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River Kennet - Hambridge 1330 - 1500 Bright and sunny. AT 6ºC. River bank high - with a lot less colour than I expected to see after such a wet weekend. 2 Chub: 6lb 5oz & 4lb 13oz. 2 Perch: 3lb 6oz & 2lb 6oz. 4 Roach, 1 Dace - all fairly small. 1 Gudgeon. WOW! Gotta love a good flood swim! Having fished out the Lambourn I thought I'd at least have a look at the Kennet - expecting to see it coloured up and flooded. And whilst it was bank high there was surprisingly little colour - so couldn't resist dropping into a favourite swim when the river is in flood. Even so didn't quite expect what was to follow - especially after a first ¼hr that was biteless. First up was the 2lb perch - sort of what I was expecting/hoping for as they seem to show here when the river is up. I certainly wasn't expecting another at a whole lb heavier which was pretty much next trot through - and a season's best too boot! I'd just put that back when the very next cast produced the big chub - a very stubborn fight - took an age to get in - in fact at one stage I thought I'd foul hooked a big bream as I couldn't budge it off the bottom! As soon as it was in the net I knew it was a 6lber - in fact I was even harbouring thoughts of a new pb - but the needle was a couple of ounces shy of that mark! The silvers and the gudgeon were next up and I was just about to quit while I was ahead when another fat chub decided to put in an appearance - 2 chub for a combined weight of 11lb 2oz - not bad eh? I've fished this stretch for 41 years and in the space of 10 mins caught my venue best chub (only my 2nd ever 6lber from here) AND my biggest ever perch from the venue - wow!
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River Kennet - Brimpton 1030 - 1330 Bright and sunny. Cooler than last couple of days. AT 4º - 6ºC. River at normal levels and with a tinge of colour. 1 Chub: 4lb 6oz. 2 Brownies; Biggest a brute of a fish - must have been close to 4lb but unweighed - the other around half that size. Impromptu trip based on Jaq announcing she was hitting the sales!! Bright winter sunshine are not the ideal conditions for a spot of chub fishing but I reasoned the recent rise in river levels and turbidity might mitigate this - thankfully I was right. However, and as per usual it seems, I started off with trout - though as both fish chose to hug the bottom as opposed to performing their usual aerobatic display, I was convinced I was bringing in decent chub to the net. Thankfully my 3rd fish of the morning didn't have an adipose fin - and whilst it was a fine chub - as fat as a barrel I was rather hoping to re-acquaint myself with either of the 5lbers I had from here back in the summer - would love to see either at their winter weight! Boxing Day Chub
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River Kennet - Speen Moors 0800 - 1400 Bright and sunny morning after overnight rain, clouding over with heavy showers after lunch! Cooler than of late 5º - 9ºC River still low. 180mm of rain (and counting) since the start of October hasn't made a blind bit of difference to the river - so far! 4 Chub: Biggest 3lb 6oz - the others between 1¾ - 2¼lb. 6 Dace - a couple of chunky ones, 3 Roach - all small. 1 Perch c½lb, 1 Brownie c¾lb. A successful morning on the weirpools (so as not to blank!), before an unrewarding recce session - must have walked a couple of miles, just to catch a solitary dace!
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River Kennet (and Carrier), Marsh Benham 1015 - 1500 Mild and overcast morning, with a torrential downpour at lunchtime giving way to bright sunshine - 4 (well 3) seasons in one day! AT 11º - 13ºC. River still very low. West Berks has had 116.6mm (over 4½inches in old money!) of rain in the past 2½ weeks - since 20 October - the prayers for a wet autumn are being answered - yet very little is making its way into the water course. Hopefully though the aquifers are being topped up and the Kennet will see the benefit of all this rain in January! 1 Bream; 4lb 2oz, 3 Chub; 1¾lb and a couple of chublets, 2 Doz Roach and Dace - in roughly equal nos - slightly more roach. Nothing particularly noteworth apart from one of the dace of around 8oz and a couple of the roach around the same mark. 3 Perch; all small. 3 Brownies; between 2½ - 3½lb - biggest of which had a fresh size 16 in its scissors - one of your's Martin? I've been umming and ahhing all weekend about which day to go fishing scrutinising the weather almost every hour. Had decided on a rare Monday trip - but decided to make the most of a window in the rain. Thankfully had stopped for my lunch when the heavy shower came - other wise a dry day! Usual roving tactics and usual pesky trout showing up in my more reliable chub swims!
