites coming every half an hour or so.

Middle (just ) Kennet Estate. 0900 - 1645 Bright afternoon after a soggy morning. AT up to 11ºC. River quite full but with little colour. 28 Chub; nearly all in the 2½-3½lb bracket. Only 2 under 2lb and only one over 4lb (and that by just 3oz). 2 Dace. 7 Trout (6 Rainbows & a Brown) up to 2¾lb. Treated myself to a late birthday trip. Keeper directed me to a carrier that he said was 'black' with chub back in the summer (but warned that the extra water might have pushed them out). He (and I) needn't have worried. First 6 trots all produced chub and I had a dozen in no time at all. Rested it in favour of another chub swim on the main river - and that was pretty much the pattern of the day - rest and return! Most fish (around 2/3rds) on trotted red corn - the rest on trotted maggot. The swim on the main river.

River Kennet - Thatcham 0930 - 1230 Overcast and mild with squally showers. 9ºC. River up 3-4 inches on last visit (Boxing Day) and quite coloured up. 1 Chub; 4lb 4oz. 8 Dace - most normal dace size with a couple of clonkers that warranted the scales - 12oz & 10oz. Possibly my biggest ever from here. 1 Roach, 1 Grayling. Plan was to get a chub - achieved within 10 mins from a reliable spot but unlike 2 weeks ago I couldn't winkle out another one - this is probably the same 4lb Rusty's had out recently! Then found a nice slack where I had all the rest of the fish from. Three other anglers here and none of them had caught a thing - so feeling quite smug! Same as your's Chris?

Middle Kennet - Kintbury 0745 - 1530 Bright and very breezy with a couple of very brief but very lumpy showers. Torrential rain curtailed proceedings half an hour early. River quite coloured and milky (much more than is normal for here) - the product of the springs breaking on the downs and not yesterday's rain. Middle and upper river has been like this for the past week according one of the keepers I was chatting to. 12 Chub; 9 over 3lb, but only 2 over 4 - best 4lb 7oz. 14 Dace - most quite chunky with 3 really good fish of 10,12 & 13oz (season's best). 4 Grayling, 3 Roach. ½doz+ Brownies to 3½lb. All out chub quest in the morning with 3 out of my 4 chub 'banker' swims producing fish - though 7 came from one spot. All chub on trotted red corn - I hardly used maggot all day. Shame the really big chevins didn't show up - the one swim I blanked in was the one I had my PB from (6.07) in 2012. Last hour and a half was devoted to snaffling a big dace from the carriers - and whilst I had a season's best I also lost a much bigger fish (maggot had folded over the hook point - poo!). Biggest Chub of the day: Biggest dace of the season (so far!)

River Kennet - Thatcham 0945 - 1315 Overcast, mild and breezy. River at normal levels with a tinge of colour. 2 Chub; 3lb 14oz & 3lb 11oz. 6 Dace - 4 in the 8-10oz bracket (nice!). 2 Grayling. 6 Trout; 4 over 1lb to 2lb 14oz. Nice to get more than one chub from here and nice to get the place to meself - somewhat surprisingly. A couple of the trout had gorgeous golden colouration - including the biggest one - though I wish they didn't impersonate barbel in they way they fought.

River Kennet - Newbury 0945 - 1415 Very mild, with milky sunshine at times. AT 59ºF. WT53ºF. River low and clear - almost at summer levels. 3 Chub; 3lb 1oz & 2 'pounders'. 5 Perch; 4 over 1lb - biggest 1lb 15oz, and one just shy of 1lb. 20 Dace. 6 Roach. 2 Grayling; both around 12oz. 3 Brownies; 2lb+ fish and a couple of parr fish. Very productive trotting session - standing in the middle of the river in shirt-sleeves in December! Found a shoal of perch right at the end of the session and a quick change to lobs saw 4 of them on the bank in 20 mins. (First one on maggot).

Northcroft Stream - Newbury 0930 - 1330 Mild, overcast and blustery with some drizzle in the wind at times. 12ºC. River at 'normal' levels and quite clear. 2 Chub; 3lb 3oz & 2lb. 2 perch - both around 10-12oz. 30 dace, 4 roach, 1 Rainbow trout - 3lb. Aim was to get amongst the chub - achieved with the first 2 fish caught - though when I dropped down from the weirpool to my more reliable chub spot I could only catch dace. Rainbow fight was interesting at is was chased around the weirpool by a rather large pike. Thankfully it didn't managed to grab it but it certainly made for a lively couple of minutes!

