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Middle Kennet 0700 - 1700 (yes we packed up an hour early to have a pint on the way home!) Cold easterly wind - bright sunshine for first few hours then cloudy. Temps around 6ºC most of the day. 6 Chub; Biggest 3lb 8oz. 1 Pike; 5lb 15oz. 3 Perch; (all small). 4 Roach; 1lb, an 8oz fish and a couple of tiddlers. 15 Dace. 6 Brownies to 3lb. 1 Rainbow of 4lb 2oz. Something of an anti-climatic end to the season. Fish clearly weren't feeding - though things improved slightly when the sun went in. We also started by exploring some new swims - me in a swim which screamed chub - and which I thought had produced when a good fish dived for the tree roots - alas it suddenly transformed into a Rainbow Trout at the net! Pike on lobs meant for perch - and the 1lb roach WAS a nice way to finish off the day. We also witnessed Phil catch one of 1½lb - the biggest roach I've seen from here for since 2007! Paul ended up with more of everything (chub, dace & roach) though I don't think he managed a chub over 3lb. A couple of pics from Paul. I think the reel is a Speedia???

Middle Kennet Estate - Kintbury 0630 - 1830 Bright sunshine, cool (circa 5ºC) with a 'fresh' North-easterly blowing all day - very challenging conditions for trotting a gin clear chalk-stream!! 3 Chub: Biggest 4lb exactly the other 2 were 3lbers. 5 Grayling to 1lb 2oz. 14 Dace; 5 over 8oz best 3; 2X10oz & an 11oz fish. 7 Roach (all small). 10+ brownies to 3lb+. End of season bash to a lovely part of the world - even if the fishing was a bit challenging at times. Though actually getting on the venue was a challenge!! I'd checked in with the keeper the previous day and agreed where we would park and when - only to find the access gate was still padlocked - alternate access was also barred - and I got stuck in the mud trying to reverse out - not an auspicious start. Eventually we found a gate that was open - which gave us access to completely the other end of the fishery from where Chris (Rusty) and I had intended to start. As it turned out it was probably for the best - though my first bite of the morning was from a very large rainbow which quickly smashed my light dace tackle but not before trashing the small pool I'd started in. We both quickly turned our attentions to a couple of couple of known Chub hotspots and both had a brace of fish before the sun was too high in the sky - Rusty getting a fish of 4lb 10oz on ledgered bread whilst both of mine fell to trotted corn. A call to the keeper to confirm the gate was now open and we were on our way to our first choice swims... We weren't to stay there very long. Rusty dropped into a lovely looking run which had produced chub for him previously and one of the few swims all day that was aided by the breeze (coz it was at his back). I fished the famous weedstop swim -though the rickety death trap from APFA days has been replaced by this smart looking bridge. Old and New I quickly realised that conditions here were hopeless and after an early lunch moved a kilometre upstream to a fast riffle which the keeper said he'd spotted some nice grayling in the summer. Sure enough they were still there and I managed 3 in all from this spot. By now Rusty had abandoned his chub banker not having had a touch and we were on the move again - to the middle of the fishery! I wanted to check out another chub spot whilst Chris's plan was to drown a worm or two in a spot Paul and I used to call the perch hole. But primarily I wanted to show Chris the carrier that usually produces the big dace. My Chub spot produced a 3lb chub first cast whilst the perch hole appears to be a misnomer these days! so eventually it was off to explore the dace stream - and we had a pleasant surprise to find the keeper had cleared a lot of the bank making some cracking looking swims accessible for the first time....And so at last we both started catching with a bit more frequency small stuff at first (plus the occasional nuisance trout) - though I was hopeful that the low light levels would entice the bigger fish to come out. Which is just what happened! Rusty elected to pack up at 5.00pm whilst I was determined to fish till it was properly getting dark - and he'd not even got as far as Waitrose to buy his tea when I was on the phone to tell him I'd just caught an 11oz dace - from one of the new 'cleared' swims too. 4 other good dace all followed in that final half an hour - a nice end to a tough day.....

