Chew Valley Lake

Well the Chew Pike Boat Trials are over for another year and as usual, they produced plenty of 30's and loads of 20's.

The final 6 day session was dominated by bait anglers, but a 36lb 5oz cracker couldnt resist a lure - sadly it wasnt one of mine!  I fished the final 2 days with Ian Gregg, Stuart Clough and Keith Hendry.  We fished lures on the drift but to no avail.  So we anchored and fished static baits and wobbled smelt.  Over the 2 days, we had 10 pike - 6 to the wobbled baits and the other 4 to static deads.

Ian had 3 mid doubles, with Keith a 16 pounder and Stuart Clough a superb 25lb 8oz esox.  I only had 2 fish but one weighed 27lbs and became my biggest of the Autumn Pike Trials.

The other weighed 8lbs and what made it interesting was that it had one of my Tags in it's dorsal fin - put there the previous day when Ian Gregg caught it about 100 yards away!   That makes it 660 pike to my guided boat sessions since opening day in March 2010.

Guiding on Litton during the Winter.

Now that the 2011 season is over on Chew and Blagdon, I am still available to guide on Litton lakes - just 10 minutes drive from Chew.

There are 2 reservoirs at Litton with boats on each and a superb Fishing Lodge to cook up some warm food on a cold day. 

Wayne Adcock had a day to remember on the Annual Chew Pike Competition held on the 1st day of the 3rd session of Pike Trials.  Wayne drew top predator angler Neville Fickling and landed fish of 33lbs, 27lbs and 29lbs, plus a couple of doubles for good measure!  Adcock's total weight was over 100lbs and easily took the trophy.
Deadbaits at anchor was the winning method and 2nd placed Martin Harrison also fished deads to take 5 doubles for almost 70lbs.

I was drawn with top lure angler Bob Jones and we were really excited as the winds were low and the air temperatures comfortably warm - some pike were even showing on the surface as they targetted the roach - we were very confident that this would be a day for the lures.  How wrong we were!

After 15 minutes I had a good hit and landed a 7 .08 fish, soon followed by a couple of jacks for Bob and I in quick succession.  Then it was a case of sit back and watch the deadbait anglers heaving in pike after pike.  Returning to the Dam, I had a 10.08 fish and expected things to start happening for us - but they didn't.

Bob and I persevered however and at last knockings, I managed a 25.08 beast off Moreton point - a gnarly old campaigner which was blind in one eye!

3 twenties on baits!

Although I have supreme confidence fishing lures for pike on Chew in virtually any conditions, there are times when I stick the anchor down and watch the floats.  To me, fishing deads lacks any interaction and apart from twitching them along the bottom from time to time, you are literally at the mercy of the pike and cannot make things happen as you can fishing lures or flies.  Still, each to their own I suppose.

On this particular day, I was fishing with Barry Hawyes, who this time last year, lost the biggest pike I have ever seen on Chew Valley - right at the net - in fact, 2/3's of it's body was over the net before it slunk off into the depths!  Barry has never been the same since!

As it was cold and windy, we drifted with lures for a few hours and Barry had a couple of jacks.  Lunchtime came, so we anchored-up and stuck out 3 baits while Barry continued to fish the lures.  Within 10 minutes, he had missed a take and landed a 7lb fish.

The boat near to us had a decent fish, so we felt we too were in with a chance.  Sure enough, Barry's float started to move, so he wound down and struck into a solid fish.  After a decent fight, we got the fish into the net, just as my bait runner screamed off.  I struck into another good fish and to cut a long story short, we had 2 fish in the same net weighing 47lbs!

Barry's fish was 20lbs 8ozs and mine was 26lbs 8ozs.  Thankfully both were lightly hooked and went back quickly after a couple of pics - the rigs however were a different story and needed completely replacing.

We went off on the drift for the rest of the afternoon but returned for last knockings, where I managed another cracking fish of 24.08, while Barry had a jack and lost another biggie. 

So far, my guests and I have had 13 pike over 20lbs to my boat during the Trials and the last session begins on Friday.  Normally, the number of pike caught drops, but historically, there are even bigger fish landed - I've not had a 30 this season, so lets hope it will come next week - or perhaps even a 40 ..........

I fished the first day of Pike Trials on Chew Valley Lake this Monday - what a day it was!

70 degrees heat and bright sunshine greeted the boat anglers - most of whom anchored and fished deadbaits.  This was definitely the hottest ever start to a pike trials session and my boat partner, Simon Pledge and I headed for Herons Green.  Our other friends Gavin and Gary also headed for this area - all of us determined to fish lures on the drift.

Thankfully, most of the anchored boats kept to the deep water in front of the Sailing Club or in front of Woodford Bank.

The 4 of us ended the day with over 40 pike on lures.

Simon had the best bag - his first three pike weighed 20lbs, 24lbs 8ozs and 26lbs.  Gavin Young had fish of 23lbs, 23lbs 08ozs, 19lbs and 17lbs 08ozs.  Gary and I also chipped in with several doubles up to 14lbs.

What an opening day!

Dave Lang was yesterday crowned Lexus Champion for 2011.  Chew Valley fished incredibly well on the practice day, with some anglers recording as many as 20 fish.  The match day saw plenty of rain, but light winds meant the fish kept feeding, but they were far harder to tempt following the hammering they received during practice!

Top rod Dave used a combination of 2 Boobies, with 2 nymphs sandwiched in between - proper "washing Line" tactics utilising a Midge Tip fly line.  Not one of the 100 competitors managed their 10 fish limit, but Dave Lang and Kieran Bonas both weighed-in 9 rainbow trout. 

It was quite a day for runner-up Kieran Bonas, who isn't legally able to drive until October when he reaches his 17th birthday.  Already, the youngster won the Rutland Water Heat, beating a star-studded cast of older anglers and in the Final, he very nearly did it again.  There is no doubt that this young man is destined for great things and we all wish him the best of luck in the coming years.

Off to Italy for the World Championships

Tomorrow I head for Milan and then on to the Dolomite Mountains for the 2011 World Flyfishing Championships.

Torrential rain has seen a change in one of the River sessions, as a landslide has forced one of the Aurino River sessions to be transferred to the Rienza.  This is a great shame, as the Aurino is a fantastic river, with lots of big Marble Trout and Grayling.

These championships promise to be one of the best ever ......... or one of the worst.  Everything hinges on the weather - too warm and the snow melt will colour the rivers - too wet and the rivers will turn chocolate brown.  Last year it rained in Poland and I managed a bronze medal - this year, as long as we get a team medal, I really don't care what the weather throws at us!

You can follow the results as they happen on the official FIPS MOUCHE web site.

I will let you know how it all went in early September.  Until then, good fishing and Tight Lines.