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River Kennet - Brimpton 0900 - 1300 Warm (for the time of year), with milky sunshine. AT 11º -> 17ºC. River still very low with a tinge of colour the only hint that we've had over an inch of rain in the previous 36 hours! 3 Chub: 4lb 3oz, 3lb 6oz & a chublet. 7 Roach and 3 Dace - nothing particularly impressive though they weren't tiddlers either! 5 Brownies, 2X2lbers, another of around 1½lb and a couple of parrs. Surprisingly scratchy morning - with both big chub first cast fish from the same swim (90 mins apart!) and all my other usual haunts not producing anything without an adipose fin! All roach (bar one) and dace from the weirpool at the top of the Aldershot.
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River Kennet - Speen Moors 0830 - 1400 Bright and sunny. AT 6º->16ºC. River low (very!). 10 Perch; 6 over lb, best two 1lb 12oz & 1lb 10oz. 6 Chub; 3 'pounders' - two not by much. 20+ Roach - most quite small with 3 or 4 in the 6-8oz bracket. 2 Dace - small. 2 Gudgeon & 2 Brownies - both 1½-2lb. Late arrival as I had to go back for my maggots - doh! By the time I got to the canal it was bathed in bright morning sunshine and after a chilly night I deemed it too sub-optimal for big stripeys so headed straight for the big weirpool on Speen where I stayed all morning. Might not have been the wisest of decisions given the haul of perch it produced! Wandered downstream after lunch to look at the spot BTG fished recently and hoping to get to Egypt Point - but it was too overgrown. Did run a float through a couple of swims which both seemed stuffed with small roach....
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River Kennet - Hambridge 0845 - 1245 Sunny spells. AT 8º ->17ºC. River still very low (prayer mats are out for a wet autumn!). 7 Chub; biggest 3lb on the nose, 5 between 1½ - 2½lb and a chublet. 1 Barbel; 1lb 13oz, 13 Dace & 9 Roach (all fairly small), 1 Gudgeon, 2 Bleak & a Brownie c¾-1lb. Super morning's trotting - nice to get another baby barbel for the 2nd trip running here and I might have lost a much bigger one though I think the leviathan that snapped my 6lb bottom like cotton was more likely an oversized trout. Fished every swim on the venue (not that there's that many!) as my usual hotspots were pretty barren - most fish caught trotting under the road bridge. A tree has fallen all the way across immediately downstream - damming the river somewat and giving some extra depth on 'our' side...
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River Kennet - Speen Moors 0845 - 1300 Bright and sunny - with a cool northerly breeze - though felt very warm in full sun! AT 17ºC when I packed up, River very low. 5 Chub: 2X 2lbers and 3 in the ¾-1lb class. 5 Perch; All over 1lb, with 4 over 1½lb, best three 2lb 3oz, 2lb & 1lb 13oz. 30+ Roach - various sizes with around half a dozen 'netters', I weighed one of these at 13oz and the others were of similar stamp - great to see! 1 Dace: a real good-un of around 10oz. 1 Gudgeon, 1 Bleak, 1 Brownie - unweighed but a real lump of at least 3lbs and probably pushing 4! Super morning's sport from the large weirpool. I had started by fighting my way up the overgrown banks of Parliament Draft - getting soaked in the process from the heavy dew to be greeted by a cormorant working the water - not the welcome I'd have liked! I did run a float through a couple of swims but was further dispirited when an otter plopped into the river from the opposite bank! Within ¾hour I was working my way into position on the large weirpool where I'd stay for the rest of the morning - a super mixed bag and my biggest perch from Speen for 10 years - which was a real surprise. Not a great pic(alas) of the biggest perch - a real fatty!
