Trout

The Chew Pike Trials began last Monday and are now into their 2nd 5-day session.  At least one 30lb fish has been caught every day and sometimes two in a day!  This is in addition to many big 20's and a host of doubles.  Even the smaller fish; which many thought were not present last year, have made a welcome appearance, so all is well with the Chew pike population.
The roach and perch shoals are absolutely immense and will provide food for the predatory fish and the overwintering trout.  Sadly there are already over 200 cormorants on Chew Valley and this is not good news for these baitfish.  

My best fish last week weighed 31:08 and was part of an 11 fish haul to lures with John Synnuck, whose best fish was 21:08, while I managed another of 23:00.  Yesterday I fished with Nigel Snell and his son Josh and we boated just the 3 fish - Nigel had a 6:00 pike then I had one of 23:00, before Nigel topped the day off nicely with a beauty at 27:08.  Once again the fish took either Fox Replicant Lures or Silver Spoons.

So far during these Pike Trials we have boated 30 pike on lures and as the water cools, I think the big fish will feed harder and the fishing could get even better!
Most anglers are anchoring and fishing deadbaits with limited success as I feel the pike are not really hungry yet due to the availability of the baitfish.  After the success of the BLAC Lure Final, where over 250 pike were taken on lures in a day, I am amazed that more anglers havent taken to drifting Chew using lures, rather than sitting it out over 4 deads waiting for the pike to strike?  Still, I suppose it must come down to a lack of confidence in lure fishing or simply the misguided belief that big Chew pike only take deadbaits.

I expect I will also fish deads when it gets too cold to feel my fingers, but until then, I will be casting those lures and trying to cover as much of Chew's 1200 acres as possible!

Trout fishing until 9th November

Although all the boats on Chew are sold out during mid week, there are still weekend flyfishing boats available for trout (or pike)  up till and including Sunday 9th November.  On days when the wind drops I have recently witnessed some excellent buzzer hatches and trout rising to them all day - particularly in the Stratford and Herriots area of the lake.  Dry fly will be the method for these rising trout, with Hoppers, Bobs Bits and Carrot Flies being the best patterns by far.

If the winds stop the trout from rising, then try larger fry imitating lures such as Minkies, Sparklers and the good old Humungous Lure.  A DI3 is the best line to fish these fry patterns and anywhere across the lake is worth a try.  However, with the masses of fry near the landing stages and cages, this has to be a hot spot.  I have had some huge brownies chase my pike lures and also some cracking rainbows - even though they are too big for them to take effectively.

There are also thousands of great perch near the cages and Sailing Club and fly is way better than lures to tempt them.  Last season I had a day on the perch and caught so many I lost count.  My best perch weighed 4:01 and my best double-up was a 3:11 on the point fly with a 3:12 on the dropper!

Birdlife amazing

Recently there have been some great bird sightings on Chew.  An Ospreys has been present for several weeks as a visitor during it's migration to warmer climes.  I have spotted it diving to take roach off the surface several times and it really is an exciting sight.
Last week a Phalarope was present for a few days as was a juvenile Great Skua - I wish that more of those were present because the gulls are scared witless when it is around!  I also saw a Peregrine chasing and bombing ducks on one day, while the Little Egrets are still around and there numbers seem to be growing each year.

Bob Handford retires

After a career with Bristol Water spanning 47 years, Bob Handford finally retired last week.  There was a gathering of many anglers to wish Bob a long and happy retirement, with the BRFFA presenting him with a new fishing rod in recognition for all his dedicated and helpful service to anglers visiting the Bristol Waters over the years.  Bob has been such a helpful person over the years and his presence will be missed.

In the meantime, Bob's assistant Tony Donnelly will take up the reins and will do a great job.  Tony has been assistant fisheries manager now for over 3 years and in that time has made some significant improvements to the fisheries.  I am sure that Tony will fill Bob's boots perfectly and with him, the future of these famous fisheries will be assured.

 The opening few weeks of the fly fishing season on the Bristol Waters has been nothing short of amazing!  Buzzers have hatched in their millions on sometimes the coldest of days and the trout have gorged themselves on them.

