Draycote Fishing Report w/e Sunday 13th August 2017
Telephone 01788 812018
The weather has been a very hit and miss affair this week with overcast cloudy days with very windy spells, and bright sunny days with hardly a breath of wind on the water. The cooler evenings have aided a drop in the water temperature, with a current reading of 17°C. This has helped improve the fishing for boat and bank anglers alike. The slight colour that has been present throughout the reservoir has not cleared completely but visibility has improved. The boats are still out-fishing the banks, fishing in the top few feet of the water. Well presented dries have been working very well, as has washing line with nymphs. A small lure, fished on an intermediate line through the Aerators has also produced good sport for some. The weekly rod average was 4·16 with 259 anglers catching a total of 1080 trout.
On Monday season permit holder Jim Hall managed 17 fish on dries such as Bob’s Bits and Shipman’s Buzzers. Kevin Rees also did extremely well, catching 16 rainbows on a variety of self-tied dries. The boat pairing of Mr C McMonagle and Mr M Petri caught 15 fish between them, pulling lures in Toft Shallows. Draycote regular Mr Ray Cramp caught 10 rainbows, with his eight-fish limit weighing in at just over 23 lbs.
Tuesday dawned with some heavy rain and a cool northerly breeze. This didn’t seem to dampen the enthusiasm of some of our regular bank anglers who ventured out in very challenging conditions. Most caught a brace, apart from Mr Peter Allen, who managed four from various points around the reservoir. The boat pairing of Mr K Coley and Mr R Taft did extremely well between Rainbow Corner & the Hensborough Bank, with eighteen to the boat, one of which was a 4lb blue.
Wednesday was wet and windy in the morning with a strong northerly blowing, although the rain eased up as the day progressed. The aerators fished really well with anglers catching on small lures fished with sinking lines. Draycote regular Geoff Preston caught five working through the deeper water from B to C buoy and also at the bottom end of the aerators. Season permit holder Dave Adkins had an 8 fish tally, mainly on Pheasant Tailed Nymphs.
Thursday started bright and sunny with a light northerly breeze and seemed to fish really well considering the conditions. Season permit holder Colin Grainger caught 4 from the bank. Jude Tuffs paired up with Tony Broadway for a day afloat & they brought a total of 21 to the net. Peter Elliott and Lee Patten fished together & caught 22 fish between them from a boat on dries. Mr K Allison caught 7 on black CDC’s, PTN’s and Big Reds whilst Kevin Rees was back on the water & managed 13 fish, again all coming to his own Crippled Midge & Bob’s Bits variants. John Dickens also stuck to the dry fly theme and landed nine. Season Permit holder Paul Liversidge enjoyed a day to remember as one of the three trout he netted during his boat session was a six-pound rainbow!
Friday also started off bright but it clouded over at about 1pm. Ian Richardson bank fished the Overflow on the Hensbrough Bank to land 7 rainbows. Ian fished a Minkie booby on a floating line targeting early fry feeders. He also teamed the fry pattern up with a small olive nymph which also caught. Out on the boats Mr Williams and his boat partner Nick Mead managed an impressive 29 fish total all on red & brown dries. They fished around the top end of the lake with drifts around A & B buoy proving effective. Another boat pairing fishing dries to great effect was that of Mr B Jones and Mr G Wood. Using Crippled Midge and Shipman’s Buzzers, again around the deep water of A, B and C Buoys, they boated 31rainbows. In-house guide Lee Henfrey took England youth hopeful Demi Powers for a short 2 hour coaching session ahead of the England Youth National at Draycote in early September. The pair boated 17 fish in their session with Lee showing Demi the art of sinking line work. A 3 inch a second sinking line was the best density during their session with a booby on the point with a blob on the top dropper.
Saturday saw Invicta Fly Fishing Club take to the water to fish in a friendly Club Competition. The method for the day was dries, again with the top end of the venue being the most productive. Dave Summers used dries to land 14, with Big Reds and Midas being his top patterns. Tony Day landed ten, again using dries with Crippled Midge being his best pattern. Also catching 10 fish was Mr David Moore. Outside the club match, father and son duo of Mike and Dave Mee landed 17 with dries and small fry patterns producing the results. Paul Davison fished all around the top end drifting around the Inlet, Rainbow Corner, A & B buoy and the Draycote Dam to landed 38 fish. Paul’s best pattern was a Midas – not surprising really as he invented the pattern. Well done Paul – a great result! Nigel Nixon and Lester Booth enjoyed good sport too, again to dries, but this time red was their colour of choice with the pair netting 14 between them. They also found their fish all around the top end of the lake.