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River Kennet - Brimpton 0700 - 1100 Cool (compared to lately) and mainly overcast. AT 11->16ºC. River still low but up a good couple of inches on my last visit here in July. 4 Chub: 5lb0oz, 3lb 6oz, 1lb11oz and one <1lb. 5 Roach & 1 Dace - all a 'nice' size circa 6oz. 4 Brownies; a lber and the others around half that. With 1½inches of rain already this month (nearly as much as the whole of June, July & August!) I was hopeful that the river might have perked up - and so it proved. Fished 4 swims and had 'A' chub from each of them! The 5lber - my second of the season from here, came from a spot that rarely produces - which was just as well as my usual hotspot was trashed by a first cast trout!
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River Kennet - Hambridge 1730 - 2145 Warm, clear evening. AT 23º -> 16ºC. River very low. 3 Chub: 4lb 11oz, 2lb 13oz, 1lb 12oz. 1 Barbel (hooray!) 2lb 1oz. 7 Dace, 2 Roach (all small). 5 Bleak. Been a while since I did an evening here - used to be a banker swim for ledgering for a barbel - so much so I've even brought a couple of my 'occasional' angling friends here in the past to (succesfully) catch their first barbel. Those were in pre-otter days (who made an appearance again this evening!). Now such trips are always preceded by a couple of hours trotting to inoculate me from the risk of a blank. And once I'd got through the bleak and small dace I managed to find some decentish chub from an unfamiliar spot, before a real treat in the shape of a small barbel turned up. This is now the 3rd season running I've had them from this general area - the green shoots of a recovery - lets hope so! Dusk brought the ledger rods out which produced no further fish - the only excitement to my isotopes being caused by crayfish or bats crashing into the line!
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River Kennet - Thatcham 0630 - 1000 Bright and sunny. AT 14º -> 20ºC. River VERY low. 10 Chub; 3 over a lb (two not by much - the other around 2lb) all the others small - 4-6oz. 6 Roach - all around the same size as the small chub (and occupying the same swim). 2 Gudgeon - a rare sight in these parts. 1 Ruffe - a MUCH rarer sight. 3 brownies - all small. I first fished the Kennet in 1969 at the age of 8 when I was taken to a weirpool on Lower Benyons by my Great Grandfather. Using a tank aerial rod and a wooden starback reel I caught a 1½lb perch - needless to say I was in heaven! The following season after some very intensive sessions of swimming lessons I was allowed out on my own! (I have a propensity for falling in to this day!) I've fished the Kennet every year since and in all that time I've never caught a Ruffe from the river - until today! In fact I've only caught the species on two occasions before, once in the mid 70s (8th Oct 1976 to be precise) when Paul and I bunked off games at school to 'guest' on the Loddon and more recently on the canal at Avington. So a lively and productive morning - great to see some juvenile chub in the river again - has been a feature of the last couple of seasons. And was rather hoping against hope to see a barbel on the bank as I've heard of the odd one being caught from here this year (plus I had one myself from here last August). I guess that was just being greedy!
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River Kennet - Brimpton 0530 - 1000 Warm, muggy with hazy sunshine. AT 15º -> 22ºC. River very low. 2 Chub; 4lb 9oz, 4lb 4oz & 2 chublets. 9 Dace; 5 absolute chunks all 8-10oz, 7 Roach - variety of sizes but nothing over 6oz. 1 Perch: small, 1 Bleak. 1 Brownie: 1¼lb. For the second river trip in a row I get to see an otter and this one defintely wasn't shy! I'd eased into position mid-river to get a run through a favourite chub swim, only to get the flippin trout pretty much 1st cast and was thinking I'd better rest this swim and come back, when the family of swans 100m downstream of me started kicking off big time. I guessed it might be an otter chancing its arm with a cygnet - as I've witnessed a swan/otter fracas on this stretch before. My assumption was correct as a minute later the otter popped up in the middle of my swim and proceeded to nonchalantly work its way up the very trotting line I'd just been feeding! Thankfully I didn't see it surface with a fish and as it passed me by, heading upstream, I could have patted it on the head, it was that close! Hopes of anything from this spot were now zero - however an hour and a half's rest and 20 minutes of standing in mid river dribbling in very small quantities of maggot did the trick. The bigger chub was first trot and a further 30 mins rest and more dribbling of bait produced the second 4lber of the morning! Some super dace from the weirpool at the top of The Aldershot was a nice way to round off the session....
