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River Kennet - Hambridge 0945 - 1445 Mainly cloudy with sunny spells and light drizzly showers. River still full to bursting, not dropped at all! 3 Chub: 4lb 13oz, 3lb 4oz & a tiddler. 3 Dace - all small, 1 Grayling. 3 Brownies (all around 8oz) and a 2lb rainbow! Plan for the last day was for a Double Header in the hunt for a big chub - morning at Brimpton and the afternoon here. But having trekked ¾mile with chesties and full pack I turned around and walked straight back to the car (arriving rather hot and sweaty!) - the reason - a tree had come down bang smack in the middle of where I wanted to fish - poo! So a quick hop upstream - to another favourite flood swim and the session was topped and tailed by the 2 bigger chub - 4lber first cast and the 3 pretty much last - certainly last fish of the season.

River Kennet - Brimpton 0500 - 1200 Cool, bright start - becoming VERY windy and showery. AT never above 16ºC - so the fleece never came off! River with good flow and a little colour. 1 Chub 2lb 2oz. 6 Dace - a couple of chunky ones (6-8oz). 1 Grayling - circa 10-12oz. 10 Brownies - most around 12oz with a couple much bigger to 2½lb. Pleasant mornings trotting despite the wind and I also had a couple of fruitless hours ledgering meat - without a touch (not even from the crayfish). Rather too many trout for my liking but did at least get a chub from the 4th swim I dropped into. 1st choice banker swim still out of action due to fallen tree!

River Kennet - Hambridge 0500 - 0800 Cool, misty start - though quickly warmed up. River at normal levels and carrying a surprising amount of colour - didn't think there would have been much boat traffic to colour it up. 1 Pike; 9lb 6oz, 2 Chub; 3lb 3oz & a pounder. 1 Dace. 2 Brownies one that must have been close to 2lb and a tiddler. I had planned an evening session on a stillwater for today - but weather warnings for thunderstorms this evening saw me up at the crack of dawn again and standing up to my thighs in river water trickling in maggots at 0445 hoping to get a shoal of chub feeding with abandon. Last night when I got my gear ready for today I lobbed a box of plugs into my fishing bag - remembering I often get pike trouble fishing this swim in the summer. Within 10 minutes of starting to fish I was tackling up my feeder rod with one of it's contents. As planned the 15 minute prebaiting resulted in a chub first cast quickly followed by a dace - and as I lifted it into my hand to unhook a pike jumped clear trying (and failing) to snatch it. 3rd run through with a floating lure and I had a very aggresive take - again just as I was about to lift to recast. A brief but lively battle followed before I had her on the bank - my first deliberately caught Esox in a while (I usually get a few each winter perch fishing!). After all this excitement further action was hard to come by until I eventually snaffled another chub before the swim was again trashed by a couple of splashy trout.

River Kennet, Newbury & Thatcham 0400 - 1230 Cool, overcast and very blustery. River quite coloured and very full for the time of year - highest it's been in the summer for many a year.... (well since 2007 now I come to think about it!!) 2 Chub; 2lb & 1¼lb. 1 Barbel 3lb. 57 Dace, 7 Roach, 3 Grayling, 1 Perch, 1 Gudgeon, 1 Bleak & a 1¾lb spottie. Pleasant start to the season with plenty of fish to put a bend in the rod - we had planned an overnighter on a local lake put had been put off by the weather forecast which wasn't half as bad as predicted in these parts. Paul also had a good haul of silvers but nothing big so we moved venues for the last couple of hours to one of my favourite parts of the river for a float caught barbel. This is Paul's first year on this book - so he was getting his first sight of the venue. I plonked him in one of my favourite swims and thankfully my gillie-ing paid off as it wasn't too long before I heard the ratchet go on his pin and he was drawing a fighting fit 4lb+ barbel to a waiting net. I couldn't repeat the trick to add to my earlier barbel only catching the troot after the move - though I did suffer a smash up fishing at very long range... Some pics from Paul - as per usual. Gudgeon! (Paul's entered the annual IAC species race!) Paul's first barbel of the season. Me.

River Kennet - Newbury 0415 - 0615 Mild, overcast morning - river at or slightly above normal summer levels - with a bit of colour. 1 chub 4lb 9oz, 11 dace, (3 really chunky ones - would have weighed them had I not been standing mid-river), 1 roach, 2 gudgeon and a spottie. Very quick trotting session to christen the season before dashing off to watch Sam in his first AAAs final at Bedford this morning. Nice to see a decent chub turn up in this swim (you know which one, Chris ) alas didn't have time to find out if his brothers and sisters were also in residence!