Sunday saw another good day for top of the water sport, and once again it was the deeper water at the top end of the lake producing the results. Richard Dayman and boat partner John Kirk landed 20 fish boat fishing around Rainbow Corner and the Inlet. They found washing line tactics was the key to their success. Mr D Ford & Mr T Wallace also boated 20 fish with Mr Ford using a mixture of dries and buzzers while Mr Wallace fished dries all day to land his fish. Mike & Dave Mee returned for their second day on the water and used Diawl Bachs fished on a washing line to boat another seventeen. They found drifts from B Buoy to A Buoy produced the best results. Shaun and Liam Gaskell took to the water hoping to enjoy good sport on dries, and that is exactly what they had. The two brothers landed 27 all on dries with a variety of patterns used. They did comment that red was their best colour. Paul Davison also returned, but this time accompanied with Tony Baldwin. The pair boated 42 fish all on dries with Midas being the best pattern. Paul commented that the fishing has been great from the start but when a fall of flying ants hit the water in the afternoon it was fantastic sport.
Weekly Boat Draw
Congratulations to Ms J Tuffs of Market Harborough who is the winner of this week’s free boat draw.
Weekly Stats:
Number Rods: 259 Number Trout Taken: 371 Number Trout Released: 709 Total Catch: 1080 Weekly Rod Average: 4·16
Current Fishing Times:
Bank: 07:30 until 20:45
Boat All Day: 08:30 until 20:45
Boat Part Day: 08:30 until 14:30 – 14:30 until 20:45
Last 4 Hours from: 16:45 until 20:45 (Ticket sales available from 16:30)
Gutting Room Closes: 20:15
All Anglers to be off site by: 21.00
Fishery News
Tuition Days- Beginners Courses
Saturday 14th October Hosted by Kevin Hart and Tom Bird. Currently four places available
Call the lodge on 01788 812018 to book or for further information
Trout Masters
Draycote has joined the Troutmasters Competition. Entry forms can be found next to the booking out sheets. You will need a member of staff to countersign your entry. Good luck!
Dates for your diary:-
Competition Contact
TEFF Fundraiser. Dry Fly Championship 16th September – Ian Colclough – 01543 689117
Angling World Holiday Final – 23rd and 24th September c/o John Horsey
Troutmasters Final – 9th October. – See Fishery staff.
Boat manners & etiquette:
As is so often the way at this time of the year, many fish tend to gravitate towards the aerators as a comfort zone & naturally many anglers wish to get in amongst the action there. Please be aware that the area is a strictly no anchoring zone.
We also respectfully ask that all anglers demonstrate good boat manners & etiquette when fishing in close proximity to other vessels there & elsewhere in general. Incidents have been occurring where anglers have rudely reversed back up their drift into oncoming boats or have cut straight into the path of a drifting boat instead of taking their turn returning to the top of the drift. This is unsporting, spoils the action & enjoyment of others & understandably leads to frayed tempers. Should you find yourself at the receiving end of repeated displays of such poor boatmanship & bad etiquette, we ask that you phone the lodge in order that we can come out to rectify the situation ourselves as deemed appropriate.
Boat Cleanliness:
Our hard pressed team strive to maintain the boats to a high standard of cleanliness. Anglers are kindly requested to respect their endeavours by keeping their vessels shipshape & litter free. Particular attention should be paid to avoiding the unnecessary practise of pulling muddy anchors on board. These should be shaken clean before being lifted into the boat. Your assistance in this regard will be most appreciated.
Guiding & Tuition:
Why not take your own fishing further with a day out on the water with England Internationals and fishery staff Lee Henfrey or Tom Bird? Whether you wish to get to know the water better or hone a particular skill, our guides can help to improve your catch rates. Visit the website www.flyfishguiding.co.uk for more information or book a slot by calling the lodge on 01788 812018.
Keep up to date with the latest catches and fishing posts from our in-house fishery ranger and guide Tom Bird, by following him on Facebook. Tom has been catching some great fish this season and posting pictures of the fish as well as a light write up on how he has been catching them.
Tight lines,
The Draycote Team
Follow Us on
facebookwww.facebook.com/FlyFishStore twitter www.twitter.com/FlyFishStore