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Pike record gone !!!!!!!!

Gerry Giles

Gerry Giles

Senior Member & Supporter

Lloyd Watson has landed from Chew Valley Lake a massive 47lb ,5oz Pike that smashes the 27 year old record
pike.jpg

 
Chew Valley Lake
It is the fifth-largest artificial lake in the United Kingdom, with an area of 1,200 acres
 
Holy moly!! Still time for that fish to put on a bit of weight too prior to spawning
I bet there’s a fifty in that lake somewhere
 
Fantastic catch, and what a quality looking specimen!


Living locally (it's about 15mins drive) I know several people who have been fishing Chew - for both trout and pike - for years and there have been lots of reliable reports of fish being spotted at well over 50lb, rumours of several fish over the old Llandegfedd record being caught by trout anglers out of season and kept quiet, and also the odd whisper of a 60lber. The lake certainly has the potential to hold the record for years to come.

On the negative side, it does now mean that anyone hoping to get a pike ticket will be putting their name down on a dead man's shoes list and the price will almost certainly be hiked to a point where most mortals can't afford it. It's been a fairly closed shop - effectively running as a lottery - for years, with only yer Neville Ficklings and Martin Bowlers able to get on there regularly, but now I wouldn't be surprised if it goes down the syndicate route.

I remember when it first opened for pike trials - a fiver for two rods and you could basically turn up whenever you wanted to (in season, obvs).


Incidentally, I note a bait boat was used here. Bait boats were always banned, as recently as the 2019/20 season (although Martin Bowler always seemed to get away with using one prior to that, of course) which is why most people took to fishing from a boat. I presume the ban has been lifted now.
 
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Steve Lewis said:
Fantastic catch, and what a quality looking specimen!


Living locally (it's about 15mins drive) I know several people who have been fishing Chew - for both trout and pike - for years and there have been lots of reliable reports of fish being spotted at well over 50lb, rumours of several fish over the old Llandegfedd record being caught by trout anglers out of season and kept quiet, and also the odd whisper of a 60lber. The lake certainly has the potential to hold the record for years to come.

On the negative side, it does now mean that anyone hoping to get a pike ticket will be putting their name down on a dead man's shoes list and the price will almost certainly be hiked to a point where most mortals can't afford it. It's been a fairly closed shop - effectively running as a lottery - for years, with only yer Neville Ficklings and Martin Bowlers able to get on there regularly, but now I wouldn't be surprised if it goes down the syndicate route.

I remember when it first opened for pike trials - a fiver for two rods and you could basically turn up whenever you wanted to (in season, obvs).


Incidentally, I note a bait boat was used here. Bait boats were always banned, as recently as the 2019/20 season (although Martin Bowler always seemed to get away with using one prior to that, of course) which is why most people took to fishing from a boat. I presume the ban has been lifted now.
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You obviously know of the other West wales water that forty plus fish get caught too 🤔
 
Steve Lewis said:
Fantastic catch, and what a quality looking specimen!


Living locally (it's about 15mins drive) I know several people who have been fishing Chew - for both trout and pike - for years and there have been lots of reliable reports of fish being spotted at well over 50lb, rumours of several fish over the old Llandegfedd record being caught by trout anglers out of season and kept quiet, and also the odd whisper of a 60lber. The lake certainly has the potential to hold the record for years to come.

On the negative side, it does now mean that anyone hoping to get a pike ticket will be putting their name down on a dead man's shoes list and the price will almost certainly be hiked to a point where most mortals can't afford it. It's been a fairly closed shop - effectively running as a lottery - for years, with only yer Neville Ficklings and Martin Bowlers able to get on there regularly, but now I wouldn't be surprised if it goes down the syndicate route.

I remember when it first opened for pike trials - a fiver for two rods and you could basically turn up whenever you wanted to (in season, obvs).


Incidentally, I note a bait boat was used here. Bait boats were always banned, as recently as the 2019/20 season (although Martin Bowler always seemed to get away with using one prior to that, of course) which is why most people took to fishing from a boat. I presume the ban has been lifted now.
Click to expand...
I think it's been hard ( and expensive) to get Chew tickets for a number of years, but apparently it was the lucky captors first visit , so hope does spring eternal. Love it or loathe it, they must be doing it right at Chew, as no other water comes close to producing the amount and stamp of colossal fish on a consistent basis. Don't quote me but I think there were 2 x 40s and 2-3 big thirties last week.
To catch it from the bank , makes it even more incredible - I fish a 105 acre reservoir and that's daunting enough!
When there is so much doom & gloom surrounding all areas of angling, I think it's brilliant that a longstanding record has been beaten.
There is hope for us noddies.
 
