The hot weather these last few weeks has certainly made the fishing tricky but those anglers fishing the lake at the right times of day have been rewarded for their efforts!
As expected, the fish on both lakes looked for refuge in the deeper water, around the aerators and at the dams! The Fisheries Team have been hard at work down on the fish farm keeping the oxygen levels up and moving fish where required to get them into larger cooler bodies of water.
This Month we have stocked another 4500 into Chew and 3300 into Blagdon and 830 in the tanks from our lagoons. This brings up to a rolling stocking tally of 20,150 fish for Chew, 16,780 for Blagdon and 7560 for Barrow Tanks.
Blagdon report
Despite the warm conditions and challenging fishing, which is to be expected at this time of year, the average weight hasn’t failed to disappoint, being just shy of 3lb! Early mornings and evenings on Blagdon have remained key times as the heat of the day has made things difficult.
The volumes of fish held up in Pegs and Rugmoor have dispersed slightly but good numbers of fish are feeding late into the evening where chances of taking fish are at their best.
When fishing from a boat the best areas to concentrate your efforts are down through the middle from Green Lawn to the Dam, both ends of the Dam at Cheddar Water and Butcombe and back into Butcombe Bay itself.
The bank anglers have been arguably out fishing the boats. This maybe more of a matter of timing as they can access the water earlier and later.
Rod Newton showed that it’s still possible to put together a good bag of fish even in the heat with 18 fish to the boat on the 23rd of June even more impressive as Rod fished solo! Well Done, Rod!
Chew Valley
There has been a drop in foot fall here at Chew, which is to be expected due to the warmer weather, but the quality of the fish being caught from the boats and bank hasn’t changed and those persevering have had some cracking fish averaging 2lb 9oz! The happy faces and enthusiasm make it all worthwhile. We plan to make this an annual event so please look out for more in the future.
The banks here at Chew have really come alive this last month with Walley and Woodford banks producing some amazing early morning and late evening sport for the anglers willing to give it a go!
Tactics this month have been very much the same as they were in May. Teams of Buzzer and Nymphs fished in conjunction with a FAB or Booby have been the go-to for many. Damsels have come into their own over the past few weeks with some huge numbers hatching off along Woodford and Walley bank providing a food source that the fish find hard to ignore, Hot Head Damsels in green or orange have consistently produced fish this month.
Mr Edwards and Mr Lewis had a fantastic days fishing with us on 30th June, taking 15 Fish to the boat on Nymphs fished in conjunction with Slow Glass Intermediate and Floating Lines.
The fish have been showing themselves early morning and late evening all across the lake and it is always worth targeting them with Dries during these periods, Claret or Orange Bobs Bits are our choice of fly in these circumstances.
Lots of fish still holding in the deeper areas around the Dam and from Walley. Villice Bay has still been throwing up the odd bigger resident fish too. Bank Anglers have found success at Wick Green as well as Walley and Woodford Banks.
Mr M Kennedy fished Walley Bank on the 26th of June and reports “Tactics were floating line with a 14 ft leader - 2 droppers - large DB on point - brown cruncher in the middle and a Smaller DB on top dropper - really slow retrieve - fish were taking at about 3ft under - a cracking session after the challenging weather of the last few weeks.”
Chew Pike
Chew has been producing some incredible predator fly fishing this month with numerous 30lb+ fish and a very healthy number of mid to upper 20lb fish. We are closely monitoring water temperatures as they slowly start to creep up but this spell of cooler weather along with the wind and rain we have forecast should keep it in check for a little while yet.
Barrow Tanks report
The “Tanks” saw another stocking of 800 fish this month. Anyone visiting The Tanks this month will have noticed that the water levels have dropped since our last report, however, this has not hampered the sport that can be had at present! We have seen some really great catch returns in the last week or so with plenty of fish being caught on Tank 2 and Tank 3, Black Lures and Damsels are still doing the business!
Mr P Dagger had a great session on 30th June, landing 7 Fish from The Pipe on Tank 3 with 3 of them weighing in at 3lb+! Mr S Stanifort fished Tank 2 on 29th June and caught 9 fish. Buzzers, Crunchers and Damsels putting fish on the bank.
The “Tanks” saw another stocking of 800 fish this month. Anyone visiting The Tanks this month will have noticed that the water levels have dropped since our last report, however, this has not hampered the sport that can be had at present! We have seen some really great catch returns in the last week or so with plenty of fish being caught on Tank 2 and Tank 3, Black Lures and Damsels are still doing the business!
Mr P Dagger had a great session on 30th June, landing 7 Fish from The Pipe on Tank 3 with 3 of them weighing in at 3lb+!Mr S Stanifort fished Tank 2 on 29th June and caught 9 fish. Buzzers, Crunchers and Damsels putting fish on the bank.
Competition results
Red Lion Carpets Floating Line
This competition took place during the hottest day of the year so far and naturally made for some challenging conditions for the anglers that took part! However we feel that a 2.8 fish rod average from the boats and 3.9 from the bank were very respectable results on the day! Congratulations to Ted Smart who took 1st Place on the bank and to Dave Reynolds taking top spot from the boats with 9 fish.
Celtic League
The Celtic League results below show that despite the warm and flat conditions there are still some great results to be had at Chew Valley! Congratulations to Paul Morris for winning the individuals on the day and The FNF Nymphomaniacs for winning the team of 4 heat with a total of 25 fish!
