I travelled there with my Melksham friend Paul Crook who had never fished the reservoir before, so I filled him in by telling him how small dry flies have generally been the order of the day when I have fished there in the past.The Major Clubs competition is the brainchild of my old college lecturer…

I had a report yesterday from Rutland that the fishing is superb, whilst a friend phoned last night to report on Farmoor, and how well that is fishing. My home waters of Chew and Blagdon continue to produce amazing bags of fish.Last Sunday saw the Blagdon club’s annual boat competition on Chew Valley Lake and…

We started with two or three days of near gale force winds which really stirred up the silt (Chew especially is a shallow lake), and this was followed by several oppressive days – little wind and sweltering conditions, though not genuinely hot. In previous seasons these conditions have presented some of my most memorable fishing….

Throughout this past week teams from all over the world have been taking over the Chew Valley guesthouses, pubs and Bed & Breakfast spots. The lakes have been an amazing mixture of languages, but trout fishing – the common link, has been to the fore. The match itself starts on Wednesday this week, but Monday…

The fact that water temperatures have been high has encouraged weed growth much earlier than is usual. The weed acts as a filter to the sediment in the water, hence helping it to stay clear. The other great aspect of the warm water is that it has encouraged an enormous “bloom” in the daphnia population….

For the past few years, the main events on the circuit have been the “Hardy” competition and the “Peregrine” competition. There has also been the Welsh Water event, but it was always going to be difficult to see that one going ahead with all of the cutbacks in the Welsh Water Company. This season it…

The weather had warmed slightly – at least the daytime temperature was up to fairly normal April temperatures. On the other hand the night-time temperatures were amazingly cold. We had to scrape the ice off the car windscreen before we set off and it was well into the day before the frost on the grass…

Throughout the six sessions French anglers were dominant, and in the final individual placings they filled three of the top ten. In the end, the local knowledge of the Welsh team just edged Australia out of the silver spot, but it sure was a close thing. Italy finished fourth, Norway a creditable fifth and the…

For my next trip I was much more geared to fishing “summer” methods as we felt that the amount of natural food in the lake, and the fact that generally it has been such a mild winter, would mean that our usual early season tactics were redundant. I fished with near neighbour Geoff Lambert and,…

At Chew we have a new lodge to look forward to – Rutland, Hanningfield and Grafham have all had new buildings erected in the last few years, and now we should have one to be proud of. I am looking forward to the opening, although I have had a few sneak previews from outside. Apparently,…