Gerry Giles said:
You obviously know of the other West wales water that forty plus fish get caught too 🤔
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I don't Gerry. I only "keep tabs" on notable Chew captures from friends and acquaintances and the local fishing grapevine. I haven't kept myself in the loop with anything else as I've been out of the loop for a while and will be for the foreseeable future (not through choice I hasten to add).
 
Paul Richardson said:
I think it's been hard ( and expensive) to get Chew tickets for a number of years, but apparently it was the lucky captors first visit , so hope does spring eternal. Love it or loathe it, they must be doing it right at Chew, as no other water comes close to producing the amount and stamp of colossal fish on a consistent basis. Don't quote me but I think there were 2 x 40s and 2-3 big thirties last week.
To catch it from the bank , makes it even more incredible - I fish a 105 acre reservoir and that's daunting enough!
When there is so much doom & gloom surrounding all areas of angling, I think it's brilliant that a longstanding record has been beaten.
There is hope for us noddies.
Click to expand...
Oh it's definitely a good thing, I just know what it means for cost and ability of the average person to get tickets. Apologies for the negativity, but Bristol Water have pulled this before with some of their other waters (now mostly sold on) when big fish (trout) have been caught they've made them syndicate only and massively ramped up the cost. Within the next 18 months/2 years the current £75 bank/£195 boat will seem like a bargain, I can almost guarantee it.
 
Truly stunning beast of a fish, one lucky man!
Hats off to the water management team, they have learnt from the other "super" waters that have appeared and disappeared very quickly, abused by pressure, pike do not survive well with constant pressure, their short opening periods obviously works very well. Us mere mortals, probably have no chance of getting to fish the place, but you can always dream!
 
Steve Lewis said:
Fantastic catch, and what a quality looking specimen!


Living locally (it's about 15mins drive) I know several people who have been fishing Chew - for both trout and pike - for years and there have been lots of reliable reports of fish being spotted at well over 50lb, rumours of several fish over the old Llandegfedd record being caught by trout anglers out of season and kept quiet, and also the odd whisper of a 60lber. The lake certainly has the potential to hold the record for years to come.

On the negative side, it does now mean that anyone hoping to get a pike ticket will be putting their name down on a dead man's shoes list and the price will almost certainly be hiked to a point where most mortals can't afford it. It's been a fairly closed shop - effectively running as a lottery - for years, with only yer Neville Ficklings and Martin Bowlers able to get on there regularly, but now I wouldn't be surprised if it goes down the syndicate route.

I remember when it first opened for pike trials - a fiver for two rods and you could basically turn up whenever you wanted to (in season, obvs).


Incidentally, I note a bait boat was used here. Bait boats were always banned, as recently as the 2019/20 season (although Martin Bowler always seemed to get away with using one prior to that, of course) which is why most people took to fishing from a boat. I presume the ban has been lifted now.
Click to expand...
Yes a stunning fish. The big fish are corkers in there. There was never a bait boat ban on there, at least, not up until I last pike fished it in 2018. Freshwater deads (and live-baits depending on the way that you look at it) bans were the nearest they ever got to restrictive rules on there. I stopped fishing it when the petiness crept in. It will certainly get harder to get tickets now, and it would be sad if it went down the syndicate route. There were many anglers that'd never seen a thirty pounder until they started fishing there. They're just magnificent looking strain of pike at Chew.
 
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Paul Richardson said:
I think it's been hard ( and expensive) to get Chew tickets for a number of years, but apparently it was the lucky captors first visit , so hope does spring eternal. Love it or loathe it, they must be doing it right at Chew, as no other water comes close to producing the amount and stamp of colossal fish on a consistent basis. Don't quote me but I think there were 2 x 40s and 2-3 big thirties last week.
To catch it from the bank , makes it even more incredible - I fish a 105 acre reservoir and that's daunting enough!
When there is so much doom & gloom surrounding all areas of angling, I think it's brilliant that a longstanding record has been beaten.
There is hope for us noddies.
Click to expand...
Chew could be quite temperamental Paul. A good piking friend of mine fished it for 12 years and the biggest he managed was 25 Lbs. He is very good piker and has had well over 150 x 20's. That puts it into context. I've known many struggle on that water when they appear to be doing it correctly. On the other hand, others turn up and hit the jackpot on their first day or two. It's that type of water. I've had some of most enjoyable pike fishing memories on that venue. Such atmosphere.
 
