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Newbury AA Stillwater - Thatcham 1745 - 2345 Overcast, breezy with a few short sharp showers. Cool - becoming even cooler - down to 9ºC in the car on the way home. 3 Carp; 7lb 9oz, 5lb 6oz, 4lb 11oz. Not long after Paul's funeral - his wife Kim wanted me and Geoff to come over and sort through his fishing tackle (and bait fridge/freezer). Kim was keen for both of us to have whatever tackle we would make use of and one of the pieces I took was his pellet waggler rod - still made up in its quiver - I also took some carp pellets and bait to go with it. It's not a technique I've ever tried before - and it's one that Paul only really got into for the last couple of years of his angling - but he swore by it as a method - proved by him landing a 16lb carp on a hot lethargic day last summer when no one else was catching! My real plan for this evening was to try and snaffle one of the few/BIG crucians the lake contains but decided to start by having a bit of fun with the pellet waggler set up. And fun it was!! I started by spending 10-15mins just catapulting in small amounts of slow sinking pellets - and pretty much first cast into the baited area produced the 4lber! The problem thereafter was trying NOT to attract the geese and ducks to the bait - but each time I had long enough for the fish to move in I had interest in my slow sinking bait. Just as well - as my planned crucian assault produce not a single bite - not even from a maraudering carp. I had intended to stay much longer - but incessant ripple was making me go boggle-eyed and I was starting to get rather chilled under clearing skies!

TAA Stillwater - Thatcham 1800 - 0600 Warm, still night despite clear skies for the early part. Temps still 14ºC when I packed up. 1 Tench; 4lb10oz, 10 Carp; all between 5-8lb, apart from biggest 3 of 9lb 4oz, 10lb 2oz, 12lb 11oz. First ever trip to this lake drawn by the lure of tench and rumours of huge bream! Did indeed see quite a few bream porpoising - unfortunately not usually in my swim. Carp were rather too eager at times - need to find away for my target species to get more of a look in!

NAA Stillwater - Thatcham 1800 - 0300 Warm, still overcast evening - giving way to a chilly clear night after 2300 - temp down to 6ºC when I packed up. 5 Carp; 14lb 3oz, 9lb 14oz, 9lb 5oz, 8lb 8oz, 8lb 3oz. 2 Perch. Failed attempt at an autumn crucian - though I did have a couple roll in the swim in the first hour or so as it got dark. All carp came to float tactics meant for the crus so took an age to land on 16s to 4lb bottoms (also lost 2 to hook pulls after lengthy battles). So spent most of the first 3 or so hours playing fish! Only one fish after 2230 - and that was the 14 at a little before midnight- but clearing skies and plummeting temps seemed to put the fish down - had no interest at all on floating crust in the margins which is MOST unusual for here. Had intended to stay until day break - but a total lack of action coupled with trouble staying awake made a warm bed a more preferred option. Ugly looking leather!

NAA Stillwater - Widmead 1900 - 0700 Warm with a southerly breeze - very pleasant night to be out. 7 Carp; All over 5½lb. Best 2, 8lb 11oz & 8lb 7oz. 2 Roach. 4 Perch. Biggest carp on float fished maggot around an hour after starting, all the others caught between 2200 - 0400 on the method feeder. Snailz Boilies beating Halibut Pellets 4-2 (I swapped baits every hour). Was hoping for a bream or even a tench to put in an appearance but still nice to get a bend in the rod at regular intervals throughout the night. Dawn was like a switched being pulled with bites stopping as soon as it started to get light.

NAA Stillwater - Thatcham 0700 - 1300 Overcast with some light rain at first.9->17ºC 5 Carp; 9lb 9oz, 7lb 11oz, 7lb 8oz, 6lb 14oz, 5lb 13oz. A doz roach. A morning session hoping for an autumn crucian but expecting to get plagued with carp - and so it proved! In truth it was good sport and fun getting them on light tackle and a float rod. I landed 5 out of the 7 I connected with (2 lost to hook pulls) not a bad ratio considering I was using an 18 to 2¾lb bottom! Biggest of the morning...

