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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 downstream - 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 - 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!

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!

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!

Kennet & Avon Canal - Enborne 0645 - 0915 Northcroft Stream 0930 - 1100 Cool and foggy - lifting to bright sunshine for last half an hour. Canal: 4 Perch; 1lb 3oz & 3 tiddlers. 1 Chub; 1lb 9oz, 1 Roach 1lb exactly. A morning on the canal in search of perch - or at least that was the plan - so float fishing whole lobs to far bank bushes and snags. Somewhat surprised therefore to get a 1lb roach pretty much first cast - quickly followed by the chub - a few perch eventually showed up - but the crayfish attrition rate on my stock of lobworms suggested there wasn't many big stripeys in the area (if any!). Northcroft stream: 3 Chub; 4lb 6oz, 3lb 11oz, 2lb 2oz. 7 Dace, 1 Perch, 1 brownie. So as I'd worked my way down to Egypt Point I thought I'd have a quick hour or so at Northcroft. Fished the weir-pool for the usual mixed bag then dropped downstream to finish off the morning with the two bigger chub.

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!

Northcroft Stream - Newbury 0730 - 1030 Cool and overcast. AT 3-5ºC. River very low and clear. 3 Chub; 3lb 11oz, 3lb 7oz, 2lb 2oz. 6 Perch (all small), 4 Dace & a 2lb+ Brownie. A morning travelling very light - most fish from the weirpool.

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 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!

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!

Middle Kennet Estate - Kintbury 0730 - 1730 Cool (5ºC or thereabouts all day) and very blowy with frequent squally showers of rain,sleet or hail! River VERY VERY high - highest I've ever seen it here - many swims needed waders just to get to the'bank'. 21 Chub; 7 over 4lb - biggest 6lb 3oz - a real lump! 4 Dace; 2 that were weighed went 14oz & 12oz - the other 2 weren't much smaller. 2 Roach - small and only 3 Brownies - all 3lb + A wild day on a wild venue - thankfully though, despite the huge volumes of water everywhere, the chub were in their usual haunts. Spent until mid afternoon just trotting red corn (got through 3 tins of the stuff) before switching to one of the carriers for a succesful dace hunt. My first 6lb chub from this venue since my PB from here back in 2012.

Kennet Carrier - Marsh Benham 0645 - 1145 Mild with sunny spells AT 12ºC when I packed up. River VERY full but with little colour. 17 Chub (!): 8 over 3lb - best 4lb 4oz, the rest all over 2lb. 6 Brownies to nearly 5lb & a 2lb Rainbow. Start of my 4 day end of season extravaganza when I hope to fish 7 or 8 venues in the next 4 days. First up was 'my' syndicate stretch of the middle Kennet and for the first time this winter 'Chub Corner' lived up to its moniker. First 7 fish I landed were all without an adipose and whilst the 8th fish was a 2lb brownie the scene was set for a bit of a chub fest! Seems half the syndicate had the same idea - usually have the place to myself but 5 other anglers turned up this morning - including Rusty with a cunning plan to try and avoid the troot - which wasn't exactly working when I left him!!!

River Kennet - Speen Moors 0745 - 1315 Mild and Windy, VERY VERY Windy! River in the fields - but with only a little colour. 1 Chub: 2lb 10oz, 3 Dace: 13oz, 10oz & 8oz. 1 Roach - small. 1 Rainbow Trout 4lb 4oz. A WILD day in West Berkshire. Couldn't get to most of the swims I'd usually fish because of the flooding and when I could it was way too windy - had trouble just standing let alone holding a rod! However was keen to fish here as the venue's been closed all winter for bridge repairs and extensive tree felling. Thankfully found a couple of slightly sheltered spots which at least had the wind at my back. Chub was first cast which somewhat cemented confidence for the morning but bites generally were few and far between - however when they did come a lovely trio of chunky dace was the result - biggest one is my season's best - a male in full sandpapery breeding condition!

River Kennet (and carrier) Marsh Benham 0930 - 1530 Overcast, mild and quite breezy. River down on a fortnight ago (well we have had zero rainfall in that time). 3 Chub; 4lb 1oz, 3lb 3oz & 2lb 11oz. 1 Pike 2lb 10oz, 4 doz Roach & Dace (roughly 2 -1 ratio). Biggest roach 12oz with a lot more circa 8oz. 2 Brownies 4lb 14oz & a pounder, 2 Rainbows - both 3lbers (possibly same one!) Chilled out birthday trip! Carrier was very low so fish were very spooky - though did land the pike from here which had clamped down on a dace and didn't let go - steered it into the net before it realised what was happening! Most of the time spent trotting the weirpool. Big brownie was actually a bit of a disappointment - didn't fight at all like a troot - kept deep, hugging the bottom radiating gigantism, thought it had to be a huge chub - though I even entertained the notion it might be a barbel - didn't see it till I brought it to the net. Stunning fish but not what I was after!!

