Draycote Water fishing report week ending Sunday 22nd September 2019
Tel: 01788 812018
Yet another busy week at Draycote with fish still coming to dries, hoppers & daddy patterns. However catch returns were down on the previous week mainly due to clear skies & bright sunshine from mid-day Tuesday right through to Saturday. Anglers also faced a near mirror calm on Thursday when the southerly “wind” did not “blow” above 1mph all day. In total 367 anglers fished & recorded a combined catch return of 1226 trout representing a rod average for the period of 3.34
A good start on Monday which saw anglers enjoying a gentle ripple and good cloud cover. Brothers Terry & John Evans took advantage and netted 11 & 17 respectively to dries & hoppers from open water drifts. They are a regular pairing on Mondays who prefer imitative methods & their own tied nymphs & dries are a real credit. Gary Wharton drifted both G & D buoy and landed 9 which also came to dries. A group of Thornton Fly Fishers were also on the fishing a small club event which was won by Richard Dayman who netted 8 rainbows on Big Reds. Season ticket holders Tony Broadway & Alan Grant were both on the bank on Tuesday morning and landed 4 apiece to nymphs. Eric Glaister & John Gibson netted their 6 fish limit each in the boats with Keith Coley & Bob Taft just behind them with an 11 fish tally to lures fished of the main Draycote Water dam. Hector Pearson took 4 rainbows on dry daddies & experienced great fun on his four weight outfit. Bob Smith & Ian Richardson bank fished together and encountered fry feeding rainbows on Lin Croft. Bob tackled them on standard minkies to land 5 with Ian choosing the booby version to net 4. Notwithstanding the wall to wall sunshine of Wednesday, Ellis Phillips & Viv Davies excelled catching & releasing 10 each from the boat although their successful flies & methods were not recorded in the returns. Neil Cohen also boat fished & did very well to take a six fish limit with a further 6 C&R as did Mick Newton. Many anglers on the water this week were practising for the AMFC competition at the weekend which often leads to scant information as to tactics being released. John Batter fished with Harley Smith on Thursday though & did well in the bright, calm conditions taking 4 each from both X buoy & Toft on orange hoppers & yellow owls. It was nice to welcome the English Fly Fishing Association back for their annual Autumn Members Day with 26 anglers fishing. Their top three rods all caught their four fish limit with a further 3 C&R. As such, only ounces separated them with Richard Nicholl taking the top step, Ray Storer followed in second with Peter De Kremer taking third. More sunshine for Friday anglers however a brisk 14mph ESE wind with some strong gusting saw the back off the previous days’ flat calms. More practise anglers were afloat ahead of the AMFC match with Graham Pearson & Mike Gunnell taking a dozen good fish on dries over dep water. Eileen Chatwin & Gwyneth Moody recorded a combined tally of 11 whilst Sean & John Hanlon released 8 each whilst searching the venue ahead of match day. Tony Broadway was back for more bank action recording a 4 rainbows caught & released together with 3lbs of blackberries taken!
The Association of Major Flyfishing Clubs Group 1 & 3 had the whole water for their event on Saturday which saw a continuation of the bright sunny conditions but mainly on a gusty 14mph SE wind. The Group 1 teams totalled 162 trout caught for a creditable rod average of 4.5 Soldier Palmers “A” took first place followed by Rutland Water FF with Soldier Palmers Wayne Jones & Sean Hanlon taking first & second individual & Rutland’s Graham Pearson in third. The Group 3 event was won by Bewl Bridge FC “A” followed by the Royal Navy & Soldier Palmers “B”. Ray French took top individual spot with Tim Williams netting the best fish at 3lbs 8oz. Our congratulations to all. The weekend ended with some good Sunday sport. Gareth Jones fished the surface all over the venue for a 20 fish day on claret hoppers & shipmans. Llyr & Gerwyn Evans got off to a great start to their holiday break taking 11 & 10 respectively, again to surface tactics. Ahead of the forthcoming Troutmasters final in October, Kasidit Leoviriyakit was back for another recce. He bank fished Lin Croft & the Tower bank and netted 7 rainbows all together on a combination of daddies & shrimp patterns. Mike Ellison bank fished too & took a fine 4lbs rainbow on a snake. Ben Robertson also ended his week on midlands venues with a good 16 fish tally alternating tactics between dries & washing lined diawl bachs on long open water drifts.
The coming week sees some wet & windy weather forecast but a continuation of good autumnal sport is anticipated.
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.
With Daddies & dries featuring this week we continue to have our online Daddies offer https://www.flyfishstore.co.uk/offers/ with Tom Bird writing an article on how to fish the daddies with a further article on fishing dries in general on our tuition & guiding website www.flyfishtuition.co.uk/latest-report/
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.
COMPETITIONS:
TROUTMASTERS – Please also note that we are once more hosting the Troutmasters’ Final at Draycote which this year will be on Monday 7th October. This is a boat & bank event and the fishery will be closed for the day.
Weekly Boat draw
Congratulations to Aneta Hojnor from Hanwell, the winner of this week’s free boat draw.
Weekly Stats:
Number Rods: 367 Number Trout Taken: 486 Number Trout Released: 740
Total Catch: 1226 Rod Average: 3.34
Current Fishing Times:
Bank: 07:30 until 19:00
Boat All Day: 08:30 until 19:00
Boat Part Day: AM 08:30 until 14:00 PM 14:00 until 19:00
Last 4 Hours from: 15:00 until 19:00 (Ticket sales available from 14:45)
Gutting Room Closes: 18:30
All Anglers to be off site by: 19:15
Tight lines,
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