John's Fishing Blog

This last week has seen temperatures soar and put an end to the 3rd cold Spring in successive years!
Water temperatures have reached 22.5 degrees on Chew but the fish are still feeding happily and oxygen levels are fine - water clarity is also excellent.
On Chew the main trout areas have been the deep water at the Dam - but don't think these fish are deep - quite the opposite.  On overcast days Dry Fly is the best method and in other conditions it is Washing Line or simply straight lined nymphs.

My clients have had superb sport in recent weeks with lots of limit bags and hard fighting trout.

Pike

After weeks of rock hard fishing, the pike have finally started to feed with a vengeance on Chew and loads of big 20's plus a few 30's have been caught on the fly.  Jake Belgium has had an awesome year so far and topped it off last week with a 25lb 4oz pike - taken on a competition size Cats Whisker Booby intended for trout while fishing - wait for it - at the Dam!

My clients have all had good sport recently but we seem to be hitting doubles rather than 20 or 30 pounders.  Luck of the draw I suppose, but I am also sure some biggies will follow in the coming weeks.

England duty and the Grafham Trophy

Last week was spent in Ireland on the wonderful Lough Lein near Killarney fishing in the International Loch Style Spring match.  The wild brownies were small but plentiful and the rules were that only fish measuring 10" from tip of snout to INSIDE fork of tail would count.  On the first practice day, Richard Slater and I boated 43 trout and only 1 was sizeable!  We knew then that numbers in the match would be low.

However, with great team practice and top angling by my England team mates, we managed 18 fish for the team and brought home the covetted Gold Medal.  Wales were 2nd with 13 fish, Scotland 3rd with the same number and hosts Ireland were 4th with just 8 fish.

I also had the honour of being top English Rod and brought home the impressive Grafham Trophy.

Guided Days

Now I'm back until September (when I leave for Vail, Colorado and the World Fly Fishing Championships) so most of my days will be spent on Chew or Blagdon guiding for trout and pike.  I still have plenty of places available in July and August, so simply drop me an email to book a day.

In a new initiative by Bristol Water, I am doing 10 Guided Days in the 2016 Chew Pike Trials.  So if you are new to Chew Valley Lake's 1200 acres, not been successful in recent years or simply been unable to secure a boat for Europe's most popular piking days, then this is a great way to get yourself onto the water.

Demand for the days, which only went on general release last week, has been high and only 7th Feb and 16th Feb remain available for the Spring Trials and 7th Nov for the Autumn Trials.

To book one of the 3 remaining days please contact Woodford Lodge on 01275 33233901275 332339.  The cost per boat will be £300 and applies to 1 or 2 people, so is great value for money.  I can supply all tackle if you are new to pike fishing.

Amazing fishing on Litton

Last week I took Jeff Harris from Dallas, Texas for two days guided fishing.  Day 1 we went to Litton lakes and he sampled some top quality rainbow and brown trout fishing, with every fish full finned and fighting fit!  A floating Line and small gold head lures was the best tactic and by the looks of the trout, they had been eating well during these abnormally mild Winter months.
Jeff's best rainbow weighed around 4lbs while his biggest Brown was well over 3lbs.  All the fish were released and if anyone fancies a day out before the main reservoir season begins, just email me and it can be arranged.

Grayling at Avon Springs

The next day I took Jeff to Avon Springs Fishery near Andover to fish the Wiltshire Avon.  Jeff had never caught a grayling but we soon corrected that and by the end of the day he had plenty of grayling up to about 1lb but he also lost a brute of a fish which threw the hook in the fast water - we did see it though and it was easily 2lbs+.
This is a great venue to learn some river skills and stays open all season long.  With almost a mile of river plus the bonus of 2 lakes if the river is out of sorts, it is a perfect venue for a day's fishing or for a corporate day.