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River Lambourn - Newbury 1045 - 1445 Cold and cloudy. AT around -1ºC all day. River low 14 Grayling; 8 over a lb and as they got progressively bigger throughout the session I ended up weighing 5 of them - at 1-06, 1-07, 1-09, 1-10 & 1lb 12oz. 1 Brownie - small. I love days like this - wrapped up warm against an iron hard frost - which froze my landing net between each fish landed! As ever the Lambourn Ladies were very obliging despite the cold - fished the length of the venue twice (with a lunch break in between) - so most of my regular hotspots produced again after a good rest. Nice to see some good sized fish in this part of the river again..... Biggest two of the day...
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River Kennet - Marsh Benham 0900 - 1400 Cold and overcast with a chilly breeze. AT 4º- 6ºC. River still low and threadbare. 3 Chub; 2lb 7oz and a couple of chublets. 3 Dozen Dace & Roach (mainly dace - all quite small). 1 Perch; small. 3 Brownies - a couple in the 2lb class and a brute of a fish @ 4½lb (with a size 12 in its gob)! 2 Rainbows both around 3lb (and I suspect were the same fish!). Brrrrrr Winter's here, though the cold, alas, hasn't suppressed the trout's appetite! A very disappointing chub to trout ratio - though the one I did get was immediately after the two smaller brownies so it, thankfully, hadn't been put off by the usual commotion. Spent most of the time on the main river, then worked my way up the carrier for the 'silvers'.
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River Lambourn - Newbury 1230 - 1430 Mild, dull and overcast. 11ºC. River low. 18 Grayling - with around half a lb or better - the two I put on the scales went 1lb 8oz & 1lb 6oz and had a few more not far shy of these two. 1 Brownie - small. With 3 other anglers working the venue I was very pleased with this return - clearly managed to find a few spots that hadn't already been visited and like this morning's session further upstream managed to get a couple of shoals competing for freebies.
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River Lambourn - Shaw 0900 - 1230 Mild with milky sunsine - clouding over.AT 7º - 11ºC. River low and clear (of course). 15 Grayling with 5 an ounce or so either side of 1lb with the rest half that or smaller. 3 Brownies; 1½lb and a couple of parrs. Whilst the rains have had little impact (so far) on the local chalkstreams they have certainly stuffed up the Frome judging by the river gauges so whilst I had planned a trip to Dorset this weekend I had to make do with bothering the local ladies and make my first visits to the Lambourn this winter. Most fish from the church stretch - with nearly half coming from just one spot as I got a shoal competing for freebies which appeared to make them less cautious to gentles with a hook in!
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River Kennet - Speen Moors 0800 - 1400 Bright and sunny morning after overnight rain, clouding over with heavy showers after lunch! Cooler than of late 5º - 9ºC River still low. 180mm of rain (and counting) since the start of October hasn't made a blind bit of difference to the river - so far! 4 Chub: Biggest 3lb 6oz - the others between 1¾ - 2¼lb. 6 Dace - a couple of chunky ones, 3 Roach - all small. 1 Perch c½lb, 1 Brownie c¾lb. A successful morning on the weirpools (so as not to blank!), before an unrewarding recce session - must have walked a couple of miles, just to catch a solitary dace!
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River Kennet - Brimpton 1200 - 1430 Warm with bright sunshine. AT 17ºC. River very low (of course!) 1 Chub: 1lb 10oz, 1 Dace. 4 Brownies 2 in the 1½-2lb range and two under a lb. I hate trout! Bright conditions and a low, clear, threadbare river were already very sub-optimal conditions for autumn chubbing. And what I really DIDN'T need were acrobatic brownies turning up 'early doors' in ALL my favourite chub hotspots. Alas, that's exactly what happened. Dropped into the weirpool for 15 minutes just to catch something without an adipose!
