Great start to piking at Chew

The predator season at the UK’s most prolific big pike waters, is underway with a string of huge of huge fish already caught.

At this time of the year all eyes are on the incredible Chew Valley Lake, which produces vast numbers of massive pike every year – and the opening days of the annual pike fishing trials didn’t disappoint.

By the time Angling Times went to press, more than 10 fish over 30lb had been boated as anglers travelled from every corner of the country to target the huge fish that patrol the vast Somerset trout reservoir controlled by Bristol Water.

The biggest pike caught in the opening stages weighed in at an impressive 35lb 4oz.

The new personal best was boated by Lancashire builder Joseph Southern, who was fishing a lure.

Joseph’s good friend Andy Cheetham also got among the big fish when he slipped the net under a mighty pike weighing 30lb 8oz, and he told Angling Times: “Joseph saw the 35-pounder crashing on the surface taking small fish, so he cast his lure to it, worked the bait just under the surface and the pike went straight for it.

“There was a group of five of us, and not only did Joseph and I have our thirties but the rest of us all took fish over 20lb.

“Chew is just an incredible fishery that produces a crazy number of big fish every year. There’s always a real buzz when the pike trials get underway.”

Other anglers to get among the big fish recently were Savage Gear angler Chris Lowe, who used a lure to catch his first Chew thirty in the shape of a superb 33-pounder. Ian Nadin floatfished a mackerel hookbait to fool a 30lb 4oz pike, and local angler Jack Welshman proved that Chew is not just about pike when he fished a fly to set a new personal best with a 4lb 1oz perch. 

Chew Valley Lake is not alone in the big-pike stakes. Many believe other venues can produce a fish over the current British pike record, that stands at 46lb 13oz.

Another famous Bristol Water trout fishery, Blagdon Lake, which is very close to Chew, has been opened to pike anglers for the very first time.

Fishing has been limited to a set number of days throughout October, and expectations are running high.

In fact many fishery experts believe that Blagdon has the potential to produce not just one, but a whole procession of giant pike to shake the record.

“There’s always a massive buzz around Chew. This, coupled with the fact that Blagdon is now open, has magnified the excitement. Everyone is talking about what could be caught over the next few weeks,” said John Harris, fishery and recreation manager at Bristol Water.

“To have pike anglers on two venues that could both produce a record fish is exciting, to say the very least.”