Draycote Water Fishing report w/e Sunday 22nd April 2018
Telephone Number 01788 812018
Report
Yet again, a week of weather extremes reflecting the need for a period of settled seasonal spring warmth. The start of the week saw anglers contending with cold, showery conditions combined with very strong south westerly winds. However, by mid-week these had given way to a mini heatwave with clear skies, bright sunshine and soaring temperatures, culminating in the hottest recorded April day in seventy years! A night of thunder & lightning with torrential rain on Saturday heralded the return of a much colder airflow with significant drops in temperature. At times sport was therefore best described as “challenging”, with some accomplished rods not being able to induce a single take. However, as ever, the highlights of the week were superb with the buzzer hatch in full swing & fish gorging themselves on the pupae. The period saw 388 anglers visit the venue netting 1545 trout representing a weekly rod average of 3.98
Monday started the period off with cold SW winds which saw a drop in the rod average to 2.3 from a high 5.6 the previous day. Nevertheless, Paul Walker bank fished and took 7 to a mix of damsels & buzzers. Ian Richardson also fished the same patterns on the bank in Biggin Bay to land 5. In the boat David & Mike Mee had to work for their combined 8 fish tally which came to diawl bachs & booby on a Di5. Tuesday was to prove harder still with just a 1.3 rod average. Some experienced regulars struggled for takes & had to concede to a blank day. CJ Day persevered with his buzzer & nymph set up to bring one good rainbow to the net for the pot with a further 9 caught & released. Brian Allwood also managed to get into fish with five landed & another four lost in play. A lighter southerly 10-12 mph wind on Wednesday with overcast skies, but many anglers still found it hard going on both boat & bank. Rod Wilson did find wintered fish amongst his 8-fish total which included a brace of rainbows tipping the scales together at an impressive 8lbs 2oz. He covered deep water with tube flies presented on a Di7 sinking line. Peter Fisher also boat fished & noted the quantities of buzzer hatching but found takes hard to come by. He persisted with gold head damsels and netted an impressive 10 on what was a very hard day which, had sen bank anglers really struggling.
On Thursday anglers had to endure the “mini-heatwave” with blue skies, bright sunshine, 25°C temperatures together with almost flat calm conditions. Eddie Mitchell best described it as “a tough day at the office!?”. Nick Louka did well with 7 from the bank though, followed by Simon Hill to sort out the buzzer feeders with 12 & 13 respectively to buzzers in Biggin Bay. Mark Close started in Biggin but moved round to Rainbow Corner & then the Hensborough Dam where the trout were also hard on the buzzer, He fished them on a washing line & took eight. The rod average for the day rose to 3.77
It seemed as if the whole fish population had been waiting for Friday to properly come on the feed as both boat & bank anglers enjoyed fine sport. Tony Broadway caught 11 on his buzzers closely followed by Jude Tuffs with 8. Of particular note were the 8 anglers in the Guy Nicholson group whose combined tally exceeded 200, mainly to buzzer patterns! A lot of the boat anglers were out practising for the following day’s AMFC match with many well into double figures & Julian Weddle commenting on how they had literally located fish “everywhere”! It was good to host the Royal Navy event led by Simon Lewis who were well into the sport. Their 18 anglers netted a total of 176 for a rod average of 9.77 with fish coming to washing lined buzzer on midge tips but others using pulling tactics with cat boobies on Di7s to great effect.
