Chew Valley Lake

Chew Valley Lake is a proper reservoir outing, not a little pool where you can see every swim before you’ve finished your brew. This Bristol and Somerset water covers approximately 1,200 acres, with rainbow trout, brown trout and pike on the menu. The big draw is the choice between bank and boat trout fishing.

• 1 lake: Chew Valley Lake
• Fish: trout, pike
• Tickets from: Adult all-waters bank permit — £36, eight-fish limit; covers Chew, Blagdon and Barrow Tanks.
• Find it: Bristol · BS40 8XH

Based on how each lake is set up — not a ranking.

Chew Valley Lake is a proper reservoir outing, not a little pool where you can see every swim before you’ve finished your brew. This Bristol and Somerset water covers approximately 1,200 acres, with rainbow trout, brown trout and pike on the menu. The big draw is the choice between bank and boat trout fishing. You can keep your feet on dry land or take the boat option, but either way, this is fishing on a very different scale from a tucked-away day-ticket pond.

The depth gives that size a bit of context. Chew averages approximately 14ft, with a maximum depth of 37ft. That’s worth keeping in mind when you’re thinking about your approach: there isn’t one depth that sums up the whole reservoir. For trout anglers, the useful starting point is deciding whether you want a bank session or a boat day, then choosing the permit that fits. Don’t confuse the maximum depth with what you’ll have in front of every bank spot.

Fishing operates from Woodford Lodge at Chew Stoke, BS40 8XH. That’s the place to put into your journey planning, rather than blindly following coordinates for the lake itself. Those identify the water, not its entrance, and nobody needs that extra faff before a day’s fishing. The lodge opens daily in season, and there’s a tackle shop with its own advertised seasonal hours. Keep those separate from the fishing hours: an early bank start and an open lodge aren’t the same thing.

There’s a decent spread of trout permits, including adult, junior, concession, sporting and half-day choices. The important bit is matching the ticket to how you want to fish, not just picking the cheapest line. Sporting permits have a two-fish limit with catch-and-release, and barbless flies are required. Other permits have their own fish limits. The adult all-waters bank permit also covers Chew, Blagdon and Barrow Tanks, which is handy if you’re weighing up those waters rather than Chew alone.

For a boat day, the included kit keeps things straightforward. Trout boat permits cover fishing and boat hire, plus the engine, fuel, anchors, oars and bailer. Boats are normally prepared by 8:30am, weather permitting, so that isn’t an unconditional launch promise. Public bank and boat trout fishing opened on 5 March for the 2026 season. Bank hours are tied to sunrise and sunset, rather than the lodge’s opening hours, so plan your session around the right timetable.

Pike anglers need a separate plan altogether. Deadbait and lure fishing is restricted to published dates in February, October and November 2026, with separate bank and boat pricing. It’s not a case of rocking up whenever you fancy a chuck. Pike sessions have their own arrival and departure limits, and the lodge displays the mandatory boat return time. Sort the date, permit and session details first; overnight fishing falls outside the published permitted hours. A little planning here saves a proper wasted journey.

Good background reading. Most of it is a few years old, so treat it as a starting point and ask on the day.

Videos linked by the fishery

• Our read

  Checked Sept '26 — “Chew Valley Lake is proper big-water fishing: approximately 1,200 acres with rainbow trout, brown trout and pike. There’s bank and boat trout fishing, while deadbait and lure pike sessions run on specific published dates.”

This is our own summary of recurring public feedback and the venue details we checked, not a copied customer review or a promise you’ll catch. Feedback changes, so we keep it separate from the Tackle Index score.