A View from the Water's Edge

[Chris Plumb]

Frost Fish

 

25/10/03

0830 - 1400

 

A fortnight of frosts must make this one of the cooler Octobers of recent years. And with little water in the Kennet water temperatures have plummeted. Usually I'd be after barbel at this time of year but this was a day to 'hedge my bets' and whilst I WAS off to a venue with a good head of barbel, the beat also has chub and grayling - two species who are usually obliging whatever the temperature.

 

It was no surprise therefore that the first four bites resulted in 2 chub and 2 grayling. Each snaffling my double maggot as it was held back in some rough water. The Ladies went 10oz or so, whilst the 2nd chub weighed in at 3½lb - dwarfing it's dimuntive predecessor.

 

This pretty much set up the pattern for the day. 2 more chub were landed - neither as big as the 3lber and half a dozen more grayling. A few small roach and half a dozen dace - one a superb fish of 10oz were also brought to the net. Add to this 7 brownies - all bar one caught in the last hour on the bank - sums up a thoroughly enjoyable day.

 

 

Chris

[Chris Plumb]

Two Trips this week...

 

IAC Southern Fish-In. Barton Court

30/10/03 0730 - 1630

 

By Internet standards the Internet Angling Club (IAC) is ancient. The 'listserve' has been in existence for nearly 9 years and I'm now in my 6th year on it (& still feel like a newbie at times!!!). The list has a very 'clubby' feel to it - membership is very stable (though we always welcome a new face) and whilst at times there's a rather unhealthy obsession with centrepins we also get to go fishing occasionally. Over the years IAC fish-ins have become legend. Venues have ranged across the country. Stillwaters have included, Linear,Thorpe Park,Wraysbury,Wyboston, whilst river trips have been organised to the Wye, Severn, Teme, Kennet, Itchen, Teviot, Ure, St Patricks Stream to name but 8! Some members have even 'teamed up' to organise trips abroad.

So far this year list members have got together at 2 fish-ins. The Northen Fish-in was held in August on the Ure. This, the Southern one on the Kennet at Barton Court was organised by Alan Tomkins.

The water is a classic Upper Kennet estate water. Criss-crossed with carriers, peppered with hatches and pools - there was more water than any of us could cover in a day. Paul and I realised in the pub afterwards that there were parts of the venue we hadn't even seen let alone wet a line in.

Barton Court has a good mixed head of fish. It opens for coarse fishing on 1st October and is (or used to be) renowned for its roach. There certainly are fish there - we saw them - lots of them - good sized roach, bream, chub, perch even the odd pike. Alas in the low water they were very skittish and catching them weren't easy.

Everyone one DID catch however (even if it was, for some, mainly suicidal trout). Of the dozen of us due to come - sickness whittled the final total down to 7 - Alan being one of the no-show's due to his work colleagues being ill Jim Hickey cooked up hotdogs at lunchtime and as ever at these do's there was a whip round for the IAC's adopted charity Second Chance . Best roach of the day was 1½lbs with a number of other 1lb+ fish being caught. I had a number of smaller roach and 8 grayling including a nice plump 1¼lb fish from one of the weirpools. A day that started with us arriving in a glorious, misty autumn dawn finished in the driving rain of an autumnal gale which drove us all off the venue as night fell.

 

Rain at Last

1/11/03 0700 - 1100

A short trip to use up some bait - and whilst I had planned to go grayling fishing - some heavy rain had at last put a blush of colour into the Kennet so I switched to a morning trotting for chub and barbel. And a cracking sport it turned out to be. The river was rejuvenated and the fish responded accordingly. Every 20 minutes or so the float would bury and another fish put a healthy bend into the Harrison. All the fish were of a remarkably similar 'stamp',ranging from 1½ - 2¾lb, the final tally was 7 chub & 4 barbel with a solitary 1lb perch and a hard fighting brownie thrown in for good measure! With more rain falling over the weekend AND temperatures rising it could be a good time to head for those rivers!

 

 

Chris

[Chris Plumb]

Barbel in the Mist

 

6/11/03 1815 - 2315

 

One of the advantages of living near the river is that you can fish it when you judge conditions to be 'optimal'. October was cool, the final few days saw some welcome rain, and November started mild. When I climb into the car at the station after a day at work and see winter evening temperatures still in double figures (Celsius!) I know there's a good chance of barbel feeding.

 

And so a spur of the moment evening trip to the river. Water temps were well up at 52ºF and my confidence was high. Yet the water seemed 'subdued' nothing rolling and within an hour of arrival I was enveloped by a thick, cold, clammy mist. My confidence ebbed away as I slowly chilled (literally!)

 

It really is uncanny how many barbel I've caught over the years which have taken my bait at 2245 and tonight was no exception! My only hittable bite (the few other knocks I did get I put down to crays and leaf litter) resulted in a pot bellied barbel of 5lb. I was already chilled to the marrow and blank saved, I was shortly making the quick trip home....

 

 

Chris

[Chris Plumb]

RAIN!

 

22/11/03 0730 - 1600

 

Well I can't really complain - I've been moaning about the lack of it for long enough - it's just it would have been nice not to have had a whole month's worth of precipitation in one go -especially on the date I'd booked myself a day's grayling fishing.

The venue must rank as my favourite on the whole Kennet, a trout fishery which allows some limited bait fishing for grayling from November to February. The Estate is the usual delightful criss-cross of carriers, pools, weirs and hatches but this year I was worried how I'd find it in low water.

And whilst it was the grayling that first attratced me to this venue - it is fish without an adipose fin that have kept me coming back! Sure, the grayling are plentiful but they aren't particularly big. I've never had a 2lber from here and consider my self fortunate if I get one above 1½lb.

However the venue DOES throw up specimen roach and in paricular huge dace. For any angler a 1lb dace is the fish of a lifetime - this water has produced to me 5 dace of that size and many, many more over 12oz.

07/02/03 is etched indelibly on my angling memory. That day was a mild, overcast one following a period of frost - a sublime combination which found the fish feeding - and produced a Red Letter Day I'll never forget. I caught a dozen dace that trip - 8 of which I thought worthy of the scales and 3 of which broke the 1lb barrier. The best went 1lb 2oz a new pb, and I also had a brace of roach which weighed 1lb 15oz and 2lb 11oz - this too being a new pb.

Saturday was the first time I'd been back since then. I arrived in the heavy drizzle which would continue for the next 36 hours and quickly tackled up at the hut. I set off in the dull dawn to the bottom carrier - scene of my February triumph. I was shocked with what I found. The carrier was almost totally bereft of water. The gravel run which had produced a 1lb dace and a 1.15 roach in consecutive casts was merely inches deep. I worked downstream - looking for somewhere to cast, anywhere remotely deeper got 5 or 10 minutes without a bite save for a solitary grayling. Paul rang to say that he'd succumbed to the flu and wouldn't be joining me.

Shortly after Paul's call I dropped into a deeper swim, not far above where the carrier re-joins the main river and much to my surprise caught a dace. A big one too - 11oz. This was quickly followed by two more just an ounce lighter. This is more like it I thought - and felt that I may be in for another bumper day after all. Alas, it was not to be. I didn't get another dace (or any roach at all) for the rest of the day. And when I returned to this swim for the last hour of daylight I caught merely trout. The time in between was spent exploring the fishery in search of grayling (and trying to avoid the rather too obliging rainbow's ). The final tally was 32 grayling the best of which was a shade under 1½lb. Despite the rain - a hugely enjoyable outing - as always here - and a thorough test for for the waterproofing of my fishing jacket!

 

 

Chris

(Some pictures of last seasons catch are on my gallery at http://www.anglingpictures.com - see link below)

[Chris Plumb]

Heaven or Hell?

6/12/03 0800 - 1630

 

December, and my ‘grayling season’ is now in full swing and my first pilgrimage of the year to the River Itchen was keenly anticipated. This wonderful river has really ‘raised the bar’ as regards my Grayling angling. I first fished it three seasons ago and I arrived having only recently caught my first 2lb fish. My first fish that day was a 2lb 6oz grayling - a new PB. In the next few hours it was broken twice more and by the time Paul and I tackled down in the gloom it stood at 2lb 11oz.

For our next visit that season the river treated us even more indulgently - I caught 23 grayling over a pound (Every fish I caught was over this mark!). 17 of these were over 2lb and my PB was lifted again to 2lb 15oz - where it stands today! The last hour of this day was quite outrageous, Paul and I fished the same large pool from opposite banks - I caught 9, 2lb grayling from 9 consecutive casts until the dark and an aching wrist put a stop to sport. Paul’s tally was similar! I felt like the erstwhile Mr Castwell condemned to eternity to catch the same huge trout with every cast.

Needless to say subsequent trips have singularly failed to live up to the euphoria of these first visits and in fact when three of us went last year we really struggled to catch anything, though I think we all just about saved our blanks!

Still - our expectations were of two pound grayling - and as Paul and I scoffed our way through a Little Chef breakfast we both agreed that anything less would be a disappointment. We are like kids in a candy shop on this river - there’s so much mouth watering water to fish - but for this visit we planned to explore one of the carriers - a stream I hadn’t even seen before.

8 O’clock saw us both starting at the Mill - me fishing above, Paul the hatches. I had a pound fish first cast followed by a fingerling - rare on this river but I’d catch them in some numbers today - a testament to good fry recruitment this year. Paul quickly had half a dozen fish to 1¼lb and I joined him on the mill race and caught my first 2lber of the day - not a grayling though - a chub.

Presently, we were on the move - resisting the temptation - we passed loads of mouth watering swims and headed upstream. We were aiming for a couple of pools which ‘usually’ held big grayling. One thing we have learnt here is that you have to explore - keep moving to find the fish - which are often tightly shoaled up. The plan then was to have a couple of hours here before exploring the carrier in the afternoon and then return for the last hour.

We judged it just right - I fished the head of a pool where the river was funnelled between two pillars and suddenly doubled in depth. We both caught our two pounders. I had a brace - a 2.05 and a 2.08, while Paul had a 2.06. My highlight of the morning though was connecting with something really impressive. I’d like to think it was the salmon that had been jumping at the tail of the pool - but in truth I’ll never know as I didn’t see it. Suffice to say I had a long 10 minutes of arm wrenching action as whatever it was bore deep and basically did whatever it liked - the un-equal battle finished with a straightened size 14, me nursing a sore forearm and a swim that was now devoid of fish!!

The carrier was a disappointment - Paul had seen it when the river was in near flood and had described a series of delightful pools. Alas most of it was now just inches deep - we did however, winkle out a few grayling before heading back to the main river. For the last hour or so I headed back to my ‘salmon pool’ while Paul picked out a swim where he’d seen grayling congregated in a depression in the river bed.

My next 4 casts - produced 4 fish which went in this order 2.02, 1.08, 1.13, 2.0 - each one fought like fury - twisting and turning in the current - the sensible tactic is to hold them where they are and wind down to them to net! The swim produced no more so I moved up to the bend below Paul to fish the last 20minutes of fading light - and got 4 more fish - including my 5th and final 2lber of the day.

Paul had had a frenetic final hour - and when we tallied up our logs at the end - we both had caught exactly 50 grayling each - our best ever return - and whilst not as many big fish as some visits it was nice to get representatives of all year classes for a change. A superlative winter’s day sent Paul and I home 2 happy bunnies!

 

 

Chris

[Chris Plumb]

Bonus Fish!

 

21/12/03 0800 - 1200

 

With a raw northerly and the chance of snow flurries forecast - there was only one species on my mind - grayling, and a short session - or rather two very short sessions to a local chalk stream were the order of the day. I arrived in spitting rain - driven under my hat by the driving rain, it stung my face. To think I left a warm bed for this! - unless I found fish quickly this was gonna be a very short session.

 

Thankfully the grayling were obliging and by the time Paul joined up with me on the bank I'd had a nice brace. Bites were slow to come, the flow is still sluggish and you really have to hold it back - but I caught steadily enough for the first hour until something more solid took a hold. At first I though it was one of the bigger grayling - this venue once gave me my very first 2lber. The fight was more ponderous though - none of that twisting you get with big grayling. A flash of silver fringed with rouge revealed the species. A roach and a good one - my first from here - it was absolutely pristine - all 1lb 11oz of it - a fine specimen and a real bonus fish. The roach marked my last fish from the swim - and we moved a mile upstream to another beat. I struggled in the now bright sunshine managing a solitary baby roach and a grayling while Paul enjoyed some good sport - finding a shoal of grayling a deep run. The highlight of my day however was definitely my bonus roach!

 

Chris

[Chris Plumb]

A Barbel for Boxing Day

 

26/12/03 0930 - 1130

 

“It ought not be necessary to point out to any fisherman that waders were invented to help people to catch fish and not to enable grown-up people to paddle without getting their feet wet” Arthur Ransome, Rod and Line.

 

Yes - this short session was really just an excuse to try out my new waders - a Christmas present from Jaq. I hadn’t initially planned to angle on Boxing Day but the perfect fishing weather over the holiday season so far, has had me chomping at the bit. So the excuse to christen the new waders was all I needed to sneak a couple of hours on the river.

 

Conditions were still perfect - mild, overcast with a fine drizzle on a southerly breeze. The river looked in fine fettle too, still low but with a blush of colour and at 49ºF warm enough for a barbel or two. It was no surprise though for my first fish of the day to be a greedy chub of 3lb. A few dace and roach followed before the swim went dead - and a pike swirling at my float revealed why.

 

A switch upstream soon produced the desired result. After 15 minutes of small roach and a couple of decent dace the float buried right at the tail of the swim and I was connected to something much more substantial. With so much line between me and the fish it was easier to paddle down to the fish. I was packing up shortly so wasn’t as worried about disturbing the swim as I was about losing my Christmas barbel. And as soon as I got below it I was in control and able to guide it to the net. Not huge, though at 3¾lb it was most welcome.

 

I returned to the head of the run and still had time for a half decent perch and a brace of gudgeon before it was time to go home for lunch.

 

 

Chris

[Spindle]

Blimey I could hate you sometimes... today I had to go watch TWEENIE's LIVE!!!!

 

;o)

[Chris Plumb]

We all have our crosses to bear Glenn !! The barbel was from a swim you know well - took it right at the bottom beyond the 'second' tree. 'Your' pike was taking a liking to my float under the bridge!

 

See you in the New Year.

 

 

Chris

[Chris Plumb]

Last and First

 

Christmas may have been mild but once Boxing Day was out of the way the weather has turned chillier. And so my last trip of 2003 and my first of 2004 targetted two species which can be obliging regardless of the water temperature - Chub & Grayling.

 

A Chubbing we will go.

30/12/03 0830 - 1330

 

A trip to one of my favourite winter venues - a club water above Newbury which has miles of bank - with almost every type of river condition imaginable from fast weirs where grayling may be found to slow - almost canalised sections where bream can be caught. But it was the chub that was today’s quarry. They are plentiful here - and can grow to specimen sizes - my only ever 6lb+ fish was captured here in 1999.

 

I arrived to freezing fog with air temperatures hovering near to zero (where they’d stay all day) and a quick check of the water temperature confirmed what I feared - it had dropped 7ºF since Boxing Day. Most of the river here flows through woodland and the fog and low cloud gives the place an eerie, haunting feel. In recent seasons the club has acquired permission to park up right by the water (before it used to be a trek of over a mile) and this lends itself to my favourite approach - to roam and travel light - knowing that the car is never more than a short walk away to re-supply.

 

Many chub enthusiasts advocate bread flake as the TOP bait. However the presence of big Perch here means I usually prefer something that wriggles - my PB Perch was from the same swim as the aforementioned PB Chub!

 

I started at the weirpools (plural - there are two of them) and was quickly into my chosen quarry. When those swims went dead it was time to move on - and during the course of the morning I fished in a dozen spots. The final tally was 10 fat winter chub - half of which were over 3lb and the best - and incidently my last fish of the day - went 5lb 2oz, my biggest chub of the season. Add to that a couple of nice perch - to 1lb9oz plus a stunningly coloured

wild Kennet brown trout of nearly 2lb equals one very happy angler.

 

Grayling Weather

03/01/04 0800 - 1230 (&1300 - 1400)

 

This was a ‘classic’ Grayling winter’s morning. An iron hard frost, the dead leaves and sedges crunching like cornflakes under foot and the line freezing to my rod rings within minutes of starting to fish. The angling was slow but steady. ‘Catch a Couple and Move On’ being the order of the day and by the time I’d finished running my float through every likely looking swim I’d caught 20 grayling to 1lb 6oz a Salmon Parr and a very muscular Rainbow of 3lb 4oz.

 

On the way home I stopped off for an hour on the Kennet to finish off the ½pt of maggots and blow me if I didn’t get a 2lb barbel first cast!! I’d have loved to have taken the water temperature as perceived wisdom has it that fishing for barbel is a waste of time if the water temperature is below 40ºF. Alas I didn’t have my thermometer with me but I bet the temperature was in the 30's - I’m glad no one told the fish that!!!

 

 

Chris