Jamie Barnes certainly had a trip to remember at Chew Valley when he landed several fish topped off with this beautiful 34lb 5oz pike..

Jamie told us “The forecast at chew at the time of my arrival was for strong winds and heavy rain in the afternoon so we had to be prepared. My boat partner Paul and I therefore decided to fish an area we had previously caught from and after a couple of hours we only had a trout to show for our efforts. With the wind getting stronger we decided to move to the back of the island for some shelter and I’m glad we did! We managed to find a deep shelf around 11-15ft so I cast out one rod in 11ft and one in 14ft. I fished a simple free running set up with a 1oz lead and a large smelt as bait.

I received my first bite around midday which resulted in a small jack. Shortly after this I had another 2 quick bites and managed a further 2 to low doubles. During the next hour I landed another 3 fish at 17lb, 18lb & 19lb so was more than happy with this result but I could never have imagined what was about to happen next. At approx. 3.30pm I noticed the left hand rod had gone slack then all of a sudden my float disappeared into the depths so I wound down to set the hooks and it was fish on, although the pike didn’t really react so I thought it could be another jack. It wasn’t until it got close to the boat that Paul could see the fish and said “it’s a proper lump”.

The pike then decided to power off into the depths, bending my rod double in the process! It was at this point my legs went to jelly and my heart started pounding. It was an epic battle and after what felt like a lifetime, the pike resurfaced. It decided to give me one last run around under the boat and I was just holding on, praying that it didn’t come off. It finally surfaced, tired and beaten but I couldn’t quite believe my eyes to the sheer size and length of it. We knew it was a 30 but when the scales went round to 34lb 5oz it truly hit home, a new personal best!”