River Kennet Carrier - Marsh Benham 0815 - 1430 Bright and cool (5ºC when I started). River still very full but with little colour despite over ½inch of rain yesterday. 5 Chub; All bar one over 2lb though the biggest was not quite 3lbs. A doz Roach - all 'hand-sized' with a couple slightly bigger. 4 Dace - including a brace of 10oz fish. 10 Brownies & 5 Rainbows - all in the 2½-3½ class. Day off - to treat meself fo my birthday and it turned into a day of trying (and usually failing!) to avoid the trout! Biggest chub first cast and it had another angler's hook in its scissors (one of yours - Rusty?) - but thereafter I had to keep moving to try and find fish without an adipose! One of the rainbow's shed a load of eggs in the net - which somewhat surprised me as I thought that they were meant to be sterile Triploids!

River Kennet Carrier - Marsh Benham 0845 - 1245 Mild with bright sunshine. River very full - up at least a foot on normal levels and quite coloured (for here!) 3 Chub; 2 over 1lb (but not by much!), 20 Dace and Roach in equal nos - some quite chunky ones too - best roach was 14oz and had 3 dace over 8oz. 4 Brownies from 2lb to over 4lb & a Rainbow of nearly 5lb! Winter chub hunt thwarted by troot turning up in all my banker swims, some really chunky ones too, which didn't fight at all like trout, keeping low in the water imitating ole rubber lips. Carrier was in really good nick with so much water in it - just as well as the main river was unfishable and over-topping its banks.

River Kennet Carrier & Weirpool - Marsh Benham 0900 - 1400 Cool 6ºC, overcast and still - a lovely benign autumn's day! River 'full' with little colour more like late winter levels than late autumn - augurs well for the rest of the season! 6 Chub 5 over 2½lb - best 3lb 8oz. 20 Roach - all a 'nice size' best 13oz with many not far shy of that. 7 Dace. 3 Brownies all 2lb+ and 2 Rainbows - both around 3lb (could have been the same fish!) Very pleasant morning's trotting - great to see so much water in the river so early in the winter - the fish have by and large moved up into the carrier and the summer weeds has gone.

Middle Kennet Estate Water - Kintbury 0700 - 1815 Mild,damp start, VERY windy with some further lumpy showers (hail), brighter by the afternoon. River with a bit of water in it at last! 21 Chub; Biggest 3 - 5lb 6oz, 5lb 3oz & 4lb 9oz - with nearly all the rest in the 2½ - 3½lb class, a couple of pounders and one just under turned up in my dace swims at last knockings. 12 Dace - best 10oz, 6 Roach - all 'hand-sized', 1 Perch <1lb & around a dozen+ brownies. A chub fest with a very similar return to my trip here last year (see: http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/index.php?/blog/82/entry-1527-14-march/ ) and if last year's trip here was windy this was positively hurricane like - to the point of having trouble standing at some point! Still it put a good ripple on the water and clearly my poor float control didn't put the chub off - I had 9 chub in the first 2 hours including both 5lbers. All the fish caught on trotted red corn apart from the few smaller chub and silvers caught on maggot at dusk. Finished off searching for big dace and had my hopes raised by getting a 10oz male fish in full spawning garb (rough sand papery skin) alas it's female companions didn't put in an appearance!

River Kennet (& carrier) Marsh Benham 0900 - 1530 Bright and breezy (very breezy at times in the morning!) Mild-ish but didn't feel that way in the wind. River up an inch or two on last visit here (3 weeks ago). 7 Chub; Best 5lb 2oz - all the rest between 2½ - 3¾lb. 3 Bream: between 2¾ - 4lb. 15 Roach, 5 Dace & 5 Trout (3 browns & 2 rainbows all between 2½-3½lbs). Pleasant days trotting despite the wind - spent most of my time on the main river and weirpool which produced my biggest chub here this season.

River Kennet (& carrier) Marsh Benham 0930 - 1400 Mild and bright, clouding over by the time I left. River still not very high for mid Feb. 3 Chub; all 2lbers. A dozen roach, biggest 1lb exactly with nothing else remotely close to that!. Half dozen dace, 3 Brownies between 2-3lb & 4lb+ Rainbow. Most fish from the weirpool - though started with a 2½lb chub from 'Chub Corner' first cast - turned out to be the biggest of the day!

