Draycote Water weekly report week ending 31st March 2019
Monday started where the previous weeks sport had ended with great catches to be had on buzzers. On the bank Mark Braun fished from Lincroft point with a team of buzzers on a floating line to land over 20 fish. All water season ticket holder Paul Walker also fished from Lincroft point on a mix of buzzers and mop flies to also land over 20 fish to the boat. Out on the boats again buzzers where the order of the day. Season ticket holder Tony Parker & boat partner Terry enjoyed great sport landing just short of 30 fish, all on a mixture of buzzers and nymphs. The pair found the fish on Croft Shoal in the morning before heading down into Toft for the afternoon. Guiding & Tuition Manager Tom Bird once again took to the water guiding Malcolm ahead of his trip to Corrib. Malcolm enjoyed great sport in the 6 hour session boating 16 fish all on buzzers on a floating line. Tom took Malcolm over all the shoals catching on each one, however, it was Croft shoal that provided the best sport including some fantastic overwintered fish. To book a session with Tom call the lodge on 01788 812018. Mark Francis also fished from a boat over Croft shoal landing 14 fish all on a goldhead Viva fished on a floating line. This week, 290 anglers caught 1334 fish, giving us a weekly rod average of 4.6.
Once again on Tuesday Lincroft point was the place to be on the bank, Jude Tuffs & Tony Broadway both fished there to land 15 fish each all on buzzers. Tony used a washing line with a tequila FAB on the point to land his 15. While Jude chose to fish her buzzers under a bung. Yousef Dar also enjoyed the best of his sport from the point in the afternoon, after landing 5 fish from Dunn’s in the morning it wasn’t until he moved to Lincroft where he found the best sport landing another 12 all on buzzer.
The bright conditions have not deterred the fish one bit this week as anglers proved yet again on Wednesday. Both boat and bank anglers seemed to concentrate their efforts on the north shore, in particular around Lincroft point and the cornfield. Although other areas such as duns bay, biggin bay and rainbow corner have produced fish from time to time. Bank anglers had some great sport with Paul Walley netting a dozen on damsels. Dave Adkins put 7 fish in the net using buzzers off Lincroft point. Boat anglers were out hitting the hotspots of croft shoal and biggin bay and getting some good numbers to the boat. The boat pairing of Andy Birkett and Brent Vinall commented on some great sport, netting over 100 fish in two days. Andy and Brent are regular visitors to Draycote and know the water well. They used a combination of buzzers and FAB’s in areas such as the Hensborough bank, the school slips and croft shoal. Season permit holder Graham Homer netted 11 fish on green buzzers during a 4 hour session through the middle part of the day. Alex Campbell caught 7 fish from a boat, mainly from the front of the inlet, on buzzers and diawl bachs.
On Thursday, yet again in warm bright conditions, Ian Richardson netted 9 fish from the bank on buzzers off Lincroft point. Brian Allwood and Colin Grainger netted a brace each from various points along the north shore. All water season permit holder Paul Walker caught 11 fish from the bank on buzzers. Draycote regular Mike Oliver netted over 35 fish on PTN’s and buzzers. Boat angler John Dickens caught 19 fish using buzzers on a DI 3. Mr Gordon Bramwell and Mr K Cooke got well into double figures from a boat using buzzers. Dave Kennell and Eddie Mitchell commented on a super day out catching good sized fish, using a midge tip and buzzers.
Fridays weather was unchanged as all water season permit holder Mr Jamie Scott netted 50 fish from biggin bay and croft shoal, commenting on “another fantastic day”. The boat pairing of Ian Pugh and Tony Whitcher netted 40 fish between the from a boat at various points around the reservoir. Mike Gillett and Colin Campbell had a “good day” on buzzers from the boat netting a very respectable 27 fish between them. Season permit holder and seasoned traveller Matt Harris managed 16 fish to the boat on various patterns. Whilst Draycote regulars Tom and Jim Marriott managed 30 fish to the boat between them. Bank anglers were having great sport with Gordon Slack and Bob Smith landing 5 and 6 fish respectively. Whilst Tony Broadway netted 15 fish from the bank using buzzers.
Saturday dawned with the reservoir sitting as still as a mill pond, with hardly a ripple on it until mid afternoon. Andy Lilley and Phil Mee netted 13 fish between them from the bank on various patterns from the north shore. Whilst out on the boats Saturday regulars Ivor Jones and Jim Dempsey could be seen bucking the trend and drifting across the inside of J buoy on sinking lines. They netted nearly 30 fish between them on a variety of patterns such as tubes and snakes. Rod Wilson managed 16 to the boat, which included a 4 lb rainbow. Martin Price and Dave Hancox used sinking lines with buzzers and blobs to catch 25 fish from a boat at various points around the reservoir. The father and son pairing of Nigel and David Tranter caught over 50 fish between them from a drifting boat using a floating line and buzzers to start with, before switching over to sinking lines and blobs later in the day.
On Sunday there was a bit of a change in the weather with a cold north easterly blowing on the water. This didn’t deter the anglers one bit, who just threw on an extra couple of layers before venturing out. Draycote regular George Leaton caught 9 fish from the boat up in rainbow corner. The England Ladies team who were out for a practice day faired pretty well with a rod average of 4 between them, the best of which was Chris Bobby with 10 fish to the boat. Season permit holders Chris Aubrey and Ian Reeve ventured out, netting 20 fish between them on black and green lures in some difficult conditions.
Fishery Tackle Shop & Online Shop
Draycote has a tackle shop at the fishery stocking SAGE, RIO, VISION, REDINGTON, WYCHWOOD, GREYS, SNOWBEE, FULLING MILL, FARIO, LOON, FISHPOND and STREAMWORKS products with demo SAGE, Vision & Redington rods & RIO fly lines for you to take out and try.
We also have an online shop. For all you anglers who might not be aware www.flyfishstore.co.uk is the online store for Draycote and the whole of Fishery Management (UK) Ltd. During the 2019 season we will be looking at doing weekly specials offers on the website. This week, with such a fine start to the spring buzzer feeding, we have a limited availability offer of 10% discount on Rio Fluoroflex & Fluoroflex Plus leader material and tippets, together with free p&p. Visit the shop at https://www.flyfishstore.co.uk/offers/
RIO & Sage Day
On Sunday 14th April Draycote is hosting its popular RIO & Sage with Jim Fearn (Sage) and Simon Gawesworth (RIO) in attendance. They will be able to talk you through the latest kit and be on hand to provide casting sessions. The guiding & tuition team will be running the 1 ½ hour guided sessions, taking you out on the water to test the kit. Helping the tuition team will be Brown Bowl winner and RIO & Sage sponsored angler David Hoppe. Only a couple of boat sessions remain which can be booked by calling the lodge on 01788 812018.
Weekly Boat draw
Congratulations to Mr Melvin Severn from Derbyshire, the winner of this week’s free boat draw.
Weekly Stats:
Number Rods:290 Number Trout Taken: 198 Number Trout Released: 1136
Total Catch: 1334 Rod Average: 4.6
Current Fishing Times:
Bank: 07:30 until 19:30
Boat All Day: 08:30 until 19:30
Boat Part Day: AM 08:30 until 14:00 PM 14:00 until 19:30
Last 4 Hours from: 15:30 until 19:30 (Ticket sales available from 15.15)
Gutting Room Closes – 19:00
All Anglers to be off site by: 20.00
Tight lines,
The Draycote Team
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