Draycote Water weekly report week ending 23rd September 2018
Telephone Number 01788 812018
It’s been a very changeable week here at Draycote Water, with near perfect fishing conditions at times, and then strong winds blowing the boats off the water for Wednesday and Friday. The water temperature has held at a healthy 16 degrees which has helped a lot, with fish now being caught by both bank and boat anglers in good numbers at most of the popular spots around the reservoir. Indeed at the overflow on the Hensborough bank on Wednesday, fish could be seen grubbing around for shrimp amongst the rocks, and were being caught by one bank angler no more than a rods length from the edge of the water. 236 rods caught 642 fish, giving us a weekly rod average of 2.7
Mondays overcast conditions seemed to help the anglers, with a lot of returns showing the fish coming to dries. The boat pair of Jim Smith and Ed Douglas Netted a total of 36 fish between them, all to dries. Mr J Honour and Mr D Andrew had 18 fish to the boat on daddies. Mr J Row caught 9 fish from a boat, again all on dries. Again it was all dries for Kevin Rees, who used bob’s bits to great effect, netting 17 fish from a drifting boat, as did yet another season permit holder, John Dickens with 14 fish. A slight change in tactics for Cheryl and Gareth Bulman, who had a good day out on cormorants.
A slight change in the weather on Tuesday, with brighter conditions pushing the fish down a bit and out into deeper water. On the bank Mr J Watson netted 8 fish on bibio’s, whilst Alan Grant caught 3. Mr A Linwood and Mr J Vincent had 7 and 8 respectively. Bob Toft and Keith Coley had 11 fish to the boat between them on slime lines, hares ears and diawl bach’s.
Wind speeds of over 40 mile per hour kept the boats firmly roped to the pontoon on Wednesday with bank anglers restricting themselves to rainbow corner and the overflow on the Hensborough bank. Their efforts however produced a good rod average with all but one angler catching fish in very difficult conditions. Chris Mills caught 4 fish on bobs bits whilst Richard Snape caught his 4 fish on big reds. Alex Campbell netted 3 fish on a variety of patterns such as claret crippled midge, and reported seeing lots of fish moving right in front of the overflow.
On Thursday a drop in wind speeds allowed us to get the boats out on the water in what looked like ideal conditions, overcast with a light south westerly breeze to start with. The EFFA held their Autumn Members Day with 25 rods taking part. Although it turned out to be tough going at times, with the wind picking up in the afternoon, the group netted 63 fish between them giving a rod average for the match of 2.5. Other anglers who went afloat also enjoyed some good sport with Peter Fisher netting 6 fish on a variety of dries, including soldier palmers. Mr G McGinley and his boat partner also had a good day out catching 26 fish between them.
Once again on Friday the wind speeds were too high to let the boats out and anglers who had planned to go afloat where yet again restricted to the bank. The wind blew hard right through the day, with strong gusts coming from nearly every point on the compass. The few hardy souls who braved it out, fetching flies from trees and undoing tangles faired pretty well overall. Lee Patten and Peter Elliott fished the bank together to net a dozen fish between them. John Dickens caught 5 fish on diawl bachs and shrimp patterns. Seasoned regular Colin Grainger netted 3 fish in a morning session and remarked that he’d had some good sport.
Saturday looked great first thing with a light south westerly breeze and good cloud cover. The AMFC were here for their group 3 match, loading boats up, readying for a day out alongside some of our Saturday regulars. The match seemed to go really well, judging by the weigh in, and was won by the team from the Royal Navy. The fishing proved a little tough for some at first with reports coming back through the early part of the day. Those who fished deep on sinking lines did ok, but again, most of the fish were caught in the top few feet of the water. Things seemed to improve in the afternoon with the best bags of the day coming out of toft shallows for the first time in ages. The boat pairing of Mr G Pelini and Mr G Mcginlay caught 28 fish between them. Draycote regular Mark Hunt caught 15 fish from a boat on crunchers and daddies. Season permit holder Tony Parker caught 6 fish on daddies.
Sunday was a very wet start with a light breeze. The wind changed direction a couple of times during the day with some heavy showers, and blew up well in to the teens in the afternoon. It was tough going in heavy conditions with few anglers managing any more than a brace to the boat. Bank anglers faired little better. Although it was noted that the fish are now spread well throughout the reservoir and fishing should improve now with more settled conditions forecast for the coming week.
Weekly Boat draw
Congratulations to Tony Broadway from Coventry the winner of this week’s free boat draw.
Weekly Stats:
Number Rods: 236 Number Trout Taken: 296 Number Trout Released: 346
Total Catch: 642 Weekly Rod Average: 2.7
Current Fishing Times:
Bank: 07:30 until 18:45
Boat All Day: 07:30 until 18:45
Boat Part Day: AM 08:30 until 14:00 PM 14:00 until 18:45
Last 4 Hours from: 14:45 until 18:45 (Ticket sales available from 14:30)
Gutting Room Closes – 18:15
All Anglers to be off site by: 19:15
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
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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