What a day at Chew

Lman · #1 11-07-2010, 06:00 PM

Well the day started meeting Dave(pingu) outside the lodge just before 8am waiting for the doors to open for a full English breakfast which was top notch. Then to book into reception and wait for 9am and our boat number. Number 26 was our boat so with life jackets on we set about loading the boat and with a crash course on the motor from the angler in the next boat (many thanks) we were off.
Now i don’t know about dave but i was terrified it was our first time on a boat a Chew so there was no real plan just don’t fall in. I was in charge of driving and Dave was anchor man which we soon got the hang of. The plan was to fish float deadbaits out one side and lures out the other we started in the deep water with no luck before progressing towards the shallows anchoring for hour before moving.
Then captain pingu gave the order follow them birds and we anchored in a spot where there was a lot of bird activity and it wasn’t long in this spot before my float had gone and the bait runner was away my sardine had done the trick and i struck into a solid fish which was putting up some resistance making several runs towards the anchor rope and trying to get under the boat before appearing on the surface i think the look on our faces must have been a picture it was a cow of a fish, and a this point i could see it was lightly hooked with one treble and the heart was now powding.
But there was no problem after one more powerful run Dave expertly scooped up the fish before it could run again and as he did the treble came out but the fish was safely in the net.
As pike go this was the biggest one i had ever seen in the flesh not very long but a huge head and belly with no unhooking to do it was straight onto the scale which pulled round to just over 38lb minus the sling and net which we checked after the fish went 34lbs 1oz and i realised i had done it that fish of a life time my quest for a 30lb pike. After a few photos it was back in the water to recover before disappearing back to the depths, all i could do was just sit there.
Now after that hopes were high, but the rest of the day was a struggle Dave had a couple of follows on lure but nothing a large fish put in an appearance near the boat which we cast to with no luck. We fished hard until about 4pm with no luck so we headed home. But what a great day really enjoyed the experience o f being a float on Chew, was a bit disappointed though as the aim of the day was to get a 20 for Dave may be next time. Im sure dave will add his bit.
So here are the pics sorry have not rotated them.