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River Lambourn - Shaw 0900 - 1030 Bright and breezy with a couple of light showers. AT 10ºC. River quite low and, as is usual, gin clear. 14 Grayling; Most around 8oz with 3 or 4 bigger ones. 3 Brownies; 1¼lb and a couple half that. I hadn't planned on going again until Monday - but when Mrs P announced she was out all morning at the hairdressers I thought it would be the perfect excuse to christen Rusty's Harrison that I have recently acquired. Unusually for the Lambourn a dozen of my fish came from the same spot - found a shoal boiling at the freebies and just holding back meant most hooked themselves (though quite a few bumped off too!) Cover pic was the first fish caught...

River Lambourn - Newbury 1000 - 1200 Bright and breezy. AT around 10ºC. River at normal levels. 7 Grayling: all small. 4 Brownies: ditto. Had to pop over to the tackle shop to top up the bait fridge for the final push and as I correctly reasoned I'd have this popular spot to myself on a week day thought I'd have a couple of hours. Was hoping to get a grayling or 2 yesterday on the Kennet - so today was to make up for the lack of them yesterday. Usual tactics of catch one and move - bumped the only sizeable one that I had a bite from - sigh!

Lower Itchen Fishery 0830 - 1730 Bright and sunny all day - quite breezy at times. AT -2º -> 10ºC. River looked in good nick. 16 Grayling: most around 8-10oz with 4 bigger. Best went 1lb 5oz. 1 Chub 3lb 10oz. 6 Brownies; 1½ - 2½lb. 2doz+ Salmon Parr! Since Paul's passing in 2015 I've organised (or tried to) a couple of fish-ins a year to a couple of our favourite venues - and places where Paul himself used to organise get togethers of the Internet Angling Club. This was the first Itchen trip for 3 years however. 2020 succumbing to Storm Dennis & 2021 to Covid so it was nice to catch up with friends old and new and raise a few pounds for Duchess of Kent Hospice. Some of my party had never seen or caught a salmon parr before, and after today I don't think there'll ever want to see one again! Blighters were every where - in the same way that minnows can be! At least it meant no-one blanked - even Glenn caught one! Grayling however were a little thin on the ground - half of mine came from the very last swim I dropped into (along with the chub). Best of the day that I heard of was a 1lb 9oz fish to Phil - with one of Steve's mates getting one of a similar size. I think the bright conditions made the fish a little spooky, shame it didn't have the same effect on the Salmon parr. A BIG thank you to everyone who came - and to those that didn't but still gave me a donation for Sue Ryder - MUCH appreciated. Will post final total in the next day or so but it is already over £350 after paying the fishery. Final contribution to Sue Ryder came in at £365.

River Lambourn - Shaw 0915 - 1130 Cool & bright. AT 1º-6ºC. River low and crystal clear as it always is! 11 Grayling. Best 1lb 7oz with another 4 in the 10oz -1lb class. 4 Brownies - a 'pounder' and 3 small-uns. Usual tactics of catch a couple and move on - though in most swims it was catch one and move - apart from the very last swim I dropped into which accounted for nearly half of the morning's catch. Rather busy with other anglers - though, thankfully, I'd fished (and caught) from my favourite spots before they rocked up....

River Lambourn - Newbury 0800 - 1015 Cool & bright after early rain. AT 4ºC. River very low and gin clear as it always is! 8 Grayling; 5 over a lb. Best 2 - 1lb 9oz & 1lb 6oz. 1 brownie - small. A curious couple of hours, notable for the paucity of bites AND the quality of the ladies that did show up for breakfast. Starting at the top of the stretch and working my way down I was somewhat surprised and disappointed to not get as much as a chewed maggot from my first 4 swims. Was then doubly surprised to get a good fish on my first trot from my 5th swim. It would prove to be my only bite from here. This then set the pattern for the rest of the session. My next 4 swims produced a 1lb+ grayling within the first couple of run throughs and very little else. I guess low water and bright conditions made the fish especially spooky - giving you pretty much one chance in each spot. Within a couple of hours or so I'd worked my way down most of the stretch and meeting another angler working his way up decided to abandon proceedings and head 'round the corner' for a quick session on the Kennet (see part 2).

