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Kennet & Avon (flowing) Canal - Thatcham 1400 - 1600 Very mild & overcast. AT 56ºF, WT 52ºF. River with a tinge of colour after yesterday's rain. 5 Perch; 2lb 8oz, 2lb 3oz, 2 'pounders' and one just under. Couldn't resist such perfect perch conditions. Fished the swim where I had my PB back in 2013 but which hasn't really produced much since. All fish caught in the last 45 mins.

Kennet & Avon Canal - Thatcham 1400 - 1600 Mild, overcast with drizzly rain clearing to a rather lovely sunset (see crap picture below!) AT & WT both 50ºF. 5 Perch; 3lb 10oz, 2lb 2oz, 1lb 12oz & 2 small-uns. 1 Roach - small but still somehow managed a whole lob! Boss has very kindly given me a few days off work following Paul's passing and having spent the morning making a couple of calls, reading condolences and eulogies - and Clare's heart wrenching blog I needed to clear my head (and dry my eyes!). What better way to honour his memory than a couple of hours on the bank - especially with conditions spot on for winter perching. To add to the poignancy I headed to the last spot we ever fished together (see blog for 26 Sep). Both of us failed to catch perch that day - bright conditions and frequent boat traffic not helping the cause. This afternoon felt different, with fish topping and priming all over the canal and scattering from the attention of predators (which I hoped weren't pike) on the far bank, I felt supremely confident of success. Confidence which was starting to wane - as after 1¼hours fishing all I had to show was a solitary roach - which in length was shorter than the lob it took. I needn't have worried with 45 mins of daylight left the perch suddenly came on the feed. The 3lber was first up - though at first I thought I'd hooked a pike - really glad to see those stripes as I brought it to my side of the canal. The others quickly followed in the next half an hour and by a quarter to four it was all over, bites ceasing as quickly as they'd started. Fat Perch Winter Sunset

Kennet & Avon Canal - Thatcham 1345 - 1600 Mild, breezy with some drizzle in the air. AT 51ºF. WT 49ºF. 2 Perch: 2lb 13oz, 1lb 11oz. 1 Pike; 4lb 3oz. 1 roach. Had a half day workshop in Newbury so rather than go back to work - seemed the perfect excuse to take some time owed and squeeze in a couple of hours fishing! All fish on lobs and all caught in the last hour.

Kennet & Avon Canal - Thatcham 0630 - 0930 Mild, murky and calm. WT 54ºC. (AT same.) Perfect perching weather! 7 Perch; 3lb 6oz, 2lb 8oz, 2lb 3oz, 1lb 14oz and 3 small ones - one close to 1lb the others no where near! 1 Chublet. Really paid to get here at first light - bites from the off and had 3 of the bigger perch including the 3lber on the bank by 7 o'clock. Bites dried up after an hour and only 2 fish after 0800 and one of those was the chub. Biggest perch of the autumn (so far )

Kennet & Avon Canal - Avington 0730 - 1130 Mild, overcast and drizzly. WT 53ºF. AT 55ºF. 2 Perch; 2lb 0oz & 1lb 11oz. 18 Roach: some really chunky ones with 2 over 1lb - best 1lb 2oz. 1 Chub <1lb (just). 2 Skimmers to 1lb 6oz. 1 Gudgeon. First time I've ever fished this bit of club water - and it was the whispers of big perch showing last winter that had me pulling into the car park whilst it was still dark. I'd recce'd the water a couple of times during the summer and had my eyes on a likely looking area. However, after an hour my float fished lobworm remained 'un-bothered' so I switched to float fished maggot - just to see if there were any bait fish around. Of course I'm sure you can guess what happened - I had the bigger perch pretty much first cast on maggot! There followed a slow but steady return - never quite sure what would turn up next - though it was mainly roach. Excellent stamp of redfins too - a nice and unexpected bonus! Bonus Roach

Kennet & Avon Canal - Thatcham 0715 - 1015 Overcast and cool (9/10ºC), with a 'fresh' Easterly making it feel even cooler. 6 Perch; 2lb 13oz, 2 'pounders', 3 tiddlers. 1 Brownie - 2lb (!!) Near perfect conditions for perch (apart from the wind direction) had me bankside before it was light enough to see my float. And as soon as it was light it wasn't long before I had my first decent perch of the autumn on the bank. Alas the boat activity started rather sooner than I'd hoped (first barge came through before 0800) so wasn't until I had a lull that bites returned. Brownie was a real surprise (and a disappointment!). Perch looks like it's escaped the jaws of a rather ambitious pike!

