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Lower Itchen Fishery 0830 - 1730 Bright and breezy save for a shower when I arrived and another torrential shower around lunchtime. AT 10º-16ºC. River at normal autumn levels though it coloured up noticeably after the lunchtime downpour. 30 Grayling; Most around 8-10oz. Biggest 'just' 1lb 5oz with another half a dozen or so a couple of ounces, shy of that. 7 Chub: All well over 1lb - best 3: 4lb 8oz, 4lb 5oz & 3lb 10oz. 7 Brownies 1½- 3½lb. 2 Roach - small. 4 Salmon parr and a flounder (least I think that's what it is - see pic below!). Annual autumn start to my grayling fishing - and whilst they were reasonably plentiful - I couldn't find the big ones - I've already caught a bigger one on the Kennet this autumn! Chub were a nice diversion though, I usually reckon on finding a few here but don't remember getting quite this many before - though they kept turning up in some of my favourite hotspots for the ladies. Flounder was a long way from home (the stretch isn't tidal!).
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River Kennet - Speen Moors 1000 - 1530 Bright and mainly sunny after early morning rain. AT around 13ºC all day. River still quite low and clear despite a wet October (109mm and counting!) 6 Chub; 4lb 10oz, 2lb 0oz and 4 in the ½-1lb bracket (of course!). 1 Perch 1lb 11oz. 17 Roach - only one troubled the scales (as I thought it would make a pound!) @ 14oz. 3 Dace. 1 Bleak. 2 Brownies; a 2+lber and a smallun. First hour and a half on Parliament Draft which accounted for both the bigger Chub. Then enboldened by the news that a working party had cleared a path on the back carrier I set off to find a favourite chub swim of the past. Alas, less than 50% of the length had been cleared and after a sweaty 30 mins trying to fight my way through the undergrowth and fallen trees I gave up and headed back to the big weirpool - where I pretty much spent the rest of the session. Chub and Speedia
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River Kennet - Hambridge 0700 - 1300 Warm, overcast and quite muggy - though that might just have been all the exertion to hack my way through the undergrowth to my swim - clearly no one has been here since MY last visit back in July! AT 10º - 20ºC. River low with a little colour - typical for this time of year. 7 Chub; 3 over 2lb - the best 2lb 12oz with another an ounce or so under. Other 3 were around the pound mark ± a few ounces. 1 Barbel (!!) unweighed but probably just shy of a lb. 1 Pike; 4lb 8oz. 20 Dace and 8 Roach - nothing of any size. 1 Bleak, 3 Brownies: one of 1¼lb the other 2 around half that (and possibly the same fish!) Well that WAS fun! And for the 2nd weekend in a row I get a Kennet barbel trotting - though this one may have been recently stocked judging by the size of it. In years gone by barbel of this size were quite common here - so much so that I used to call it the Barbel Nursery! I had planned to make this a 2 venue morning - but as it turned out it was a 2 swim session - giving each an hour in rotation. Started off in my usual hotspot and had what would prove to be my biggest chub of the morning within the first 10 mins of fishing after the usual 'bait and wait' tactics at the start of the session. However most of the fish then came from my second swim upstream - one that often only produces in low water conditions (it's usually too pacey). This produced 5 of the chub and the barbel - though the pike was caught back in my initial swim on a plug after it had chased in a couple of the dace.
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River Kennet - Marsh Benham 0630 - 1230 Torrential rain for first 90 mins or so followed by showers (some quite lumpy!). Cool for August (13ºC) and quite breezy - sun eventually appeared for the last hour or so. 2 Chub: 3lb 13oz & a smallun. 1 Bream; 3lb 14oz. 4 Doz Roach & Dace (mainly roach - nothing of any size). 3 Bleak. 1 Rainbow Trout - 3½lb. I read 3 weather forecasts on Friday evening and whilst all predicted a showery weekend they all also said that Sunday would be the drier day. PAH! Didn't get a drop of rain yesterday morning - first shower appeared at lunchtime - and yet this morning it was like sitting through a monsoon. Thankfully I'd just about got set up before the heavens opened and quickly abandoned my trotting for a couple of hours sitting under a brolly, ledgering meat - and almost thankful that I didn't get a bite! Eventually the rains abated enough to resume running a float through various swims. Was hoping for a few more chub - though the bream was a nice bonus and didn't half put up a scrap in the fast current! Also harvested my first blackberries of the summer!