Newbury AA Stillwater - Thatcham. 1930 - 0600 Mild night, quite breezy at times - temp didn't really get below 15ºC 2 Crucians, 2lb 1oz, 1lb 10oz. 3 Carp; a Common of 10lb 1oz and 2 Mirrors of 9-10 & 9-06, 1 Bream 2½lb. Paul set the bar rather high for this trip as he visited this swim on Tuesday night and caught 6 crucians of similar stamp to my 2, a fan-tailled goldfish (an old friend, we've both caught it before!) and 3 carp to 14+lb. So expectations were high and during the early part of the night looked like being delivered in full - especially as both crucians came in the first couple of hours of darkness and my swim had lots of fish topping and rolling. Bites and activity came to an abrupt halt at around 0200 - really quite sudden, like a switch had been flicked - and the last 4 hours we spent staring at a stationary float. Had intended to stay a bit longer but a kip and some brekkie rapidly became the preferred option! Would love to know why they suddenly switched off like that! Piccie of the 10lb common...

NAA Stillwater - Thatcham 2000 - 0900 Mild and overcast with showery rain at dawn. 1 carp 12lb 14oz, 3 perch and err that's it! Annual crucian hunt gets off to an inauspicious start and whilst they can be picky at the best of times at least we had some 'easy' carp to go at to keep us amused if they didn't come out to play - at least that was the plan. What wasn't in the script was the carp being as choosy as the crus. We saw loads of them swimming on the surface - chasing each other in a 'shall we shan't we' pre spawning ritual - and when they did decide to look in it was to snaffle a morsel of bait set up for a crucian - cue long fight on lightish tackle. Still, Paul and I had a reasonable amount of kip - and in the end Paul ended up with at least half a dozen by eventually getting them interested in a pellet waggler approach - having spent over an hour catapaulting pellets out.... adding to the 3 in caught on his crucian gear. Only common of the night (IIRC!) http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae125/Chris_Plumb/pg1_zpsee4e01c0.jpg

Newbury AA Lake Thatcham 0430 - 0930 Hazy sunshine, 10ºC - 14ºC 6 Carp ( 14lb 11oz, 7lb 7oz, 6lb 12oz, 3X5lbers), 4 Tench (1½lb-3lb), 1 Roach (14oz), 2 Rudd, 1 Perch. Pleasant session. Fish on a variety of baits and methods. Meat, s-pellet & floating crust all caught. Biggie was a opportunist fish right at the end - was packing/packed up when I saw the fish had moved into the margins to hoover up some of my groundbait that had dropped in. Re-tied a hook and lowered a piece of meat onto its nose - to be snaffled immediately!

Dixons Mere 0000 - 1200 Warm night, Showers 3 Carp (best a mere 4lb 13oz) 1 Tench (3lb 3oz). 3 doz. bits (Rudd, Roach, Perch) Slow start to the season though Paul faired much better in the next swim - he had half a dozen tench and a similar no. of carp. I didn't get a bite until well into the morning - and that was only after I decided to get some IAC Species Race* points on the board! Tench - Float Fished maggot Carp - Free-lined Imitation Chum Mixer * Species Race web site: http://www.iac07.42inch.net/

NAA Stillwater - Widmead 1200 - 0800 Warm day (25ºC), balmy night with light southerly breeze keeping the dew off - lovely night to be out. 11 Carp - all commons, best 9lb 3oz most circa 5lb, 7 Bream - best 4lb 14oz, most circa 4lb, 3 Tench - 6lb 9oz and a couple of 2lbers, 4 roach (one of 13oz) and 3 rudd. A productive session fishing with Paul - who had avery similar return after a slow start. Most carp and all the bream & tench caught float fishing meat under my rod tip. 6lb tench was very obviously a male - quite possibly my biggest ever male tinca!

