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​Kennet & Avon Canal - Thatcham ​0730 - 1015 ​Calm and overcast. AT 13-15ºC. WT 13.9ºC ​5 Perch; biggest 2, 1lb 10oz & 1lb 6oz. ​Perfect perch morning somewhat ruined by early boat traffic. Bites from the off - but after the first barge came through at 0830 I didn't get another touch!!!

Kennet & Avon Canal - Enborne 0700 - 1000 River Kennet - Speen Moors 1030 - 1300 ​Overcast, with some light early drizzle becoming bright and sunny. River (and canal) very low. ​K&A - 11 Perch; 4 over 1lb - biggest 2lb 2oz. 1 Chub; 1lb (ish) ​Speen Moors - 1 Chub; 2lb 10oz, 2 Perch; 1lb 8oz and one just under 1lb. 2 Gudgeon and a Brownie. ​Slow start on the canal - having arrived before it was light enough to see my float I had to wait until 0830 for my first bite - but then had steady action for an hour. Speen was more of a walk than a fishing trip though did get the chub and bigger perch in consecutive casts from the first swim I tried - but in truth it needs more water - looking very threadbare!

I've dropped out of angling pretty much for the past two seasons due to a serious cycling habit - but the allure of the rivers is drawing me back. Once June 16 hits I hope to wet a line. Unlike my my inventive fishing partners who employ a range of fishing techniques for a range of species, I will invariably drop into a trotting session with float and fixed spool reel (my centrepin days never really took off). I guess my hopes for next season include a summers day, sun shining (yes I know that knocks my chance of catching), hearing the water burbling past and my float smoothly edging down the swim, across gravel beds between streamer weed. I'll probably lug my gear along by train and public transport. Happy to cough up a few spondoolies for a day ticket. But where? Countryside or urban I don't care. I don't want you to put me on your fish. But somewhere interesting where I'll have a sniff. Thanks folks Tiddler Tamer

River Kennet - Newbury 0945 - 1415 Very mild, with milky sunshine at times. AT 59ºF. WT53ºF. River low and clear - almost at summer levels. 3 Chub; 3lb 1oz & 2 'pounders'. 5 Perch; 4 over 1lb - biggest 1lb 15oz, and one just shy of 1lb. 20 Dace. 6 Roach. 2 Grayling; both around 12oz. 3 Brownies; 2lb+ fish and a couple of parr fish. Very productive trotting session - standing in the middle of the river in shirt-sleeves in December! Found a shoal of perch right at the end of the session and a quick change to lobs saw 4 of them on the bank in 20 mins. (First one on maggot).

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.

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 - 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 - 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).

I am thinking of making spinner blades out of coins , 1p , 2 p , 5 p , 10 p etc..... I think i could make a good shape of blades by using a rolling mill Does anyone know much about rolling mills ? ( I Dont ) As far as i know they work like old washing mangles I just thought coins would be a very hard spinning blade also in a wide variety of colours & sizes I am always looking for new ways to make my spinners i think this could be a good idea Any help , hints , tips would be very welcome Thank you All

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!

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......

Just wondering what other people thoughts and ideas may be here? I've access to quite a large stretch of a river where it is still tidal - it's several miles inland, but tidal ebb and flow sees the river change direction of flow completely, and water levels vary by maybe 3 - 5 metres on any given day. Though I say I've got access, ACTUAL access can be very difficult and patchy due to banksides which can vary from almost vertical and thick with trees, to vertical drops down brick sidings (12 feet to the water, even at high tide), or simply very, VERY muddy. There ARE barbel present in the river here, though my guess is that their location will vary not only on the topography of the river itself, but also is likely massively affected by the constant change in salinity - not a hoge population, but the odd one that does comes out is typically a quite substantial fish.. Likewise perch - unfortunately the only place I've actually managed to locate them is 100% inaccessible except from a boat (not currently an option) - and judging by fins above water there are some serious fish there. Pike? Large parts of the bankside look like an Alabama swamp when the water is at a decent level, though these are inevitably reduced to mudflats at low tide - it looks more like an alligator habitat than anything else, but I have seen some VERY big predator-strikes on occasion that I've put down to pike. Now, virtually NO-ONE fishes along here, apart from the very occasional guy trotting further upstream at lower water levels, and the even more occasional guy with a fly-rod looking for the run of elusive sea-trout that are present. I'd like to think that after so many years I can take a reasonable stab at fish location on typical rivers, but tidal stretches are a complete mystery to me ... has anyone any constructive thoughts or experience of fish location with respect to tides / salinity, and what stages of the tide are likely to be most productive on the river?

