Cold Spring but Great Fishing!

This has definitely been the longest and coldest Spring since I have been a fishing guide - it's now past Mid Summers Day and the winds keep on blowing!
Water temperatures are rising slowly and the weed growth on both Chew and Blagdon is heavy - due to the April sunshine apparently.

Still, in spite of all these cold winds, the trout and pike have fed well on all the Bristol Waters.  Average trout sizes on Chew Valley are 2lbs 15ozs at the present time - bigger than any of the UK's major reservoirs in fact.  And man do they fight hard!

Pike on Chew have been lazy - as usual.  However, catches are decent on overcast days and I have already had a 40:08, 31:08, 27:08 and several others over 25lbs this season on the fly.  I also went through a spell where my clients and I lost 11 pike on the trot as we simply could not hold them!  So pike on the fly is certainly worth a shot.

Lexus Team Heats

Last saturday we had a sell-out Lexus Teams Heat on Chew and 217 trout were caught by the 66 competitors.  Top Rod was Alun Williams of Cwm Flyfishers, whose 9 trout weighed in at 28lbs 1oz.  The biggest fish weighed 5lbs exactly and was landed by Steve Winstone of Team Airflo.
Congratulations to the 5 qualifying teams; Team Airflo, Anglo Welsh FF, Team Snowbee, Blagdon FF and The Water Rats. 
They will join 15 other teams at the Grand Final to be held at both Chew and Blagdon lakes on 15th and 16th August 2015.

Sky TV Tight Lines

Last Friday I was the guest angler on Sky Sports TV fishing show "Tight Lines".  We discussed plenty of fly action, both home and abroad for all species on the fly.  If you missed the show, then it is available on the Sky Sports Podcast.