Steve Lewis said:
Oh it's definitely a good thing, I just know what it means for cost and ability of the average person to get tickets. Apologies for the negativity, but Bristol Water have pulled this before with some of their other waters (now mostly sold on) when big fish (trout) have been caught they've made them syndicate only and massively ramped up the cost. Within the next 18 months/2 years the current £75 bank/£195 boat will seem like a bargain, I can almost guarantee it.
Click to expand...
For somebody who ‘hasn’t kept himself in the loop’ you make some pretty sweeping statements about Chew, it’s fishing and it’s management.

Ive fished it on/off for trout, perch and pike for the last 25 years. The facts are that as a trout water it now makes a loss and it’s only the pike fishing that keeps it afloat financially. It was very nearly closed as a fishery a few years ago.

The management should be applauded for keeping Chew as by far the best big pike venue in the UK for decades - most other (new) pike fisheries last a year or two at most Viz Bough Beech, Llandegfedd etc etc.

Limiting the bait/lure anglers to a few weeks a year reduces the pressure on the pike. Running it that way requires the cost per boat to increase. As has been mentioned the boats are allocated by lottery and massively over subscribed. They can effectively name their price and good luck to them if it preserves the fishing. They also run Blagdon and sell a few hugely expensive pike fly days on there (iro 200 quid a day I think). They are sold out too….The demand and the appetite is there.

Ive fished it a bit for pike with flies and never had a big fish. I would agree with Ady’s assessment that it is ‘temperamental’. Mates fishing very similar to me have had fish to 29. I know somebody who had a 43 on a trout fly last year !

It will be interesting to see the upsurge in demand for fly fishing boats this season (pike fly fishing is permitted from March -October). I predict that they might decide to allocate a set number of ‘pike’ boats each day and charge a premium for them…....They might even stop pike fly fishing at certain times of year - if they can workout how to police it ?

PS The new record fish is fantastic, hats off to the captor and to the Chew management.
 
Hi Tim

I know and speak to a lot of people who fish Chew, and many of them have done so for decades and a fair few of them have been doing the pike trials ever since they started (although many of them are finding it harder and harder to get tickets as each year comes around) - my best mate and his dad for example were the first people to catch on the very first day of the very first pike trial (coincidentally from Woodford Lodge bank) 29 and 27lb respectively - so my statements are pretty well informed, based on anecdotal evidence and up to date (except about bait boats - after Ady's comment above I think I'm conflating that with Shearwater lake, where Martin Bowler filmed a pike session there a few years ago - prior to it closing when covid hit - and used a bait boat, where they have always been expressly forbidden). In that respect I'm very in the loop with the pike fishing (and, to a lesser extent, the trout fishing) at Chew whether I like it or not cos all these guys speak to me about it.

What I'm not in the loop with, and what I've purposely avoided as much as I can because I'm not currently able to get out so it's a bit soul destroying, is the general and wider coarse fishing scene. So I don't come on BFW too often, never look at or go on the Angling Times website and don't browse any other forums. I couldn't even tell you what's going on with my local clubs at the moment or for the last couple of years.

I agree that it's all broadly positive and that Bristol Water have managed the whole venue really well and that's evident with the quality of both the pike and the trout (as well as the odd big perch and roach that also still come out by accident rather than design - I'd also love to know if any tench that escaped from some farm ponds just up the way survived the trip down to Chew when the pond sluice was accidentally left open and drained all five ponds and all the fish - Leney carp too - some years ago), and that limiting both the fishable periods and number of tickets has avoided overfishing and spoiling. I'm just equally realistic about what this means - or probably means - for ease of access to the lake moving forward for us plebs. You just know lots of big name anglers are going to be block booking several days in succession for the next few years ahead and ticket prices will at least double from where they have been the last couple of years.

I dunno, what would you call that..... negatively realistic?

But if that's what it takes for the place to remain viable and not collapse, then so be it - it's the (far) lesser evil I guess.


Of course, all of my blathering about it is possibly all moot anyway if I'm never able to get back on the bank, soooooo......
 
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The perch fishing can be fantastic - I’ve heard of somebody having 4x 4lb fish in their landing net(s) at the same time ! That was a few years ago btw. Recently I’ve had numbers of 3+ fish by design (and whilst using wire traces to protect the pike!). Some days you can catch 2 lb + perch every cast !

I too fished the early pike trials - but my pals and I lure fished for the perch rather than the pike. Then they altered the rules on lure sizes…We did our piking in the Spring/Summer with flies and had lots of low/mid doubles in those days.

There are definitely tench in there - I’ve seen them in the shallows. Once I even twitched a bloodworm fly past a shoal of them, with no response ! I’ve even caught decent rudd there on dry flies by accident.

No doubt there are carp in there too, how they got there is anybody’s guess…..
 
