The Complete Fisher Forum

[Bongoch]

Fished Chew on Saturday morning this week.

Decided to start off at the stones on Nunnery and arrived around 6.15am. Nobody else around at that point so decided to fish from the second spit along. Strung up the floater with the usual suspects on a washing line and my other rod with a midge tip but this time I decided to put a small damsel on the point and a couple of cormorants on the droppers rather than the usual DB/Cruncher/Buzzer combo. Started off on a floater but after an hour hadn't had any sort of response. I have to say the lake was as quiet as a church mouse with hardly any rising fish. There was also a complete lack of fish jumping clear of the water, usually you see at least one or two doing this during a session but not on Saturday. Changing to my other rod I fished for another 30 mins without any joy when completely out of the blue my rod arced over as a fish had taken the red holo Cormorant on the top dropper. This was safely netted and released! A nice right to left wind had now got up and the flies were (in my opinion) swinging around perfectly. However, the fish thought otherwise and after another 30 mins without anything I moved further round the point to the last spit. Had 30 mins on each rod here but didn't have a touch. At this point I was wondering whether to move over to Woodford or Walley but in the end decided to walk round the point and have a look at the Villice side of Nunnery as per one of Alan's earlier posts. There was a lovely left to right ripple here so decided to give it a go. Again switched between the floater and midge-tip giving each approx. 30 mins. Just as I was beginning to wonder if there were any fish in the lake as I hadn't touched or seen anything despite it looking great, the line went tight as a nice Rainbow took the UV ribbed Cormorant on my middle dropper. After being safely released I fished on and after another 30-40 mins and managed to net a 3rd fish on a Tequila FAB which I'd tied on in place of the damsel. This was a good sized fish but had the unmistakable markings of a pike mouth on it. Fished on for a another 30 mins here but didn't get any further action. Considered going round for a look at the Oak Tree but with the time approaching 11.45am decided to call it a day though I did call in at Woodford lodge to book a boat on Blagdon tomorrow. My uncle is down so I promised to take him out, hopefully the fish gods will be kind and he'll manage to land a few!

As I mentioned last week the water is now quite warm to touch and as Tenet noted previously there is quite a lot of algae about. Once the wind got up and started moving it downwind this was less of a problem but the next spell of warm weather isn't going to have a great effect on this though I don't suppose there's much that can be done.

Couple of pics:

Second of the morning:



Pike Damaged Last Fish:

[Doombar]

Morning boat on Chew today. John in the lodge said they'd stocked & the fish had gone up to the top of villace. Apparently some nice ones among them so that where I started. Nice breeze initially blowing straight out of Villace but forecast was for that to build during the morning.

WL with FAB on the point was getting tapped every few casts, enough to keep it interesting but after an hour or so all the action died so I went across to Stratford, drifting along the buoy line. Very few other boats out & most looked like pikers (I'd seen Al in the car park & knew he was out after the green things.)

Nothing for over an hour but from the reports I was thinking if they do feed they're likely to be quality fish here so worth sticking at it. Then with the breeze getting stronger the swifts appeared, high at first but then low over the water. I could see a few small buzzers hatching but not that many. My nature watching was interrupted by a very hard take that lead eventually to a real lump in the net, prob around 5lb and perfect condition. He'd taken a red holo cruncher on the top dropper & went back safely & I carried on, switching to a ghost tip to anchor things a bit and alternating FAB with various nymphs on the point. Next fish, over an hour later was another cracker of over 4lb, again on the cruncher & returned after a spectacular scrap.

By now I was drifting long drifts across Herriotts in open water. Never many takes but when they came they were good fish. Next one came towards the boat with me stripping like an idiot to keep up, but then it took off taking line fast . Unfortunately a loop of line caught my boat seat and the inevitable happened. Oh bother, I said. Really hate leaving flies in fish.

Another long gap with nothing happening, then as I roll cast the line didn't do what it should and the reason became clear. One of our toothy friends was cruising about with a nice bright FAB on its nose. After a few minutes I was getting bored & tried to bully it and we parted company.

As it got windier so the cloud disappeared & things got even harder. I had another fish around 3lb, cruncher again, & took that for the freezer & then spent a long while trying all sorts without success before heading back for a last drift off Woodford & had another freezer sized one there, this one on the FAB.

Worth getting out there if you can. They're not giving themselves up but for quality of fish that was as good a session as I've had in a while.

[Bongoch]

Was afloat on Blagdon yesterday with my uncle.