Hi follks im new to the forum and new too coarse fishing although i do have some sea fishing experiance so im not completely clueless i want to start spinning for perch in my local canal and was hoping for some advice on the set up. I like light gear as you get agood scrap out of most fish then so i was thinking of going for the following. a 5"6 rod with cast weight of 2-10g Light reel about 7.5 ounces with some 3 pound line and using some mepps spinners any help or advice would be great

Hello everyone. I fancy having a go at fishing the Thames around Richmond, what would my chances with artificial lures and spinners be there? What is the likelihood of catching Pike in that stretch of the Thames? Any advice on decent spots around that area, and any tips in general? Thanks ! Sebbo

I reckon a certain Steve Burke will like this guy's approach: http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/fishing_photos/big_perch.html Steve wrote about this subject when Anglers' Net first launched: http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/coarse-fishing-articles/big_perch_steve_burke.html

Please take the time to give this a view chaps, thank you

Kennet & Avon Canal - Enborne 0700 - 1100 Overcast with 'milky' sunshine. 2º - 10ºC. WT 41ºF 3 Perch; 1lb 13oz and a couple of smalluns With the current mild spell well and truely kicking in, Perch we're always going to be on the agenda for this weekend. I couldn't make up my mind though on A; where to fish and B; whether to do a dawn or a dusk session. In the end I decided to do both, Fish both venues I had in mind one at dawn and one at dusk (see 16 February (part 2)) for the dusk report. Morning got off to a good start with a fish first cast, only small but it proved something of a false omen as it was nearly an hour before my float next bobbed and the biggest one of the morning was brought to the net. In the mean time I'd taken the water temp - 41ºF - way too low for good sport and my confidence was evaporating as quickly as the cloud cover. 2 hours for my next and last bite after which I packed up and wandered off downstream with the half baked plan that I might go and look at the Northcroft Stream. Unfortunately the tow path was closed for repairs and I couldn't get through. I did however take the WT of the main river - a slightly more promising 44ºF. So off for lunch, more bait and a swim 5 miles downstream.....

Just started a YouTube channel. Let me know what you think, guys.

K&A Canal - Thatcham 0730 - 0945 Mild, with cloud clearing (rather too quickly for my liking) to milky sunshine. AT 48ºF, WT 47ºF 1 Perch; 2lb 6oz Couldn't resist the lure of the canal with these mild conditions - though, alas, it was much brighter than forecast! Fished 4 swims and only managed 2 bites all morning - both of which came from the 2nd swim I dropped in and resulted in the blank saving stripey. Banker swim failed to produce - again!

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.

River Kennet - Nr Newbury 0645 - 1045 Bright after a misty start. 7 -> 12ºC River up and inch or two and carrying a bit of colour after yesterday's rain. 4 Chub - 3lb 0oz and 3 chublets all circa ¾lb, 2 Perch: 2lb 11oz & a smallun, 28 dace, 10 roach, 5 gudgeon and a grayling. Started off trotting lobs and had both perch and the bigger chub in the first ¾hr before switching to maggot. Quick chat with Rusty who was en-route to Speen and finished off further downstream where I had all 3 chublets and a much better stamp of dace!

River Kennet - Speen Moors 0630 - 1045 Bright and clear and quite chilly - 3º -> 11ºC. River at normal summer levels (ie quite low!) 9 Perch; 2lb 8oz & 8 smalluns, 2 Chub; both circa 1¼lb, 1 Pike 6lb 15oz, a dozen gudgeon & ½doz roach and dace. First trip of the autumn so had a wander around and fished 5 swims in all. Big perch first cast and the pike not long after - both to lobs. All other fish on trotted maggot.

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.