Chew Valley Lake

Between the storms, the fishing on Chew last week was excellent - lots of incredibly hard fighting trout taking mainly Diawl bachs and Crunchers, with not a blob in sight!I   I fished with Jim and Becky Houlihan and Becky, who was boat fishing for just the 2nd time, hooked plenty of trout and landed a couple.  Jim joined us later in the afternoon and knocked out half a dozen near the Dam.

I have just been away to Eyebrook and Pitsford, running 3 consecutive days of Lexus Heats.  Last Sunday, I also ran a floating lines only heat at Chew Valley.
Every day we have had rain and all the reservoirs are now full to overflowing - Chew is overflowing at a rate of knots, as is Blagdon.

Thankfully, the fishing is very good everywhere at the moment, so long as we don't get gusty winds and driving rain - even the fish hate those conditions!

The extra water has certainly suppressed the weed growth on Chew and as a result, trout can still be caught over at Herriots, Startford and along the reedbeds off Wick Green - normally all these areas are choked with weed by this time of the year and the trout avoid them like the plague.

At the Lexus Heat on Chew last Sunday, winner Paul Roach entered his grand daughter into the event.  10 year old Daisy Bristow braved the cold wind and frequent storms to weigh-in 3 rainbows and win herself a special prize as the youngest ever competitor in a Lexus Heat!

The Chew Valley pike have been conspicuous by their absence so far this season - probably due to very late spawning and the millions of gallons of fresh, dirty cold water that has poured into the lake.  They have to feed soon however and I am out for them over the next few days with clients, so I am hoping for some decent results.

Apparently the pike at Pitsford and Ravensthorpe have also been reluctant to feed this season, so it appears it is a trend across the country. 

Today I fished with my long time client and great friend Barry Hawyes.  We had planned a pike day, but they have been so difficult to tempt recently, we decided to fish for trout first.

The day was very sunny and windier than forecast - now when have I heard that before?!  Still, at least it was warm and I only had 3 layers of clothing on instead of the usual 6 or 7!

First drift we had nothing.  Then next drift off Stratford, Barry had a cracking 4lb rainbow.  Soon I followed suit with a 4lb 12oz 'bow.  Both fish were absolutely stuffed with small green buzzer and big black buzzers.  Some even had damsels - which for Chew, is most unusual.

Things were hard across the lake, with no pike being caught and very few trout - also, the wind had increased in strength, which on Chew, is always the kiss of death. But we plugged away with our Diawl Bach Nymphs, Buzzers and Orange Blobs (top dropper) on 18 foot leaders and floating fly lines.  Every hour or so, we got a take - sometimes just a mere movement of fly line, but at other times, a finger wrenching pull!  Steadily we built a bag and every one was a cracker - fin perfect and fighting like fury.

By the end of the day, we had 7 rainbows to the boat, weighing an incredible 26lbs 4ozs.

If you are thinking of getting onto the water after all this cold, wet and windy weather, I suggest you get a boat on Chew and head for Stratford - the fish are fantastic!

World Championships

In a few days I will be heading off to Slovenia with Team England for the FIPS Mouche World Fly Fishing Championships.  As usual, the event will be dominated by river fishing, as most countries competing cannot handle fishing lakes!

We will be fishing 4 river sessions and a solitary lake session.

Our team is Howard Croston, Phil Dixon, Simon Robinson, John Tyzaqck and myself, with Scott Nellins as reserve.  Paul Page will manage the World team for the first time.

COME ON ENGLAND!!!!!

March and the beginning of April saw beautiful sunny days, gin clear water and the trout feeding with a vengeance on both Chew and Blagdon.
April and early May however has seen unprecedented levels of rainfall fill both lakes to capacity.
Litton is full and overflowing, with a current running through the lower lake!

I have never witnessed the lakes rise so quickly and at Blagdon, the sound of the water pouring over the bywash could be heard clearly from Blagdon Fishing Lodge.

BUT WE MUST NOT COMPLAIN - WE NEEDED THIS RAINFALL!

HOWEVER, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH AND WE NOW NEED SOME SETTLED, DRY, WARM DAYS.

Chew was coloured in many areas last week, as a combination of strong winds and rising water levels.  Thankfully, most of the colour has now dropped out and the fishing is beginning to improve.

Blagdon was dirty at the Top End where the River Yeo flows in, but the rest of the lake was clear.  I fished Blagdon for 3 consecutive days last week and we caught some superb rainbows - mainly from Polish Water and Green Lawns, although the bank anglers were catching well off Ash Trees, Pegs Point and Orchard Bay.  The fish were very high ikn the water and we casught on floating lines with either straight nymphs, or washing line with a black booby on the point.  Buzzers and Diawl Bachs were the top flies.

All 3 days were cold and at times I wore 6 layers!  When the winds dropped and the air temperature rose; the fishing improved instantly.  It was certainly more akin to early April conditions than early May! At lunchtime we had to light the fire in the Lodge to get warm!

Thomas, one of my guests at Blagdon last week, caught his 8 fish limit on only his 4th fly fishing trip.  His bag included 4 fish over 3lbs and they all are now fighting like demons.

I have not heard a Cuckoo on Chew or Blagdon yet, but did hear one at Grafham Last week and one in Ireland the previous week.  The swifts have now joined the house martins, swallows and sand martins on both lakes.  Ospreys have also been sighted, but sadly; not by me.  There are loads of ravens in the valley nowadays and they are true aerial gymnasts.

Pike hard to find.

I have had several guided trips for pike on Chew, but apart from John Synnuck's 8 pounder, we simply cannot get them on the feed.  Every time it looks like they will feed, the weather changes for the worst and nowt happens!

My best weighed 10lbs but took a diawl bach nymph while fishing for trout!

Still, I am out every day this week on Chew, so I am hoping things will now improve.  It was amazing seeing an Albino Pike under my boat earlier this season and when the water was crystal clear, I saw some real giants.

There have also been very few spawning mortalities this season, which is unusual.

Grafham boat damage.

It seems every major reservoir is having a tough time of it this season.  Rutland have been pumping full bore to get the levels up - that brings dirty water and difficult fishing.  Bewl has been incredibly low and is now pumping from the Medway. 

I was at Grafham last week running a Lexus Team Heat - the previous day, we had to call-off the Individual Heat due to high winds!  8 boats suffered damage that day and they were INSIDE the confines of the harbour walls!

Beautiful weather, gin-clear water and plenty of feeding trout made the first few days of the season truly memorable on Chew Valley Lake.
For the second year in a row, the sun shone all day and the wind never rose above a light breeze, helping the trout to feed hard on daphnia, bloodworm, buzzer and corixa.

Most boat anglers fished floating lines and nymphs, although some used sinking lines in the deeper water with lures and boobies to tempt the daphnia feeders.

The boat anglers certainly had the best of the sport as the bright skies kept the fish feeding in the deeper water.  East Shore, the Spit off Denny Island and Herons Green were the best boat fishing areas, while Wick Green produced plenty of limit bags from the bank.

The pike have proved more elusive however and this is probably to do with the bright skies and crystal clear water.  I have had a few jacks to the boat and have seen several decent fish follow the fly, but turn away at the last moment.

Today the lake was flat calm for several hours and in this time, I witnessed dozens of trout rising to buzzers.  Oh how I wished I had a trout rod with me today!

Still, out again tomorrow and the rest of this week, so plenty of opportunities to take a few fish "off the top"!