River Kennet - Brimpton 0530 - 1130 Hot and sultry. AT 19ºC when I left home at 0445! River still seeing the benefits of a wet spring. 6 Chub: 4lb 3oz, 4lb 0oz, 3lb 14oz, 3lb 10oz, 3lb 9oz, 3lb 2oz. 10 Dace - 4 over 8oz - best 10oz. 10 Brownies - mostly small - with 3 over lb. Lovely morning'c chubbing - the more so as I spent most of it up to my thighs in cool Kennet water. Nice stamp of fish which came from 3 separate swims.As ever, these days the trout were a bit of a pain - often killing a swim with their antics when hooked.

River Kennet - Nr Thatcham 0500 - 0830 Cool (9/10ºC), clear and misty. River up a couple of inches. 3 Chub: 4lb 15oz, 2lb 14oz, 1lb 8oz. 20 Dace and half a dozen brownies to circa 1lb. Pre breakfast trotting trip - and another fine chub from here - and many of the dace were a good size too - biggest I put on the scales went 10oz with another ½ doz not much smaller.

River Kennet - Brimpton. 0500 - 0930 Lovely summer's morning - sun rising therough the valley mist - temps a warm15º - rising to a muggy 21ºC when I packed up. River a little on the low side as is usual at this time of year. 2 Chub; 5lb 4oz & 1½lb. 11 Dace - with half a dozen over 8oz (!!) best went 10oz. 4 Brownies - all over 1lb - biggest 2lb 10oz. Cracking morning's trotting - nice to find a pod of big dace - or rather 2 pods as the fish came from different swims.

Kennet & Avon Canal - Avington 0715 - 1215 Cool, and overcast. AT 6º -> 9ºC. WT 11.4ºC 6 Perch to 1lb 12oz (3 over lb). 3 Chub; all over 1lb - best 4lb 5oz. 15 Roach, 4 Dace, 1 Bream (circa 1½lb). Pleasant morning on this rather remote part of the canal - started off on lobs which accounted for all the perch and one of the chub. Switched to maggot for the last couple of hours hoping to snaffle some decent roach as per last autumn here - no big red fins but the 4lb chub was adequate compensation!

River Kennet - Newbury 0430 - 0800 Cool and overcast - but dry. River surprisingly high with some colour. 4 Chub; 3lb 2oz, 2lb 10oz and a couple of fish circa 1½lb, 13 Dace, 2 Grayling, 2 brownies So begineth another season - I have been umming a ahing over whether or not to continue with this blog - but someone asked if I was and I said yes so will carry on for the time being - pity the view counter's been broken for months - was hoping to celebrate 1M views by now! This was just a short trotting session before the main event at Marsh Farm later in the day. Nice to see some chub in residence and the grayling put on a good disguise - I thought they were small barbel by the way they fought - alas I thing of the past from this stretch - still nice to see grayling approaching a pound coming out. First Chub of the Season:

River Kennet, Nr Thatcham 0830 - 1315 Bright start, clouding over - quite chilly in the breeze. AT & WT 45ºF. River in great winter nick - quite pacey but well within its banks with a slight tinge of colour. 4 Chub; 4lb 2oz, 3lb 4oz, 3lb 0oz, 2lb 12oz. 1 Grayling, 2 Brownies both 1lb+. Very satisfying morning in a swim a rarely visit in the winter!! Can't think why - though it is quite a long walk and there's very few back up spots if this doesn't produce. But wading out to mid river to get a good trotting line to a nice slack I had slow but steady sport all morning with bites coming every half an hour or so.

River Kennet - Newbury 0900 - 1400 Warm (for late October) and mainly sunny. 15ºC. River very low and threadbare. 6 Chub; 5 over 1lb. All in the 1-2lb range save for a 4lb 4oz fish. 30+ Dace most quite small apart from one clonking fish of 12oz. A doz+ Roach with around half in the 6-8oz bracket (nice!), 4 Gudgeon, 1 Bleak & 3 Brownies to a pound and a bit. Unexpectedly had a free day and with Jaq out all day it seemed the perfect excuse for a bit of autumn chubbing! I fished 6 swims in total, starting at the spot which has produced my only float caught barbel of the season and quickly had a 1¾lb & 2lb chub. Low water meant spooky fish so moving swims was the order of the day and this was the only swim that produced more than 1 chub. Lots of silver fish atm which is very pleasing especially the stamp of some of the roach - and no pike trouble which also helped matters! Nice Dace - will be even nicer in 3-4 months!