NAA Stillwater - Thatcham 1300 - 0930 Hot and sultry (again!). Max 25ºC, Min 12ºC. 4 Carp (but see below!) ; 14lb2oz, 9lb 7oz, 5¾ & 4¾lbs. 3 Crucians; 2lb 14oz, 2lb 2oz, 1lb 9oz. 4 roach & 2 rudd. A very quiet night - saved, for me at least - by a very productive last 2½hrs when I had the 14 (on floating crust from right under my feet) and all 3 crucians on float fished meat - hooray! Paul and I had set ourselves a target for the session of a double figure carp and a crucian each - so job done for me! Paul didn't manage a cru and his only couple of fish of note to show for nearly 19 hours on the bank, carp of 11¼lb and 7½lb were both caught on light float tackle rigged up for the crucians! I had a couple of more fish on the bank in slightly strange circumstances A 9lb mirror hooked in the tail on my light float tackle is perhaps not that unusual (though the fight was long and tiring - for me!) Paul was quick to point out that it didn't count as it was hooked at the wrong end! (Paul once had a 20 hooked in the derriere - he had 'fun' getting that in!). The 2nd capture was truely bizarre. I had a run on my method feeder rod - was fishing tight to the bomb - and after the usual 4/5 minute tussle landed a fiesty mirror of 11½lb. Put it on the unhooking mat and looked for the hook only to find that the fish had somehow managed to tangle itself up in the mainline - which was wrapped about 8-10 times around its lower jaw - and obviously had sufficient purchase for me to land the fish. Really struggling to understand how this could have occured - it was most weird. "That doesn't count either" retorts Paul - "You didn't hook it". "Ah - but at least it WAS caught with rod and LINE" replies me!

NAA Stillwater - Widmead 0415 - 1015 High cloud - warm. 15º -> 20ºC 4 Carp; 10lb 1oz, 9lb 6oz, 9lb 0oz, 7lb 11oz. 1 Crucian; 3lb 2oz. 2 roach, 1 rudd (all 3 of which needed the net to land.) Despite the splendid crucian and the hard fighting commons - a quiet morning bite-wise. Crucian on float fished meat - in the margins - pretty much only bite of the morning - apart from the roach and rudd - wasn't even 'carped' as is the norm. Biggest common on the feeder - other 3 all caught on bread in the last ¾hr when they started to feed on the top. My biggest crucian from an NAA water for 14 years - and first crucian from this lake since '06 - well chuffed.

NAA Stillwater - Thatcham 0530 - 1130 Warm, overcast and very breezey. 3 Carp; 14lb 10oz, 4lb 6oz, 4lb 13oz. 9 skimmers, 10 perch - all small save for one scraper pounder, 4 roach, 2 rudd, 3 gudgeon. A morning's float fishing in the hope (forlorn as it turned out!) of some crucians. 14lb was 'interesting' on a float rod and a 4lb bottom.Fished meat and maggot - gave each an hour in rotation. No fish on meat - no bites - at least none I could see in choppy conditions - was boss-eyed by the end!

NAA Stillwater - Thatcham 2015 - 0900 Warm, overcast and quite breezey. Temps never below 15ºC - Unseasonably warm. 13 carp - best 2, 13lb 11oz (common) & 12lb 0oz (mirror) - the rest evenly spread between 9½ - 3½lbs. 1 Crucian 2lb 5oz. 1 skimmer and a dozen assorted perch, roach & gudgeon (mainly perch). The plan was going to be a dawn raid for stripeys on the canal - but a very last minute change of plan - due to the unseasonably warm overnight temps that were (accurately!) forecast - had me setting up in the dark for an overnighter after a late season crucian. Lucky to get one amongst all the carp - most of which were caught on my float rod rigged up with a 16 to 4lb bottom - the 12lber was first cast!. Had crucians rolling in the swim for an hour or so just before midnight - when I caught the one I did - but I think they were being bullied away by the carp. Freelined bread once it got light - and had 4 or 5 carp that way - including the 13lber which was the last fish caught.

Newbury AA Stillwater - Thatcham 0530 - 1430 Cool & overcast - drizzle from 1100. 3 Carp; 10lb 10oz, 8lb 1oz & 3lber. A doz rudd & roach and 1½doz small perch. Slowish day alledgedly fishing for crucians - though Paul fared better snaffling a brace of 1¼lb+ fish. 10lb carp 1st cast - lucky to land it on a size 18 to 2¾lb bottom! Fished meat & maggot in rotation. All the roach were of a good stamp circa 8-10oz - pity there weren't a few more of them! A pic of one of Paul's Crucians - love the buttery colouration...

