My local friends Gareth and George have given the good pike spots a regular going over during the last fortnight. A fish about 20lb and a 15lb from Legg Meadow and a double from the stream mouth at the Tump have been the best. Gareth, not prone to get excited over anything under 30lbs, let on that they lost a pike which was’nt seen and which felt huge in the depths, when the river was around 6-7ft. This is probably the huge fish which was seen by barbel anglers in the autumn and quite likely the 36lb fish caught by George from Little Dean last winter. Rumours have come back to me that this pike was 39lbs – it seems difficult to get exact records of pike weights.

I would say the time is now. After a mild winter there should be some well fed, well conditioned females becoming heavy with spawn. River levels are now back to below 2ft as I write and clear. We have some bookings for pike missions but there are loads of booking opportunities for the rest of this month and February or just book on the day. There is almost cerainly a pike in the Legg Meadow stretch of the Courtfield which is heading for the magic 40lb mark.

Rudi lives locally and is perfectly placed to keep an eye on the Wyebank and Courtfield fisheries and he helps me enormously by looking after fishermen and watching for poachers. He fishes both beats regularly and is very well acquainted with the best places to catch fish. As the feedback pages for both Wyebank and Courtfield show he has had some superb fishing this year, with quality chub, barbel and pike. These pike pictures, in particular,  are stunning and show the wonderful colouration of healthy Wye pike.

Beautiful Chub caught on the Courtfield water

Another good sized Chub for Rudi

Barbel caught on the Leggs Meadow beat in September

9lb 12oz Barbel from Courtfield

Typical Courtfield beat pike

Beautiful Pike caught on Courtfield

Big Pike caught from Courtfield

Last winter Gareth Hart guided his friend George, and down the lower end of the meadow helped him land a 36lb monster. Gareth has the distinction of “years ago”  catching a witnessed 42lb pike from Legg Meadow, possibly the largest pike ever landed on the river by rod and line. Gareth, whom I’ve known for over 30 years, and his friends from Little Dean have quietly fished the “meadow” and many other stretches of the Wye for a lot longer than the piking afficiados and his catches have always been kept quiet from the angling world.

The most famous pike  from Legg Meadow was the fish known as Lydia by PAC anglers Rob Shallcroft and Steve Bown. Renowned as the Queen of the Wye, this fish was caught by Ashley Meek in 2005 when she weighed 36lbs. This fish can be  seen on the  “Courtfield Fishing page” of this site. Subsequently and after many stake outs Steve took Rob to the magic spot, where one late winter’s day Rob caught the magnificent fish when she weighed 33lbs 12ozs.

It is generally thought this fish is no longer alive. Although Steve did not get exact measurements he estimated her length from scaled photographs at  48 – 49 inches. So it is significant that Rudi Lighert’s pike caught in the winter of 2009 at the lower end of Courtfield measured 48 inches.  This massive fish was “well below its potential weight and long and lean”.

The question has to be, was Rudi’s fish Lydia and is it the same fish that Gareth Hart caught at 42lbs? Fred Buller’s table for pike length to weight gives the following for a 48 inch pike. The average variation is shown at 39lbs which is the weight of the massive pike which first showed up on the radar at Leggs Meadow. With an extreme expectation of weight at 53.25 lbs and mean of 44.5 lbs it seems to me that these catches, including Gareth’s 42lb pike, do in fact all relate to the same fish, which against the belief of the members of the Pike Angling Club of Great Britain was still alive in 2009. The second question has to be, is George’s fish of last winter an up and coming contender for the Queen of the Wye crown?

Over the last decade there has been one and possibly two dead pike recorded as being over 30lbs, suggesting that there are other monsters here and pike in the mid to high twenties are caught annually. Jonathan Wright, guided by Gareth Hart had a fine bag several years ago including a 27lb fish and two other doubles to 16lbs and several good jack pike caught in the swims towards the top end of Leggs Meadow. The late Martin Lane of Lydbrook caught many big pike along the Courtfield beat and fell in to the river in recent times whilst landing a  fish in the low to mid twenties. A salmon angler had an 18lb pike this summer fishing the Legg Meadow crib.

If you are a specimen pike angler seeking a big Wye pike then I humbly suggest you give the Courtfield a go this winter. Book as usual for a coarse ticket through the WUF and drop me an email donmacerwright@gmail.com while you’re about it, to plan your trip. If you want to make the added investment for a guide we can probably significantly increase your chances of a lifetime fish.

I recommend fishermen bring trotting tackle as well to target the chub and dace, which can give fantastic sport in the faster water, particularly along the bankside runs of Wyebank.

12 and a half Pound Barbel

It got to be worth starting with the best! This is Kraig’s 12 and a half pound whooper caught from The Legg Meadow! I think the smile on his face says it all.

10lb Barbel

Kraig said “that day i had 5 chub, 4 caught before i had any barbel. then i had 7 barbel two 10s one smack on 10lb, one 10.4lb. two 7+. two 5/6+. the big one was 12.8lb. i only weighed the doubles but Ive had plenty of 7s before. we checked the weights against my friends scales to make sure the scales were correct, he also had similar amounts of fish, fishing right next to me including doubles. I’m sure i beat the 12.8lb the night i met you but my brother had taken my scales but it looked BiG!!! HUGE mouth. the night i met you i had 8 or 9 barbel mainly between 4pm and 11.30pm 5 chub i left to go home at around 12/ 12.30.”

Another Barbel

Just landed Barbel

Chubb

Shining in the flashlight - night time Barbel

8lb 2oz Barbel

8lb 11oz Barbel from the Wood Stretch

8lb 13oz Barbel

8lb 15oz Barbel from Legg Meadow

9lb 4oz Barbel from the Wood Stretch

9lb 6oz Barbel

9lb 12oz Barbel

10lb 3oz Barbel

Thanks to Roger Knife for the use of his great photos.

Shaun, the manager of tackle shop Hinders of Swindon took the day with three consecutive ten pound barbel at 10lbs, 10lb 4oz and 10lb 8oz. These were caught on Hinders Blitz boilies wrapped in Blitz paste with Hinders Barbel Bomb in the feeder, proving in Nigel Botherway’s words that Hinders of Swindon “sell the best barbel bait known to man.”

10lb 8oz Barbel

Another beautiful 10lb plus fish

The third of the 10lb plus Barbels

After a fantastic run of doubles over the past few weeks it looks like the barbel fishing is winding down now.

Below are some of the pictures taken by Richard for the magazine article

Ali hooked into a fish

Dean hooked into another!

Bringing a Barbel in

Ali with a lovely fish

Dean with a large chub

Another chub for Dean

Ali with another Barbel!

Dean in amongst the Water Buttercup with a Barbel