River Kennet - Newbury 0400 - 0630 Warm, bright and sunny! River not as low as I'd expected. 2 Chub; 3lb 13oz, 3lb 3oz, 16 dace, 2 Roach, 1 grayling, 3 brownies. And so another season begins and what better way to start than standing up to my thighs in cooling Kennet water after a hot muggy night! A couple of chub in the first 20 mins got the season off to a cracking start and dropping down 60m or so brought a dace a chuck before it was time to miss the rush hour and head home for brekkie!

River Kennet - Marsh Benham 0500 - 1400 Bright and breezy with heavy showers. River with good flow and a tinge of usual summer colour. 4 Chub to 3lb, 1 Bream; 4lb 3oz, 5 Dace, 4 Roach & a Perch. And so another season begins - a nice quiet secluded start on my syndicate stretch. All fish on trotted maggot despite ledgering for several hours (during the rain) with meat - which didn't produce a jot of interest - not even from the cray fish!

River Kennet - Thatcham 0645 - 1045 Warm and overcast - river in good nick with good weed growth this year. 2 Chub; 3lb 11oz & 1lb 14oz. 1 Barbel; 2lb 5oz. 7 spotties - all small except for 1 'pounder'. Fished a number of swims in rotation - number one banker swim produced just trout (all of them bar 1!) but dropping downstream produced the 3lb chub. Other 2 fish up in the fast shallows. No sign of any dace which is a shame!

0645 - 1015 Speen Moors 1115 - 1315 River Kennet, Newbury 1345 - 1615 River Lambourn, Newbury Foggy start, then bright sunshine and quite warm - shirtsleeves weather! River still very high. Lambourn particularly so. Another '3 venue day'! Speen. 2 Chub; 2lb 10oz, 1lb 7oz & 3 Dace. Had planned to spend all day here but high water meant I couldn't actually get to ANY of the swims I wanted to fish. Started in a known perch slack AKA 'Rusty's Corner' which is now full of branches, so 30 mins and 3 hooklengths later I was trying to make my way down stream to a chub hot spot - got ¾ of the way there when I had to turn back at a breach in the bank that was still a couple of foot deep. APFA swim was also under water (well the bank was of course) so I had to make do with an hour or so in the ever reliable small weir and having taken a couple of trout out yesterday (I popped them back upstream for the fluff chuckers) at least fish without an adipose got a lookin! Kennet. 27 Dace & 2 Grayling. Bite of lunch in the sun and a stack of dace on the float - strangely almost ALL of them were males only 3 weren't sandpapery and I caught no pigeon chested females. Lambourn. 19 Grayling; 6 over a pound best 2; 1lb 9oz & 1lb 5oz. 4 Trout parr. Usual catch a couple and move on tactics.

River Kennet 0500 - 1430 Bright and sunny - and VERY breezy. River very full - highest I've ever seen it at this time of year. 0500 - 0800 - Newbury. 1 Barbel, 4lb 9oz, 7 dace, 2 roach and a brownie Always try and get a session here early in the season - though last year was the first time in over 30 years I didn't get a barbel from here - something I put right within 10 minutes of starting to fish. The surprise was it came from my 3rd choice swim! Choice number 1 was inaccessible due to depth and flow (it can only be accessed by wading something which would have been foolhardy - I tried but had to turn back!). Choice number 2 was occupied by someone overnighting at the venue. So confidence wasn't high but the swim has produced decent dace before now - but a barbel on the bank was a real bonus. Note to self - add 'check camera batteries' to start of season checklist! 0845 - 1145 - Thatcham 1 Chub 4lb 14oz, 16 Dace, 1 brownie. So after a trip to Tony's to replenish the maggot supply (and pop next door for some batteries) it was off to a swim which pretty much saved my winter fishing last season and a spot which a certain Mr Brasier has purchased some new fangled float to surf the far bank trees. In truth a rod held high and a stiff cross wind achieved the same effect this morning and the 'chunky' dace Chris reported as being in residence yesterday were very obliging. Bites from the dace were just starting to dry up when a strike met with a very solid resistance and a hefty chub burying itself into the ranunculus on my bank meaning a scramble downstream to effect an extraction - well worth it though. 1200 - 1430 - Thatcham 2 Chub;2lbs and a chublet, 2 dace, 4 brownies to 1¼lb One of my favourite trotting venues though the heavy flow made for a bit of a struggle - and the winter floods have re-modelled a number of my favourite swims (and not in a good way!). Still it was nice to stand in the river with the sun beating down and catch a few fish. Also saw an enormous carp - wonder which lake that escaped from in the winter!

