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Chew Valley - What am I doing wrong???

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Alex Makk
Olly M
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Post  Olly M Tue Feb 23, 2010 1:15 pm

Well, that was another big fat blank at Chew on Saturday...

I think me and me mate have now spent the best part of 48hrs on boats on these big trout lakes (Chew, Llandegfedd, Rutland), with nothing to show for it except one 4-pounder caught on lure. We've tried everything (legal), lures, ledgered, popped-up, floated, drifted... but it feels like we could be there for another 48 years and still not crack it! Sad

Does anybody know of a good guide who has access to boat fishing on one of these big reservoirs and could show us how it's done? Or do we just need to invest in a fishfinder to stand any chance in these places? Somebody please help!

Olly
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Post  Alex Makk Tue Feb 23, 2010 1:30 pm

from what i have been told,

all these big pike waters do get hammered quiet a bit,
once some big report of sevrel 30's in a water it will not be quiet for long,

the lads may be of more help to you olly,
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Post  Steve French Tue Feb 23, 2010 4:02 pm

Olly, i am no expert on these huge waters and it is soul destroying to fish them and blank, as it is on any water, i am sure you did nothing wrong, i know some big name Pikers who have fished such waters for as many hours as you and have also blanked, but of course we only hear about them when they catch. When i have fished these big waters the thing i learned from very experienced anglers was to keep things very simple. I am sure a fishfinder would help with the depths etc, and may help to locate holding areas etc, but remember the latest big fish out of Chew came from a bank fisherman using a very simple technique. Keep your money that you would spend on a guide, get a fish finder, keep things simple and follow your instincts, dont let the big water put you off, keep trying, and you will catch. Very Happy Very Happy

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Post  noodle Tue Feb 23, 2010 4:05 pm

Olly M wrote:Well, that was another big fat blank at Chew on Saturday...

I think me and me mate have now spent the best part of 48hrs on boats on these big trout lakes (Chew, Llandegfedd, Rutland), with nothing to show for it except one 4-pounder caught on lure. We've tried everything (legal), lures, ledgered, popped-up, floated, drifted... but it feels like we could be there for another 48 years and still not crack it! Sad

Does anybody know of a good guide who has access to boat fishing on one of these big reservoirs and could show us how it's done? Or do we just need to invest in a fishfinder to stand any chance in these places? Somebody please help!

Olly

48 hours with days on chew llandegfed (been closed to piking for a while now) and rutland (more of a zander water

so thats about five days in how long????

read the comments made in the thread about troutwaters its in the big lake..... thread

a suonder will helpto a degree but not as much as spending time on big waters learning about them

no offence meant in this post if it comes across that way but unless you drop on big waters take a little more work than the average drain river lake fishing you may be used to

start of by thinking in 3 dimentions (boat and bank) form the bank you can fish 180deg from the boat 360
factor in the depth and start thinking about volumes in your swim, some maths may be needed. then the depth comes into play if your faced with deep water then the pike may sit at ten feet in 60 feet of water if all your baits are below 20 feet then you aint gonna catch and vice versa

lures well there are lures then there are lures im making an assumption your tallking about pike sized lures such as 6-10 jakes grandmas etc pullbaits and gliders and the ever present soft plastic variety like sandras castaics etc.
do you fish them mostly on big waters or have you got the knack with them on local waters..
if you fish say drains with lures up to six inch like little bombers abu hilos etc then casting an unfamilier lure like an eight inch jerkbait on a venue your not familiar with....

can you see where im heading
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Post  noodle Tue Feb 23, 2010 4:07 pm

Steve French wrote:Olly, i am no expert on these huge waters and it is soul destroying to fish them and blank, as it is on any water, i am sure you did nothing wrong, i know some big name Pikers who have fished such waters for as many hours as you and have also blanked, but of course we only hear about them when they catch. When i have fished these big waters the thing i learned from very experienced anglers was to keep things very simple. I am sure a fishfinder would help with the depths etc, and may help to locate holding areas etc, but remember the latest big fish out of Chew came from a bank fisherman using a very simple technique. Keep your money that you would spend on a guide, get a fish finder, keep things simple and follow your instincts, dont let the big water put you off, keep trying, and you will catch. Very Happy Very Happy

there is a lot more to it than that suffice to say its not a set up id recomend, and neither would most who know about it
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Post  tootall Tue Feb 23, 2010 4:31 pm

I personally would stay away from these sorts of venues, but if you are willing and wanting to put more time in and get to know a big water then good luck to you.

