Draycote Water weekly report week ending 25th November 2018
Telephone Number 01788 812018
A change in the weather with winds in the North to North East all week bringing with it some cooler weather with day time temperatures not exceeding double figures with some frosts overnight. 159 rods caught 643 fish giving a weekly rod average of 4.0.
Cold north east winds meant there was a definite chill in the air. As a result, this forced the fish out away from the bank to the deeper water due to its more stable temperature. Kevin Rees managed to tempt 5 fish from Lincroft point on washing lined shrimps but commented on it being a challenging day. Out on the boats Ed Douglas fished around the Farnborough Dam wall and the spit to tempt 14 fish using a Di 7 sinking line and boobies. Airflo’s Gareth Jones enjoyed a day on the boats with Howard Croston with the pair landing 19 fish between them. Their best tactics were to fish a DI 8 sinking with and a white humongous booby left for 15 seconds to sink to the bottom before using a slow figure of eight retrieve. The landed fish in Toft and Biggin but the best area was certainly S buoy. In house guide Lee Henfrey enjoyed a great 5 hours sport with Jude Tuffs the pair landing 20 fish between them. Fishing over P Buoy and around N Buoy they found that di 7 forty plus with a natural snake booby was the way to tempt the fish including some lovely overwintered fish that can be seen at www.facebook.com/flyfishstore
The wind swing slightly more into the east although there was some northly gusts at times. Resulted in yet another cold day Tuesday for the hardy anglers who took to the water. On the bank season ticket holders Lee Patten & Peter Elliot landed 8 fish from the Cornfield using a washing with a floating fry on the point. Out on the boats Alan Guest & Andy Dowell landed 10 fish on the rudder using di 7 sinking lines and snakes with the best area being drifts over the top of Musborough Shoal between N and Y Buoy. This too was where D Harrison took his 3 fish on red minkies.
With freezing temperatures overnight and a very gusty easterly wind it was a quite day at the fishery with only one boat out on the water. However, the boat of staff member Graham Henfrey & Thornton season ticket holder Steve Jordan enjoyed great sport. After a quick chat to brother Lee, Graham was told that his best option given the wind and the temperature drop was to back drift. This is exactly what the pair did to great effect landing 14 fish on natural snake boobies fished on a Di 7 sinking with around Croft Shoal and S buoy. The highlight of the day was when Steve landed a fantastic brown of 5lb which once again can be seen at www.facebook.com/flyfishstore.
A very cold night Wednesday saw a hard frost with temperatures of -4°C at 7am when the staff arrived at the fishery. With very little it wind and sun it looked like it might have been a challenging day for the anglers. This proved to be the case from the bank with the hard frost, clear water and sun meaning the trout did not want to pull. Although it was a different story for the boats, the key was to get deep in the water column after the fish with di 7 & 8 sinking lines being a must. However, once you got the flies down to the fish, they were all to willing to pull back. Ed Douglas fished in the drop off around Musborough Shoal at Y buoy to land 11 fish on snakes. In house guide Lee Henfrey making the most of his time off took Roger Kerrison out with the pair landing 16 fish on tubes around P buoy and N buoy with the best of the sport from N. Eugene Hughes once again took the train from London to make the most of the excellent sport before we close on the 30th. Eugene landed 14 fish for the day with minkies and tubes being his best patterns fished on a di 7 sinking line around the Farnborough Dam and N buoy. John Hurst & Peter Watson fished around S buoy with sinking lines and snakes to land 13 fish between them.
With warmer overnight temperatures and the wind dropping in speed and swinging to the East. Some great fishing was to be had once again mainly from the boats although scores of 3s and 4s were recorded from Lincroft and Cornfield. On the boats the warmer temperatures meant that buzzers could be seen hatching over the Shoals and the spit and there was even moving fish. Jim Smith & Ed Douglas enjoyed a red letter day with over 40 fish to the boat. The pair started at Farnborough spit taking 15 fish. With Jim using a tube on a di 7 sinking line while Ed opted to use boobies. In was from this spot where Jim took a fantastic 7lb 10oz Rainbow (pictured on www.facebook.com/flyfishstore) on a tube taken on the hang. The pair then continued to catch as the moved around the lake getting fish from S Buoy, Y Buoy and along the Farnborough Dam. Guiding & Tuition Manger Tom Bird & Lee Henfrey fished landing 35 fish. The pair found the fish at S buoy in the morning with Lee landing 9 on tubes. Before moving to N buoy & Y buoy to land most of their fish with Lee staying on the tube. While Tom went for a di 7 sinking line with two humongous boobies on a 20ft leader a black and gold on the dropper and white and silver on the point. Derek Moore & Felicity Appleton enjoyed a great day’s sport from Toft with their fishing coming from just under the surface. Including some cracking Rainbows of 5lb which left Felicity grinning from ear to ear as it was here best Draycote fish.
The wind went back to a North East with more of a chill to it Sunday with some un-forecast rain first thing in the morning which soon cleared leaving overcast conditions for the rest of the day. Which turned out to be ideal for all those who turned out for our Fur & Feather match. Most, if not all the fish were caught on sinking lines out over the markers in the deeper water, generally on DI7’s , and then a mixture of patterns such as snakes, tubes and boobies. The fishing was fantastic with seven bag limits caught, and a mixture of some lovely silvered up rainbows and cracking browns. The winners on the day with 12 fish for 25lb 7 oz were Martin Rowson and Neil Deakin. In second place was Eddie Mitchell and Gordon Bramwell with a weight of 24lb 15oz, whilst third place went to Tom Finney and Ollie Jenkins with a bag weight of 24lb 4oz. The best fish of the day went to Dave Bailey which was a brown of 4lb, weighed by Tom Bird out on the water and returned. The staff match was taken by Lee Henfrey and Nigel Keeber with 12 fish for 24lb 5oz. More details and photos can be seen on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/flyfishstore .A big thank you to all who took part, and we are looking forward to seeing you all next season.
Weekly Boat draw
Congratulations to Kasidit Leoviriyakit from Bristol, the winner of this week’s free boat draw.
Weekly Stats:
Number Rods: 159 Number Trout Taken: 272 Number Trout Released: 371
Total Catch: 643 Weekly Rod Average: 4.0
Current Fishing Times:
Bank: 07:30 until 15:45
Boat All Day: 07:30 until 15:45
Boat Part Day: AM 08:30 until 13:00 PM
Last 4 Hours from: 11:45 until 15:45 (Ticket sales available from 11:30)
Gutting Room Closes – 15:15
All Anglers to be off site by: 16:15
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/
Christmas Gift Vouchers
Our gift vouchers, fly fishing tuition & beginner days make a perfect Christmas gift. Visit our online store www.flyfishstore.co.uk
Dates for the Diary
We close for the season on Friday 30th November 2018. We would like to wish all our customers a Happy Christmas and a very prosperous new year, and we hope to see you all back here, fit and well in 2019.
Tight lines,
The Draycote Team
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