River Kennet - Newbury 0900 - 1400 Warm (for late October) and mainly sunny. 15ºC. River very low and threadbare. 6 Chub; 5 over 1lb. All in the 1-2lb range save for a 4lb 4oz fish. 30+ Dace most quite small apart from one clonking fish of 12oz. A doz+ Roach with around half in the 6-8oz bracket (nice!), 4 Gudgeon, 1 Bleak & 3 Brownies to a pound and a bit. Unexpectedly had a free day and with Jaq out all day it seemed the perfect excuse for a bit of autumn chubbing! I fished 6 swims in total, starting at the spot which has produced my only float caught barbel of the season and quickly had a 1¾lb & 2lb chub. Low water meant spooky fish so moving swims was the order of the day and this was the only swim that produced more than 1 chub. Lots of silver fish atm which is very pleasing especially the stamp of some of the roach - and no pike trouble which also helped matters! Nice Dace - will be even nicer in 3-4 months!

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham 1800 - 2300 Cool, calm and overcast. 11ºC river low and carrying quite a bit of leaf litter. 1 Chub: 5lb 2oz. A similar start to my last visit here 3 weeks ago in fact I have a suspicion it might even be the same fish. However as my camera was still plugged into the computer at home I didn't get to take it's portrait for comparison. Only bite of the evening - so no barbel main course after the chub starter. Was subjected to a barrage of twitting from a tawny owl sitting in the branches not 20 foot from my head making a hell of a racket for the first hour of darkness.

Kennet & Avon Canal - Enborne 0645 - 0915 Northcroft Stream 0930 - 1100 Cool and foggy - lifting to bright sunshine for last half an hour. Canal: 4 Perch; 1lb 3oz & 3 tiddlers. 1 Chub; 1lb 9oz, 1 Roach 1lb exactly. A morning on the canal in search of perch - or at least that was the plan - so float fishing whole lobs to far bank bushes and snags. Somewhat surprised therefore to get a 1lb roach pretty much first cast - quickly followed by the chub - a few perch eventually showed up - but the crayfish attrition rate on my stock of lobworms suggested there wasn't many big stripeys in the area (if any!). Northcroft stream: 3 Chub; 4lb 6oz, 3lb 11oz, 2lb 2oz. 7 Dace, 1 Perch, 1 brownie. So as I'd worked my way down to Egypt Point I thought I'd have a quick hour or so at Northcroft. Fished the weir-pool for the usual mixed bag then dropped downstream to finish off the morning with the two bigger chub.

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham 1815 - 2315 Cool, clear and calm (despite being a very breezy day - the wind died down at dusk). 9ºC when I packed up but felt cooler. River low with a fair amount of leaf litter - autumn is here! 1 Barbel 6lb 10oz, 1 Chub 5lb 5oz. Again no trotting rod - but still no blank - and I even had my target species (barbel) for a change - only my 3rd of the season. Both fish were caught in the first hour - just as well as I had a couple of otter sightings later on. It mooched downstream at around 2100 and did the return trip an hour later - thankfully just passing through, not stopping to look for a meal. My biggest chub from this venue since 2/10/04. A long fairly lanky fish - be a fair bit heavier next March!

River Kennet - Speen Moors 0645 - 1045 Cool and bright. Ice on the car for the first time this autumn - temps down to 1ºC overnight (in our greenhouse)! River low and clear. 1 Chub; 2lb 14oz. 2 Perch (one circa 1lb), 1 Bream 1lb 1oz. 3 Dace & 5 Gudgeon. First trip here of the season so did as much walking as fishing. Did want to have an hour before the sun rose in a favoured perch swim - which is not proving as reliable as it once was and the only time my lobs were bothered it was by the signals. Once the sun was up it was always going to be a struggle in such low water. Chub and bream were from a 'new' swim - certainly not one I've ever fished before - and one which looks like it might be quite good with a bit more water in the river!

River Kennet, Nr Thatcham. 1330 - 1630 Bright and breezy after HEAVY morning rain (circa 1inch). River coloured up but dropping. 4 Chub: 3lb 6ox, 1¼lb and 2 chublets. 5 Dace - 1 clonker of 10oz (weighed), 1 Roach, 2 Gudgeon & 2 Brownies - both over 1lb. Post 'monsoon' trotting session. Reckoned the chub might be on the feed - reckoned right!