Kennet & Avon Canal - Thatcham 0645 - 0830 1 Chublet. River Kennet - Thatcham 0930 - 1115 1 Chub; 4lb 4oz River Kennet - Thatcham (about ¾mile upstream) 1145 - 1330 2 Grayling Cool, bright and quite breezy at times. Canal and river quite 'full' and carrying a little colour WT46ºC All the talk of big perch on the forum had me hankering after a stripey so despite sub-optimal conditions I was on the tow path casting out at the crack of dawn. The water temp gave me a small flicker of optimism as did a fish on the bank within the first 10 mins. OK, so wrong species - but it was nice to get a bite straight away. Pity I didn't get another! So with canal bathed in sunshine it was off to get some more bait and sidle off downstream to get a proper chub - again achieved within 10 minutes and again the only bite. To finish off a visit to last winter's hot spot to see if any chub and or perch were in residence (or even a big dace or 2) - and yet again I was met with grayling - becoming a bit of a regular feature here!

River Kennet - Nr. Thatcham 1830 - 2300 Warm, still evening. River low and looking rather threadbare after a dry spring (and a dry June) 2 Dace; 1 chunky one of 8oz, 1 Grayling (13oz) & 2 brownies - both circa 10oz - and possibly the same fish! Start of what will probably a familiar pattern over the summer. A couple of hours trotting - ostensibly to try and get a float caught barbel - but in truth Rusty will spot the blank avoidance ruse, followed by a couple of hours staring at a pair of stationary isotopes. The trotting session quickly became an 'avoid the trout' session and I hooked another 3 or 4 bigger ones which got off after trashing swims. Surprised to get a grayling - a rare sight in this part of the river.... Lovely evening to be out though!

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham 1830 - 2330 Warm , bright and breezy evening. River low 2doz Dace, 1 Roach, 1 Bleak. Another evening blanking for barbel - but I at least had the compensation of finding a shed load of dace in the first hour. Switching to the lead thereafter - the only interest in the baits came from minnows and crayfish!

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham 1830 - 2130 Warm, muggy evening. River very low - looking rather threadbare! 6 Dace; 3 in the 6-8oz class. 1 Roach. 3 Brownies; biggest 1lb 5oz. First trip to a swim Paul and I recce'd in the close season - an area we reckon held good trotting potential and good 'static' areas - particularly for near bank 'lowering'! The trotting lived up to expectations with some nice chunky dace and a couple of trout doing good imitations of chub as they headed for near bank cover. After an hour I was lowering a bait under a near bank bush in fast-ish deep-ish water - hopeful for some action. Hope that VERY rapidly faded. First the rather peculiar sight of a large pike (circa 15lb at a guess) being chased around the swim by an only slightly smaller esox. The bigger pike had a bream of around 1-2lb clamped between its jaws and I can only assume the smaller fish was trying to bully the larger one into letting go of it - certainly looked that way! I watched this go on for about 20 mins when all of a sudden both fish shot off downstream. The reason for their alarm soon became apparent when TWO otters came through my swim - cavorting and play fighting in mid river - and completely oblivious to my presence! At this I decided it clearly wasn't going to be my night and packed up while it was still light!

River Kennet - Speen Moors 0645 - 1045 Cool and bright. Ice on the car for the first time this autumn - temps down to 1ºC overnight (in our greenhouse)! River low and clear. 1 Chub; 2lb 14oz. 2 Perch (one circa 1lb), 1 Bream 1lb 1oz. 3 Dace & 5 Gudgeon. First trip here of the season so did as much walking as fishing. Did want to have an hour before the sun rose in a favoured perch swim - which is not proving as reliable as it once was and the only time my lobs were bothered it was by the signals. Once the sun was up it was always going to be a struggle in such low water. Chub and bream were from a 'new' swim - certainly not one I've ever fished before - and one which looks like it might be quite good with a bit more water in the river!

