Piking on Mighty Chew Reservoir

Piking on Chew Reservoir

There’s an 8ft weir here somewhere on the Bristol Avon

Another missing weir on the Bristol Avon

I don’t know about anyone else but I am now sick of the floods! My beloved river, the Bristol Avon, has seen some severe flooding recently; it’s been over its banks with levels going up and down like a yo-yo. It would be okay if I had my barbel head on, but I don’t at the moment. I’ve been longing to get out and catch roach but with the conditions recently it has been impossible.

I was going stir crazy, I couldn’t get my fix, so when my wife said let’s go piking next Friday it set the cogs in motion. Where could we go? Obviously the river was out of the question, so where could we get a bend in our rods? Then it came to me! Chew reservoir which holds 30lb+ pike, maybe they had some spare bank vacancies? I’ve never fished it before, but I do have a boat day booked on October 28th later this year.

Take us to the fish captain!

So on Wednesday at 9.10am I made a tentative phone call just to enquire if they have any bank days available, I nearly choked when I was told they had a boat available! Yep that’ll do me, booked and paid for on the spot! I should make it clear at this point how special it was to get a boat. You have to e-mail Bristol Water in December asking for boat days. They then e-mail you back in January with allocated provisional bookings of which I got one day as earlier mentioned, so to get a boat at such short notice was brilliant for me. I was absolutely chuffed to bits!

I then rang my good friend Pete Austin who is a very experienced Chew pike angler. I could hardly control my excitement as I told him “we’ve got a boat!” and as luck would have it he was free on Friday and could take us out and show us the ropes.

It had all fallen into place perfectly, I then told Wendi we’re going out on Chew with Pete on Friday, and she too was chuffed to bits.

Looks pikey to me

Stories of huge pike

Wednesday and Thursday were a blur at work, I couldn’t think of anything else but stories of huge pike and Pete had informed me that three or four thirties had come out earlier in the week! Thursday evening I was like a kid waiting for Santa to arrive; I was on an incredible high. The tackle and bait was ready and all I had to do was load the car in the morning and set off. I stayed up late that evening because I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep, it has been many many years since I’ve been so excited about going fishing. I’m half way through reading Mega Pike the Return, it’s awesome! All that I could think about were huge pike and that it could be my turn, the floods were long gone out of my mind.

6am arrived and it felt like my head had only just touched the pillow. A short thirty minute drive saw us pull up at the lodge, Pete was only minutes behind us. We stood outside the lodge sharing some banter with fellow anglers, with the aroma of fresh bacon flowing through our nostrils. I felt completely out of my league! What was I doing here? Tales of huge pike were flying around as if they were the norm, I chose not to mention that my pb was a measly 13.15 and that Wendi is whooping my butt with a 16.2!

Which lure should I try next?

We then tucked into a full english, the perfect way start to any fishing day. Then it was time to load the boats and my adrenaline was pumping! We were travelling light, but Pete was loaded right up, anchors, depth finder, rods, nets and tackle box. As we made our way down to the jetty it was like a scene from the D-Day landing! Most of the other anglers had loaded their boats and were on their way. Pete was completely calm, as he had done it hundreds of times. “No rush” he said. We were given boat 42, as it was a three-seater. It was a bit of a squeeze on the boat, but we got settled and set off!

I was gobsmacked by the vastness of Chew

I couldn’t resist having a go at driving the boat

Nothing happened on the lures, but my heart was still pumping with every cast, I knew it would only take one hit on the lure to make my dreams come true. We anchored up, again over the same drop-off and put the deads out. Again nothing! The excitement and nervous tension was slowly starting to wear off a bit now, I was hoping, expecting, an immediate catch, which we all know hardly ever happens. An hour passed and it was time to move on. This became the pattern of the day and we covered loads of water.

A lovely sheltered bay

I carefully lifted the fish out by hand – I’ve seen the clips on Youtube of anglers getting their hands munched on by huge pike when they put their hands into the water! But not this time. I safely unhooked the little beauty and returned it to the water. At least I’d not blanked!

My monster pike

The day flew by. Pete took us to all of his favourite spots, spending an hour in each one then moving on. It was just one of those days, we did have plucks on the lures and we all had dropped runs confirmed by teeth marks on the baits. It just didn’t happen, the pike weren’t having it.

Stunning surroundings and the abundance of wildlife

Chew reservoir is huge with loads of interesting bays and features, who knows, on the 28th of October me and Wendi might be in the right place at the right time and with a bit of luck! I know it will be Christmas Eve again for me.