Draycote Water weekly report week ending 22nd July 2018
Telephone Number 01788 812018
Report
What a great week at Draycote it has been, as we were voted the UK’s number one Stillwater by Trout Fisherman magazine. The management and staff would like to thank all our customers for their support, as well as the positive comments we have received both personally, and on our facebook page. These only help to motivate us as we try to move forward and improve the fishery in the future.
While the heatwave continued this week at Draycote we did have overcast conditions at times, which helped to cool the surface temperature by a couple of degrees. This teamed with a consistent wind direction, meant that some cooler surface temperatures could be found at the back of the wind, and as a result fish could be taken on dry flies. Overall a good week with a total of 176 rods visiting the fishery, landing a total of 621, for a weekly rod average of 3.5.
The week started off on Monday with more of a reduction in air temperature, than had been seen over the previous weekend. Season ticket holder Jim Smith & Ed Douglas took the water hoping to tempt a few fish. The pair fished around A & B buoy with a Di 5 sweep in the morning, combined with a team of nymphs and a booby. Although later in the day the fish did come up on dries and the pair capitalised on this using red harry potters. In total the pair enjoyed fantastic sport landing 42 fish between them. Adam Larbaister & Ben Bayliss took the long drive down from Cumbria to enjoy a day afloat. Both landing 8 fish each drifting from A to B buoy with drifts over the boils also proving productive. The lads found the fish keen to pull back on snakes fished on a sinking line. Jeff Ide fished for an afternoon session around A buoy to land 14 fish all on dries with a daddy and a big red.
A largely overcast day Tuesday greeted the anglers, and with the conditions the fishery produced a highly impressive 7 fish rod average. Peter Elliot fished with Stuart Lee before his flight back to Canada later in the week. Between them landing 21 fish using snakes and dries over the boils and towards A buoy. Ed Douglas fished again this time enjoying a boat with fellow season ticket holder Lee Patten, the pair used nymphs and dries over the boils and landed 14 between them. Once Lee had left, Ed decided to return to the water to see if he could tempt any more. This proved to be a good call as he landed an impressive 18 fish all on dries fishing around the Top Dam Wall on big reds. Ian Earle and a party of 5 other traveling anglers from Scotland, enjoyed great sport landing 69 fish between them on dry flies fished tight in to the Draycote dam wall just along from the flat stones.
A sunnier day on Wednesday than previous days did cause the fish to go of the feed slightly and drop in the water, although some anglers did post some good returns to dry fly tactics. One such angler was Kevin Rees who landed 9 fish on bob’s bits around the Draycote Dam wall and over near A buoy. Eddie Mitchell & Dave Kennell used fast sinking booby bashers and di 7 sinking lines to land 9 fish to the boat around A & B buoy on a mix of boobies and cormorants. The traveling Scottish anglers landed 25 fish between them again on a mixture from dries and lures on sinking lines again around the Draycote Dam and A & B Buoy. Martyn Price & Dave Hancox enjoyed good sport on the last four hours landing a total of 12 fish between them on the boils on snakes and a few on dries.
The conditions of Thursday saw the fishing drop off considerably with bright hot skies teamed with no wind. Most anglers managed to tempt one on a variety of methods with the only consistent area being the boils. The only angler who caught over 2 wad Mr F Campbell who landed 5 fish from the boils.
Friday started with 3 different wind directions, bright sun, and flat calm conditions, before some cloud and flat calm conditions rolled in the for the afternoon. Season ticket holder Ian Reeve landed 13 fish on the boils. Ian’s best tactic was to pull big reds at speed across the surface, which worked best once the cloud has arrived. Paul Davison used a sinking line with a mix of cormorants and boobies to land 17 fish away from the boils in the deeper water. The best catch of the day went to Ed Douglas who landed 24 fish from the boils. Ed’s tactic was to fish a long midge tip with a team of small crunchers and diawl bachs in size 14 fished on a washing line/
A warm sunny day with very light to no winds for most of the day Saturday. Jim Dempsey fished the rudder with a Di 5 sinking line with a black snake to land 11 fish before a change to an intermediate in the afternoon landed him another 2 fish. John Doots & Keith Allison enjoyed a good day’s sport on the boils. Using floating lines with teams of nymphs and dries the pair landed 22 fish between them. Gareth Jones & Howard Croston landed 15 fish between them using sinking lines to target fish in mid water as well as near the bottom. Mr Lester Booth & N Nixon found the fishing tricky during the day but decided if stay late hoping for a change of fortune. This turned out to be exactly what happened as they were rewarded with a great evening rise and landed 18 fish to the boat all in dries.
Saturday also saw Draycote host another of its “Boat Tuition Days” the day was a great success with all the participants loving the day. The icing of the cake was when participant Will Carr landed a fantastic 6lb brown from near the tower on a small olive snake booby fished on a sinking line. A picture of the fish can be found www.facebook.com/flyfishstore for information on our upcoming tuition day on August 11th please visit http://www.flyfishtuition.co.uk/prices/
Cooler overnight temperatures and a north westerly breeze saw the surface water temperature drop by a couple of degrees on Sunday morning. Again tactics were split with large catches coming to DI7’s and snakes in the deeper water by the Draycote Dam, B buoy, and the Aerators. Patience proved the key later in the day as the cloud cover rolled in. Those anglers who switched to dry fly tactics from the afternoon through to the evening were rewarded with some fantastic sport. Dries fished blind from a drifting boat over the deeper water was the key to finishing off a good days fishing on a high note.
Weekly Boat draw
Congratulations to Iain Earle from Sauchie who is the winner of this week’s free boat draw.
Weekly Stats:
Number Rods: 176 Number Trout Taken: 73 Number Trout Released: 548
Total Catch: 621 Weekly Rod Average: 3.5
Current Fishing Times:
Bank: 07:30 until 21:30
Boat All Day: 07:30 until 21:30
Boat Part Day: AM 08:30 until 15:00 PM 15:00 until 21:30
Last 4 Hours from: 17:30 until 21:30 (Ticket sales available from 17:15)
Gutting Room Closes – 21:00
All Anglers to be off site by: 21:45
Guiding & Tuition.
New for the 2018 season the Guiding & Tuition team will running a blog. The idea of this blog is to provide hints and tips from your guides to help keep you catching depending on the conditions, tackle reviews and write up of guiding sessions. To have a look at the blog please visit http://www.flyfishtuition.co.uk/latest-report/
Dates for the Diary
Scierra Pairs – Sunday 29th July- To book please visit https://www.scierrapairs.co.uk/ (organiser Phil Dixon)
Youth International Wednesday 1st August- PLEASE NOTE ALL BOATS ARE BOOKED FOR THIS EVENT
Angler World Fly Fishing Championship- Saturday 11th August (Any Line) & Sunday 12th August (Floating line)- To book please visit http://anglersworld.flyfishingchampionships.uk/ (organiser John Horsey)
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!
Troutmasters Final – Monday 8th October – See Fishery staff. PLEASE NOTE THAT THE FISHERY WILL BE CLOSED FOR THE DAY FOR THIS BOAT & BANK EVENT
Tight lines,
The Draycote Team
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