NAA Stillwater - Widmead 0445 - 1045 Warm and overcast with sun breaking through after 0900. 15ºC->24ºC 1 Crucian; 3lb 13oz - new PB! 2 Commons; 11lb 3oz & 8lb 5oz. 2 Perch - 1 just on 1lb and a nice Rudd of 10oz. Yippee got what I came for - had heard of some big 3's showing and even whispers of a 4lber so thrilled to have snaffled one. Sat right back and float fished under my rod tip about 2 foot from the bank - lots and lots of little lifts and movement from the off - which was obviously just rudd and perch. Had one classic lift about an hour after starting and briefly connected with something solid which quickly shed the hook - felt this was a crucian and that my chance had gone - thankfully a little after 0800 same thing happened and as soon as it was hooked I knew it was a crucian - couldn't believe the size of it when it popped to the surface for the first time and it took 3 more plunges before I had it subdued - very very nervy couple of minutes - was convinced I had a 4lber!! Had to settle for 3oz light but still can't wipe the smile of my face!!!! Biggest common off the top - with bread flake - other one on the method. Crucian beats previous PB by 3oz - a 3-10 fish from a nearby lake caught on 22/6/99 - my 2nd longest standing PB until today.

NAA Stillwater - Widmead 1500 - 0700 Overcast and breezy with light drizzle most of the night after a warm sunny afternoon. Min 15ºC - mild despite the breeze! 6 Carp - all commons - biggest 9lb 13oz, smallest 6lb 8oz. 1 Bream 4lb 8oz. 1 Tench 2lb 8oz. 2 Doz+ Roach and Rudd. It comes to something when the highlight of your fishing trip is breakfast!!! However the pork and bramley apple sausages, fried egg sandwiches and mugs of steaming fresh tea were much anticipated! The fishing again was slow - Paul and I were after tench and bream - but again were thankful for the occasional carp showing up to put a bend in the rod. And at least these were a little more respectable than last time. Shame, as it started so promisingly - Paul had a bream first cast (he wouldn't get another!) and I spent nearly 20 minutes in mid afternoon battling what we were convinced must be a 20 on my float rod - only for it to turn out to be a 7lb+ common hooked in the derriere - which as Paul was quick to point out doesn't count!!! Still at least the overnight rain wasn't as heavy as forecast - and I was prudently home and dry before the heavens opened. Paul who fished on to try and add to his tally of 5 carp and the bream wasn't quite so lucky but thanks to keeping an eye on the rain radar on his Blackberry missed the worst of it! Pic (ala Rusty ) of the sausages!

NAA Stillwater - Thatcham 0500 - 1000 Bright and sunny - cool start. 9º -> 16ºC 5 Carp - biggest 2; 11lb 0oz & 9lb 7oz - a few 'bits' - roach, perch & a gudgeon. A dawn raid hoping for a crucian or 2 but alas the carp were too voracious!! Whatever I put on the hook - bread, maggot, meat, pellet the carp nailed within minutes - didn't give the crus a look in. Bumped as many as I landed too! Biggest carp however was caught deliberately - on floating crust - bit of a " if you can't beat them, join them" effort!

Newbury AA stillwater - Widmead 0500 - 1000 Warm, overcast and sultry. 16ºC->21ºC 3 Tench; 3lb 10oz, 3lb 7oz, 1lb 11oz. 2 Carp; 9lb 14oz & 8lb 5oz. 7 Rudd. Dawn raid in the hope of another monster crucian - and whilst I had a big fish roll shortly after baiting the swim it was a case of nothing doing. Rudd were a nice size - upto 9-10oz, though in truth a bit of a pain as they kept giving crucian like bites on my lift float rigged meat! Carp off the top in the last hour - having thrown in freebies all morning!