River Lambourn - Shaw 1300 - 1515 Cool & showery. AT 4ºC when I packed up. River low and clear. 13 Grayling: best 1lb 11oz & 1lb 6oz with a couple more of around a lb. 5 Trout - 1 circa a lb the others less than half that. Usual catch a couple and move on tactics - with the biggest of the day (and = seasons best so far) being also the last fish of the day - from a swim I'd caught a couple from an hour earlier.

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!).

Dorset Frome - Wool 0730 - 1400 Clear frosty start with rod rings icing up for the first hour or so - proper grayling weather! Sunny morning, clouding over by lunchtime. AT -1º -> 11ºC. River at near normal winter levels - 1.01m on the East Stoke gauge. 9 Grayling; 3 'gooduns', biggest 1lb 11oz. 8 Brownies - all around 6-8oz. A scratchy sort of day on a venue that is never prolific (but which can throw up some huge ladies which is why I keep coming back!) most fish from just a couple of spots - rest and return being the order of the day! There was meant to be a rare pic of me actually holding (well juggling) a fish. I was chatting to another member when I hooked the biggest one of the day - and he kindly landed it for me and offered to take our portrait - he said he took several shots - but there were none on the camera when I got it home this evening! Thankfully his netsmanship was better than his photography!

River Kennet - Aldermaston 1345 - 1645 Warm with 'milky' sunshine. 19ºC. River low and sluggish. 2 Grayling; 1lb 6oz & 1lb 2oz (!!). 11 Roach; Biggest 12oz (weighed) nothing else even half that. 1 Gudgeon. Well I wasn't expecting that! First trip here in well over a decade and even when I did fish it more regularly it was usually hunched over a couple of quiver tips waiting for a barbel - I rarely got the trotting gear out on this venue. So a bit of a recce and for the first hour or so it looked like a fruitless one. I'd fished half a dozen or so swims without so much as a minnow bothering my maggots and had wandered a long way downstream from where I'd dumped my gear when I suddenly found some fish - 12oz roach was first up followed by the bigger lady. Pic below is of the smaller one - after I'd retrieved my gear to my new swim. (I didn't move again for the rest of the afternoon). Can't remember when I last caught a grayling so far down the Kennet! Pic of the gonk for Martin's benefit!

River Lambourn - Shaw 0930 - 1200 Cold and cloudy. AT 0º-2ºC. River very full but, as always, crystal clear. 10 Grayling - all small with a couple around 8-10oz. 11 Trout - a netter (probably close on a lb) with the rest parrs - bit of a nuisance - in the same way minnows are! Repeat of last weekend with the Kennet completely out of sorts after 1¾ inches of rain since Weds. A couple of hours on the bank to cure cabin fever - after being stuck at home yesterday with no electricity for 8 hours - the fishing stove was pressed into domestic duties for copious amounts of soup and tea! 4 other anglers here when I arrived so all things considered a pretty good return on the grayling front - all be it nothing of any size.

River Lambourn - Newbury 0830 - 1130 Cold & bright. AT -2ºC -> +1ºC, line freezing in the ferrules most of the morning. River 'full' and crystal clear as always. 17 Grayling; 4 'pounders' - best 1lb 9oz & 1lb 5oz. 6 Brownies a pounder (actually probably nearer 2lb) and 5 smalluns/parrs. Default venue when the Kennet and conditions are sub-optimal and a much better return than my last two trips here - the extra depth of water clearly making a big difference. Still most swims produced just 1 or 2 fish apart from the last one which yielded 5 including both of the biggest ladies.