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River Kennet (and Carrier), Marsh Benham 1015 - 1500 Mild and overcast morning, with a torrential downpour at lunchtime giving way to bright sunshine - 4 (well 3) seasons in one day! AT 11º - 13ºC. River still very low. West Berks has had 116.6mm (over 4½inches in old money!) of rain in the past 2½ weeks - since 20 October - the prayers for a wet autumn are being answered - yet very little is making its way into the water course. Hopefully though the aquifers are being topped up and the Kennet will see the benefit of all this rain in January! 1 Bream; 4lb 2oz, 3 Chub; 1¾lb and a couple of chublets, 2 Doz Roach and Dace - in roughly equal nos - slightly more roach. Nothing particularly noteworth apart from one of the dace of around 8oz and a couple of the roach around the same mark. 3 Perch; all small. 3 Brownies; between 2½ - 3½lb - biggest of which had a fresh size 16 in its scissors - one of your's Martin? I've been umming and ahhing all weekend about which day to go fishing scrutinising the weather almost every hour. Had decided on a rare Monday trip - but decided to make the most of a window in the rain. Thankfully had stopped for my lunch when the heavy shower came - other wise a dry day! Usual roving tactics and usual pesky trout showing up in my more reliable chub swims!
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Kennet & Avon Canal (flowing) - Thatcham 1245 - 1500 Mild (15ºC) and overcast, quite breezy. 17 Dace - with around half over ½lb - I weighed two at 11oz & 12oz. 5 Roach - all small. 1 Gudgeon. Unexpectedly had a free afternoon - so thought I'd follow up some recent intelligence of this stretch producing good dace and roach. Information I wasn't entirely surprised by as I had this super dace from here a couple of years ago. Biggest dace first cast started proceedings well and whilst I had quite a few more in need of the net none of the roach that showed were in the same class!
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River Kennet - Hambridge 1015 - 1345 Very warm - with hazy sunshine. AT a balmy 21ºC when I packed up. River still very low - we've had over 3 inches of rain in October - though you wouldn't know it looking at the river levels! 2 Chub: 2lber and a 1lber. 1 Barbel: 1lb 14oz, 5 Roach, 4 Dace, 3 Gudgeon & a 1lb+ brownie. A change from my usual tactics as my 'modus operandi' when I have a morning at Enborne is to transfer over to Speen but decided to drop down to here instead. A bit of a scratchy morning though the plan included trying to winkle out another float caught barbel - so at least that box got ticked - though I suspect it was a repeat capture from previous vists this autumn.
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River Kennet - Brimpton 0900 - 1300 Warm (for the time of year), with milky sunshine. AT 11º -> 17ºC. River still very low with a tinge of colour the only hint that we've had over an inch of rain in the previous 36 hours! 3 Chub: 4lb 3oz, 3lb 6oz & a chublet. 7 Roach and 3 Dace - nothing particularly impressive though they weren't tiddlers either! 5 Brownies, 2X2lbers, another of around 1½lb and a couple of parrs. Surprisingly scratchy morning - with both big chub first cast fish from the same swim (90 mins apart!) and all my other usual haunts not producing anything without an adipose fin! All roach (bar one) and dace from the weirpool at the top of the Aldershot.
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River Kennet - Speen Moors 0830 - 1400 Bright and sunny. AT 6º->16ºC. River low (very!). 10 Perch; 6 over lb, best two 1lb 12oz & 1lb 10oz. 6 Chub; 3 'pounders' - two not by much. 20+ Roach - most quite small with 3 or 4 in the 6-8oz bracket. 2 Dace - small. 2 Gudgeon & 2 Brownies - both 1½-2lb. Late arrival as I had to go back for my maggots - doh! By the time I got to the canal it was bathed in bright morning sunshine and after a chilly night I deemed it too sub-optimal for big stripeys so headed straight for the big weirpool on Speen where I stayed all morning. Might not have been the wisest of decisions given the haul of perch it produced! Wandered downstream after lunch to look at the spot BTG fished recently and hoping to get to Egypt Point - but it was too overgrown. Did run a float through a couple of swims which both seemed stuffed with small roach....
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River Kennet - Hambridge 0845 - 1245 Sunny spells. AT 8º ->17ºC. River still very low (prayer mats are out for a wet autumn!). 7 Chub; biggest 3lb on the nose, 5 between 1½ - 2½lb and a chublet. 1 Barbel; 1lb 13oz, 13 Dace & 9 Roach (all fairly small), 1 Gudgeon, 2 Bleak & a Brownie c¾-1lb. Super morning's trotting - nice to get another baby barbel for the 2nd trip running here and I might have lost a much bigger one though I think the leviathan that snapped my 6lb bottom like cotton was more likely an oversized trout. Fished every swim on the venue (not that there's that many!) as my usual hotspots were pretty barren - most fish caught trotting under the road bridge. A tree has fallen all the way across immediately downstream - damming the river somewat and giving some extra depth on 'our' side...
