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November On Chew - Phil Spinks
I’d been looking forward to this winter as I had been lucky enough to secure a few days fishing on the mighty Chew Valley Reservoir. To me, travelling down to Bristol to fish Chew is what I describe as lottery pike fishing; it doesn't matter what previous pike fishing experience you may have, if you have a few tickets in the Chew lottery you stand as much chance as anyone of a big pike. Generally the people who catch the most big pike in Chew are the people with the most tickets.
I wouldn't describe the fishing as easy; it’s better described as simple. The pike in Chew love sea deadbaits, which is unusual for trout waters which normally involve lots of hard work using lures and fishing underwater features. At Chew, big pike get caught all over the lake from both the bank and from the boats. I tend to prefer the bank fishing at Chew as, for me, it’s social fishing with a mate with the chance of a whopper. Plus, if the weather turns rough you can still fish from the bank without the worry of a 250 mile journey from East Anglia only to be disappointed by boat cancelations.
I could now waffle on about me being a fantastic pike angler and what wonder methods I used to catch a few Chew pike, but the truth is that I keep things very simple. My gear is strong and reliable: 58lb braided mainline, 28lb wire, and either size six or four semi-barbless trebles depending on my bait size. Due to the size of the reservoir, 1200 acres, deadbaits are ledgered and fished on drop off alarms. I've personally found the marginal drop off a good place for a bite or two. Depending on what area of the lake your fishing it can vary in distance, but normally I'm fishing in excess of 80 yards.
I have found using a small sonar unit attached to a bait boat a huge edge for finding a spot I feel happy with to place my baits. Although plenty of big fish will and do get caught each winter by people closing their eyes and casting, if I can give myself an edge (or at least feel as if I'm giving myself an edge) I will. One other thing worth a mention before talking about my results on this year’s Chew lottery is the importance of good quality bait. I like to make sure I’m prepared with some super fresh deadbaits: turbo smelt (if I can source any), fresh herring and fresh mackerel. In fact the mackerel I took were caught myself earlier in the summer and frozen the day they left they sea.
My first two days on the bank were with regular fishing buddy Jason. Lots of big pike had been caught in the opening weeks, many of which from the Stratford Bay area. Whenever I fish Chew, I prefer to try to keep away from the crowds and make news rather than follow old news. We both agreed on trying a fairly under fished area close to the entrance of Stratford, the theory being that the angling pressure may push fish out of the bay. It was a nightmare to access and involved a long walk through knee high grass and reeds – not to mention the mud.
We needed to take our baits out approximately 100 yards to find about 10 feet of water, where it began to drop off. As always, we bingoed the rods, mixing them up so we shared the swim fairly. It wasn't long before a drop off fell and the alarm was screaming and, lucky for me, it was one of my rods. A short tussle saw a small pike of less than 10lbs unhooked safely in the margins. Over the next couple of hours the drop offs fell several more times but nearly every take was on one of Jason’s rods. His best two fish were a mid double and a more than welcome 25lb-er. That was the excitement over and during the next day and a half I had the only other chance I had was another jack.
The following week saw me returning, this time with my friend Jed. I don't think Jed will mind me saying that he is a newcomer to pike fishing and his aim was his first 20lb plus fish – well, his aim was a few bites first, if we are honest. We had a plan on where we fancied but unless you’re willing to sleep in your van behind the gates that access the lake you sometimes have to settle for wherever you end up – although, to be honest, big pike have been caught all around the lake and there are lots of swims I feel confident in.
We ended up fishing an area that has a very shallow gradient that required us boating baits out over 100 yards to find 8 feet of water, but I still felt confident of a bite. The first couple hours pasted without any action. Typically, as soon as the sausages were on the go my drop off fell. I wound down to feel that lovely solid resistance and thumping of a good fish. Steadily it kited as I pumped it towards me. As I entered to shallower margins it would find the odd clump of weed to hide in. I kept the pressure on and tried to keep it moving towards me. The fish went solid in some weed but I kept the pressure on as I waded out to net my prize. My heart was pumping as there are enormous pike to be caught in Chew. I saw a large clump of weed wrapped around my line and began to tear it away to reveal what was underneath. Under the weed was a smelt! The fish had escaped during the fight and I hadn't realised. I was gutted.
