Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'trotting'.
-
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 pacey. Had all 3 good chub from the bottom swim - the biggest hooked right at the end of a verrrrrrry long trot - took an absolute age to coax it upstream in the current! First 5lb chub of the season an absolute barrel of a fish!
-
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 I found some chub by running my float under some far bank willows - not a spot I've ever had one from before - though I can't think why as it looks VERY chubby!
-
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 making float control tough. Got off to a great start with 2 chub and 2 trout before 0900! All fish from just a couple of swims - bar the lost brownie - which was hooked when I went for a wander to rest my 'hotspots'.
-
Kennet Carrier - Marsh Benham 0815 - 1345 Cold with fog - which eventually cleared for the last hour. AT -2º -> 4ºC, rings icing up till midday. Stream very full with just a hint of colour - perfect winter nick! 8 Chub: All bar one over 2lb; Best, 4lb 4oz, 3lb 9oz & 3lb 4oz. 2 Doz Roach & Dace (2/3rds Roach) A couple of the dace were lumps - one went 10oz the other, unweighed but of similar stamp. 1 Perch- small(ish). 4 Trout between 1¾- 2½lb. Day got of to an inauspicious start with 3 trout from my first 3 trots - not what I wanted from a morning's winter chubbing. Thankfully my next swim produced my target species and I pretty much managed to avoid fish with an adipose from thereon. 4lber from a swim I don't recall ever catching a chub from before.
-
River Lambourn - Shaw 0930 - 1200 Cold and cloudy. AT 0º-2ºC. River very full but, as always, crystal clear. 10 Grayling - all small with a couple around 8-10oz. 11 Trout - a netter (probably close on a lb) with the rest parrs - bit of a nuisance - in the same way minnows are! Repeat of last weekend with the Kennet completely out of sorts after 1¾ inches of rain since Weds. A couple of hours on the bank to cure cabin fever - after being stuck at home yesterday with no electricity for 8 hours - the fishing stove was pressed into domestic duties for copious amounts of soup and tea! 4 other anglers here when I arrived so all things considered a pretty good return on the grayling front - all be it nothing of any size.
-
River Lambourn - Newbury 0830 - 1130 Cold & bright. AT -2ºC -> +1ºC, line freezing in the ferrules most of the morning. River 'full' and crystal clear as always. 17 Grayling; 4 'pounders' - best 1lb 9oz & 1lb 5oz. 6 Brownies a pounder (actually probably nearer 2lb) and 5 smalluns/parrs. Default venue when the Kennet and conditions are sub-optimal and a much better return than my last two trips here - the extra depth of water clearly making a big difference. Still most swims produced just 1 or 2 fish apart from the last one which yielded 5 including both of the biggest ladies.
-
Kennet carrier - Marsh Benham 0915 - 1345 Cold, calm and cloudy. Temps hovering around 0ºC all day (-1º when I arrived, +1º when I packed up). River in fine winter condition - gin clear and at normal levels. 9 Chub; 6X2lb+ - best 3lb 3oz (first fish caught!). A doz Roach - all a 'nice' size but nothing to trouble the scales. 5 Dace; best a clonker of 13oz. Half a doz Brownies - most around the 2lb mark - with one nearly double that. Got a few days off either side of this coming weekend as I have a 'big' birthday coming up. Original plans had been to get away somewhere (Jaq won't tell me where!) but those were scuppered by Tier 4 restrictions before Christmas. At least I can get out on the bank I thought - so REALLY pleased at the efforts of the Angling Trust this week in lobbying to allow us to fish during the current lockdown. I've been an individual member since the early days of the AT and its nice to see them exercising some clout! A benign if somewhat cold winters chubbing - always an obliging species when the mercury is down - and thankfully they just about outnumbered the trout today. Merv had said he'd had some good dace from here when I bumped into him at Speen recently - and he wasn't wrong - I thought it was another chub as I'd had a couple of that stamp - one of my biggest ever from this bit of water.
-
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 year!) and I lost a bigger one (possibly a 2lber) just as I was reaching for the net.
-
River Lambourn - Shaw 1200 - 1400 Cold with 'milky sunshine. 2 Grayling - a 'netter' and a tidller. 3 Brownies - one close to 1lb, the others only slightly bigger than parrs. Bit of a struggle - with none of my usual swims producing so much as a bite - probably because 2 other anglers had already worked there way up the water!
-
Northcroft Stream - Newbury 0845 - 1115 Cold and bright. AT 0º - 3ºC. River still up a tad but with little colour. 2 Chub: 4lb 5oz & a chublet of around a pound. 6 Dace - a couple of gooduns. 3 Roach - handsized and a 1lb+ Brownie. Successful plan to start 2021 with a good chub achieved within 5 mins of wetting a line (though had been trickling in maggot for a good 15mins before starting to fish). Smaller chub turned up amongst the dace and roach and being a little washed out in colour had me skipping a heart beat as I netted it - thinking it was a 1lb dace! First fish of 2021
-
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 and I plumped for some reliable favourites to get started (and avoid the prospect of a blank!) The plan worked and by lunchtime I was setting off to explore the bottom end of the fishery (bumping into Merv en route). Alas I was thwarted by flooding and fallen trees which limited access - and prevented me from even getting to the stretch I really wanted to fish. Still I was able to add another chub (the smaller one) and a trout from a rather nice glide which warrants further attention when conditions are a little less sub-optimal!