River Lambourn - Shaw 1200 - 1400 Cold with 'milky sunshine. 2 Grayling - a 'netter' and a tidller. 3 Brownies - one close to 1lb, the others only slightly bigger than parrs. Bit of a struggle - with none of my usual swims producing so much as a bite - probably because 2 other anglers had already worked there way up the water!

River Lambourn - Newbury 0800 - 1045 Bright and cold (2ºC) with a 'fresh' northerly breeze! River up a couple of inches on last visit but gin clear despite heavy overnight rain. 9 Grayling - best 2 weighed in at 1lb 1oz & 14oz - the rest around half this stamp. 2 Brownies - a 'pounder' and a parr. Usual pre Christmas jaunt to use up some bait due to the bait fridge getting its annual deep clean - as the maggots get evicted for a few days and it's comandeered for Christmas duties. Fishing was usual catch a couple and move on tactics - still a little 'scratchy' for here - expected a few more fish based on previous years....

River Lambourn - Shaw 1030 - 1300 Still dull and misty. AT 9ºC. River on the low side. 11 Grayling; A real mix of year classes (and hence sizes). Biggest 1lb 13oz (!!) with another 3 an ounce or so either side of 1lb ( the usual maximum size here). 6 Brownies most 6-10oz with one well over 1lb. Well I wasn't expecting that! Pretty sure that's my biggest grayling from this stretch - I've gone back over 20+ years of diaries and can't find a bigger one! Caught from a very shallow run as well, not the spot I'd expect a big lady to be hanging out (though looking at the size of the dorsal, this is a male).

River Lambourn - Newbury 0700 - 1000 Cool and misty. River quite low especially given how wet October was. 8 Grayling; All between 8-10oz with a couple a tad bigger. 6 Brownies - a couple of netters - the rest were parrs. Scratchy morning's trotting - fish thin on the ground - most of my usual banker swims turned up nothing - think they were just too spooky in the clear shallow water.

Lower Itchen Fishery 0800 - 1800 Bright and breezy, clouding over in the afternoon. River quite full (though has clearly been a lot higher recently) 20 Grayling; 9 over lb - best 4, 2lb 2oz, 1lb15oz, 1lb 12oz, 1lb 10oz. 4 Chub; 3lb 13oz, 3lb 6oz & 2, lbers. A dozen plus (too many!) trout to 4lb+ - mainly browns with a couple of silver tourists! 2 Salmon Parr. Very slow morning followed by a lively afternoon. My first half a dozen swims produced just one decent grayling (first cast of the day as well) and a LOT of trout. In hindsight I should probably have stopped using red corn - my favourite bait for big grayling but the trout were just insatiable on it! By lunchtime I'd fished all my favourite spots and was feeling a little disconsolate as I dropped into a pool I've never fished before. A couple more trout we quickly banked but a switch to single red maggot then produced an instant result in the shape of the 2lber - just what I'd come for! 3 more new swims were then visited during the rest of the day - all producing good grayling - and chub to boot!

River Lambourn - Shaw 0900 - 1200 Cold, bright and sunny. River quite low and gin clear as always! 24 Grayling - 7 over 1lb - biggest a couple of fish @ 1lb 5oz. Lovely morning's trotting - over half the fish from one swim - including 5 of the 'pounders'. Felt I was entertaining the local children at times as I had a crowd on onlookers everytime I landed a fish!

River Lambourn - Newbury 1330 - 1630 Drizzly and breezy (despite the promise of a dry afternoon). 13/14ºC . River very low and full of leaves! 26 Grayling with more than half needing the net and a lot of fish an ounce or two either side of a pound. Biggest weighed in at 1lb 5oz. 4 trout to 1¾lb. Usual catch a couple and move on tactics - fish very spooky in very shallow water. Caught quite a few by 'sight fishing' - watching the maggot get taken and not waiting for the float to register!