I placed the rod back on the spot and we continued to cook breakfast with tales of what I could have just lost. Before I even had a chance to finish cooking the same rod was away again. I wound down and pulled hard to set the hooks and saw a nice sized pike erupt on the surface at long range. The fight was great, flat rodding me for the first 10 seconds. I was so nervous after loosing the first fish. Slowly I got the upper hand and a 20lb plus pike went safely into the net while Jed took charge of the sausages. The pike was a stunner and was weighed at 22lb 8oz. That was our lot that trip, while we saw a few nice fish caught by boat anglers through our binoculars we never had another bite.
A couple of weeks later saw me and Jed heading back for one last roll of the dice. I felt a lot more confident this trip as the boats had finished, which meant a lot less angling pressure. Day one was busy and I lost count of the bites – although unfortunately the majority were from (big) trout. Although some of the takes were dropped by trout that swam off at 100mph with our deadbait, we actually connected with three all over 10lb. I caught a 13lb 12oz brown trout and Jed wasn't far behind with one of 12lb. Amongst the trout we also caught three pike; Jed was off the mark with his first Chew pike of 7-8lb and I had a similar sized pike as well as a low double.
The next morning we were keen to get back in the same swim and we arrived at the gate at 5.50am to see three other cars queued up. I opened the gate, as it was nearly 6am (the official time we are allowed on the site) but once we entered the car park a van was already parked up. It had been there evening before and it didn't look like it had moved from the previous night. We decided it was far too busy for us and someone had already claimed out previous swim. We drove to the other end of the reservoir to our second choice, only to find that it was also taken. Third time lucky, we settled into a slightly quieter area, hopefully fate had directed us there?
Once the rods were out it seemed a really nice area. We had between 14 and 16 feet of water at about 80 yards and I could see lots of grebes working, which gave me confidence we were near some bait fish.
Jed was off the mark first with a tiny pike not much bigger than his bait. Then again he was off this time a fish of around 7lb. When his drop off fell a third time I stared to feel left out! His rod took a much better curve this time and the fish pulled back hard taking line from the clutch. I waded out with net in hand and scooped up what was Jed’s biggest pike at 20lb 8oz. I was so pleased for him, as last time we were there he never had a bite, and I could see he was over the moon with his arms full of big pike. At last mid morning my drop off fell and the fact that braid was flying from the reel so quick I was convinced it was a pike. A very aggressive fight saw me wrestling another big brown trout in the margins.
I didn't have to wait long before the other rod was away. I pulled down to feel a couple of trout-like thumps then it let go straight away. I wasn't worried as I was sure it was another blooming trout. We took the rod back out using the bait boat and while I was putting my braid into the clip on the drop off it was pulled from my fingers. I pulled into a heavier fish and for a moment I thought I may have been the second 20lb-er of the morning, but fell slightly short at 17lb 15oz.
Another smaller pike came to one of my rods early in the afternoon but generally it was much quieter. I had put both my eggs in the same basket with a whole herring on both rods. So many big pike have been caught by bank anglers on the last few moments as it gets dark and I was hoping for one more chance as the light began to fade. Just as the light started to go I saw Jed’s rod tip pull around but his drop off arm was set too tight so I jumped from my chair and pulled the line free from the clip. It was a nice slow steady take, I passed the rod to Jed and the rod doubled as he pulled into it... but almost instantly sprang back as the fish bumped off! I felt that he had possibly pulled out of something special, but we will never know.
With the final minutes looming I had began to clear up my kit. Nearly everything was packed away other than the rods and I was dragging in out to the last possible minute, as I felt if it would just drop off one more time it may be a big’un. I was packing my last few bits into my rucksack when I heard a BEEEEEEEEEEEEP! I clicked my head torch on and ran to my rod to see braid slowly flowing from the spool. Please, I thought, after all the miles of driving and effort be a better fish! I wound down and pulled into the fish and the rod locked up mid strike and I could feel a solid heavy thumping on the end. Jed was on hand by now and I declared that if this fish would just please stay on I thought it would be what we were waiting for. It surfaced in my torch light about 20 yards out and looked big! With my waders on I waded out to meet it and as I scooped it up it looked like possible 30lb-er.
Passing the net to Jed to hold the fish safely in the margins I unpacked my unhooking mat and weighing gear. Big pike are stunning creatures and definitely hold a wow factor for me. And although Chew will hold pike 10lb bigger than the one I was staring down at, I was incredibly happy with a 29lb-er.
It was an occasion when that one last cast came good and we both drove back from Bristol with big smiles!!
Phil