-
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.
-
River Lambourn - Newbury 0800 - 1045 Bright and cold (2ºC) with a 'fresh' northerly breeze! River up a couple of inches on last visit but gin clear despite heavy overnight rain. 9 Grayling - best 2 weighed in at 1lb 1oz & 14oz - the rest around half this stamp. 2 Brownies - a 'pounder' and a parr. Usual pre Christmas jaunt to use up some bait due to the bait fridge getting its annual deep clean - as the maggots get evicted for a few days and it's comandeered for Christmas duties. Fishing was usual catch a couple and move on tactics - still a little 'scratchy' for here - expected a few more fish based on previous years....
-
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 down the river.
-
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 one. Biggest of the morning.
-
River Kennet & Carrier - Marsh Benham 0745 - 1315 Cool, calm & cloudy. AT 1º - 3ºC. River quite full - though somewhat surprisingly (and contradictory!) the carrier was on the low side. 4 Chub; 4lb 10oz, 3lb 1oz, 2lb 2oz and a chublet. 18 Roach - few of any size bar one which went 12oz. 4 Dace, 1 Perch, 8 Brownies - 2½ - 3½lb & 2 Rainbows 2½lb & 4+lb. Pleasant morning's trotting - chub as ever were the target - though most of my 'banker' swims were full of trout. Did eventually find a swim where the chub got a look in and had all 3 decent fish in quick succession before the bully boy brownies muscled in again!
-
Northcroft Stream - Newbury 0745 - 1000 Misty & murky 7ºC. River at normal levels and quite clear. 3 Chub; 2lb 14oz, 2lb 13oz, 2lb 5oz. 6 Dace & 2 Roach - all small. Successful chub hunt - though was hoping for something a little bigger. My usual 'banker' swim here produced not so much as a bite - thankfully they were all in my back up swim!
-
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.
-
River Lambourn - Shaw 1030 - 1300 Still dull and misty. AT 9ºC. River on the low side. 11 Grayling; A real mix of year classes (and hence sizes). Biggest 1lb 13oz (!!) with another 3 an ounce or so either side of 1lb ( the usual maximum size here). 6 Brownies most 6-10oz with one well over 1lb. Well I wasn't expecting that! Pretty sure that's my biggest grayling from this stretch - I've gone back over 20+ years of diaries and can't find a bigger one! Caught from a very shallow run as well, not the spot I'd expect a big lady to be hanging out (though looking at the size of the dorsal, this is a male).
-
Kennet & Avon Canal (flowing), Thatcham 1100 - 1330 Dull and breezy. AT 11ºC. River at normal levels and quite clear. 6 Dace; 5 over 8oz - biggest 15oz !! 1 Gudgeon. Another trip to an infrequently fished (and less than reliable) venue but one which has thrown up decent dace and chub in the past. Nothing quite in this class however - a female almost in full breeding condition (3 months early). My biggest dace for 11 years, since this day.
-
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 caught, which might have scared off any chub in the swim.
-
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 here. First trot through today, however, and the float buried within 10 feet of being cast out and the line just went solid. In truth I thought I was into a good 5 alas the scales revealed it was a couple of ounces off! The 2 followed next cast - and I then rested it for an hour or so - which clearly paid off as I had the 3 straight away on my return.
-
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.
-
River Lambourn - Newbury 0700 - 1000 Cool and misty. River quite low especially given how wet October was. 8 Grayling; All between 8-10oz with a couple a tad bigger. 6 Brownies - a couple of netters - the rest were parrs. Scratchy morning's trotting - fish thin on the ground - most of my usual banker swims turned up nothing - think they were just too spooky in the clear shallow water.
-
Lower Itchen Fishery 0800 - 1800 Bright and breezy, clouding over in the afternoon. River quite full (though has clearly been a lot higher recently) 20 Grayling; 9 over lb - best 4, 2lb 2oz, 1lb15oz, 1lb 12oz, 1lb 10oz. 4 Chub; 3lb 13oz, 3lb 6oz & 2, lbers. A dozen plus (too many!) trout to 4lb+ - mainly browns with a couple of silver tourists! 2 Salmon Parr. Very slow morning followed by a lively afternoon. My first half a dozen swims produced just one decent grayling (first cast of the day as well) and a LOT of trout. In hindsight I should probably have stopped using red corn - my favourite bait for big grayling but the trout were just insatiable on it! By lunchtime I'd fished all my favourite spots and was feeling a little disconsolate as I dropped into a pool I've never fished before. A couple more trout we quickly banked but a switch to single red maggot then produced an instant result in the shape of the 2lber - just what I'd come for! 3 more new swims were then visited during the rest of the day - all producing good grayling - and chub to boot!