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham 0845 - 1515 Warm, overcast and very muggy - with some drizzly rain at times. River very full for high summer and quite coloured (though that's normal for the summer!) 2 Chub: 3lb 2oz, 2lb 14oz. 2 Dace, 3 Grayling, 8 Brown Trout - 3 over 1lb to 1lb 10oz. Relaxed morning's trotting though it quickly became a quest to A - avoid the minnows and B - catch something without an adipose! A change of venue further downstream eventually produced the brace of chub in the afternoon (and the bigger spotties!)

River Kennet - Newbury 1730 - 2230 Warm, overcast and breezy - with annoying light drizzle to finish! River quite low. 4 Chub; 3lb 0oz, 2lb 2oz and a couple of pounders. 14 Roach - with around half in the 8-10oz bracket, 3 Dace. A cracking hours trotting, followed by incessant crayfish activity! Had intended to stay longer but the drizzle was being blown in under the brolly and I was starting to get very damp!

Middle Kennet Estate - Nr Newbury 0800 - 1600 Overcast with drizzle at times becoming increasingly windy. AT 10ºC. River very low. 14 Chub: Biggest 4lb 9oz. 2 Dace: - 1 a real lump of 12oz. 4 Roach. A doz+ Rainbows - all 2-2½lb & a couple of small Brownies. A day playing avoid the trout - which was difficult as they appeared to be sharing the same swims as the chub! Did eventually find a couple of swims with fewer of the menaces - which produced the big dace and the biggest chub of the day.

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham 0900 - 1200 Much cooler than of late 'only' 20ºC. 1 Chub; 2lb 2oz, 4 Dace & 4 Brownies. Just a short session today as work is interrupting my week off! (but in a good way - off to an awards ceremony soon - http://www.hpma.org.uk/awards/awards-ceremony fingers crossed we win!) This wasn't so much as a trotting session as a trek with full pack! My pedometer recorded that I covered 3.8km as a searched (and generally failed) to find some new swims to fish...

River Kennet/Carrier, Marsh Benham 1000 - 1230 Overcast, warm and breezy. A brace of 3lb chub and a dozen chublets. 18 Roach, all small. 6 Dace, 1 Perch, 1 Brownie and 1 Rainbow. A venue that will see more of me in the winter months when there's a bit more water in it - but as I now have unfettered access wanted to see it in its summer finery!! had been told to expect lots of weed - but still found plenty of spots to drop into. Was hoping to pick up something a little bigger on the roach front but it was good to see so many fish present. Both bigger chub from the main river.

River Kennet - Newbury 0500 - 1200 Cool(ish) and cloudy with drizzly rain for last 30 mins. 2 Chub; both circa 1¼lb. 3doz+ Dace, 1½doz Roach, 1 Gudgeon and 5 Brownies - 3 over 1lb. Morning trotting session on 2 venues a couple of miles apart before the rains came. Chub from each (was hoping for better on that front) and plenty of silver fish.

River Kennet - Thatcham (2 venues) 0900 - 1400 Warm, muggy and overcast. A dozen + dace, 2 perch (both around 10-12oz), 1 roach, 1 Gudgeon & 2 brownies - 12-16oz. A visit here is now more by habit than expectation - long gone are the days when you could hope to winkle out a few barbel on the float - though I was still hopeful of chub. However just getting to a swim was a battle - head high nettles meant I just hacked my way into a couple of spots and din't venture downstream as I had intended to. A switch a couple of hundred yards upstream to another overgrown stretch and one that is on the club book for the last season - alas. Once I'd found a vantage point to fish from the dace came thick and fast for an hour or so....

River Kennet - Nr Newbury 0400 - 0800 Fine clear morning, 10º - 14ºC. River quite low and carrying its usual summer colour. 4 Chub best 2, 3lb 7oz & 3lb 3oz, 1 Perch 1lb 15oz, 5 Trout, best 1¼lb, 1 doz roach, 10 dace and 3 gudgeon. A lovely dawn spent standing in mid river trotting maggot. Perch first cast, All chub came in consecutive casts after 0700 - from the tail of the swim where they'd no doubt been confidently sucking in my maggot for the previous 3 hours!

River Kennet - Nr Newbury 1830 - 2330 Overcast with drizzly showers. 14ºC. River quite low - needs a drop-o-rain! 5 Barbel (6lb 10oz, 6lb 2oz, 5lb 9oz, 4lb 3oz, 3lb 15oz), 1 Chub 1½lb A return to the 'Fryingpan Swim'. 3 barbel in 1st 45 mins then 3 more fish between 21-2300.

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!