Draycote Water fishing report week ending Sunday 25th August 2019
Tel: 01788 812018
It’s been a bit of a mixed bag this week as far as the weather is concerned. The mainly west/south westerly winds have brought through a mixture of bright sunshine and showers, which changed to very warm, sunny and muggy conditions later in the period. We were then almost becalmed at times over the weekend whilst experiencing record breaking Bank Holiday temperatures. But the reservoir generally fished well overall, with practically every method producing right up until the weekend, when the heat alone made fishing very difficult. This week 272 anglers caught 753 fish, giving us a weekly rod average of 2.76
Most anglers like to stick to their preferred methods and the nature of Draycote is such that it is so often feasible to find success with extremely diverse tactics, even in the heat of the summer months. Kevin Rees loves his dries and stuck to them on two trips to the venue this week. His skilled & patient quiet approach, invariably with his own Bob’s Bits patterns, paid dividends with 11 landed on Monday and a further half dozen in much hotter conditions on Friday. Similarly, Ed Douglas boat fished twice this week. Like Kevin, he is something of a dry fly aficionado & also likes to seek out roving fish over open water, most often drifting along the edges of any wind lanes. He will, however, not hesitate to go slightly subsurface with a washing line nymph setup should fish refuse to rise. His philosophy paid off with a 14 fish total on Tuesday (8 coming to the dries) and 19 on Wednesday (9 to the dries). John Dickens loves the quiet approach with the dries too and he also managed 10 to the net from open water on Wednesday using his own “go to” choice of Bob’s Bits. Conversely there are those who like to pull lures presented through the depths and covering large areas of water on the drift. Whist accomplished in all styles; Eugene Hughes is one such angler who regularly travels up from London to go afloat. He fished during the week & explored water from B,X & Y Buoys. Eugene located fish relatively high in the water column and was able to tempt over 20 hard fighting rainbows to the net. His choices on the day were snakes & lures in varying colours presented on a Di3 Sweep, Di3 or Fast Glass Intermediate. Although many anglers found themselves scratching their heads for answers this week, with fair numbers of dry nets, Ged O’Donogue took advice from Tom and fished a daddy & cruncher combination. He enjoyed what he later described as a “superb day” with a fine fish for the pot & a further 8 caught & released. Bryan Brown always prefers the imitative approach but often likes the attraction of a FAB or mini bobby in his team to draw fish in. He enjoyed a fine session with a total of 12 rainbows to the net and is convinced that the sunburst attractor pulled fish in towards his team which then turned on to his jungle cock cheeked diawl bachs. He also firmly believes that hanging his nymphs at the end of the retrieve enhances his catch rate. Bryan presented his team on a 9ft Ghost Tip throughout his session and found most of his fish around X Buoy. This time of year is traditionally challenging for the bank angler as heightened water temperatures, particularly in the margins, push food & subsequently fish, out into deeper, cooler water offshore. However, season rod Mike Garner has been a stalwart on the shoreline with consistent results throughout the season. He usually adopts the imitative approach with crunchers & diawl bachs as his generic nymph patterns when the buzzer are not in evidence. Ironically it was the dry fly that accounted for the four early morning fish Mike netted in Rainbow Corner at the beginning of the week in a brief, but frenetic, session. Come Friday & he was back on the banks but this time, in bright sunshine & hot conditions, his favoured nymphs were those incorporating red holographic in the dressings. I saw him in full concentration quietly wading the Lin Croft shoreline during the afternoon & was pleased to later hear that he had ended with a seven fish total. Whilst the heat & higher water temperatures of summer have set back aquatic insect activity somewhat, it has been interesting of late to watch the intense feeding of numerous egrets along the banks – especially the rocky shorelines. A quick investigation reveals, not unsurprisingly, the presence of shrimp which will no doubt soon be significant food items on the trout’s menu as they were later in the season last year. Bespoke patterns work as do scruffy, teased out Hare’s Ear Nymphs fished as a team. They can also be teamed up with small floating fry patterns to good effect and numerous reports of fry feeding activity to small fry have also been heard during the week.
Whilst the weather conditions were against them, we were pleased to see the Fly Dressers’ Guild on the water at the weekend for their annual trophy event. Conditions were tough and it proved to be the hottest August Bank Holiday weekend on record, but they were not to be put off. A total of 36 anglers took part with a total of 76 caught & taken and a further 8 caught & released. The team event was won by the New Haylie F F who took 16 fish for 30lbs 3oz to take the John Watts Trophy. The Falkirk Trophy for second place went to the Surrey Snakes with a 13 fish total for 25lbs 14oz with Thames Valley Invictas in third. Julie Wicks took The Wessex Shield for the biggest fish at 3lbs 7oz with best bag at 15lbs 9oz caught by Graham Steele, for which he was awarded The Hertfordshire Shield. As always, our congratulations to all those winners.
A forecast weather change looks like we will be experiencing some more favourable angling conditions during the coming week. With cooling winds & some showery days to come, our water temperatures should start to decrease significantly as we approach that productive late summer/early autumn period when we start thinking about “Daddies & Fry”…
Disabled Anglers
Draycote has a wheelie boat for hire, which includes a ramp and hydraulic lift for wheelchair access. To book the wheelie boat, call the lodge on 01788 812018.
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. The Fishery Management (UK) ltd guides top flies for all venues for the washing line and sinking lines can be found on the online shop https://www.flyfishstore.co.uk/offers/”
COMPETITIONS During September.
Association of Major Fishing Clubs. Saturday 21st September 2019.
Weather Forecast:
We’re often asked which weather forecast we use. In our experience regional forecasts can be quite inaccurate. We tend to use more localised weather apps such as XC Weather or Windguru. These can be downloaded to your phone or computer, and using our post code of CV23 8AB, will give you a dedicated, more accurate forecast for Draycote water.
Weekly Boat draw
Congratulations to Mr Lant from Sileby, the winner of this week’s free boat draw.
Weekly Stats:
Number Rods: 272 Number Trout Taken: 212 Number Trout Released: 541
Total Catch: 753 Rod Average: 2.76
Current Fishing Times:
Bank: 07:30 until 20:15
Boat All Day: 08:30 until 20:15
Boat Part Day: AM 08:30 until 14:30 PM 14:30 until 20:15
Last 4 Hours from: 16:15 until 20:15 (Ticket sales available from 16:00)
Gutting Room Closes: 19:45
All Anglers to be off site by: 20:45
Tight lines,
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