trout on the fly

2020 Season one of the best ever - despite the Pandemic

Despite 2020 being such a disastrous year due to Covid 19, once our lakes and rivers reopened following lockdown, the fishing all over the country has been nothing short of sensational!
This applies big time to Chew Valley and Blagdon Lakes, where the trout fly fishing has been sensational.  Countless big rainbows and browns being caught before and after the resumption of fishing, with Blagdon being open for business 7 days a week.
Sadly Chew has been open intermittently due to staffing shortages at Bristol Water, but when it is open,  boat sales hit the roof!
In fact, some trout fisheries have recorded record bookings from June through to the current time. 
Rod Licence sales are up by over 500,000 on last year and fishing tackle companies have made record sales.

Guided Days

My guided days have sadly been reduced to single rod bookings due to social distancing in the boats.  In fact, I did not guide at all for over the first 3 months of the pandemic as my wife is high risk.  Once the lakes reopened, it became clear that John Harris and the staff at Bristol Water were employing strict safety guidelines and to be honest, once out on the water in a boat, things could not be much safer!

We have had some great days on both lakes, with fin perfect trout falling mainly to floating lines and either Dry Fly or Washing Line tactics.

I did not target the pike as much as usual as Chew was closed for a big part of the season, but when I did we boated fish up to 25lbs 12ozs.

River Guiding

Recently I guided Barry Hawyes on the fabled River Test at Leckford - Beat 12 for his surprise 70th Birthday treat.  What a fabulous day!  Barry has fished rivers in New Zealand and caught many specimen browns and rainbows, but he was obviously blown away with the history and beauty of our own premier chalkstream.

Pike Trials

The pike trials on Both Chew and Blagdon have produced huge numbers of smaller pike so far this season, but even so, at least 6 pike over 30lbs have been landed on Chew, and one of these fell to Chris the Ranger on a fly!

If you fancy a guided day on Chew or Blagdon in the coming weeks, please contact me via the Contact Form on the WebSite, or pm me on Facebook.

Daryl Hunter with his 25:04 Blagdon Pike taken on the Fly!
Barry Hawyes on the River Test
John Horsey Fly Fishing

2018 FISHING NEWS UPDATE

This is my first post of the 2018 fly fishing season and many apologies for not keeping my Blog up to date during the last year.
I decided to focus more on Social Media during that time but realise that many people still do not use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media apps.  So I will now update my Blog regularly again with the latest fishing news and catches.

Chew Valley Lake - Trout

The trout fishing on Chew Valley Lake has been amazing since opening day in early March.  Hollowbrook has - and still is - holding large numbers of trout due to the massive bloodworm beds and buzzer hatches.  You can catch in the shallow margins using Washing Line tactics with a FAB or Booby on the point and nymphs such as Diawl Bachs, Crunchers or Buzzers on the droppers.  If you drift out into the deeper water - around 10 to 15 feet, then substitute a heavy Buzzer for the point fly and let the flies get right down.  But be warned, these fish are fighting like tigers and strong fluorocarbon such as 8lb or 10lb Rio Fluoroflex is highly recommended.
Herons Green has also been fishing well all season and now Villice Bay is coming alive.

When the winds drop and the air temperatures rise, head over to Stratford bay and Herriots.  These areas hold some of the biggest rainbow and brown trout that I have seen rising on Chew for many years.  Recently, on a flat calm, bright, sunny day, My guest Ron Howard and I spent a day casting at huge rising fish using dries.  The good old Claret Hopper proved to be the top fly and Ron's best fish was a fin perfect, overwintered Brown Trout weighing 5lbs 8ozs.  My best two Rainbows weighed in at 6lbs 4ozs and 6lbs 6ozs.  We also had plenty of other fish to dries that day, plus plenty to nymphs in other areas of the lake.

Blagdon Lake - Trout

Blagdon's Top End has been the best place all season, with boats catching literally hundreds of fish each day at times.  With many people now practicing catch and release, these fish have survived and are now amazingly fit and getting bigger by the day.  The same nymph tactics work here as on Chew and if there are rising fish to be seen, try the dries - Hoppers, Bobs Bits and Carrot Flies.

Butcombe bay started off very slowly this season, but now it is fishing well, as is Cheddar Water and in front of the Lodge at Polish Water.

Why not enter the Blagdon Heat of the Anglers World Individual Championships this coming Sunday 3rd June?  Simply go to: flyfishingchampionships.uk to enter online

Chew Valley - Pike

The pike fishing has been pretty tricky so far this season, but since the warmer weather, they are now beginning to feed properly.  Several 20's and a 32:00 have come out in the past few days, with lots of smaller fish around the 6lbs to 8lbs mark being caught.  Plenty of VERY big fish have also been spotted following the fly and lots are being caught on small flies by trout anglers.
I actually had a 16:04 pike on a size 10 Buzzer last week - hooked fairly and squarely in the mouth!

 

John Horsey with a 6lb 6oz rainbow taken on a size 10 Claret Hopper
Ron Howard's cracking Chew 5lb 8oz brownie taken on a dry
John Horsey with a 6lb 6oz rainbow taken on a size 10 Claret Hopper

Let's go Trout fishing!

Blagdon opens in just 11 days time and with the lake overflowing for weeks and the water crystal clear, the early season looks like being superb. Fin perfect rainbow and brown trout are the target for fly anglers from all over the World who make a pilgrimage to World renowned Blagdon Lake.

Why not get your season underway and book a day with me to show you the top areas on Blagdon's 440 acres?  For the last few seasons, floating lines and teams of nymphs have worked really well, both on the drift and at anchor.

Alternatively, if Chew Valley is your preferred venue, you will only have to wait another week until opening day on the 14th March.  Once again, quality rainbows and browns abound in Chew's 1200 acres, but getting the right drifts and areas can be a bit daunting.

If you fancy booking a day on either lake, then simply get in touch via the "contact" area of my website.

Pike on the Fly

Some of you might prefer to target pike on the fly rather than trout.  Chew Valley is without doubt the top pike water in the UK and with at least twenty seven 30lb pike and two over 40lbs coming out in the recent set of pike trials, expectations are high that the pike fly fishing this season will throw up a lot of monster fish - perhaps even a new record!

If you don't have the right gear to tackle these toothy critters, then I can supply top of the range hardy Rods and reels plus all flies for the job; free of charge.

A cracking Chew rainbow
Blagdon Brownie
30;04 Chew pike taken by JH on the fly

Blog Archive

December 2016

January 2016

December 2015

April 2015

August 2014

December 2013

September 2013

February 2012