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River Kennet - Marsh Benham 0645 - 1115 Cool, calm & cloudy. AT 9º -> 14ºC. River VERY low. 12 Chub; 2lb 7oz and 11 chublets. 4 Doz Dace and Roach - in roughly equal nos (slightly more dace). Most of the roach were a 'nice' size though the star of the show (and the only fish to actually get weighed) was a cracking dace of 12oz. 5 Perch - all small. 1 Brownie c2lb. Pleasant mornings trotting. The river is teeming with 'silvers' - which makes finding the bigger chub a bit of a challenge - eventually winkled out one from the swim just above the railway bridge.
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River Kennet - Speen Moors 0845 - 1300 Bright and sunny - with a cool northerly breeze - though felt very warm in full sun! AT 17ºC when I packed up, River very low. 5 Chub: 2X 2lbers and 3 in the ¾-1lb class. 5 Perch; All over 1lb, with 4 over 1½lb, best three 2lb 3oz, 2lb & 1lb 13oz. 30+ Roach - various sizes with around half a dozen 'netters', I weighed one of these at 13oz and the others were of similar stamp - great to see! 1 Dace: a real good-un of around 10oz. 1 Gudgeon, 1 Bleak, 1 Brownie - unweighed but a real lump of at least 3lbs and probably pushing 4! Super morning's sport from the large weirpool. I had started by fighting my way up the overgrown banks of Parliament Draft - getting soaked in the process from the heavy dew to be greeted by a cormorant working the water - not the welcome I'd have liked! I did run a float through a couple of swims but was further dispirited when an otter plopped into the river from the opposite bank! Within ¾hour I was working my way into position on the large weirpool where I'd stay for the rest of the morning - a super mixed bag and my biggest perch from Speen for 10 years - which was a real surprise. Not a great pic(alas) of the biggest perch - a real fatty!
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River Kennet - Brimpton 0700 - 1100 Cool (compared to lately) and mainly overcast. AT 11->16ºC. River still low but up a good couple of inches on my last visit here in July. 4 Chub: 5lb0oz, 3lb 6oz, 1lb11oz and one <1lb. 5 Roach & 1 Dace - all a 'nice' size circa 6oz. 4 Brownies; a lber and the others around half that. With 1½inches of rain already this month (nearly as much as the whole of June, July & August!) I was hopeful that the river might have perked up - and so it proved. Fished 4 swims and had 'A' chub from each of them! The 5lber - my second of the season from here, came from a spot that rarely produces - which was just as well as my usual hotspot was trashed by a first cast trout!
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River Kennet - Hambridge 1730 - 2145 Warm, clear evening. AT 23º -> 16ºC. River very low. 3 Chub: 4lb 11oz, 2lb 13oz, 1lb 12oz. 1 Barbel (hooray!) 2lb 1oz. 7 Dace, 2 Roach (all small). 5 Bleak. Been a while since I did an evening here - used to be a banker swim for ledgering for a barbel - so much so I've even brought a couple of my 'occasional' angling friends here in the past to (succesfully) catch their first barbel. Those were in pre-otter days (who made an appearance again this evening!). Now such trips are always preceded by a couple of hours trotting to inoculate me from the risk of a blank. And once I'd got through the bleak and small dace I managed to find some decentish chub from an unfamiliar spot, before a real treat in the shape of a small barbel turned up. This is now the 3rd season running I've had them from this general area - the green shoots of a recovery - lets hope so! Dusk brought the ledger rods out which produced no further fish - the only excitement to my isotopes being caused by crayfish or bats crashing into the line!