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River Kennet - Brimpton 1300 - 1530 Warm, mainly overcast - though with more sunshine than before lunch - very muggy. AT 20ºC and feeling particularly sticky after a longish walk through the undergrowth! River quite full! Think the weir at Colthrop has been opened up more than the one at Crookham - there was a LOT of water coming down the Aldershot - too much to wade out at the tail of the weirpool! 3 Chub; 4lb 5oz, 4lb 0oz, 2lb 11oz. 3 Dace, 1 Roach & 5 Brownies (½lb - 1¼lb) So after a bite for lunch and an age queuing to get across Thatcham level crossing it was off downstream for a few more hours of trotting. I usually fish the weirpool at the top of the Aldershot by wading out and casting upstream - but it was too deep to do that safely! Fished 3 swims - that have been reasonably reliable in the past - giving each around ¾hr or so. Caught trout in all of them (of course!) and all 3 chub from the second one I dropped into - quite a fast streamy section under trees (see feature photo) - which often produces chevin early season (think it might be close to their spawning redds). All were a real battle to bring up against the current!
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River Kennet - Thatcham 0900 - 1200 Warm, overcast and quite muggy. AT 20ºC but felt MUCH warmer. River low (but see part 2!) 3 Chub: 3lb 13oz, 2lb 7oz, 1lb 14oz. 2 Dace, 2 Roach & 2 Brownies - both around 8-10oz. Scratchy morning as most of my 'usual' swims here didn't have enough water in them. Fished 9 swims in total but only caught from a couple of them - nearly all fish came from the weirpool - apart from a couple of the chub which were extracted from one of their usual haunts!
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River Kennet - Hambridge 1000 - 1300 Rain (again!?) steady and persistent but never particularly heavy - thankfully, as I was standing out in it for 3 hours. Cool (only 11ºC), quite calm. River was in great nick - higher than normal for June and with a little less colour than last Thursday. 2 Chub; 5lb 2oz and one of around a pound (unweighed). 18 Dace & 9 Roach - nothing to warrant weighing. 1 Grayling c10oz, 2 Gudgeon (hooray!) & 2 Brownies both over 1lb but under 2lb. Apart from the rain, conditions looked spot on - and as usual I started by just trickling in maggot for the first 10+ mins - supremely confident that my first trot through would produce a good fish. However, first cast produced the bigger trout (around 1½lb) - usually the kiss of death for their swim trashing abilities! Thankfully I managed to bully it away from the 'chub zone' before its first leap - but still thought that my chances had been blown. I needn't have worried - after slipping the brownie back - my float buried on the second run through and a strike just meet solid resistance. This time the perogative was to steer the fish away from the danger of tree roots on the far bank and once I had it in open water the battle was won. I waited until the last week of the season last year to get a 5lb+ chub - chuffed to get one in the opening week this season!
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River Kennet - Hambridge (CSAS Stretch) 0800 - 1300 Warm, overcast & sultry. River at normal summer levels and carrying a bit of colour. 5 Chub; All 'schooly' sized (1-2lbs) - biggest 2lb 13oz. 11 Dace; a couple of 'good-uns' which went 9oz each. 1 Brownie c10oz. Failed plan to try and repeat my success here last Sep of getting some float caught barbel. I did actually see a few on the shallows and they were showing more interest in each other that what was for brunch. So had to make do with ever obliging chub which came from 3 different swims.