River Kennet/flowing canal - Thatcham 1530 - 1815 Bright and breezy. Mild. WT a very encouraging 51ºF. 2 Perch; both 'pounders' - biggest 1lb 14oz. 6 Dace - all chunky ones with a couple of corkers at 12 & 10oz. Pike 5lb 5oz. Plan was to have a dusk session after stripeys,though arriving in very bright sunshine I decided to start by trotting maggots and immediately found some really nice dace (biggest 2 were the first two fish I caught). The 2 perch soon followed and though I switched to lobs for the final hour, with high hopes the only bite on worm resulted in the jack.

River Kennet - Newbury 1300 - 1530 Kennet & Avon Canal - Thatcham 1600 - 1800 Becoming bright, cool and breezy after a mild rainy morning. AT dropped from 11->6ºC. WT 10ºC (50ºF). River and canal 'full' with little colour. River; 1 Chub 2lb 10oz, 2 Perch; small, 8 Roach, 7 Dace. 1 Grayling and around 10 Gudgeon. Canal: 1 Perch 3lb 4oz. 1 Chub 3lb 13oz. Day off to use up some hols (use it or lose it!) and as I had to get some bait for tomorrow's trip I thought I'd drop into a favourite winter flood slack on the river and have a dusk session on the canal. Catching started at breakneck speed on the river - with nearly all the fish caught in the first 30mins! A pike swirling at fry a couple of times soon put paid to that! The switch to the canal looked like being fruitless - until the low light levels persuaded a fish or two to feed. Had my only 3 bites (and 2 fish) in the last 20 minutes. 3lb 4oz stripey...

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

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

Kennet & Avon Canal - Thatcham 0715 - 1045 Mild (9/10ºC) with broken cloud - to bright sunshine at end. A lovely benign autumnal morning. Canal very clear (no boat traffic for a month due to maintenance work upstream) WT a 'balmy' 50ºF. 6 Perch; 2lb 15oz, 1lb 14oz, 1lb10oz & 3 tiddlers. A session that got off to a very slow start with only 2 tiny perch to show for the first hour. A move 100m or so upstream brought instant rewards - and the remaining 4 fish were all caught in the next hour - no bites at all after 0915 - with light levels increasing. Paul was fishing the river not far downstream of me (had a solitary chub of 2½lb). But did take a nice sunrise photo...

River Kennet - Thatcham 0700 - 1200 Sunny morning after a rainy start - rain stopped almost as soon as I started fishing. 2 Perch; 3lb 10oz & 1lb 2oz. 19 Dace (5 of which were in the 8-10oz class - very nice). 3 Roach. Fished trotted corn for the first 45 mins in the hope of snaffling one of the big chub that are usually in residence - but didn't get a touch. Was rueing that decision by 0830 with the swim now in full sunlight thinking I'd wasted the best part of the morning. I needn't have worried - though I was contemplating switching to Plan B and a venue just downstream when at around 1000 I connected with something distinctly chub-like which headed for the trailing branches on the opposite bank. However once I'd bullied it into open water I could see it was a really good perch and I thought I'd be celebrating my 500th blog posting with a 4lber - alas 6 ounces shy - but my best of the season (so far). Also nice so see some really chunky dace in this swim this season.

Speen Moors 0730 - 1645 Mild, overcast and quite breezy. River low. 4 Chub; a 2lber and 3 chublets. 9 Perch; 4 over 1lb, best 1lb 15oz. 20 Roach & Dace. 30+ gudgeon and a brownie of around ¾lb. First time in years that Paul and I have spent a whole day at Speen and it meant we had time for a good wander - though the best of the action was had in the first couple of hours which accounted for all my decent perch (and the 2lb chub) and a fine brace of stripeys for Paul - a 2lb fish was followed next cast with one of 3lb 5oz - his biggest from Speen in AGES! (edit - his biggest EVER from the venue - and the 1st 3 I've seen since I had a 3.06 in Oct 09 http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/index.php?/blog/82/entry-377-3-october/ )We both wanted to find some decent chub - though the only one I saw was a simply hugmungous chevin laying up tight to the bank as I made my way back to the car at dusk - will definitely have to have a go at it next time! Pics courtesy of Paul as per usual! Jungle fishing... Paul decided on a rest and some quiver tipping for roach (he had quite a few up to 10oz) Paul's 3lber - as fat as a football!

