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| Now that's a TROUT! |
A couple of months back I got a phone call from my old mate Rog from Bath with some good news. He was offering me a days fishing on Chew Valley Lake just outside Bristol. Being a mad keen pike angler, we've been friends and occasional fishing partners ever since we met back in the early 2000's.
Chew Valley Lake is legendary in the world of pike fishing at the moment. It has consistently been producing quantities of very large pike nudging the british record for some time now. It is one of the hottest tickets around and places to fish on their limited number of pike angling days are highly sought after.
Many of the big names from the pike fishing scene are frequent visitors and are always seeking out that record breaking fish of a lifetime. Places go on a telephone lottery system much the same way as Glastonbury or pop concert tickets do. There are a couple of dates a year that the phone lines open and if you don't get through in the first few attempts then you can forget it until the next time.
Fly fishing for the pike there is available all through the coarse fishing season but the lure and bait fishing is restricted to the specific Pike days mentioned previously.
The water is a prolific trout fishery as it's mainstay and herein lies the reason for the colossal sizes of the pike.....a readily available supply of high protein food. There are quite a few waters dotted around the country that offer trout and pike fishing together. Why Chew Valley Lake should be the one water that stands out in the numbers and sizes of these magnificent creatures is a mystery. It just does, and that is why it is so difficult to get a ticket. Now you understand why I was so pleased to hear from Rog as it's not every day you get the chance to fish for pike like these.
When the day arrived, the weather was kind to us with gentle breezes and intermittent cloud cover. If it blows up then being out on a large expanse of water in a small boat can be rather uncomfortable, so we were lucky. Armed with a selection of sea dead-baits and a vast array of artificial lures, the plan was to fish the baits under floats and cast around with the lures to hedge our bets.
The fishing was slow in the morning. The floats never twitched and the long anticipated slam on the lure rod never came. It wasn't until mid-way through the afternoon that I spotted a good sized fish follow my spinner in to the boat before diving for cover. I didn't get a proper look at it but it was a reasonable size.
A few casts later and the rod finally came to life in my hands as it hooped over and the first fish of the day was on. The fish made a couple of powerful dives initially before then surfacing right by the boat. It was without a doubt the biggest rainbow trout I had ever seen and was thrashing about on the surface looking like it could throw the hooks at any moment. Rog grabbed the net and bundled the fish in to it accompanied by contented whoops of joy. What a fish!
I didn't want to stress the fish by weighing it so snapped off a quick photo before unhooking and a speedy release. I'd guess it was well into double figures, somewhere around the 12/13lb mark and was very happy with it after the hours of inactivity.
We fished on and had another couple of swipes to our lures before one of my pike floats finally slid away right on dusk. I went through the routine of steadily winding down on the fish before setting the hooks. The pike was attached for a brief moment but then spat the hooks which was a bit disappointing but at the same time it didn't feel like one of the lakes famous leviathans, so no great loss really.
It had been a great day and it's always good to catch up with old friends. the thing about fishing on a water like Chew is that every time you get a bite it could be 'the one' and it's little things like this that give us seasoned anglers the motivation to keep going back again and again. I for one will certainly be on the phone on speed-dial the next time some places are up for grabs - Tight Lines!