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River Kennet - Brimpton 0430 - 0900 Bright sunny morning - lovely to be out before the heat of the day set in - shared my morning with the local wildlife - deer, heron and kingfishers. River low and clear 7 Chub: best (by a very long way!) 5lb 11oz (!!!) with a couple of around a lb and all the rest 6-8oz - nice to see some juvenile fish. 7 Dace, 2 Roach (all fairly small). 4 Brownies - 3 over a lb one of which was nearer 2lb. Well I wasn't expecting that - especially after a rather unpromising start. I'd fished my 2 more reliable chub spots without so much as a sniff and in my 3rd one had a couple of splashy trout to wreck things before at least getting off the mark with a small chub and a couple of dace. So it was very much in hope rather than expectation when I revisited one of my earlier swims - not at all confident as the sun was now on the water. Thankfully there was still some shade under the far bank trees - and within a couple of minutes of running a float through connected with an absolute lump which I first mistook for a snag - took an age to coax up in the current and very thankful to get it in the net! I'll do very well to get a bigger one all season!
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River Kennet - Marsh Benham 0415 - 1145 Hot, sunny and sultry. 26ºC when I packed up but thankful for the fleece I put in my tackle bag at the last minute, when I arrived at first light! River low and clear. 2 Bream; 4lb 7oz, 4lb 4oz. 6 Chub; a couple of 2lbers with the rest all between ½-1lb. 3 Doz Dace & Roach (roughly 2 dace for every roach) nothing very big though a couple of the dace were half decent. 3 Bleak. 2 Brownies - both over 3lb with spectacular markings. Glorious morning - on my favourite weirpool - which is thankfully in shade for all of the morning. Both bream had me convinced I was into decent chub - they fight soooo much harder than their still water cousins (and are a lot less slimey!!!). Was hopeful of finding some bigger chub though I think they may have been spawning in the shallows below the weirpool (something certainly was!).
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Middle Kennet Estate - Kintbury 0900 - 1630 Damp, murky and drizzly all day. AT 9/10ºC. River low for mid January. 22 Chub: 12 over 1lb, with 9 over 3lb. Best 2 went 5lb 2oz & 4lb 10oz. 3 Dace; a 10oz fish and a couple of tiddlers. 1 Roach - small. A doz+ brownies from 2½-4lb. It's my birthday tomorrow and as I've got the week off (and being whisked away from tomorrow by Mrs P to an unknown (to me) destination) I thought I'd treat myself to a bit of all out chub fishing. I headed straight for the the spot I bagged up in last March - and whilst there were plenty of chub in residence it proved to be a bit of a battle to keep the trout count down. Switching to another swim at the top of the venue after lunch proved a good move (and worth the long walk) - both my biggest two chub came from here plus a couple more (and no brownies!). All the big chub on trotted red corn - got through 3 tins of the stuff. Last ¾hr on the carrier trotting maggot in search of big dace - though found mainly ½lb chub which did a very good imitation of big dace... Biggest of the day.
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Middle Kennet Estate - Kintbury 0830 - 1800 Bright and sunny morning - clouding over after lunch (thankfully!). AT around 10ºC all day after a frosty start. River slightly on the low side. 22 Chub: Only 3 under 2lb and 8 over 4lb. Best 3 went 5lb 6oz, 5lb 2oz & 4lb 15oz. 7 Roach; 1lb 5oz, 12oz and 5 tiddlers. 7 Dace: 1lb , 12 oz 2@ 10oz and the other 3 weren't much smaller! 1 doz+ Brownies 2½lb - 4lb. 2 Rainbows both around 2½lb. My now annual end of season 'chubfest', though in truth this was very much a game of 2 halfs!. The bright morning sunshine and low river did not make for good sport and by the time I'd abandoned my usual banker stretch and headed upstream after an early lunch I'd caught 'just' 2 chub and 6 brownies. Thankfully conditions were much more conducive in the afternoon - heavy cloud cover and a stiffish breeze to put a ripple on the water and with judicous baiting and regular resting I caught chub pretty continously from the same long trot all afternoon. The rest periods were spent fishing a carrier that I've long suspected could hold big dace - though in previous visits over the past decade or so has failed to produce any (though I did once get a brace of 2lb perch from it!). Today they were in residence - all sandpapery males in breeding condition (would love to have found a pigeon chested female - they can be even heavier!) and a couple of lovely roach as swim mates. My first 1lb dace for 17 years (which was also from this venue - though further downstream).