River Kennet - Newbury 0515 - 0745 Cool (5ºC when I started) and clear. River with a little more flow and quite clear for a change. 1 Chub; 5lb 13oz. 30 Dace. 20 Roach. 6 Gudgeon. 1 Grayling. Cracking dawn trotting session and home for breakfast! Chub were the target and I was at the head of the swim before 0500, trickling in maggot for 20 mins or so waiting for it to get light enough to see my float. Sure enough the trick worked and first trot through the float buried and I was connected to a lump of a chub - which thankfully I managed to keep out of the various obstructions on offer to it to effect an escape. After such a great start I was hopeful of some more chevins - however it soon became clear that Mr Esox was in residence (or probably MRS Esox judging by the size of it) and after its brekkie so I dropped downstream 60m or so and fished a fast streamy run for the rest of the morning - where it was practically a fish a trot.

I've pinched this from Vineys "Frustrating session" thread as I think it deserves a thread of its own Both are really interesting in content and there is room for further discussion in each, but if continuing in just one thread it might get a tad confusing....or it would for me at least On these Upper Thames chub Steve....I bet a free-lined slug would be a superb bait! I've used them with almost devastating effect on the Kennet, to the extent that on more than one occasion I've been bringing a chub to the net, with the slug hanging outside its mouth, only for another chub come and try to take it !

River Kennet - Newbury & Thatcham 0430 - 1700 Warm (Up to 22ºC), mainly overcast and quite breezy at times. River in summer mode - ie low! 3 Chub; 4lb 10oz, 3lb 6oz & 3lb 2oz. 50+ dace with many in the 6-8oz class - biggest 9oz. ½doz Roach, 1 Grayling and several brownies to nearly 1lb. 4 different venues and a total of 11 swims fished - a day for travelling light. Just took rod, net, bait and food (and drink!). Started in Newbury and basically worked my way downstream! Dace everywhere - but I was hoping for something a little bigger - eventually achieved with a trio of nice chub from my last 2 venues. Was hoping for a float caught barbel too - but I guess that's just being greedy!

Middle Kennet Estate - Kintbury 0715 - 1800 Bright (very) at first with some welcome broken cloud in the afternoon. AT around 8ºC all day after early frost. River not quite as full as expected and no colour despite yesterday's rain. 12 Chub; Biggest 3lb 14oz, 19 Dace - though only 2 real gooduns - biggest 13oz. 7 Roach, 4 Grayling. A doz+ brownies - biggest over 4lb - though also had quite a few parr fish. Given the time of year - the plan was to go all out for a big dace (after some early chub fishing). Everything went according to plan in my banker chub swim - but Paul's was occupied by nothing but trout - so I let him run a float through my swim so that he knew what a fish without an adipose looked like. (The swim duly obliged with a 3lb 10oz chub). We knew the bright conditions would make the dace in the shallow carriers spooky and hard to tempt - but were hopeful that the increasing cloud cover and setting sun would make them bolder. In truth though I don't think we found them - certainly not in the same numbers as our visit here in January.(See blog entry of http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/index.php?/blog/82/entry-1273-18-january/ ). Paul and I both had a decent fish or two for our efforts - but it wasn't quite what we were hoping for. 13oz Dace Paul the Poacher!(of 'my' chub swim!) Rickety Bridge. Here be Dace?

River Itchen 0830 - 1700 A rather 'lively' day weather wise - dry but windy until 1100 then 2½hrs of heavy rain (and even windier) followed by 2½hrs of dry weather with even heavier rain for the last hour - by which time the river was colouring up. First day of rain after a fortnight of benign, calm conditions - poo! 17 Grayling; 8 over 1lb - best 5; 2lb 1oz, 1lb 14oz, 1lb 11oz 1lb 10oz X2. 3 Chub 3lb 6oz X2 (not the same fish!) and 2lb 13oz. 4 Brownies to 3lb and a salmon parr. Question: is Costa Coffee trying to take over the world - or at least highway food service? Plan B to get a decent 'full English' was again thwarted by said chain taking over the franchise on the M3 Winchester services. So fishing in somewhat challenging conditions without even a cooked brekkie inside me - pah! The morning though wasn't too bad - very windy but the rain arrived a little later than predicted. The river was quite pacey - in fact too fast for a couple of 'banker swims'. However I eventually found some fish - and had a decent spell when I had 4 of my 5 biggest grayling in under an hour from the same swim - all on trotted red corn - which caught nearly all my fish today. The 1-14 in 'mid flick'. Best of around a dozen shots! Smiling AGAIN!!!