For the last 2 days I have fished Blagdon then Chew with Trout Fisherman Magazine taking photo's for articles.  I also worked with Guido Vinck and Bruno Chermanne from Belgium last week along with Tony Donnelly doing pics for a Belgian Magazine called Le Pecheur Belge.  Each day was incredibly productive and we landed rainbows of up to 7lbs and browns to 4lbs.

When the cold winds drop, dry fly tactics or floater/midge tip lines with nymphs are the best methods, but when it gets cold and windy, nothing seems to beat a DI5 with a combo of Booby, nymph and Blob.  However, I have not yet had the need to fish the flies fast - a steady figure of eight seems to work much better.

Pike on the fly

The pike have now definitely spawned and some days the sport is very good.  Locating the pike has been tricky at times so I have used plenty of petrol looking for good areas.  The water temperature at the moment is around 13 degrees C and this time last year it was a mere 4 degrees C!  That was a cold Spring.

On Good Friday I had my first 30lb pike of the new season - 30:04 to be exact.  And it was a cracker of a fish - one of the deepest pike I have ever caught on Chew.

As usual at this time of the year, several very big pike have been caught by trout anglers using Black Boobies.  I weighed a 21:08 pike on the weekend caught by visiting angler Graham Bodsworth hooked fair and square in the top of the mouth on a size 12 Black Buzzer!

The new season is only a few weeks away, with Blagdon opening on 15th March and Chew Valley a week later on 22nd March.
Now is the time to think about getting new tackle; spools of leader materials, tying some new fly patterns, investing in that new rod or reel you've been promising yourself and of course, booking some days on your favourite fisheries.

My bookings have been pretty heavy this year already, with only 5 days remaining in March, 2 days in May and 10 days left in June.  April is still fairly clear and judging by the recent levels and previous seasons, should be a good month.  If the weather stays warm, then it should be a brilliant month, with plenty of fly and most fish feeding on buzzer pupae and bloodworm.

If you fancy a guided day fly fishing for trout - or perhaps scaling up a bit and trying for pike on the fly - then drop me an email via the "Contacts" page.  I can supply all tackle for trout or pike and there is no extra charge for this.

Both Chew and Blagdon are now overflowing and looking fantastic.  Bristol Water are doing their usual repairs and maintenance to their two fleets of boats and they will all be ready for Opening Days.
 

The strong winds have dropped and Chew's incredible start to the trout fishing season continues!
I fished with Rob Ratcliff yesterday and rose fish every drift in Herons Green Bay using Dries.  The buzzers were hatching all day long - big ones - and the trout were feasting on them.  I cannot remember when the trout have fought so hard on Chew and all of our fish were 3lbs and over.
We had 2 cormorant damaged trout but no pike damage - I think anglers cannot tell the difference between pike and cormaorant damage and are simply labelling everything as pike damage.

Pike on buzzers

My friend martin Cottis did an autopsy on a 6lb pike he caught on a Diawl Bach Nymph and guess what it had been feeding on? Buzzer - it was stuffed with nothing but black buzzer nymphs, proving that the odd capture of a pike on a nymph is not a coincidence - these smaller pike obviously have buzzers high on their list of food.

I also caught a 20lb pike on "black" Friday 13th May and it had one of my tags in it's dorsal fin rays.  I have tagged over 300 pike since the start of last season and over 10% have been recaptured.  Along with Bristol Water, this sampling enables us to check on the growth rate, recapture rate and movement of the pike. Incredibly, when I checked my records, it was caught on the very same day exactly 1 year ago by Mark Thompson and it weighed 17lbs 08ozs - just 2 1/2lbs weight increase in a whole year.  This shows that the likely diet for that fish was roach and not trout.  Over the course of a year, a big double eating trout at 2lbs average weight would have increased in weight by far more than a measly 2 1/2lbs!
Those sadly misguided individuals who are blaming the pike for Chew's poor form in recent years, are obviously way off the mark  A few years ago, they were blaming the cormorants whenever the fishing got hard - now it's the pikes' turn to carry the can!

First cuckoo

Friday 13th also heralded the first cuckoo on Chew this year.  For me, this is a real sign that Summer is on it's way.
I also saw a Hobby chasing insects in Villice Bay on the same day - so not such a "black" day after all!

With the 10 day forecast predicting a spell of warm weather with light winds - the fishing could get even better.