John Horsey Fly Fishing Web Log

John's Fishing Blog

The New Lexus Fly Fishing Championships Website is Officially Live!

Today marks the launch of the new supporting website for the Lexus Fly Fishing Championships, sporting a fresh new look and feel. The UK-based fly fishing competitions, organised by myself, are now in their 8th year. Both competitions feature heats across England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The events are known for drawing a Global audience, with regular participants from the whole of Europe, as well as Canada, the US and even as far as Australia. It's safe to say both fly fishing championships hold a firm place on the calendar of any fly fisherman who is passionate about their sport.

Whether a beginner or experienced fly fisherman there's an awful lot to gain from entering either of the events.. hints and tips on improving your game, fishing with like minded people, great prizes throughout, along with a brilliant atmostphere at each heat. For more details on the competition head on over to the Lexus Championships website... the site will be updated with results and photos soon after every match heat.

Lexus Individual Fly Fishing Championships

The Lexus Individual is for individual fly fishermen of all skill-levels. 20 heats will be held this year on 16 waters throughout the UK.  Each heat qualifies a number of participants depending on the day's takeup, ranging from 3 to 10. A feature that is unique to the Lexus Fly Fishing Championships is the 'wildcard' qualifier at each heat. This automatically qualifies the captor of the largest fish on the day - meaning that literally anyone stands a good chance of qualifying in each heat! Multiple entries are allowed, further increasing chance of qualification. There are quality prizes at each heat for every qualifier and a fantastic array of prizes at the final - grand prize is a Lexus RX450 SEL Hybrid SUV, largest fish wins a fishing holiday to Norway courtesy of Anglers World Holidays! Get an entry in now!

Lexus Team Fly Fishing Championships

Are there a few of you who share a passion for fly fishing? The Lexus Team is for teams of 6 anglers, with 9 heats taking place at 6 UK fishing venues.  The number of qualifying teams at each heat depends on takeup. There are tonnes of quality tackle prizes for both teams and individuals throughout the competition, grand final cash prizes of £1000, £750 and £250 for 1st, 2nd and 3rd team places, and much, much more. Only 1 entry is allowed per team, so make it count! Look forward to seeing you there!

Catch John and Chris Tarrant's fishing adventures on Youtube

Last year I spent many weeks filming a new fishing series for TV with my good friend Chris Tarrant.  I'm sure that most people realise Chris is a fanatical fisherman and we set out to film some great action from home and abroad.

We flew to the exotic Maldives where we caught Sailfish, GT's, Wahou, Tuna, and many more species.  Chew Valley Lake was our English location, with masses of pike action, while Salmon and Trout stole the limelight in Northern Ireland.

The rugged wilderness beauty of the Yukon in Northern Canada formed the backdrop to some of the best freshwater fishing I have ever experienced. 

Attached are a couple of clips of Chris Tarrant and I catching magnificent lake trout from Wellesley Lake in Kluane national Park... enjoy!

 

Chris Tarrant fishing on the Yukon
See video

New trout fly fishing season only days away!

The new trout fly fishing season is only days away, with Blagdon Lake opening on Wednesday 16th March, while Chew Valley opens a week later on 23rd March. This season looks like being a bumper start, with Bristol Water holding back 000's of 3lb+ rainbow trout in the net cages at Chew all Winter long. These trout are in tip-top condition and should provide great sport for boat and bank anglers alike.

What we now need is a bit more rain to fill both lakes to capacity, then a spell of mild weather to promote some decent fly activity and get the fish feeding.  In recent years, floating lines and nymphs have been more effective than fishing sinking lines with lures... let's hope this trend continues!

Book a day now!

I still have a handful of days available for the start of the season, although Opening Days on both Chew and Blagdon lakes are fully booked. Contact me for any enquiries about availability.

Final session of pike trials

In between now and the start of the trout fishing season, I have a couple of days targetting the pike in the final week of pike trials and already there have been plenty of 30's caught.  Who knows, this last week might produce a fish over 40lbs 8ozs to break the previous Chew record - watch this space and I'll keep you informed via the blog.

Dyson cleans up with a near 24 pounder!

Warren Dyson started our day on Chew with a bang by landing a superb 23lb 12oz pike on the first drift. This is his personal best pike on a lure - which happened to be a Silver Professor Kusami Spoon - the same lure that accounted for Chris Tarrant's 27 lb pike in the Autumn Chew Pike Trials.

The weather today was great for fishing - overcast skies and light winds - the rain spoilt things at times, but for February, this had to be almost perfect - pity the pike didnt agree though!  Most of the bait anglers struggled to put together a few jacks, but the 3 boats that constantly drifted, using assorted lures, were rewarded with plenty of action.

Warren Dyson with his personal best lure caught pike from Chew at 23lbs 12ozs.

Big Pike hit the Lures!

The water is clearing and Chew Valley is filling - at last!
And what's more, the big pike are now hitting the lures as well as we soon found out!

On Monday I was guiding Rob Johnson and Paul Mersh - 2 very experienced predator anglers experiencing Chew Valley for the first time.
We had a great day.  Rob's first fish was a stunning 22lb 12oz fish that smashed into his soft plastic lure. 

Rob Johnson with cracking 22lb 12oz pike from Chew valley on a Lure
Rob Johnson's fin perfect 17lb pike from Chew Valley Lake on a lure

Let the 2011 Chew Valley pike trials commence!

Two weeks in and the pike trials are well underway! Here's a brief catchup on an eventful start:

I've been out twice in the 1st session with clients.  Day 1 was cancelled due to high winds which really ripped the water into a muddy mess.  I was out on Day 2 with Daryl Hunter who landed his first pike of the day within 10 minutes.  The fish took a deep fished soft plastic lure.  Daryl also landed another couple of fish but alas, no biggies!

The next trip was with Chris Tarrant and his good friend Sean - they both had several small pike, but nothing over 10lbs.  However, the highlight of the day was another personal best fish for CT from Chew - a cracking 3lb 8oz Perch taken on a 5 inch Silver Spoon fished ultra slowly along the bottom.

I am out with clients again this week and will report back - already there have been pike of 38lbs, 34lbs and at least 4 others over 30lbs have been landed.  It's looking good for a 40 pounder at this rate and who knows, maybe my boat will get it.

More soon

Chris Tarrant and a 3lb 8oz Perch taken on a 5 inch Silver Spoon Fly

Blog Archive

December 2016

January 2016

December 2015

April 2015

August 2014

December 2013

September 2013

February 2012