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Showing results for tags 'river kennet'.
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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
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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
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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
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River Kennet - Hambridge 0915 - 1315 Cool, calm and bright. AT 3º - 6ºC. River at normal winter levels and quite clear - looked in great nick. 1 Chub; 1½lb. 3 Perch; 1lb 9oz, 1lb 6oz and a sub lber (but not by much!). 7 Roach - all handsized. 7 Dace - 3 in the 6-8oz class. 4 Brownies - a lber and 3 smalluns. Usual tactics to snaffle a decent chub from the off meets with a rare failure (I'm blaming the bright conditions and a trout first cast!) - only chub I did get turned up amongst the dace mid session. Nice to see some perch turning up here (they seem to appear once a yea
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River Kennet - Padworth 1800 -2300 Warm and overcast with light rain for last 2 hours. 30 Dace & 2 Perch. Another trotting/static combo. Nice to get a bite a chuck on the trotting gear - and both perch were in the 8-10oz bracket. Not so much as a crayfish rattle on the ledgering rods...
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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
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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 - Thatcham 0915 - 1245 Bright with squally showers. AT 9ºC. River up a few inches with a tinge of colour. 1 Chub; 1lb 13oz. 1 Grayling; 1lb 5oz. 5 Roach, 2 Dace & 4 Brownies - an old warrior of 4lb 12oz & 3 parr fish. My first visit here this season - mainly due to the fact that the venue has been closed whilst a new foot bridge across the Kennet was built. I usually consider this more of a summer venue so quite pleased with this morning's return especially as the river was sub optimal. Grayling in particular was a surprise - rare to see them this far d
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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 on
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River Kennet - Aldershot Water (Brimpton) 1400 - 1530. Still misty and overcast. 10°C. River at normal levels. 1 Chub; 3lb 3oz. 1 Dace. 3 Brownies; 2XPounders - (probably same fish!) So the plan was to end the day as I'd started it - hunting chub, and a return to a spot I last fished back in September. Chub first cast which was an excellent start - alas trout then trashed the swim - had all 3 in quick succession and they all jumped and caused a commotion on the surface - resulting in just a solitary dace for the final hour.
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River Kennet - Arrowhead (Thatcham) 0715 - 1030 Dull and quite breezy, temps around 10ºC. River at normal levels with little colour. 6 Dace, 1 Roach & 2 brownies - all small. Scratchy session to a venue I only visit every other year or so but which in the past (well 13/14 & 14/15) was a nailed on banker for big chub and perch ( see here as an example). Strange as the place still screams fish but I've caught very little here since those 2 winter campaigns (And not a whole lot prior to that). Today I did have the excuse of a couple of splashy trout - the first 2 fish
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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 h
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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 0845 - 1045 Cool and overcast. River at normal levels with minimal colour. 2 Chub: 2lb 9oz & 1lb 14oz. 9 Dace & 6 Roach - nothing of noteworthy size. 1 Brownie. Quick couple of hours as I needed to get some bait for my trip to the Itchen on Monday - not that I need an excuse to fish one of my favourite (and most reliable) swims on the Kennet. As usual biggest chub first cast and I must find a way of winkling out more than one in a session from here (the smaller one was from a different spot which I dropped in to for 20 mins to 'rest' my main
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River Kennet - Speen Moors 1015 - 1400 Cool, overcast and quite breezy. River in good nick - not as high or coloured as I expected after all the rain last weekend. 5 Chub; 3lb 6oz, 2lb 2oz, 1lb 6oz & 2 chublets. 1 Perch 1lb 7oz. 30(!) Roach with around a 3rd in the 8-12oz bracket. 12 Dace - all, bar 2, a really good size - biggest weighed in at 11oz but nearly everything else was within an ounce or 2 of this - cracking stuff. 2 Bleak & a Gudgeon. Super trotting session - can't remember when I last caught sooo many silvers from here - and a really nice stamp as well.
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River Kennet - Marsh Benham 0700 - 1200 Cool and sunny - felt quite autumnal first thing. 9-15ºC 4 Chub; a brace of 2lbers and a couple of chublets. 30+ Roach & a doz+ Dace - nothing particularly big. 5 Bleak. 3 Rainbows 2½-4½lb. 1 Brownie; 3lb+ A morning hunting chub but finding mainly rainbows - I also lost 3 - one of which was nailed by a huge pike as I brought it in!