Middle Kennet - Nr Newbury 0800 - 1700 Overcast, mild (9-10ºC) with some milky sunshine at times after a drizzly first hour. A lovely benign winter's day. River quite pacey and carrying a little colour. 14 Chub: 6 over 3lb - best 4lb 13oz. 3 Pike; All jacks - biggest just under 7lb. 7 Perch; all small, save for one goodun of 2lb 8oz. 2 Dozen Dace & Roach. 3 Brownies all around 2lb+. Cracking day's sport (as always from here). Plan was to do a bit of piking for a change (hoping to meet the monster of the weirpool from 2 seasons ago), as well as go after the usual glut of chub. Paul spent more time chasing dace than me so didn't end up with so many chub (but had twice as many dace). A very satisfactory chub to trout ratio too!! Smiling for once!

Middle Kennet Estate - Kintbury 0830 - 1645 Cool (1º - 4ºC), overcast with sunny spells in the afternoon. River quite 'full' and carrying more colour than is usual for here - quite 'milky' in appearance - possibly the result of springs 'breaking' on the downs. 11 Chub; Biggest 5lb 7oz with only 3 under 3lb. 32 Dace; Biggest two 14oz & 12oz with around another dozen in excess of 8oz - I weighed another 4 at 9, 10, 10 & 11oz - but quite a few of similar size went un-weighed! 2 Grayling, a doz brownies to 3lb. Birthday outing! And the plan was to go all out for Chub and Dace - so both those boxes got well and truly ticked. Dusted out my 'short' float rod which hasn't seen the light of day since the 80's to fish the small streams and carriers for the dace. And fished some of my favoured swims on the main river for the chub. All chub caught on trotted corn except the smallest of the day - a 1½lb fish which turned up in one of my dace swims 10 minutes after slipping the 14oz fish back - never been so disappointed to see a chub in the bottom of my net! Paul had a similar return in terms of numbers - though I think his best chub was a 3lber and best dace around 11oz. Safely in the Net! Big Gob! 5½lb Chub Typical Dace swim. Nice Dace

River Kennet - Speen Moors 0800 - 1345 Cool , bright and sunny with a stiff breeze - clouding over for the last hour or so. River in good winter nick - quite pacey with a bit of colour. 7 Chub: 6 over 2lb though only 1 over 3 and that not by much. 7 Roach, 2 Gudgeon and 2 spotties. Bin a few years since I had that many chub in one visit from this venue. Unusually for me spent the first 4 hours in one swim - which produced all the chub - every time I thought about moving I hooked another fish. In truth I was hoping for something a little bigger - but they gave a great account of themselves in a pacey swim. In fact moving produced not a lot else so I probably should have stayed there the whole day! Chub Slack.

River Kennet - Newbury 0800 - 1115 3 Chub; 4lb 2oz, 3lb 7oz, 2lb 12oz. 1 Perch 2lb 9oz. 1 Bream 2lb 6oz. A doz+ Dace, 5 Gudgeon, 4 Roach, 1 Grayling and 3 Trout parr. River Kennet - Thatcham 1145 - 1315 1 Brownie - 1½lb (caught twice within 10 minutes!) 1345 - 1600 1 Grayling 1lb 10oz. Bright and cool - with a breeze picking up in the afternoon. WT 48ºC. River in perfect winter nick - good flow (but wadable )and just a hint of colour. First trip of 2015 and the plan was to start at a trusty old favourite, have lunch on a nice eddy and finish on last winter's 'hot spot'. With chub a target from all 3 swims. The morning got off to a flyer and took me back a decade when sessions like this were almost the norm on this part of the river. 8 species (9 counting the 2 minnows I had) and my biggest perch from here since 2010 (see blog of 02/10/10 - http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/index.php?/blog/82/entry-576-2-october/ ) really turned the clock back. I only had enough bait for the morning so had to shift off to Tone's for replenishment of gentles and then luncheon by my 2nd swim of the day. I nice eddy which has produced chub on my last 2 visits here - alas the trout - or rather A trout - didn't let them get a look in. I landed it twice - and had it on a third time. The result one totally trashed swim. And so off to my 3rd swim of the day - one I wanted to fish as the light faded as it produced some good perch (as well as chub ) last winter - and I had a 3lb 10oz stripey from it back in November. Again, though, neither species was in residence - I didn't blank though - my only bite - within the first 10 minutes. producing a surprise grayling of 1lb 10oz - I think it's my biggest ever grayling caught on the Kennet 'below Newbury' (I've had a few 2's from the middle river in the past). First fish of 2015 - a 4lb chub! Bonus Perch Surprise Grayling