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River Kennet - Marsh Benham 0630 - 1130 Bright sunny morning. AT 12º -> 23ºC. River very low with a hint of colour. 14 Chub: A 'pounder' and a baker's dozen of small-uns. 30+ Roach & 25 Dace: nothing particularly note-worthy apart from 3 or 4 dace of around 8oz, 5 Perch; all fairly small. 6 Bleak. A trip to my syndicate stretch in the hope that Thursday's rain may have gingered the river up a bit and whilst it was still very low there was a little bit of colour. Loads of 'silvers' in every swim I dropped in though the bigger chub must still be sulking somewhere inaccessible. Great to see lots of juvenile ones again - bodes well for a few years time!
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River Kennet - Thatcham 0630 - 1000 Bright and sunny. AT 14º -> 20ºC. River VERY low. 10 Chub; 3 over a lb (two not by much - the other around 2lb) all the others small - 4-6oz. 6 Roach - all around the same size as the small chub (and occupying the same swim). 2 Gudgeon - a rare sight in these parts. 1 Ruffe - a MUCH rarer sight. 3 brownies - all small. I first fished the Kennet in 1969 at the age of 8 when I was taken to a weirpool on Lower Benyons by my Great Grandfather. Using a tank aerial rod and a wooden starback reel I caught a 1½lb perch - needless to say I was in heaven! The following season after some very intensive sessions of swimming lessons I was allowed out on my own! (I have a propensity for falling in to this day!) I've fished the Kennet every year since and in all that time I've never caught a Ruffe from the river - until today! In fact I've only caught the species on two occasions before, once in the mid 70s (8th Oct 1976 to be precise) when Paul and I bunked off games at school to 'guest' on the Loddon and more recently on the canal at Avington. So a lively and productive morning - great to see some juvenile chub in the river again - has been a feature of the last couple of seasons. And was rather hoping against hope to see a barbel on the bank as I've heard of the odd one being caught from here this year (plus I had one myself from here last August). I guess that was just being greedy!
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River Kennet - Hambridge 0530 - 0730 Cool and clear. AT 7º (!) -> 13ºC (Was thankful for my fleece!). River VERY low - can't remember when I last saw it this threadbare. 2 Chub; 1lb 10oz & 1lb 7oz. 11 Dace - all small. 5 Roach - ditto apart from one of around ½lb. 2 Gudgeon, 2 Bleak A couple of hours trotting and home for breakfast! Doesn't look like anyone's been here since I came in June, place was a jungle! Banker chub swim was full of bleak & and small dace - so pleased that my 'back-up' produced a brace of 'schoolies'.
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River Kennet - Brimpton 0530 - 1000 Warm, muggy with hazy sunshine. AT 15º -> 22ºC. River very low. 2 Chub; 4lb 9oz, 4lb 4oz & 2 chublets. 9 Dace; 5 absolute chunks all 8-10oz, 7 Roach - variety of sizes but nothing over 6oz. 1 Perch: small, 1 Bleak. 1 Brownie: 1¼lb. For the second river trip in a row I get to see an otter and this one defintely wasn't shy! I'd eased into position mid-river to get a run through a favourite chub swim, only to get the flippin trout pretty much 1st cast and was thinking I'd better rest this swim and come back, when the family of swans 100m downstream of me started kicking off big time. I guessed it might be an otter chancing its arm with a cygnet - as I've witnessed a swan/otter fracas on this stretch before. My assumption was correct as a minute later the otter popped up in the middle of my swim and proceeded to nonchalantly work its way up the very trotting line I'd just been feeding! Thankfully I didn't see it surface with a fish and as it passed me by, heading upstream, I could have patted it on the head, it was that close! Hopes of anything from this spot were now zero - however an hour and a half's rest and 20 minutes of standing in mid river dribbling in very small quantities of maggot did the trick. The bigger chub was first trot and a further 30 mins rest and more dribbling of bait produced the second 4lber of the morning! Some super dace from the weirpool at the top of The Aldershot was a nice way to round off the session....
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River Kennet - Marsh Benham 0530 - 1130 Bright and sunny. 13ºC -> 22ºC. River very low with a tinge of colour. 2 Chub; one just over a pound the other even smaller. 40+ Dace and Roach - in roughly equal nos (slightly more dace). None of the roach were noteworthy but several of the dace were - the two I weighed went 13oz & 11oz and had another 3 or 4 over 8oz. 2 Bleak. 1 Rainbow; 2½lb. A 'scratchy' morning, failing to find any big chub or any bonus bream backups! Started with the rainbow which didn't help! Big dace were a welcome surprise and when I hooked the pound+ chub a few minutes after the bigger dace (and from the same spot!) I was harbouring thoughts of a new dace PB until I had it in the net and realised the dace had a few juvenile chub as swim partners!