I think that your blanks are just a part of what is involved to get the rewards on a massive venue like this, so you either stick at it and hope you chuck a lure past a hungry big 30+ one day, or move to a smaller water where if you're not too bothered what size your fish are you can have more regular catches and in my mind that = more fun.

But it is just my opinion! Cool
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Post  essox_lucius1 Tue Feb 23, 2010 6:15 pm

i agree avoid like the plague first all the brown nose get to fish it before everyone else hence they get the big fish , pike dont respond well to alot of hammering and quickly go off the feed if your not one of the pppl to fish it in the first week dont bother rather try a harder water lol
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Post  noodle Tue Feb 23, 2010 6:33 pm

essox_lucius1 wrote:i agree avoid like the plague first all the brown nose get to fish it before everyone else hence they get the big fish , pike dont respond well to alot of hammering and quickly go off the feed if your not one of the pppl to fish it in the first week dont bother rather try a harder water lol

but none of that applies to chew

fishing is on a 1st come 1st served basis for the days available as are all open door trout water events
and it does continue to keep throwing big fish long after the bubble should have burst

been down the brown nosing route as you put it to get me on some troutwaters in the past
most still wont allow pikers on, so the hand shakes bottles of top whiskey and the odd few quid changing hands as been worth it for me

not really such a thing as a hard water for pike if they are in there you will catch em

hard waters are usually low density waters and its not hard, you just limit your chances of catching fish if they are not there in the 1st place
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Post  Guest Wed Feb 24, 2010 6:00 pm

I visited Chew days several days before my allocated date to find out how it was fishing. According to Woodford Lodge a 40, numerous 30s and plenty of smaller fish had already been taken.

Sad to report we blanked, all the boats were out (30 I understand) and no reports of a take. Same story on the bank.

Makes you wonder.

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Post  essox_lucius1 Wed Feb 24, 2010 8:15 pm

blankedagain wrote:I visited Chew days several days before my allocated date to find out how it was fishing. According to Woodford Lodge a 40, numerous 30s and plenty of smaller fish had already been taken.

Sad to report we blanked, all the boats were out (30 I understand) and no reports of a take. Same story on the bank.

Makes you wonder.
indeed
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Post  Olly M Wed Feb 24, 2010 9:37 pm

Thanks for all the responses guys.

Of course we didn't go there expecting to catch a 30-pounder in the first outing (although you do see these pictures at the Lodge and it makes you dream Smile ). But to have blank after blank makes you feel pretty clueless! And to your point Noodle, yes we're used to rivers and to fishing pretty obvious features from the bank, so a big lake is disorientating. Btw do you guys know if the pike tend to be in just a few areas in these big waters, or are they spread out pretty much everywhere? No, don't tell me - "it depends", right? Very Happy

Still, even though we may not know what we're doing on there, I get the sense from you lot that most people blank on these big trout waters. Guess I'll stick with what I know...

Cheers
O
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Post  noodle Wed Feb 24, 2010 11:28 pm

it depends Razz

but subsurface features figure a lot on these places then again a chap i know has a saying

pike dont eat drop off's

so you can with a sounder find features and fish to them, or find balls of baitfish and fish to them

the magical thing though is to find both.

once you know the water in question the above does become very basic advice im afraid

if yo have fished a certain glacial for the last ten years and you have cuaght well in area A when conditions are xyz, then lets face it chances are pike will be there regardless of what teh sounder may show for features or bait fish.

a personal one from me on a big lake oop north there is a deeper area in teh shallowish part of the lake its 3-5 foot deeper and as a consequence it doesnt have the streemer weed all around it has if you sit in the middle of this area casting lures then you can get a fair few pike in quick succesion, my mate jono did exactly this to me last year with 4 fish in 4 casts i couldnt get a rod in we didnt need the sounder to find the area as its a big hole with no weed in it where all around is weedy, the sonar did tell us the difference in depth though but a countdown lure caould have done the same

as ive said before its all about getting onto big waters and fishing them you can read all the mags etc you want to take in all the forum posts etc, but untill you do it you will never really get the gist of whats being said

one good read on this for someone trying these waters is ficklings boog Big Water Pike
i own it and is was ok but to me it was nothing really new. however if id had it 12 years ago, my god would it have made life easier.

if your going to givethese waters a go then get a sounder a basic model will set you back about 60 quid (mine did) but you may need to make it portable (transducer bracket and battery powered) brackets are easy to get again from fickling cabelas etc or yo can knock your own up with a G clamp and bit of tubing, then you need a small battery to run it i use an alarm battery from a house alarm. then a box to stick it all in. ill take some pics of my heath robinson affair and i know it isnt pretty as its full of milliput and things to hold it all together
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