Tim Marks said:
For somebody who ‘hasn’t kept himself in the loop’ you make some pretty sweeping statements about Chew, it’s fishing and it’s management.

Ive fished it on/off for trout, perch and pike for the last 25 years. The facts are that as a trout water it now makes a loss and it’s only the pike fishing that keeps it afloat financially. It was very nearly closed as a fishery a few years ago.

The management should be applauded for keeping Chew as by far the best big pike venue in the UK for decades - most other (new) pike fisheries last a year or two at most Viz Bough Beech, Llandegfedd etc etc.

Limiting the bait/lure anglers to a few weeks a year reduces the pressure on the pike. Running it that way requires the cost per boat to increase. As has been mentioned the boats are allocated by lottery and massively over subscribed. They can effectively name their price and good luck to them if it preserves the fishing. They also run Blagdon and sell a few hugely expensive pike fly days on there (iro 200 quid a day I think). They are sold out too….The demand and the appetite is there.

Ive fished it a bit for pike with flies and never had a big fish. I would agree with Ady’s assessment that it is ‘temperamental’. Mates fishing very similar to me have had fish to 29. I know somebody who had a 43 on a trout fly last year !

It will be interesting to see the upsurge in demand for fly fishing boats this season (pike fly fishing is permitted from March -October). I predict that they might decide to allocate a set number of ‘pike’ boats each day and charge a premium for them…....They might even stop pike fly fishing at certain times of year - if they can workout how to police it ?

PS The new record fish is fantastic, hats off to the captor and to the Chew management.
Click to expand...
Ady Brayshaw said:
Chew could be quite temperamental Paul. A good piking friend of mine fished it for 12 years and the biggest he managed was 25 Lbs. He is very good piker and has had well over 150 x 20's. That puts it into context. I've known many struggle on that water when they appear to be doing it correctly. On the other hand, others turn up and hit the jackpot on their first day or two. It's that type of water. I've had some of most enjoyable pike fishing memories on that venue. Such atmosphere.
Click to expand...
One day Ady…
For my sins I’ve joined Wykeham as its much closer to home
Obviously the BIG girl has gone but the chatter amongst members/ captors the last few days has been fascinating - they were so close and just great to hear the stories from lads who slipped the net under a 45 lb fish
Current fishing is very hard- usual predation issues , but…. The odd time I get a clip out you do wonder…
To be honest I’d be over the moon with a double it’s been tough this season wherever I’ve been
 
Update when Matt Hayes interviewed him
“I’ve been planning this trip with my friend Nick Skirrow for months. It’s my first time on the water and Nick has only fished it briefly. Honestly,I have hardly slept over the past weeks and me and Nick have put in a lot of homework. We studied recent captures of big fish and tried to identify areas that the big fish were coming from. The bush I’m standing next to right now is one of those spots.
Anyway, we both slept in the van last night and we were first out of the blocks this morning, just in front of Ben Humber from Fox.
Tackling up in the dark took a while and we could not clearly see the lake. We are using bait boats to drop the baits off in areas that are likely to attract pike. Bait was a smelt and I added a few chopped herring pieces for extra attraction. Getting the bait positioned was tricky. It was blowing a gale with big waves and as I sat down to sip a brew, dawn just minutes from breaking, I just knew I had to reposition the second bait. It would mean, I knew, sacrificing valuable minutes of fishing at the absolute peak time for these big chew pike - just after dawn.
I risked it anyway, got the bait in the right place and a few minutes later, the re-positioned rod started jumping and I found myself playing a huge pike.
When we got it to the bank I thought that I was looking at an alligator gar! I have been pike fishing for more than 30 years and I have never seen a pike anything like this!
 
Paul Richardson said:
One day Ady…
For my sins I’ve joined Wykeham as its much closer to home
Obviously the BIG girl has gone but the chatter amongst members/ captors the last few days has been fascinating - they were so close and just great to hear the stories from lads who slipped the net under a 45 lb fish
Current fishing is very hard- usual predation issues , but…. The odd time I get a clip out you do wonder…
To be honest I’d be over the moon with a double it’s been tough this season wherever I’ve been
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I understand that the main Wykeham's lake is quite a tough nut to crack Paul. The 'overstocked' small trout waters always are. Or have they reduced the trout stocking on there now? I confess to being totally out of touch on piking matters these days. It's worth a day or two on Chew though if you can bag some days. I found I was just getting my head around it, and expecting to catch on Chew, when I essentially packed piking in. You find other waters pail into a sort of insignificance in comparison with Chew. Which is really quite sad. Chew. Atmosphere, huge potential, the unknown. The greatest ever English pike water, that will continue to produce as long as the trout keep going in.
 
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