River Frome - Wool 0745 - 1500 Cool, bright (too bright!) and very breezy. River very low (lowest I've ever seen it). 56cm@ East Stoke. 19 Grayling; 7 over 1lb, best 1lb10oz. 1 Dace, 9oz, 7 Brownies. A bit of a struggles in challenging conditions - though the lure of a 3lb grayling will keep me coming back here! Fish very spooky in the low water so it paid to rest 'hot spots'. Dace was a nice bonus.

Lower Itchen Fishery 0800 - 1700 Bright, mild and sunny. River low. 45 Grayling - with some 2 dozen over 1lb - most in the 20-24oz range. Biggest 2 went 1lb 11oz &1lb 12oz. A dozen+ brownies to 3½lb. 5 Salmon parr. Lovely day's trotting. Alternated between maggot and red corn all day and caught roughly equal numbers on each bait.

River Lambourn - Shaw 1130 - 1430 Bright, sunny and cool - 4ºC. River 'full' and clear - travelled very light so no thermometer. 19 Grayling - 5 over 1lb, best 2 of 1lb 6oz each. 5 small Roach 3 Brown Trout (½ - ¾lb). Pleasant afternoon in the snow - all fish on trotted red maggot. Snow fish......

River Frome - Wool 0830 - 1700 Cool and overcast. AT 1ºC -> 5ºC. River clear with normal flow and levels. 5 Grayling; 2lb 12oz, 2lb0oz and 3 tiddlers. 2 Brownies; 1 parr and a ¾lber. A day in Dorset with Rusty. This was another 'delayed decision' trip firstly because the forecast kept changing and secondly because of the forecast snow overnight potentially making the drive down problematic. However I judged that the river would be OK and this was the clincher. If Chris could get to me conditions should improve as we drove south. And so it proved - the dodgiest bit was a mere 400m from my house with Chris's car slewing across the road as he pulled into my lane. (Maybe I should have warned him about that! ) By lunchtime I was begining to wonder why we'd bothered. For a winter's day conditions appeared to be close to ideal - though maybe the overnight snow had put the fish off. Whatever, we struggled - big time. By noon I'd winkled out a tiny trout, and grayling barely any bigger (oh, and a minnow!). Chris was waiting for his first bite. I even (horrror of horrors ) but a feeder rod out for an hour while I had my lunch. (Chris captured the rare moment on camera so its not deniable ). This resulted in.....another minnow Chris meanwhile had covered every inch of the venue but was still biteless though I thoroughly admired his optimism when we strolled back up to the top of the venue at 2 o'clock. "Over 3 hours of daylight left - still plenty of time" he exclaimed - though for the next hour it was business as usual save for another micro-grayling that 'fell' to my rod. At around 3.00pm the sun came out and I said - more in hope than expectation - that the sudden change in light levels might wake the fish up. Prophetic words. I was first into a fish - suddenly shocked to be connected to something large I gingerly walked down to the fish - shouting for Chris to grab the net - preying it would stay on. Thankfully it did and I was soon juggling a large stroppy grayling on the bank. We both guessed at a big 1 - but I wasn't going to argue when the needle on my scales hovered bang on 2lb. Incredibly within 15 minutes I was returning the favour for Chris - who had dropped into the swim above me as I'd said it had produced for me in the past. Another big fish which like mine hung in the water and saved most of it fight for on the bank! Bigger than mine by an ounce - I was mightly relieved - incredibly we'd now both caught 2's. Despair to joy in under 20mins. My swim wasn't finished with me - another small grayling and a splashy trout followed before I connected with something really impressive which shot downstream into a riffle. Thankfully I had an able ghilly to call on who managed to get below it in the fast water and net it for me. This looked a lot bigger and Chris was muttering 3 as I put it on the scales, though having seen Paul's 2-15 3 weeks ago I knew this wasn't as big but at 2lb 12oz its my 3rd= biggest - and a great way to end the day - alls well that ends well! PS 3 weeks ago when I fished here it was to the sounds of sirens and police helicopters on a man hunt. This time it was to the sound of gun fire as the British Army shot up the Dorset countryside (the firing ranges are nearby!) Nice peaceful venue this! Pics on Chris's camera - so they will probably appear on his blog! And here they are... http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/Frome-T...7-entry842.html