River Kennet (and carrier) Marsh Benham 0930 - 1430 Cool and misty morning with bright sunshine after 1200. River lower than I expected and quite clear. 8 Chub; Biggest 3lb most of the rest 1¾ - 2¾lb. 1 Bream 2lb 15oz, 3 Doz Roach - all quite chunky but nothing over ½lb. 2 Dace, 1 Rainbow 2½lb and a Brownie of 3lb + Lovely winter's day in West Berkshire. Chub were very obliging even if my biggest of the day was caught first cast. Bream fought harder than any bream I've ever hooked before - was convinced I was into a large chub very surprised to see a bream eventually come to the surface - and not that big either!

River Kennet - Marsh Benham 0600 - 1300 Cool (6ºC when I arrived) and sunny - with a nippy northerly breeze. River lower than my last visit 4 weeks ago. 1½doz+ Chub, Biggest 3lb 5oz, the rest all chublets. 1 Pike; 3lb 10oz, 2doz+ Roach, 5 Dace (2 of around 8oz), 1 Perch, 1 Bleak, 1 Gudgeon. Ledgered meat for the first couple of hours or so - 45 minutes each in 3 different swims - but the only pull resulted in a meat munching pike again - possibly the same one that I had here last month! Nice to see so many chublets in the river - augurs well for the chub population in the future.

Middle Kennet Estate Water - Kintbury. 0700 - 1800 (!) Mainly overcast though mild with a strong southerly breeze. River 'full' with a little colour - in great winter nick. 25 Chub(!): Apart from 4 X1lb class fish which turned up in my various 'dace' swims at first and last knockings, all 3lb class fish. 3 over 4lb @ 4lb 14oz, 4lb 6oz & 4lb 1oz. 6 Dace - one decent fish of 10oz. 4 Roach - including one @ 12oz. 1 Gudgeon (possibly my first ever from here!). A dozen brownies to 3lb. End of season chub fest - part 2! A very blowy day in West Berkshire! All bigger chub on trotted red corn - got through 3 tins of the stuff - and ran out by mid-afternoon! - All lovely brassy fish - though at times the fishing was of Mr Castwell proportions (yet another 3lb chub!). Was hoping to find some big dace and having a pound chub show up got the heart racing at first until I saw it. What dace I did catch had clearly just spawned. Tried half -heartedly for perch - but visited that particular swim to pay my respects to Paul - who's ashes were buried nearby.....

Kennet Carrier (& main river!) Marsh Benham 0700 - 1600 Mild and becalmed. River quite high up nearly a foot on my last visit in Jan. 14 Chub; 11 over 1lb - best 3lb 12oz, 30+Roach, 6 Dace, a dozen + Brownies to 3lb. End of season bash part 1!! Again invited Rusty to join me on my syndicate bit of river - and he actually caught some chub this time! Also got to meet some other members - first time I've met another angler here!

Kennet Carrier (& main river!) Marsh Benham 0900 - 1500 Cool, calm and mainly overcast. AT around 6ºC all day. River a couple of inches lower on my last visit over Christmas - with most of the colour dropped out. 8 Chub; 5 over 1lb - best 3lb 2oz, 2 doz+ Roach, 4 Dace - to 8oz & 4 Perch (all small). (NO trout - bit of a first for here!) Birthday treat with Rusty as my guest. Low water meant chub were a little on the spooky side - only found one swim where I caught more than one in succession. Roach were in abundance as always - just as well as Rusty had a frustrating time losing chub!

Kennet Carrier (& main river!) Marsh Benham 0900 - 1600 Cold and sunny with snow on the ground from yesterday max temp 4ºC (briefly!). River up a couple of inches on last visit here (Nov) and carrying a little colour. 7 Chub: 4lb 5oz, 3lb 6ox, 2lb 11oz, 2lb 8oz, 2lb 0oz and 2 sub 1lbers. A dozen+ dace to 10oz, 4 dozen+ roach - most hand sized or bigger! 4 Brownies and a rainbow - all 2-3lb. Chubbing in the snow - loverly! This venue really comes into its own in the winter months and it didn't disappoint! Most chub in the first hour - then spent most of the day trying to find some bigger (ie 1lb+) roach and whilst they came thick and fast with a LOT of fish in the 6-8 oz class I only caught one which warranted the scales but that was still 3oz shy of a pound. Cracking sport none the less.