Arrived at the lodge around 8.15am and set off from the dock just before 9am. Not that many boats out, maybe 6-7 at the most. Word from the rangers was that the pretty much anywhere along the South shore from Cheddar right up to Bell's Bush was worth a go. Given that the wind was predicted to get stronger during the course of the day I thought we may as well head straight up to Top End as it would undoubtedly be a tad choppy up there in the afternoon. I setup 3 rods: floater with washing line setup of DBs/Crunchers and a FAB or foam daddy on the point, midge-tip with a damsel and 2 cormorants on the droppers, and a fast intermediate with 2 FABs. In the first hour and a half, we tried 3 different drifts at Top End but didn't connect with or see anything. We then moved a bit further down and anchored midway between Bell's Bush and Wood Bay. There still wasn't much going on, though after approx. 30 mins, I did manage to get the ball running with a typical stockie which took a liking to a UV rib Cormorant. With no further action forthcoming after another 45 mins, we motored back down the lake with the intention of having a look at either Holt or Home Bay. When we got to Holt Bay there was nobody else about so we dropped the hook and tried our luck. This proved to be a good choice as we stayed here for pretty much the rest of the day, picking up fish fairly regularly on the washing line to a mixture of DBs and Crunchers (the FAB or foam daddy on the point also took a couple of fish). We both tried buzzer patterns at various points but the fish just didn't seem interested in them. What was key was a slow retrieve and a couple of times I had to chastise my uncle for moving the flies to quickly! Nothing huge landed, but it was good sport and it also allowed us to escape what became an extremely strong and irritating westerly wind. If I'd been on my own I'd probably have gone for a nosey somewhere else, but despite being retired and having not much else to do, my uncle doesn't fish much so I thought it best for him to enjoy some sport. We headed back into dock around 5.30pm quite contented, with my uncle getting around 7 and myself around a dozen.

Like Chew there is quite a bit a algae about in Blagdon and the water has taken on a green/brown hue though the fish don't appear to mind at the moment. When we were in Holt bay the stocking trucks went by twice and as they didn't appear on the North Shore I presumed that they were destined for Chew. This was confirmed by the Ranger when we got back who said that approx. 1000 fish had gone into Chew yesterday (Tuesday).

[Allrounder]

[Doombar]

Puzzled re the stocking in view of what the lodge told me on tues morning, unless they'd popped some in over the previous few days & were topping up on tuesday. Anyway, how did you get on croc hunting Al? Motoring back from Stratford about 1.00 ish I saw a boat off Moreton get one. Looking through binocs I saw them chin it to unhook so doubt it was huge.

[Allrounder]

Been a bit of a struggle so far this year, Colin. However I had a 12, two around 7 or 8 and another 8 between 4 and 6lb so a good day. 😃

Alan
_________________
Member of ...
The Angling Trust
BRFFA
B.A.S.S.
Pike Fly Fishing Association

If you see me on the bank, say hello!

[BristolFlyer]

I fished Walley bank yesterday evening. Three or four already fishing when I arrived at about 5pm which I thought was a good sign. I set up half way along in a gap in the trees. Catching weed on straight nymphs so tried a few different buoyant flies on the end. Had one pull about 6.30pm and was certain that they were going to switch on at any minute as there were LOADS of small buzzer and sedge hatching.

A couple more pulls and an on and off was the final score. There were a few fish rising further out and one of the other chaps had one fish, but that was it. Tough evening but good to be out.

I did notice three bank anglers wading off the trees in front of the cafe on the N shore but too far away to see how they did. They stuck at it into the stiff breeze so probably better than I did

[mc07fly]

BristolFlyer,

You jogged some happy evening memories for me from the Noughties!

It was possible to approach the water from the far Western side of the cafe car park and track along a "concealed" zig zag path through above head high vegetation to arrive at the Western edge of a broad spit that marked the entrance of a former road running directly south into the Lake.

Carefully wade out along the western edge and you could cast both east and west onto the spit southern contour.

It was one of the top but lesser known bank pitches around the Lake (when I too was a Secret Squirrel!!). I fished it alone on many late spring/early summer evenings and only once failed to catch during scores of visits.

I think the vegetation beyond the car park has now been sadly cleared but it was a magical spot almost unseen from the cafe car park and with high cover behind the angler. You were in your own private fishery.

Thanks for the memory!