Middle Kennet Estate - Kintbury 0800 - 1600 Bright and very windy especially on the meadows. River high and carrying quite a bit of colour - much more than is usual for here. Mild, around 10ºC all day. 18 Chub (!!): Only 1 under 2lb, most around 3lb with 6 fish over 4lb - biggest 5lb exactly (over 63lb of chub). 2 Grayling 2lb 5oz (!) & 1lb 3oz. 9 Brownies to 3lb+. For some time now Paul and I have had 2 dates pencilled in over the Christmas period to go fishing - 23rd & 27th. Dates of 2013's pre & post Christmas storms!! As Monday's trip was cancelled we kept a very keen eye on the next weather system and were gratified at its early arrival - meaning the day would be at least dry - if somewhat windy! However Monday delivered over 2 inches of rain and last night another third of an inch. The river wasn't flooded but it would be very coloured up. The river keeper thought we were barmy - but permissions were granted!! We agreed that we'd at least turn up have a look and if need be get back in the car and go somewhere else (though we really didn't have a Plan B!)We were pleasantly surprised at the levels - not at all flooded and whilst it was quite coloured we could just make out the bottom in fast shallows runs. So we concurred it was not completely hopeless - and set off to find some sheltered (from the wind)swims. Expectations were lowered somewhat - Paul even said we wouldn't get any grayling today!!! Any worries that it would be a struggle we quickly dispelled - fishing float fished red corn in a known chub spot I had 30lb of them in the first hour! Paul got off to a slower start so I invited him to run a float through said swim and sure enough the float dipped at THE spot and he was soon bringing a chub to the net. Eventually the bites dried up and I agreed to rest it 'til then end of the day and for Paul to finish off there - though when he did there were rather more trout than chub in residence! After this fantastic start it was off to explore some of the other favoured swims at the venue. The place used to be excellent for big perch - though the hotspot for these hasn't produced a decent fish for a few years - as was the case again today. After this Paul and I went our separate ways until lunch - Paul seeking out dace me just fishing for whatever! Just above the 'perch' swim is a trot where I've had chub in the past so I decided to trot maggot through it for a few minutes. Sure enough I was immediately into a fish - taken just where I expected a chub to be laying. The fight was somewhat prolonged and I was beginning to think it was a trout when up through the milky waters popped up a rather large grayling. I've caught bigger ladies from the Itchen and Dorset Frome but this is my biggest ever Kennet fish. Most unexpected and most welcome! The rest of the day was spent on the windswept meadows trying to eek out my supplies of sweetcorn. Highlight of the afternoon was 4 X 4lb+ chub in 4 casts - again all on red corn - they were really having it today! Paul managed to find some dace - I think he had a round a dozen with fish upto 10oz plus his chub count got into double figures. I don't think either of us expected such a good day's angling! Some Pics. No Perch here! One of Paul's Dace. Despite blowing a hoolie - Paul finds a quiet spot!

River Lambourn - Shaw 1400 - 1600 Overcast after heavy rain - river with a little colour and up a couple of cm (18cm by the Shaw EA Gauge). 20 Grayling; Most quite small with around ½doz in the 12oz-1lb bracket. Going stir crazy after 3 days of rain - and wanting to catch my first fish of 2016. Thankful then for a 2 hour respite (in daylight). All fish from just 3 swims - which is somewhat unusual....

River Lambourn - Newbury 0730 - 1000 Overcast and mild. River VERY full - over a foot up on normal winter levels, BUT clear as always. 22 Grayling - most in the 10-14oz class with a few slightly bigger. 1 Dace - 11oz (another sandpapery male). 2 Brownies. Usual fall back after another week of rain has pushed the Kennet into full flood again. Fish of a remarkably similar stamp - dace was a real bonus.