Chew's record Brownie

Chew Valley's brown trout record has been well and truly smashed by the capture of a 22lb 7oz monster.  Believed to be the biggest grown-on brown trout from any reservoir in the UK, this fantastic specimen was returned unharmed to the water.

The potential record fish was caught after the 15th October; a time when all brown trout must be released by law.  It was banked by pike angler Justin Harrington on a deadbait during the 3rd session of Chew Valley Pike Trials from the North Shore.

The pictures show it to be in absolute fin perfect condition and apparently it fought well, but went back well after recovering.

We always thought that the Chew brownies might be capable of such sizes, particularly in recent years when so many big browns have been landed.  I am sure that these leviathans are Ferox Trout that change their eating habits to that of live and dead fish - there are certainly plenty of roach and perch for them to feed upon.

Last season I had an 11lb Brown Trout which would not recover as I tried in vain to release it.  It was an old fish, but I wanted to return it.  Alas, it went belly-up, so I took it to the local smoke house where we discovered it had 6 small roach in it's system - all in differing stages of digestion.

So perhaps we have a new species to target on Chew Valley - the Chew Valley Ferox!   Who knows, they might be feeding on the Chew pike!?!