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River Kennet - Thatcham 0645 - 1115 Warm and mainly overcast - though clearing. AT 19ºC. Quite breezy. River low. 5 Chub: best 3lb 5oz with another close to a lb - the other 3 quite small. 1 Dozen Dace & ½ Dozen Roach - all small apart from one of the roach which was around 6-8oz. 1 Perch; a 'netter' and circa 1lb. 1 Gudgeon. 3 Brownies - all over 1lb but under 1½ (think I caught the same one, twice!) Very pleasant morning's trotting - fishing half a dozen swims in rotation with a couple getting their first visit by an angler this season - judging by the state of the banks! Biggest chub coming from a 2nd visit to a favoured swim after resting it due to it being trashed by one of the troot on my first visit! Nice to see some 'silvers' in this part of the river - and (again) some juvenile chub.
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River Kennet - Brimpton 0430 - 0900 Bright sunny morning - lovely to be out before the heat of the day set in - shared my morning with the local wildlife - deer, heron and kingfishers. River low and clear 7 Chub: best (by a very long way!) 5lb 11oz (!!!) with a couple of around a lb and all the rest 6-8oz - nice to see some juvenile fish. 7 Dace, 2 Roach (all fairly small). 4 Brownies - 3 over a lb one of which was nearer 2lb. Well I wasn't expecting that - especially after a rather unpromising start. I'd fished my 2 more reliable chub spots without so much as a sniff and in my 3rd one had a couple of splashy trout to wreck things before at least getting off the mark with a small chub and a couple of dace. So it was very much in hope rather than expectation when I revisited one of my earlier swims - not at all confident as the sun was now on the water. Thankfully there was still some shade under the far bank trees - and within a couple of minutes of running a float through connected with an absolute lump which I first mistook for a snag - took an age to coax up in the current and very thankful to get it in the net! I'll do very well to get a bigger one all season!
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River Kennet - Hambridge 0430 - 0830 Warm and sultry - already 23ºC when I packed up - had planned to move to another venue after starting here but the heat decided me otherwise. River low and clear. 2 Chub: 2lb 12oz & 2lb 3oz. 20 Dace; all small. 10 Roach: ditto. 1 Bream - a large-ish skimmer which had me more than a little excited for a minute as thought I was bringing in a rather nice roach! 2 Gudgeon (hooray!) 2 Brownies - a 'pounder' and a parr. I did a recce here a couple of weeks ago - turned up with my 'lasher' to scythe through the head high nettles to a couple of my favourite swims in preparation for an early season visit. So was more than a little disappointed to note that in the intervening period a tree had come down across one of them. A spot I often do quite well in low water (see entry for last Sep) now alas all but unfishable as the fallen tree has knocked the tree opposite into the river as well. So had to make do with my usual banker swim - both chub turning up on cue after trickling in maggot for 10 minutes while I waited for it to get light enough to see my float followed by the usual mixed bag. Pic of the Gonk for BTG!
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River Kennet - Marsh Benham 0415 - 1145 Hot, sunny and sultry. 26ºC when I packed up but thankful for the fleece I put in my tackle bag at the last minute, when I arrived at first light! River low and clear. 2 Bream; 4lb 7oz, 4lb 4oz. 6 Chub; a couple of 2lbers with the rest all between ½-1lb. 3 Doz Dace & Roach (roughly 2 dace for every roach) nothing very big though a couple of the dace were half decent. 3 Bleak. 2 Brownies - both over 3lb with spectacular markings. Glorious morning - on my favourite weirpool - which is thankfully in shade for all of the morning. Both bream had me convinced I was into decent chub - they fight soooo much harder than their still water cousins (and are a lot less slimey!!!). Was hopeful of finding some bigger chub though I think they may have been spawning in the shallows below the weirpool (something certainly was!).
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