Best,
McFly

[Bovver]

Solo afternoon boat on Chew today. Reports from the lodge were that it had been tough fishing which did not fill me with confidence....
I headed of towards Stratford setting up a floater, cruncher, dB and beaded damsel on the point.. A couple of casts in and had a few gentle knocks... A few casts later and into a fish that took me through some weed and threw the hook..
The wind was building so out came the drogue and the next cast saw a 4lb rainbow into my net... As usual I thought I had cracked it but alas no more action for a couple of hours... The wind dropped so I headed to North shore and chucked the anchor out just off the reeds having the area to myself... Swopped the damsel for a buzzer and for about 30 minutes had lots of knocks and on offs but was not able to connect so decided to try the bung and hey ho 2 fish in 2 casts.... That was my lot... No more knocks at all. Came in about 8pm...only about 6 other boats out and unsure how they got on. Only saw a couple of fish on the surface despite some lovely gentle ripple...

[mc07fly]

Far from a full house at Blagdon but the Rangers team had us hardy silverbacks safely afloat as soon we had walked down the jetty from 8 am.
The word was that the fishing had been tricky and the key to success was to keep searching for those pods of feeding fish along the South Shore
and its bays.
The wind was variable and frustratingly gusty mainly from the West. Some periods of bright sunshine. Water now 17.5C.

So once again another quiet start and moving around as per every 20 mins.... until I struck gold on my third pitch.
I then enjoyed another purple patch with a bag that included four over 3lbs and one at 4lbs 4oz!

The secret was a small damsel fly fished Fo8 very slowly on a floater. In effect I was fishing a single damsel on the point of a 16ft leader with a small DB 6ft from the point just to help the turnover and get the business end of the leader quickly under the surface in 4 - 6 ft depth.

I am always surprised that they will take such a relatively large fly almost stationary but other anglers who were moving the flies or drifting had very few offers. I left around noon after a second memorable morning.

Best,
McFly

[Allrounder]

Having spent last weekend Elinor Trout Fishery near Kettering for 4 days (report here ) and because I had run out of trout fillets, I decided to have an evening session yesterday at Chew starting at 7pm. The forecast predicted a Southerly direction for the wind so I had a look at the Villice side of Nunnery but didn't fancy it and in the end settled for the Oak Tree where I found Dave Blair, the guy who came second in the BRFFA bank match waiting for the evening rise.

The water clarity was surprisingly good and the wind was almost directly onshore when we started but it was still possible to get a reasonable line out, with me starting to the left of the Oak Tree itself and Dave further down between the trees. I decided to start with a washing line set up with a Red DB on the top, a Cruncher on the middle and a Damsel Booby on the point but it was Dave who was first to catch on a black DB. He reported that a few fish were moving so as I hadn't seen anything or experienced any interest from the fish where I was, I decided to joint him further down to his right towards the last swim.

There was the occasional sign of fish moving further out as the evening wore on which is always encouraging but nothing much happened until, out of nowhere, I got an almighty pull that roared off across the lake. It was one of those that was hard to stop and when I managed to stop it with a few turns of line left on my reel, it got a second wind and took me deep into my backing! I eventually coaxed it into my net and after such a fight I was almost disappointed when my scales suggester that it weighed 'only' 4lb 9oz but I shouldn't have been - it was clear that this was a battle hardened warrior that had won its previous encounter with an angler ....



After that the wind died down to almost a flat calm and the occasional fish started moving within casting distance. Dave hooked a pike and was relieved when it bit off this dropper but was less pleased when it was followed by an 'on/off' from a decent trout. I managed another pull on the Booby Damsel which resulted in a 3lb 4oz Rainbow joining my first fish in my bass bag before Dave netted what was to be the last fish of the evening as the light started to fail.

So a decent evenings sport for both of us with fish moving on top as the evening wore on which is how I like it. The only surprising thing was that, given the conditions, we were the only ones fishing.

Until next time...

Alan
_________________
Member of ...
The Angling Trust
BRFFA
B.A.S.S.
Pike Fly Fishing Association

If you see me on the bank, say hello!

[arkle]

Just seen on facebook, 10lbs brownie from Chew

https://m.facebook.com/groups/459638200875651/permalink/2433507050155413/
_________________
Hi there, I have around 40 yrs exp. of tying flies, incl. some semi-pro work. I've taught at adult evening classes, written for and supplied photos for most U.K. fly magazines. Given talks/slide shows/lectures/demonstrations etc. Am founder and life pres. of local Fly Dressers Guild (27years), our members have won more prizes for tying than any other similar club, we've also won several national flyfishing comps. I look forward to both learning from and contributing to this highly respected forum.

[JCP]

A veritable ''clunker'' in great shape.Levels look high ??

[Allrounder]

[tenet]

Did he catch the fish from the pontoon or lug it around from somewhere else? I do hope it went back safe and sound, not that I'm a purist but always a soft spot for browns.