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River Kennet - Marsh Benham 0430 - 1230 Warm and sunny (though very misty at 0430!). River at normal early summer levels and clearer than below Newbury. 6 Chub: 4lb4oz, 3lb 14oz, 3lb 10oz, 3lb 5oz & 2 'pounders'. 40 Roach & Dace in roughly equal nos - slightly more dace. A few chunky ones but nothing to worry the scales! 3 Bleak. Lovely to be back on the river on a glorious summer's morning. Great sport trotting my 'base camp' swim too. I fished around dozen swims in total - but this became a tactic of simply resting my weirpool spot which produced all the chub and most of the rest. Gratifying to not be bothered by trout as well! A brassy 4lber
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Middle Kennet Estate - Kintbury 0815 - 1745 Cool, overcast with milky sunshine at times. AT 0º - 10ºC. river at normal winter levels - looked in great nick. 35 Chub - with nearly 2doz over 3lb(!) Had 11 over 4lb of which 5 were over 5lb (!). Best 5lb 9oz. 18 Dace some quite chunky ones but nothing particularly noteworthy. 8 Roach - all small apart from one 'netter'. 6 Brownies 2½ - 3½lb - with most at the upper end of that range! Wow! This has become my annual chub fest - I had 20 in each of the last 2 seasons and 2 doz the season before that. I usually accumulate those sorts of numbers by roving between hotspots, today was different in that I had all bar one from one spot (apart from chublets that kept turning up in my dace swims). As usual it was copious amounts of redcorn that did the trick, feeding little and often AND not recasting for 5mins or so after each fish, resulted in a veritable conveyor belt of big chub! Rested the swim for a couple of hours around midday when I had my lunch and went exploring a new swim based on some intelligence from the river keeper (which produced a more modest chub first cast followed by an acrobatic trout second). I always like to have an hour or so around dusk here fishing the carriers as they can produce big dace (I've had fish of a 1lb in the past) so I was almost thankful when around 1530 I connected with a large trout which got off but not before totally trashing my chubspot. A biteless half an hour confirmed my fears so I was off to try an get some big dace - alas the only 'pounder' that turned up in my dace swims was yet another chub!
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River Kennet (& Carrier) - Marsh Benham 0830 - 1345 Milky sunshine to start - clouding over - very breezy. AT 5º ->10ºC. River in good winter nick - full with a slight tinge of colour. 3 Chub: All over 2lb - best 3lb 6oz. 1 Pike: 4lb 11oz (On sweetcorn - took it on the retrieve!). A doz Roach; various sizes - one worthy of the scales went 14oz. 2 Dace - small. 1 Rainbow - 2½lb & 2 Brownies: 1½ - 2lb. Last day trip to the venue I started my river season back in June. Was hoping to reacquaint myself with the 5lber from last weekend - or rather its big sister and I had a handful of red corn left over from Monday's chubfest. Alas, my first bite on corn was a brownie - which went airborne and threw the hook, second bite was the rainbow - which didn't and stayed on and then I had a flippin pike take my corn as I reeled in to recast - who needs fancy lures when you can make do with 3 kernals of corn! I did eventually find some chub by switching swims and bait (back to red maggot). So no big last day chevin but a pleasant enough morning - especially as I had the place to myself - really expected to bump into some fellow syndicate members as it was the last day.
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River Kennet - Marsh Benham 0830 - 1330 Cool, calm and mainly overcast with milky sunshine at times. AT 1º - 6ºC. River still quite full but down a few inches on my last visit 4 weeks ago. 4 Chub; 5lb 2oz, 4lb 7oz, 3lb 13oz and a pounder. A doz Roach - mainly quite small with a couple of 'netters' of around 10oz. 1 Brownie; 1½lb. Surprisingly scratchy start to the morning - fished the carrier down and only had fish from 2 swims (the smaller chub & trout and the roach). Thankfully the main river had dropped enough to A: be accesible and B: be fishable - if still a little pacey. Had all 3 good chub from the bottom swim - the biggest hooked right at the end of a verrrrrrry long trot - took an absolute age to coax it upstream in the current! First 5lb chub of the season an absolute barrel of a fish!
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River Kennet - Thatcham 0900 - 1245 Bright and sunny after a frosty start. AT was 11ºC when I packed up. River very full - but quite clear. 2 Chub: 3lb 13oz & 2lb 5oz. A dace and a brownie - both around 6oz. Bit of a gamble which nearly backfired - very few floodwater swims at this venue - though there is a nice near bank eddy which usually produces a nice chub. Alas if it was in residence it wasn't hungry as all I extracted from the swim were minnows (yes, Martin - there are some still in the Kennet!). I didn't really have a plan B after this inauspicious start however I found some chub by running my float under some far bank willows - not a spot I've ever had one from before - though I can't think why as it looks VERY chubby!
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River Kennet - Speen Moors 0830 - 1300 Cold, cloudy with a stiff, chilly breeze. AT around 1º-2ºC all day with significant wind chill (!), showery drizzle for last couple of hours. River very full - but clear. 4 Chub; 3lb 5oz, 2lb 12oz, 2lb 7oz, 2lb 2oz. 5 Dace - all small. 3 Brownies 1½-2½lb - also lost an enourmous trout - had it on for ages and got a good look at it - my pb is 8¾lb and this was a similar size - don't usually mind when a brownie throws the hook - but a bit gutted when this one did! Surprisingly productive session given the conditions - a strong cross wind making float control tough. Got off to a great start with 2 chub and 2 trout before 0900! All fish from just a couple of swims - bar the lost brownie - which was hooked when I went for a wander to rest my 'hotspots'.