Newbury AA Stillwater - Widmead. 1500 - 0800 Warm and overcast. Mild night, temps didn't go below 14ºC 4½* Carp, biggest 8¼lb, 1 Bream 4¼lb, 20+ Roach & Perch - in roughly equal nos. Another "Breakfast was the highlight of the trip" trip! Spent the first couple of hours fretting over my swim choice which saw me move swims and immediately get a bite which resulted in the bream - thereafter bites at a premium. Paul had had an identical return when I packed up having joined me 4 hours after I started. He fished on for another hour or so and added a 2nd bream to his tally plus the rather unusual looking carp below. He thinks it might be a Koi? Strange looking critter - note the lack of dorsal fin! *The ½ was a fish I landed on Paul's rod - he was dealing with a snagged up method feeder when his other rod went off - I struck and landed the fish - a carp of 8lb exactly - I reckon it should be mine!

Newbury AA Stillwater - Widmead 0530 - 1100. Bright and sunny after a cool, misty start. 10º -> 20ºC 1 Crucian; 2lb 2oz. 8 Carp; best 2 - 12lb 6oz & 11lb 9oz, smallest 6¾lb. 3 rudd & a perch. A morning's float fishing (lift method as per usual!!). Crucian and 3 of the smaller carp on 6mm S-Pellet. Meat just got nailed by the rudd. Last couple of hours spent freelining bread - which brought 5 more carp including both bigger ones. Smallest crucian from here in 7 years...

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham 1800 - 2330 Mild, overcast with a soft southerly breeze - really lovely night to be out. River low and carrying quite a bit of leaf litter as you'd expect. WT a balmy 56ºF. 1 Barbel; 9lb 0oz. 1 Carp; 15lb 9oz!! Trick or Treat? Never been so disappointed to get such a lovely looking carp - as for nay on 10 mins I thought I was connected to the mother of all barbel!!! This is my 30th season barbel fishing this stretch of river and in all that time I've never caught a carp - until last night! Barbel caught at 2015 - carp 1½hrs later.

NAA stillwater Widmead and Thatcham 0400 - 1200. Overcast, still and mild - temps around 17/18ºC 1 carp, 11lb 5oz. 1st EVER close season session - oooo I feel a little bit dirty! Don't intend to make a habit of it but I had some time owed to me which if I didn't take by next week (and as ½ the office we already off, next week was out) I would lose. So I thought I'd join Paul on one of his 'free Fridays'. 1st part of the morning was purely reconnaissance, OK I did have a bait in the water but after 5 hours looking at a stationary float I was packed up in a flash when Paul suggested we move and try and get a carp or two off the top from a pit where they shouldn't be - and relocate them to where they should - work that clearly comes under the heading of 'Close Season Preparation! (In case you're wondering the club have a Section 30 for this that runs to the end of Oct). Sure enough the carp were clearly patrolling the surface layers and catching them looked a doddle - especially as I had a fish pretty much first cast and Paul had a hook straightened with his first cast. Alas I didn't get another take - though Paul did go on to winkle out a couple of commons (mine was a mirror) of 5lb+ and 6lb+. All in all a good excuse to be out! I really didn't want my photo taken... But Paul was determined to gather the evidence... Paul had a 9½lber from Dixons. Fish-on ! Fish on the bank. Paul gets all arty (Again!)

Newbury AA Stillwater - Thatcham 0430 - 1000 Clear and sunny, warm after a cool start (8ºC when I set up). 6 Carp; best 2, 14lb 8oz, 8lb 4oz - the rest 6 or 7lbers. So after a crucianless night on Marsh Farm a morning trying for one nearer to home - this lake has them to over 3lb - but alas it is also the home to a lot of voracious carp! The 4 smaller ones all 'fell' to my float gear. All the time I was feed little bits of bread into the margins by my feet (any further out and the ducks get at it). It wasn't too long before the carp were competeing for freebies - so a quick change in tactics to freelined bread resulted in the 2 bigger ones straight away - before returning to looking at a float! All fish caught by 0700 - could have gone home for breakfast!

Willows lake, Thatcham 0530 - 0930 Overcast, clearing to bright sunshine for last hour. 5 Carp; 12lb 9oz, 11lb 2oz, 8lb 11oz, 7lb 2oz, 6lb 13oz. Another forlorn crucian hunt - but at least at this venue there are some 'easy' carp (too easy!! ) to amuse. 2 smaller fish on float tackle - bigger 3 on floating crust in the margins (ie within 1m of the bank!) Biggest one: