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River Kennet

2K views 5 replies 2 participants last post by  BobP 
G
#1 ·
Hello

Is anyone in a position to compare the Barton Court, Craven and Benham beats of this river? (hopefully BobP will contribute to this thread, because I am aware he is very knowledgeable about this river).

What are the main differences between the beats and what are the best features of each?

p.s. Kite in his diary wrote about fishing the Kennet at Hungerford. Where is this in context and is it accessible?

Many thanks
 
#2 ·
The Kennet at Hungerford is available on season tickets ,its known as the town water .
I fished it for a few years in the 80s ,the then stocking policy was mainly rainbows which did,nt compare with grown on rezzer fish ,so I moved on !
 
#4 ·
Starting at the bottom, Benham has a lot of water. Main river plus a couple of carriers, one of which is my starting point when guiding. Usually lots of fish to be found and a good mayfly. The downside is that it suffers from turbid water entering from the Kennet & Avon Canal so fish spotting later in the season is not easy. To find the carrier stand with your back to the fishing hut and walk down the track to the right. There is a carrier to your right. At the bottom turn sharp left and follow the track to a bridge. From here go downstream as far as the trees and then fish back. This is usually good for a couple of trout. Go over the track and fish upstream until you end up on the access track. There are always plenty of fish. A long morning's fishing.

The Craven is the next one up. Not a bad fishery with the top end from the road bridge down to the hatch pool being dry fly only. It is not a big beat, but there is a decent mayfly and enough water to keep you occupied for a day. For history buffs, it is the last place where salmon parr were introduced at the end of the ill-fated Thames Salmon Rehabilitation Project. 2011 I think. I have a day's guiding there later this season.

Barton Court Is at Kintbury. I started my career in fisheries management here in 1973, so a lot of water under the bridge. My ex-colleagues did some river restoration work here way back and not necessarily the best from a fishing perspective. That said there is some decent water, especially at the bottom of the Middle Cut just above the Kintbury road. There are always good numbers of fish down there. Good mayfly again. The two carriers across the water meadow usually hold decent numbers of fish, but as the streams are quite small the fish are consequently wary.
 
G
#5 ·
Thank you, Bob. That's very helpful.

Before your reply, Benham had appealed the most from the available literature and images, but I have read about the canal's impact on the Kennet too. I just wasn't aware that Benham suffered from it.

Craven has jumped into the lead but I see there is restoration underway and very limited availability (no online bookings).
 
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