River Itchen 0830 - 1700 A rather 'lively' day weather wise - dry but windy until 1100 then 2½hrs of heavy rain (and even windier) followed by 2½hrs of dry weather with even heavier rain for the last hour - by which time the river was colouring up. First day of rain after a fortnight of benign, calm conditions - poo! 17 Grayling; 8 over 1lb - best 5; 2lb 1oz, 1lb 14oz, 1lb 11oz 1lb 10oz X2. 3 Chub 3lb 6oz X2 (not the same fish!) and 2lb 13oz. 4 Brownies to 3lb and a salmon parr. Question: is Costa Coffee trying to take over the world - or at least highway food service? Plan B to get a decent 'full English' was again thwarted by said chain taking over the franchise on the M3 Winchester services. So fishing in somewhat challenging conditions without even a cooked brekkie inside me - pah! The morning though wasn't too bad - very windy but the rain arrived a little later than predicted. The river was quite pacey - in fact too fast for a couple of 'banker swims'. However I eventually found some fish - and had a decent spell when I had 4 of my 5 biggest grayling in under an hour from the same swim - all on trotted red corn - which caught nearly all my fish today. The 1-14 in 'mid flick'. Best of around a dozen shots! Smiling AGAIN!!!

Middle Kennet - Nr Newbury 0800 - 1700 Overcast, mild (9-10ºC) with some milky sunshine at times after a drizzly first hour. A lovely benign winter's day. River quite pacey and carrying a little colour. 14 Chub: 6 over 3lb - best 4lb 13oz. 3 Pike; All jacks - biggest just under 7lb. 7 Perch; all small, save for one goodun of 2lb 8oz. 2 Dozen Dace & Roach. 3 Brownies all around 2lb+. Cracking day's sport (as always from here). Plan was to do a bit of piking for a change (hoping to meet the monster of the weirpool from 2 seasons ago), as well as go after the usual glut of chub. Paul spent more time chasing dace than me so didn't end up with so many chub (but had twice as many dace). A very satisfactory chub to trout ratio too!! Smiling for once!

River Kennet - Thatcham (A) 0730 - 0930 (B ) 1000 - 1200 Cool and breezy. Overcast for first couple of hours then sunny. River quite pacey with a little colour. 2 Chub; 3lb 1oz & 2lb 9oz, 2 brownies (all from B ). 1 Grayling (!) from A. Last winter (A) proved to be a reliable swim for chub and perch - and throughout the summer and autumn has also produced nice dace. However the fish have done a disappearing act this winter (Paul and Rusty have struggled here recently) so after a couple of hours for a somewhat surprising grayling - and no other bites I was moving off downstream for the rest of the morning. Dace here have also disappeared for the winter - but thankfully a swim that I knew would contain chub - threw up a couple of 'schooly' sized fish to save the morning! Schooly Chub

A Southern Chalk Stream ! Dawn till Dusk! Sunny spells and heavy showers - which apart from a brief downpour in the 1st hour missed us completely! Saw some very black clouds to the east and west of us in the afternoon - but nothing over us - so we had the sunny spells while others had the heavy showers - hooray!! 73(!) Grayling. 36(!) over a 1lb. Most in the 1¼ lb - 1lb 10oz bracket. Biggest 5 went; 2lb 6oz, 2lb 2oz, 2lb 0oz, 1lb 15oz & 1lb 13oz. 3 Chub; 5lb 0oz, 4lb 7oz, 3lb 0oz. 20 Brownies to 3lb. 1 Salmon Parr. Brilliant day's fishing. Though the day didn't get off to the best of starts - no big breakfast! We pulled into Sutton Scotney services on the A34 on the stroke of 7am - with saliva glans already working overtime in anticipation of a Little Chef Olympic Breakfast only to discover the Little Chef has been replaced by a Costa Coffee! Popping next door for a MacDonalds breakfast bagel was scant replacement. We're going to have to suss out alternatives for future trips! When we arrived we were delighted to see the river was in fantastic nick especially given the heavy rain the previous day. Last winters floods have significantly remodelled parts of the river bed so we had some new swims to explore - though the biggies and the chub were still in their regular haunts. Biggest 2 chub and 2 of the 2 pound grayling caught on trotted red corn - though the 2-6 was on red maggot. Paul also had a good return with around 50 grayling to 2lb 2oz - and he even had PB sea trout of 4lb 10oz or is it a Salmon? Answers on a postcard see pic below. Fat 5lber. As usual trying to take a pic of a grayling is akin to trying to give a cat a pill. This was about my 6th attempt with my 1st 2 of the day - I gave up after this! Just about got this one (though the tail is in mid flick). Though my biggest of the day did stay still just long enough. A couple of Paul's 'trout' which I'm putting up for identification purposes! Pretty sure this is a sea trout. But is this a sea trout or a salmon?