K&A Canal, Thatcham 0700 - 1000 Mild (15ºC) and mainly overcast - sunny for last ½hour 6 Perch: 2lb 15oz, 2 around the pound mark and 3 tiddlers. 2 Chub both circa1lb, 1 Roach (small) Successful dawn raid for a big stripey - though in truth the crayfish were rather too active for the majority of the time - especially once it got properly light after 0800 - by which time I'd had the biggie. Wonder what's causing the red belly?

Kennet & Avon Canal, Thatcham (and an hour on the river proper) 0630 - 1300 Warm, overcast, murky and muggy - perfect low light conditions for perching! Temp 17/18ºC 8 Perch; 3lb 6oz, 2lb 7oz and a couple of pounders. 2 Chub 1lb 14oz and a chublet. 1 Roach; 12oz (took a whole lob worm). 5 dace and a grayling (from the river in the last hour) Plan was to do some prospecting for new perch swims so Paul and I covered quite a bit of towpath looking for likely spots - and I reckon we've found half a dozen which are deserving of a 2nd visit. (or in the case of the swim that produced the 3 & the 2) a 3rd,4th & 5th visit. Paul didn't manage any big perch but had a few pounders and some chub of similar size - plus he bagged a few nice roach and dace. Pic of the 3 - a bit blurry - think there must have been a bit of condensation on the camera - it was a very damp morning!

River Kennet 0800 - 0930 - Newbury 1000 - 1230 - Thatcham Overcast, mild (8ºC) and breezy. River high but clear. Newbury - 1 Grayling and a couple of gudgeon. Thatcham; 2 Chub; 4lb 0oz & 3lb 6oz, 1 Perch 4lb 2oz (!) and a small dace. Started at a favoured flood slack which was surprisingly devoid of fish. So shifted off downstream to show Paul and Rusty how its done! However, the first hour and a half or so was bite-less and it looked like I'd be joining the blankers club. There then followed a 45 minute spell where I had all 4 fish - topped off by my 3rd ever 4lb perch - yippee! All fish on trotted maggot. Had planned to stay a little longer but with the wind and rain picking up I decided to quit while I was ahead! Obligatory fish plus pin pics! (A brace of 4s!)

River Kennet - Thatcham 1600 - 1800 Sunny with some broken cloud, Cool (4ºC). River still very high and carrying a bit more colour than last weekend. 1 Perch 2lb 4oz, 3 Roach; 14oz and 2 smalluns, 1 chunky dace of around 6oz. Had a free afternoon so with the forecast heavy showers by-passing West Berkshire it seemed a shame not to visit my new favourite swim! And yet again it threw a bit of a curve ball - no chub - 1st time that has happened - but a smattering of silver fish turning up - also for the 1st time. Perch was literally last cast - almost too dark to see my float - consequently nearly missed the bite when it came!

River Kennet - Thatcham 0645 - 1030 Bright and sunny - a lovely spring morning. River still very high though running clear and a couple of inches down on Sunday. 3 Chub; 5lb 14oz, 3lb 14oz, 3lb 6oz. 3 Perch; 3lb 1oz, 2lb 11oz, 2lb 3oz. Stonking session in the swim I fished on Sunday - though this time there was a bit more flow as the flood water is starting to run off. In truth I hadn't planned to fish here but Paul paid a visit during the week and had a couple of really nice perch (2-09 & a 3) so plans were changed! This swim always looked like it should have perch though until now Paul and I have only caught chub here. Even so with a bright sunny morning in prospect I didn't expect sport (if I had any) to last too long, as it turned out most of the fish came after 0900 when the swim was bathed in full sunlight! Smallest perch on lobs - everything else on trotted maggot. Biggest chub of the season. Pics. of best 2 fish of each species... 3lb 14oz 2lb bigger! Just over 3 - as fat as a football. A bit smaller but better proportioned...

River Kennet - Newbury (plus an hour or so blanking on the canal) 0730 - 1215 Bright and Sunny 5-7ºC. River high though not carrying a lot of colour. 4 Perch; 2lb 0oz, 1lb 6oz, 1lb 3oz, 12oz. 5 Dace, 3 Roach & 9 Gudgeon. A morning spent 'sharing' a large Kennet flood slack with Paul. In truth we rather expected more action (Paul only managed ½doz dace and a gudgeon) and hoped a chub or two would have put in an appearance. Still I'm not complaining with 4 fat perch - all of them were particularly plump! Three perch on maggot, one on lobs (the 2 was on double red mag).

K&A Canal - Enborne 1415 - 1615 Rain! 5ºC. Canal the colour strong tea - and flowing unusually fast! WT 45ºF 3 Perch; 1lb11oz, 1¼lb and a sub pounder. Paul and I had planned a morning trip - but given the forecast I'd switched to a post lunch session and Paul packed the whole idea in! Was still touch and go whether I went - but with the wind dropping right out I thought I'd at least go and have a look! And when I got there I nearly turned around and went straight home. Normal float tactics were never going to work - the bait just didn't stay near enough to the perchy looking 'features' long enough. So it was out with a plan I've been meaning to hatch for some time. A paternoster rig. Swung out across the canal to as near various features as I dared - it wasn't long before I had my first bite - followed by a couple more - given the conditions I was quite chuffed!

K&A Canal - Enborne 1400 - 1600 Cool (4ºC) and bright. WT a low(ish) 43ºF 1 Perch; 1lb 14oz. 1 Chub 1lb 11oz. 1 Tench (!!!) 3lb 3oz. 1 Roach (10oz!). 1 Gudgeon The excuse was a recce to have a look at the river at Speen in preparation for tomorrow's trip - but I couldn't go to the river rodless! The canal though was always my intended option to drown a lob or two. Wasn't particularly optimistic on 2 counts - bright sunshine and a WT of 43ºF. Thankfully no one told the fish! Bites were at a premium but they did come! The gudgeon with eyes rather bigger than its stomach was first cast. And the perch soon followed. Other 3 fish - including my first ever December tinca came in the last half an hour. Christmas Tench - a lovely yellowy/golden hue.

Flowing Canal (Kennet & Avon) Nr Thatcham 1500 - 1715 Bright, VERY breezy, with a very heavy shower to finish - temps cooler than of late at 10ºC 3 Perch; 4lb 5oz (!!!) New PB , 3lb 8oz and a smallun of around 12oz. 1 Chub 3lb 6oz. Blimey! Autumn perching campaign gets off the mark at last in spectacular fashion. Unexpectedly had the afternoon off so with the St Jude's storm easing away it was off to do some more prospecting on the canal. And yet another swim I've never fished before - though this time I think I'll be back before too long!!!! The wind was a bit of a mare especially as it was downstream - but thankfully with a bit of flow here presentation was still manageable. The small perch was pretty much first cast - a hopeful start followed by the 3lber some ¾hr later. The chub soon followed - though hooked much further downstream than where I'd taken the 2 perch. Then the heavens opened and I put my brolley up and just plonked the float rig in the margins by my feet - with the lob no doubt fluttering gently in the current - not really fishing just waiting for the shower to pass. The rain was in full lash when the float just shot off. My first thought was that it was a jack - as the fight was a series of long 'pike like' runs. However it soon showed its true colours and I was out of cover getting drenched in a flash when I saw the size of it - and that it was only just hooked! Gingerly guided to the net with no further alarms - my second 4lber! Hooray! (I wonder what it will weigh in March ? ) So, a helluva fluke - but who cares, I've walked a lot of miles this autumn sussing out potential new swims - I'll take that bit of luck thank you! Still had time to hook and lose a pike before it was too dark to see my float. Pics unfortunately aren't brill - camera was getting very wet very quickly which didn't help but meant it was all a bit hurried BIG. BIGGER.

I have been fishing a few years but never been to a commercial fishery, it may have been my imagination but my float fishing in challenging windy conditions seemed to amuse the lads sitting behind their alarms waiting for the the carp to bite. The funny thing is I had a great day for Rudd and Perch, whilst the alarms stayed mostly silent! I was just wondering if this is typical fishery behaviour? or am I just paranoid? after all we are there for the same reason..

Kennet & Avon Canal - Enborne 0700 - 0830 Mild and overcast. 4 Perch: 2 'pounders' though not by a lot. 1 Chub 1lb 10z. 1 Carp 5lb 3oz. Detour en route to Speen to check out a couple of 'banker' stripey swims from last winter. First cast perfection as the lob plopped an inch from a semi-submerged branch was met with the float shooting under before it had time to cock and a powerful fish charged up the cut. I knew it wasn't a perch - and whilst I had hoped it would be a nice tench my suspicions were confirmed when I eventually got it under control - a ruddy carp - my first ever from here in over 30 years of fishing it. Some target fish followed but nothing over 1lb 6oz before a slightly more welcome chub put in an appearance....

I'm a huge fan of Perch fishing, on the rivers where possible. I know my local stretch of the Wey in Surrey (the Guildford stretch) has decent Perch and I've caught them up to 2lb, but I'd love to know if anyone knows of other stretches or other rivers round my area that hold a decent head of Perch. Look forward to your thoughts......