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Kennet Carrier - Marsh Benham 0815 - 1345 Cold with fog - which eventually cleared for the last hour. AT -2º -> 4ºC, rings icing up till midday. Stream very full with just a hint of colour - perfect winter nick! 8 Chub: All bar one over 2lb; Best, 4lb 4oz, 3lb 9oz & 3lb 4oz. 2 Doz Roach & Dace (2/3rds Roach) A couple of the dace were lumps - one went 10oz the other, unweighed but of similar stamp. 1 Perch- small(ish). 4 Trout between 1¾- 2½lb. Day got of to an inauspicious start with 3 trout from my first 3 trots - not what I wanted from a morning's winter chubbing. Thankfully my next swim produced my target species and I pretty much managed to avoid fish with an adipose from thereon. 4lber from a swim I don't recall ever catching a chub from before.
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Kennet carrier - Marsh Benham 0915 - 1345 Cold, calm and cloudy. Temps hovering around 0ºC all day (-1º when I arrived, +1º when I packed up). River in fine winter condition - gin clear and at normal levels. 9 Chub; 6X2lb+ - best 3lb 3oz (first fish caught!). A doz Roach - all a 'nice' size but nothing to trouble the scales. 5 Dace; best a clonker of 13oz. Half a doz Brownies - most around the 2lb mark - with one nearly double that. Got a few days off either side of this coming weekend as I have a 'big' birthday coming up. Original plans had been to get away somewhere (Jaq won't tell me where!) but those were scuppered by Tier 4 restrictions before Christmas. At least I can get out on the bank I thought - so REALLY pleased at the efforts of the Angling Trust this week in lobbying to allow us to fish during the current lockdown. I've been an individual member since the early days of the AT and its nice to see them exercising some clout! A benign if somewhat cold winters chubbing - always an obliging species when the mercury is down - and thankfully they just about outnumbered the trout today. Merv had said he'd had some good dace from here when I bumped into him at Speen recently - and he wasn't wrong - I thought it was another chub as I'd had a couple of that stamp - one of my biggest ever from this bit of water.
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Northcroft Stream - Newbury 0845 - 1115 Cold and bright. AT 0º - 3ºC. River still up a tad but with little colour. 2 Chub: 4lb 5oz & a chublet of around a pound. 6 Dace - a couple of gooduns. 3 Roach - handsized and a 1lb+ Brownie. Successful plan to start 2021 with a good chub achieved within 5 mins of wetting a line (though had been trickling in maggot for a good 15mins before starting to fish). Smaller chub turned up amongst the dace and roach and being a little washed out in colour had me skipping a heart beat as I netted it - thinking it was a 1lb dace! First fish of 2021
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River Kennet - Speen Moors 0800 - 1430 Cold and bright - clouding over after lunch. AT -1º - 3ºC. Line freezing in the rings for the first couple of hours! River up a good 6+inches on last visit (over the bank in several places) and carrying quite a bit of colour - way more than I expected to see! 2 Chub; 2lb 14oz, 2lb 9oz. 6 Roach - all small. 2 Dace - one good fish of 8+oz and a tiddler. 1 Brown trout (though it was bright silver - sea trout???) 1½lb. Plan for today was originally to explore some new swims - a strategy that was quickly abandoned when I saw the conditions and I plumped for some reliable favourites to get started (and avoid the prospect of a blank!) The plan worked and by lunchtime I was setting off to explore the bottom end of the fishery (bumping into Merv en route). Alas I was thwarted by flooding and fallen trees which limited access - and prevented me from even getting to the stretch I really wanted to fish. Still I was able to add another chub (the smaller one) and a trout from a rather nice glide which warrants further attention when conditions are a little less sub-optimal!
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River Kennet - Hambridge 0900 - 1230 Cool & overcast (4º - 7ºC). Calm before the storm! River up a good few inches with a tinge of colour - looked in great winter nick! 3 Chub: 3lb 14oz, 2lb 15oz & 1½lb. 5 Roach - all quite small. 4 Dace - one clonker of 10oz the rest all small. 1 Grayling & a Brownie (both around 10oz), 1 Bleak. Pre-emptive strike before Storm Bella arrives this evening and stuff's the river up for the next few days! Slow but steady sport all morning - didn't move from one spot - everytime I thought about resting the swim I had another fish.