Saturday’s AMFC Spring match saw the whole fleet out on the water for the event. It was a hot, bright start for the competitors with NW winds. The fishing was far harder than the practise day bonanza & teams were having to work hard for their results. However, Toft, Cornfield & Biggin all produced, and fish were also in numbers up in Rainbow Corner & along the Hensborough bank. Whilst many searched for their fish inshore, a few also discovered numbers of fish feeding hard out over open water. Sixty anglers competed & 241 rainbows were taken representing a 4.01 rod average. Our congratulations go to Invicta “A” as Group 1 winners, Bewl Bridge FC “A” for Group 2 with Invicta FFC “B” taking top honours in Group 3. Individual best bag went to Vince Howley representing Hanningfield FA with 20lbs 5oz. Fish Hawks Phil Thomas landed the best fish of the event with a 4lbs 8oz rainbow. The sole boat on the water not involved with the match was that of regulars Jim Dempsey & Ifor Jones who stuck to their usual rudder tactics with Di7&8 lines over deep water. They enjoyed a great day with 16 & 14 rainbows respectively many of which were wintered. The bank rods also found sport with Tony Harris landing 15 including a 2lbs 8oz blue. Martyn Hancox took five on buzzers, mainly from the Swan’s Nest
We held a Troutmasters “Fish-Off” on the bank on Sunday fished to a 4-fish limit plus time bonus. Ounces separated 1st, 2nd & 3rd with Chris Traverse from Warrington taking the honour of a place in the final later in the year. Despite gusting conditions on a WSW wind, he went back out to Toft, stuck to his buzzer team & ended the day with a total of 16. Out in the boats were the LDFFA who all caught well with Ian Bradfield their top rod with 12. Season rod Paul Mitchell shared a boat with Tim Burn and enjoyed a “Great Day” using Fabs & buzzers with 47 to the boat. During a mid-day session afloat Scott Graham also did extremely well with more than 30 to his two mini booby set-up pulled on a Di3 in Biggin Bay
Weekly Boat draw
Congratulations to Mr Chris Czernecki from West London, the winner of this week’s free boat draw.
Weekly Stats:
Number Rods: 388 Number Trout Taken: 414 Number Trout Released: 1131
Total Catch: 1545 Weekly Rod Average: 3.98
Current Fishing Times:
Bank: 07:30 until: 20:30
Boat All Day: 08:30 until 20:30
Boat Part Day: am 08:30 until 14:30 pm 14:30 until 20:30
Last 4 Hours from: 16:30 until 20:30 (Ticket sales available from 16:15)
Gutting Room Closes – 20:00
All Anglers to be off site by: 20:45hrs
Notice to all fishing guides & instructors
We continue to welcome independent guides & instructors on all our water.
However, to ensure in this world of potential litigation that all parties are covered, and on advice from our insurance company, if you are guiding or instructing a client at Draycote, Foremark, Thornton & Eyebrook you will in future be require to produce:
- A copy of your Liability Insurance, this you can email to us for it to be on file for 2018
- A copy of your Risk Assessment for that days guiding / instruction
If you are guiding or instructing and are unable to produce the required documents you will be refused access to the fishery.
To enable us to deal with all our customers quickly & efficiently we suggest you forward copies of your liability insurance for us to place on file and, prior to your visit, a copy of that days risk assessment emailed to the fishery lodge, this will enable our staff to get you & your client out on the water as quickly as possible.
We would like to thank the guides & instructors who have already forwarded copies of their liability insurance.
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!
Our congratulations go to Chris Traverse who, as detailed in this week’s report, has won his way through to represent the fishery in the “2017/2018 Final” to be held at Draycote on Monday 8th October.
Dates for your diary:-
Competition Contact
Loch Style Team Championships- 30th June/1st July- Angling Trust- www.anglingtrustevents.net Potential cash prize pot £8,000 and TV coverage
Scierra Pairs- 29th July- Phil Dixon- www.scierrapairs.co.uk
10th/11th August- Anglers World Holidays- www.anglersworld.flyfishingchampionships.uk
Troutmasters Final – Monday 8th October – See Fishery staff. PLEASE NOTE THAT THE FISHERY WILL BE CLOSED FOR THE DAY FOR THIS BOAT & BANK EVENT
Fishery Management UK Ltd Stocking Further Update.
As previously reported, our trout suppliers have been in touch to update us that due to the extreme cold, wet & wintery weather conditions experienced during late February & March they have struggled to achieve sufficient growth rates to bring enough stock up to the 2lb+ (900g) trout size for our Draycote stockings booked during early April.
They have since advised that given improved weather conditions & temperatures, farm fish are now feeding well & packing on the desired weight. As a result, it is anticipated that things will be back to normal within a few weeks and our policy of introducing all our Draycote stock in the 2lbs+ range will be back on schedule.
Tight lines,
The Draycote Team
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