Kennet Carrier - Marsh Benham 1000 - 1400 Bright and sunny. River very low. 6 Chub; 2½lb, 1¼lb and 4 chublets. 4 Dozen roach - all hand sized or better! 8 Dace, 4 Bleak and a couple of 2lb brownies. Started by stalking chub - freelining lumps of meat into various holes - usually had just one go at each before spooking the fish - and of course it was usually the smallest of the shoal that snaffled the meat first (or a trout)- still twas good fun! Then it was bite a chuck on maggot - saw some really decent roach - but none visited the net!

Middle Kennet ​​1000 - 1530 Cold, with bright sunshine for most of the day and raw north-westerly wind. AT never above 4ºC. River low and clear - despite yesterday's rain. 9 Chub: best 2; 3lb 7oz & 3lb 4oz. 3Doz+ Roach - quite a few fish in the 6-8oz class, 3 Dace, 3 Brownies & 2 Rainbows (all over 2lb) Day off work - and a birthday treat (it was yesterday) as a guest of Merv. 9 years since I lasted fished here - though it won't be 9 years until my next visit as I'm joining Merv's little syndicate next season. Today's fishing was a little scratchy at times - bright sunshine and low clear water are not good bed-fellows when it comes to good sport. But I eventually found some nice roach and had a lot of fun with them for and hour or so - until a pike started to take an interest. And having started the morning catching nothing but troot I finished the session in the same swim catching some nice chub - a switch to trotted corn seemingly doing the trick in avoiding fish with an adipose fin!

Middle Kennet Estate 0630 - 1830 Bright and sunny after a cold start. -3ºC meant iced up rod rings for first hour or so and shirt-sleeves weather by mid afternoon - though a easterly upstream breeze was quite chilly at times. All in all a lovely spring day. River still a little on the low side. 7 Chub; Biggest 4lb 4oz, rest 3.03 - 1.10. 4 Perch; 2lb 6oz, 2lb 2oz, 1lb 14oz and a tiddler. 32 Roach; Best two, 1lb 3oz & 15oz with quite a few others circa 8oz. 35 Dace; no really big ones - just a couple of good-uns in the 8-10oz bracket. 2 Bream - skimmers. ½doz Gudgeon. 6 Brown Trout; best two, 7lb 2oz & 6lb 6oz ! . 3 Rainbow Trout to 4lb! Great last day of the season. Unusually for me, and this venue, spent nearly all day in the same swim (well the fish just kept coming!). Rather surprised to get some nice perch in what I consider a nailed on chub swim - certainly the first I've caught from this spot - meant the worms got a reprieve! All fish on trotted maggot. Biggest 2 trout in last 1½hr - fish in gorgeous condition and whilst not really what we came for - got to admit they put up one hell of a scrap and looked absolutely fabulous! Last hour as it got dark the roach really switched on - was the period I had my 'pounder' and over ½ of all the roach I caught in total. Paul had a similar day minus the perch and really big brownies.

Middle Kennet 0700 - 1630 Bright and sunny - too bright for good sport but a fine spring day so not complaining. AT upto 12.5ºC - warmest day of the year! 3 Chub - 3lb 6oz, 3lb 2oz, 2lb 9oz. 11 Perch - 3 over 1lb, best 1lb 11oz. 28 Dace - only 1 really good-un of 10oz. 1 Roach. 4 Rainbows to 4lb 6oz. 1 Salmon Parr. Another lovely day spent roaming around. Fish were quite spooky and we never got the chub feeding with abandon. Fished hard in a swim known to contain a HUGE chub - but alas its younger and smaller brethen or trout always got to the bait first. All perch on lobs most others on trotted maggot - though did have a chub on lobs too. Paul had a similar return - more chub than me (6) but fewer dace.

Middle Kennet Estate Water 0830 - 1630 Bright and breezey after heavy morning rain (we sat in the car waiting for it to stop). River coloured up in the morning but was fining down again by the time we packed up. Levels still quite low. 9 Chub - all quite small - biggest 2lb 7oz, 1 Perch 1lb 7oz, 13 Roach - best 2, 1lb 6oz & 1lb (just!) - most others around 6-8oz, 3 dozen Dace, ½ doz gudgeon, 2 Brownies - best 3½lb, 2 Rainbows - best 2¾lb. Pleasant day's trotting (once the rain stopped) spent with Paul. We were both looking for the big chub - and didn't really find them though Paul faired slightly better than me with 3 over 2lb to 3lb, but the fish seemed to be well scattered around the fishery not shoaled up. Got both of my 2 decent roach in the last hour - a very nice way to finish the day!