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River Kennet - Speen Moors 0745 - 1345 Overcast start (drizzling when I left home) becoming bright and breezy. AT 7º-9ºC. River at normal levels. 8 Chub: 4lb 7oz, 3lb10oz, 2lb 15oz, 2lb 11oz & 4 small ones. 7 Roach - most hand sized, 4 Dace, 1 Gudgeon, 1 Bleak & a 2lb Brownie. Pleasant morning playing hunt the chub, started off with the 3lber from a spot that only usually gives you one chance - and so it proved as resting it for an hour produced nothing more. Fished around half a dozen more swims in all with the rest of the decent chub coming from the penultimate one. Biggest of the morning.
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River Kennet & Carrier - Marsh Benham 0745 - 1315 Cool, calm & cloudy. AT 1º - 3ºC. River quite full - though somewhat surprisingly (and contradictory!) the carrier was on the low side. 4 Chub; 4lb 10oz, 3lb 1oz, 2lb 2oz and a chublet. 18 Roach - few of any size bar one which went 12oz. 4 Dace, 1 Perch, 8 Brownies - 2½ - 3½lb & 2 Rainbows 2½lb & 4+lb. Pleasant morning's trotting - chub as ever were the target - though most of my 'banker' swims were full of trout. Did eventually find a swim where the chub got a look in and had all 3 decent fish in quick succession before the bully boy brownies muscled in again!
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Northcroft Stream - Newbury 0745 - 1000 Misty & murky 7ºC. River at normal levels and quite clear. 3 Chub; 2lb 14oz, 2lb 13oz, 2lb 5oz. 6 Dace & 2 Roach - all small. Successful chub hunt - though was hoping for something a little bigger. My usual 'banker' swim here produced not so much as a bite - thankfully they were all in my back up swim!
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River Kennet - Speen Moors 0930 - 1415 Bright and breezy, clouding over with the wind dropping. Mild. River in good nick. 4 Chub 4lb 14oz, 3lb 12oz, 2lb 6oz & a chublet. 4 Roach - best c8oz, 2 Dace, 1 Gudgeon & a brownie. Had planned to do quite a bit of wandering today but ended up refamiliarising myself with a favourite swim of old. Back in 2004 (25th Sep to be precise) I had 4 chub for over 21lb from this spot (fish of 6.05, 6.0, 4.11 & 4.06), plus 2,5lb bream and a 2lb perch! However since that red letter day I've had nothing remotely that spectacular from here. First trot through today, however, and the float buried within 10 feet of being cast out and the line just went solid. In truth I thought I was into a good 5 alas the scales revealed it was a couple of ounces off! The 2 followed next cast - and I then rested it for an hour or so - which clearly paid off as I had the 3 straight away on my return.
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River Kennet - Hambridge 1045 - 1345 Cool, milky sunshine. River at normal autumn levels - much lower than expected after a really wet month. 4 Chub; 4lb 6oz, 3lb 6oz, 3lb 2oz, 1lb 15oz. 7 Dace (4 chunky ones). 1 Grayling, 2 Gudgeon & a Brownie. Hooray - banker chub swims gives up more than one fish! Had three in the first 20 mins with the 4th one coming after resting it for over an hour whilst I explored elsewhere.
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River Kennet - Hambridge 0700 - 1330 Cool (5ºC when I started), bright and breezy. River quite low - normal for Sep. 3 Chub; all 1-2lb. 5 Barbel (!!!); all 12oz-1lb. 8 Dace - all chunky ones in the 6-8oz class with a couple a tad bigger. 4 Brown Trout; one close to 3lb the others circa 12oz+. Another recce session - following up on some recently acquired intelligence (cheers Martin - spot on! ?). Been a few years since I last exchanged my NAA card for a CSAS one to fish this stretch. Fished over a dozen swims but had all the fish bar one dace from just one of them - which I kept resting and returning to! Bright conditions and low clear water are never a recipe for good sport so it's no surprise that my hotspot today was a lovely long glide under the shady canopy of bankside trees. First Kennet barbel for 4 years - and whilst these had clearly been stocked it was doubly nice to get them on the float! Lets hope they evade predation and put on some weight!