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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
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River Kennet - Colthrop 0700 - 1015 Bright and sunny. River at normal early autumn levels (i.e. quite low). 2 Chub - both quite small. 5 Roach - handsized or better. 4 Dace. 12 Gudgeon and a bleak. Bit of a recce trip as I haven't fished here for a while - ran a float through half a dozen swims on the backstream, giving each half an hour or so.
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River Kennet - Brimpton (Aldershot water) 1030 - 1400 Warm and sunny. 21ºC. River at normal September levels. 13 Chub(!): 7 over 1lb but 'only' 2 over 2 - best 2lb 10oz & 3lb 2oz. 4 Roach - all a nice size - best 13oz. 2 Dace. 5 Brownies - all around 10oz with one a fair bit bigger. Another swim I've not fished in a while - though I won't be so tardy revisiting it! Nice to see smaller chub coming through - and the roach were a real bonus as well.
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River Kennet - Widmead 1015 - 1215 Sunny spells and still cool - 14ºC. 1 Chub: 1½lb. 13 Dace: most a really nice size - biggest 12oz. 1 Roach. A real pain getting through the minnows - but once you did there were some quality dace on offer - still hoping this swim will produce decent chub - but had just the one modest sized one early in the session to show for my efforts. Best dace of the season (so far!)
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River Kennet - Nr Thatcham 1830 - 2130 Warm and overcast - with a couple of very light showers. River low. 2 Chub - both circa 2lbs. 3 Dace. 1 Grayling. 4 Brownies to 1lb+ Trotting/barbel session cut short! Started in a couple of banker chub swims - hoping for something bigger than actually turned up. Once I settled down over my ledgering rods things got err interesting! Was watching a pair of swans and their 6 cygnets slowly making there way upstream when suddenly the cob shot half way across the river and attacked an otter which had been coming
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River Kennet - Hambridge 0615 - 0930 Cool (9ºC) and overcast - more like late October than late August! River higher than normal for this time of year - but reasonably clear given all the rain this week. 2 Chub; 3lb 14oz & a chublet. 1 Pike; 8lb 12oz. 7 Dace, 5 Roach and a couple of brownies - 12oz+. Chub first cast ( as per usual) after trickling in maggot for 15mins before starting. One of the dace was an absolutel clonker - a season's best for all of 2 and a bit hours (see part 2!). Pike appeared after resting the swim - I'd fished it for 90 mins or so then went exp
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River Kennet - Brimpton 1800 - 2300 Warm, still evening (calm after the storm!). River up a tad and carrying a bit of colour (and the odd branch!) 2 Roach (handsized). 2 Dace. 3 Gudgeon & a Brownie (small). An hour's trotting - hopeful of a chub - but really just a blank prevention measure (!) followed by 4 hours staring at a couple of isotopes willing one of them to wrap around with a three foot twitch. Alas the only excitements came from the crayfish and numerous bats crashing into the line.....
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River Kennet - Padworth 0600 - 1230 Bright and blowy! River at normal summer levels and carrying a bit of colour. 1 Chub, 7 Roach & 7 Dace. 3 dace in the 8-10oz class (nice!) and a couple of the Roach were 12-14oz as was the chub. 2 Gudgeon, 1 Bleak. After my success here trotting last month I promised to return and have a proper go on the float. Fished around 10- to a dozen swims and only had fish from 2 of them with the chub and all the bigger silvers coming from the first one I dropped in - alas this early promise wasn't fulfilled!
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Middle Kennet Weirpool - Marsh Benham 0600 - 1200 Hot and sultry - 19º -> 27ºC. River a little on the low side but not as bad as it can be in August! 12 Chub: 6 over lb, best 2 both went 4lb 3oz (different fish) - nice to see some small ones. 3 Bream; 2¾ to just under 4lb. 30 Dace. 20+ Roach. 4 Bleak. 1 Brown Trout - 6lb 1oz (!!) & 2 Rainbows of 2½ & 3½lbs. Cracking morning's trotting - though the big brownie was on ledgered meat and had me convinced I was into a barbel for a few minutes! Don't usually take pics of troot - usually try to avoid them - but th
