Draycote Water weekly report week ending 11th March 2018
Telephone Number 01788 812018
Report
A very different week, from the previous with the artic like temperatures giving way too much milder wet conditions typical of March. As a result, this has seen the fishing improve across the lake with the fish much more active. With the milder temperatures making it more pleasant for the anglers to spend a day fishing for them. Overall this week a total of 209 anglers visited catching a total of 1315 fish for a weekly rod average of 6.3.
After the cold weekend the 11°C temperatures of Monday felt positively tropical. Several anglers took to the water making the most of the sudden increase of temperature hoping it would liven the fish up. With the water temperature only being 3°C the hotspot was Toft shallows as it warmed up quickly in the edges. On the bank R Smith landed 14 from the Swans nest on a black and green fritz. Season ticket holder Mike Ravenscroft also fished in Toft to land 7 fish. Paul Lloyd fish slightly further down towards the buoys in Toft to land 9 fish on an intermediate and a black booby. Out on the boats Brent Vinall and Andy Birkett enjoyed a great day’s sport landing 33 fish on cormorants on a di 3 sinking line in Toft including a lovely 3lb 8oz blue trout. Richard Reeve enjoyed great sport landing 23 trout from the bottom end of Toft near the nature reserve buoys on a cat’s whisker on a floating line.
Light south westerly winds and a mild start to the day Tuesday. On the bank Brian Warwick fished down towards the bottom end of Toft to land 9 fish on a black fritz in only a short 3-hour session. Ken Key and Steve Robinson enjoyed good sport on the cornfield landing 21 fish between them. Season ticket holder Lee Patten and Pete Elliot landed over 20 fish each fishing from the swan’s nest on midge tips with a FAB on the point then cormorants on the droppers. Out on the boats Rob Jones and Tim Ham landed 23 trout on viva’s and boobys on a slow sinking line from Toft. Brent Vinall and Andy Birkett enjoyed good sport again landing 31 fish on small cormorants and cats whiskers again from Toft and down the Cornfield.
A sudden drop in temperatures Tuesday night left a cold start Wednesday morning with the temperatures below freezing. This meant that both boats and pontoon frozen as well as ice floating around the boats and against the dams. As a result, this meant a slower fishing day that the previous two as the water temperature remained low. Things did improve as the day went on around 12pm the fish did start to move onto the shallows and could be caught. On the boat Geoff Preston found the fish in the shallow waters in Toft on a wet cell 2 and a damsel, but it was 10am before Geoff hit his first fish but had soon landed another 7 before 2pm. Brent Vinall and Andy Birkett landed 19 fish on their last day but this time found the fish holding 40 yards off the cornfield in the deeper water. Nick Ellis and John French enjoyed good sport from the boats landing 20 fish anchored up down in Toft on lures on intermediate lines.
A blustery westerly wind kept some anglers off the water, however a few hardy souls did venture out to battle the wind and were rewarded with good catches. Pete Elliot fished up in rainbow corner to land 15 fish on black snakes and FABs on a midge tip. Fishing along side Peter was Steve Own and Chris Howkins who landed 11 fish between them on black and green fritz and cats whiskers.
Another cold start Friday with ice on the lake and in the boats after the negative effect these conditions had Wednesday we didn’t expect good catches however the anglers proved us wrong with some great catches. Fishing on a di 7-sinking line Ian Conyers landed 12 fish from Toft and Biggin Bay. On the boats Dave Parkes and John Pendleton landed 28 from Toft on various lures on intermediate and sinking lines. Season ticket holder Ian Richardson landed 15 fish from Rainbow Corner on buzzer, blobs and a small black snake on a floater. Also catching well from the bank was P Harris who landed 19 fish from the cornfield. Dave Atkins enjoyed good sport on a green and orange lure landed 15 fish taking 8 from Rainbow corner in the morning before moving to the Cornfield for the last 2 hours. Paul Davison and Tony Baldwin enjoyed good sport landing over 25 to the boat fishing with a team of mini lures and Fabs on either a floating line or midge tip. The pair found the best sport was either at the swans nest or in Alberts Bottom in Biggin Bay.
A wet day Saturday with a south easterly wind, however, despite the wet conditions several fish where caught. Out on the bank Tony and Ruth Kirk landed 15 fish between them on woolly buggers and cats whiskers. Tony Burn enjoyed good sport from the bank in Toft landing 14 fish on snakes. Also employing the tactics of snakes in Toft, but this time from the boats was Chris Aubrey and Ian Reeve who landed 32 fish to the boat anchored up along the buoy line. Richard Reeve took great advantage of the last four-hour ticket to land 19 fish from Toft on a cats whisker on a floating line. The England youth team took to the water for the first of this season training weekends ahead of the international held in late July. The team landed 94 fish between the 16 lads. They found the fish were sitting deep in both Toft and Biggin Bay and that either a di 5/7 sinking line with boobies was the best tactic.
A brighter day Sunday with again winds coming from the east. Season ticket holder Dennis Tidmarsh had a red-letter day fishing on the bottom end of the Cornfield with various lures on a floating line to land 30 fish. Also, on the bank but fishing from the Swans nest was James Cavanagh who landed 10 fish all on black buzzers. Season ticker holder Paul Walley fished on the Cornfield to landed 22 fish using boobies and fabs on an intermediate line. On the boats Ian Reeve returned this time with Paul Mariot in his boat to landed 35 fish on snakes, cats whisker and orange blobs on intermediate lines fishing the right-hand side of Toft. Opting to stay away from the crowd in Toft and go looking for some overwintered fish were season ticket holders Jim Smith and Ed Douglas. The pair opted to fish on di 7 sinking lines with cat boobies and black boobies over middle shoal. They both soon found what they were looking for in the way of several overwinter fish up to 4lb. They then moved on to croft shoal landing great numbers here again on the same tactics. At the end of the day they finished with 40 fish to the boat including come fantastic overwinter specimens. The England youth team again took to the water to land around 80 fish for the squad. They found the fish slightly higher on the Sunday with di 3 sinking lines with boobies/blobs and cormorants working with toft and the cornfield being the hotspots.
Looking ahead to next week more mild weather looks set to continue which will start to see the start of the buzzers.
Weekly Boat draw
Congratulations to Mr E Douglas of Banbury who is the winner of this week’s free boat draw.
Weekly Stats:
Number Rods: 209 Number Trout Taken: 182 Number Trout Released: 1133
Total Catch: 1315 Weekly Rod Average: 6.3
Current Fishing Times:
Bank: 07:30 until : 17:45
Boat All Day: 08:30 until 17:45
Boat Part Day: AM 08:30 until 13:00 PM 13:00 until 17:45
Last 4 Hours from: 13:45 until 17:45 (Ticket sales available from 13:30)
Gutting Room Closes – 17:30
All Anglers to be off site by: 18:15
Fishery News
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
Loch Style Team Championships- 30th June/1st July- Angling Trust- Anglingtrustevents.net
Sceirra Pairs- 29th July- Phil Dixon- scieirrapairs.com
10th/11th August- Anglers World Holidays- anglerworldholidayschampionship.com
Troutmasters Final – Monday 8th October – See Fishery staff. PLEASE NOTE THAT THE FISHERY WILL BE CLOSED FOR THE DAY FOR THIS BOAT & BANK EVENT
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 matter 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.
Early Morning Anglers
Due to a number of complaints from the residents of the houses by the main Draycote gate,could all anglers arriving early in the morning please keep noise to a minimum level, and if waiting for any more than a few minutes, please switch off your engines. The main gate is open from 7.30am
Tight lines,
The Draycote Team
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