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Kennet carrier - Marsh Benham 0900 - 1400 Cool, overcast and breezy with showers to finish. AT 4º - 6ºC (but felt much chillier in the stiff breeze). River up a couple of inches but still at the bottom end of normal! 6 Chub; 3X3lbers 3lb 13oz (yes I had another one shortly after you left - Steve!) and a brace at 3lb 8oz - possibly same fish - caught 90mins apart from same swim - though chub are not usually so careless!, 2lber and a couple of 'pounders'. 1 Roach - small & a Rainbow of circa 3lb. Started off on the main river in high hopes that the extra water will have brought the fish out - but all my usual haunts were bereft of fish - not so much as a bite. So all fish from the carrier - in fact most from a shallow run at the top of the fishery - catching chub from the shallow-est part of the venue - not at all what I expected!
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River Kennet - Marsh Benham 0900 - 1430 Overcast morning, brightening up after lunch (to the detriment of the fishing!) and quite breezy. AT 5º -> 9ºC. River low and clear (at normal summer levels!). 3 Chub; 4lb 0oz, 3lb 4oz, 2lb 2oz. 1 Bream; 3lb 10oz. 17 Roach; most around 6-8oz with a couple of biggers ones. 1 Bleak. Whole session on the main river of my syndicate stretch. Had a first cast trout - which got eventually off but only after totally trashing my first swim! Nearly all the fish from a 'new' swim - or at least one that has been opened up by the removal of some branches by last week's little working party - (thanks chaps!). Meant I can now get a cast across the river to run a float under the far bank trees....
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River Kennet - Hambridge 0900 - 1200 Cool, with milky sunshine. AT 2ºC ->9ºC. River still low though up an inch or so on my last visit at the begining of Jan. 5 Chub: Best 3lb 11oz, the others all ½-1½lb. 7 Dace - one netter of around 8oz. 1 Roach; small. 2 Grayling. 2 Brownies - both ¾-1lb (Possibly same one!) A quick sesh at my favourite chub swim - and to check out the recent efforts of the working party here (nice work chaps!). I'm still hoping to make a winter acquaintance of the 5lber I had from this swim back in the summer - but the only decent one was well shy of that stamp - and kept me waiting until well into the session to make an appearance. Usual bait and wait tactics turned up grayling and dace first and second trot!
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River Kennet (& Carrier) Marsh Benham 1000 - 1530 Mild and very breezy (too breezy for good float control). AT 9ºC. River low and looking a little threadbare after 3 consecutive months with below average rainfall. 5 Chub: 4lb 10oz, 2lb and 3 between ½-1lb. 16 Roach - various sizes but nothing to warrant the scales. 11 Dace; most small with a couple of clonkers - best weighing in at 12oz. 1 Rainbow; 3lb & a Brownie c2lb. A trip to my syndicate stretch with Martin (Bayleaf The Gardener - of this parish) as my guest. Alas, I couldn't put him on a big chub - though I at least managed to show him they DO exist! Started on the main river - where I had my 2 bigger chub (& the Rainbow - which was a first cast fish in one of my chub swims and was another non-triploid fish as she emptied her eggs into my landing net!). All the silvers from the carrier where Martin also fared much better - see his blog for the full story! Rare pic of me actually holding a fish - courtesy of BTG!
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River Kennet - Hambridge 0900 - 1115 Mild and overcast. 9ºC. River still quite low @ normal summer levels - though up an inch on my last visit here with just a hint of colour. 2 Chub: 2lb0oz & 1lb 12oz. 9 Dace - 3 in the 6-8oz class. 4 Roach (handsized). 2 Gudgeon. 1 Brownie c 2lb. Quick couple of hours to get 2022 underway! Plan was to start the New Year with a chub - successfully executed first cast! Would have to wait until pretty much last cast for another - which then sicked up all my freebies over my bait smock! First fish of 2022.