Middle Kennet - Nr Newbury. 0715 - 1630 Bright and sunny. 6º -> 13ºC. River still quite low and carrying a little colour after 3 days of rain. 6 Chub: Biggest 4lb 1oz, 1 Perch 1lb 5oz, 1 doz Rainbows to 4¼lb, 3 Brownies to 2½lb, 3doz dace, 2 doz roach, ½ doz gudgeon and a skimmer bream. A day spent chub hunting - and trying (unsuccesfully) to avoid the trout. Most fish on trotted maggot - spent the last hour quiver tipping bread flake hoping for a decent roach but all I accounted for was the biggest rainbow of the day - doh!

River Kennet Estate Water - Nr Hungerford 0645 - 1615 Bright sunny start, showers then HEAVY rain after 1500. AT 5º -> 11ºC. Water VERY low. 44 Grayling, 18 over 1lb, best 2 - 2lb 0oz, 1lb 14oz, 21 Dace, best 2 - 13oz & 12oz - also weighed another at 10 oz and had quite a few of similar size - unweighed, 5 Rainbow Trout - to 2½lb, 3 Brown Trout - to 2¾lb. Surprisingly good day given the very low water conditions. Best return of 1lb+ grayling from this venue in a day (by a long chalk). 2nd ever 2lber from the Kennet (1st was back in Feb from the same venue,). All fish on trotted maggot ( white seemed to significantly out-fish reds!)

Middle Kennet Estate Water 0800 - 1700 Bright and very breezy, 4ºC. Water carrying some colour after yesterdays rain - though dropped out noticeably by the end of the day. 4 Chub; 3lb, 2lb 4oz and 2 chublets, 19 Dace; best 2, 13oz & 11oz, 8 Brownies; best 2, 4lb 7oz & 4lb 3oz, 1 Grayling. 'Scratchy' sort of a day playing hunt the fish. Spent the morning exploring a carrier I'd not fished before - and probably won't again as it appeared devoid of fish!! Biggest chub on corn all other fish on trotted maggots. Even the perch were absent from their usual haunts (or more likely not feeding). Biggest dace since 23 Jan 05 (when I had a 1lber and 2 others over 14oz also from this venue.)

River Kennet - Nr Newbury 0800 - 1630 Cold, bright and sunny - no thermometer but temps must have hovered around 0ºC all day - line was icing in the rings upto 1000 and again from around 1500! 13 Chub - smallest 2lb 14oz, biggest 2; 5lb 6oz, 4lb 9oz. 1X2lb+, 7X3lb+, 4x4lb+, 1X5lb+. (Total Weight of Chub: 50lb 7oz). 3 doz Dace and Roach - mainly dace - all small. 2 Brownies - best 3lb, 1 Rainbow - circa 2lb. Brrrrrr! A cold winters chubbing - all on trotted maggot. Paul managed 6 chub - though half his were on ledgered bread - his best went 4lb 10oz. Tried in vain to locate the bigger dace/roach....

Middle Kennet Estate Water 0800 - 1600 Cold and overcast 0ºC ->5ºC. River very coloured - very unusual for this stretch. 2 Chub (5lb 0oz, 1lb 6oz), 2 Perch (2lb 1oz, 1lb 11oz), 14 Dace (2 X11oz, 1X10oz), 4 Brown Trout - (best 2½lb) Bit of a struggle in a very coloured river. Both chub and 2 biggest trout on sweetcorn. Perch were first AND last fish of the day - one on maggot one on lobs. All dace were a good size - had 4 more around the 8oz mark. Paul had a very similar return - had a bigger perch than me, a small chub and a similar number of dace and brownies.....

Middle Kennet Estate water - Nr Hungerford 0700 - 1700 Dull and overcast - Last day of Anti-Cyclonic gloom? 10ºC. River at 'normal' levels colour from the weekend's rain now all dropped out. 41 Grayling (4 'pounders' best 1lb 5oz, over 2 doz circa 12oz), 17 Dace - (best 2 weighed 12oz & 10 oz, 8 over 8oz), 1 doz Trout (50-50 Rainbows/Brownies) best 3¼lb Brownie. Lovely day exploring the carriers with a float rod and CP. 12oz dace was first fish of the morning - which got me rather excited - alas I couldn't winkle out a bigger one!!