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River Kennet (& carrier) - Marsh Benham 0900 - 1400 VERY mild (14ºC) and cloudy morning - brightening up for last couple of hours. River still on the low side but up a couple of inches on 3 weeks ago and carrying a bit of colour. 4 Chub: 4lb 1oz, 2lb 2oz and a couple of chublets - one of around a pound the other half that. 1 Bream; 5lb 2oz. 40+ Roach and Dace - mainly roach in an approx ratio of 2-1. Nothing particularly newsworthy - though they weren't tiddlers either - a couple of the dace were over ½lb. 2 Bleak. 2 Brownies - both 2lb+. 1 Rainbow - unweighed but close to 4lb. A morning on my syndicate stretch - as I reasoned that all the Christmas rain - and the springs bursting on the downs might have wakened the river up! And so it proved - the first 3 fish were the 2 bigger chub and the bream before - alas - the trout turned up to wreck things! Spent a couple of hours on the carrier which produced the 2 smaller chub and most of the roach and dace. My biggest bream from here.
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River Kennet - Thatcham 0900 - 1130. Cool & murky. 7ºC. River low and clear - very low for December. 1 Chub: 3lb 15oz. 7 Roach - all handsized with a couple of netters of around 10oz. 1 Dace - 11oz (first cast!). 2 Brownies - small. With river levels so low both of today's venues were a bit of a gamble. And one which very nearly didn't pay off! I'd fished all my usual hotspots with nothing remotely chubby in residence - though the big dace was a nice bonus. I was trotting my final swim before packing up for an early lunch and a move downstream. The swim is a long shallow glide - I don't expect to get chub from it - but that's what turned up in it today - right at the bottom of the trot too - took an age to coax it up in the current. And whilst not as big as I'd hoped (or thought it might be from its dogged fight) it saved the day - especially as I all but blanked in my afternoon session (see Part 2).
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River Kennet - Marsh Benham 0830 - 1315 Mild, mainly overcast - with a few bright spells. 10-12ºC. River very low for mid December - but then we have had less than an inch of rain since the 1st Nov. 3 Chub: 5lb 3oz (SB ) and a couple of chublets of around ¾lb - 1lb. 2 Doz Roach - of various sizes - the one I deemed worthy of ths scales pulled the needle round to 13oz - looked bigger!). ½ doz Dace - all bar one 6oz+. 1 Bream; 1lb 14oz, 1 Bleak. 1 Rainbow trout; 2¾lb. A morning's trotting on my syndicate stretch - the carrier may be weed free - but is in desperate need of some more water so I headed down to the main river. As per usual, I made 'base camp' at the weirpool and fished 4 or 5 swims in rotation - searching for the chub - the big one coming from the last swim I visited. Planned to return to it but Steve turned up with his pike gear - so I left him to to it - though he was Esox-less when I left!
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River Kennet - Speen Moors 0900 - 1245 Mild and overcast - with the earlier drizzle thankfully stopped. AT 11ºC. River low for late Nov - but then we've hardly had a drop of rain for the last 3 weeks! 2 Chub: 2lb 15oz, 1lb 8oz. 1 Perch 1lb 7oz. 5 Roach. 1 Dace. 1 Brownie 1½lb- sigh! I hate trout! Having tip-toe'd into the top of a favoured chub swim and trickled maggot in for 10 minutes I managed to pull off the perfect cast - and had the float running down just the line I wanted - and sure enough at just the spot I expected - it buried into the depths. Alas, my strike didn't meet the stubborn resistance of a big chub but an explosion on the surface as a flippin trout went bonkers. I rarely get more than one chance in this swim and so it proved. I tried a couple of other less reliable spots without so much as a sucked maggot and after an hour and a half was abandoning Parliament Draft, chubless for the first time this season. So to spare my blushes it was back to the weirpool - reliable as ever and if somewhat on the slow and steady side, it did at least manage to offer up a half decent chub - literally last cast!
