Draycote Water fishing report week ending Sunday 27th October 2019
Tel: 01788 812018
As has been the case lately here at Draycote, the sport has been fantastic with some great numbers of fish being caught. The quality of the fish coming out at the back end of this season is amazing, with lots of 4lb bars of silver along with some fabulous browns. Overall a busy week for us here which just shows the quality of the fishing at this time of year. A total of 287 anglers visited the fishery, landing 1001 fish, giving us a weekly rod average of 3.4.
As was the case last week the method for the boats this week has been fry patterns. With the standout fly being olive snakes, as they are a great imitation of the Perch that the Trout are currently gorging themselves on. This fly has been working on a wide range of lines for the boats from floaters down to fast sinkers, although the standout line has been a DI 3. The fish are still sitting quite high in the water due to not having any real cold snaps that might have caused them to drop. For the bank anglers there has been 2 main methods that have been tempting fish to the net. The most prolific has been using hares ears or shrimp patterns fished close to the margins on a floating line (Check out tuition mangers Tom Bird’s blog www.flyfishtuition.co.uk/latest-report/ on how best to fish shrimps). The other tactic working well for the bank anglers has being minkies and other fry patterns on either a floater or an intermediate.
The week kicked off with a North wind with overcast conditions for most of the day, near perfect conditions. On the bank Norman Perkins landed 6 fish on the bank from Lincroft Point. Another angler fishing along Lincroft point was Kevin Rees who netting 9 fish on washing lined shrimps. Also using Minkie boobies but this time on the point of a washing line was season ticket holder Bob Smith. Who landed 5 fish from the corner of the Hensborough Bank and the Tower bank. On the boats David Davies and Ian Bradfield using snakes and minkies fished on Di 3 sinking lines landed 21 fish. Mr Francis & Mr Moore using floating fry in Biggin Bay landed 14 fish. Drifting along the Draycote Dam, Gary Johnson & Colin McGlone used snakes and humongous on a Di 3 to boat 18 fish including some fantastic fish up to 4lb.
Tuesday saw the wind turn around to a South West on Tuesday with the sun breaking through giving more challenging conditions. Season ticket holder Brian Warwick landed 5 fish on the bank from the overflow on washing lined nymphs. Out on the boats Jim Smith & Ed Douglas enjoyed a cricket score day with over 40 fish to the boat. The pair found that naturel minkies and olive snakes where the key to their success. The pair found fish off the Hensborough bank, Farnborough Spit and also in Toft. Colin & Gary on their second day of a 3 day break found the fish weren’t as keen to pull along the Draycote Dam but did manage 13 once again on snakes drifting off the Hensborough Bank.
The wind remained in the South for Wednesday with a bit of East. From the bank Ian Richardson landed 7 fish on a washing line, shrimps and a minkie booby from the overflow including some fantastic silver fish. Out on the boat’s fishery staff Lee Henfrey & Kevin Hart enjoyed fantastic sport, landing over 35 fish to the boat. With 20 of these fish going over 4lb with a number over 5. They both used Di 3 forty plus lines with snakes in the morning before finding tubes the way to go in the afternoon. The hotspot for Lee & Kev was drifting off the school slips towards Musborough shoal, although they did find fish in almost every place they stopped. While Kevin and Lee caught some amazing fish the best fish off the day went too all water season ticket holder Steve Jordan. A fantastic brown of 7lb 10oz caught on a natural snake on a Di 3, around D Buoy near Dunn’s Bay for pictures of this great fish please visit www.facebook.com/flyfishstore
A much wetter day Thursday with heavy rain from around lunch time, although, this didn’t put the fish off the feed. Season ticket holder Richard Walker landed 5 fish, all on hares’ ears fished on a floating line from Lincroft point. John Jones landed 11 fish from the Farborough spit down to Toft all on Humungus boobies. John also took advantage of our RIO demo lines to try the new RIO Fathom Deep 3 line and it worked to great effect. If you would like to try any of our demo lines on your next visit just ask a member of staff at the time of booking. All water season ticket holder Steve Orton enjoyed his best day fishing halfway along the Farborough Dam. Steve used an intermediate with a natural minkie and an olive snake to land 15 fish up to 4lb 9oz. Another angler using snakes to great effect was Ian McKenzie who boated 14 fish.
A day of two halves on Friday with good conditions in the morning all be it a bit damp, but, by lunch more rain and strong gusty winds made presentation challenging. Making the most of the good mornings conditions Andy Ross & Dave Adams landed 14 fish. The pair used an olive snake and a Di 3 and never changed all morning to tempt the fish. The pair didn’t even have to travel far to land their fish and just took drifts off the Farborough Dam wall towards J Buoy. Beginner season ticket holder Debbie Gilbert also enjoyed a mornings boat fishing, landing 4 fish once again on that Olive snake with all her fish being over 3lb.
The forecast for Saturday looked like the boats would be unable to go out. However, when the forecast was checked first thing in the morning, things had calmed down and anglers were able to venture out albeit in somewhat damp conditions which did not improve as the day went on. Mr Dean and Neil Shilton caught 8 fish from the boat on floating lines with Floating Fry patterns. Orhan Aliosman caught 5 fish from the bank using Fry Patterns to good effect by the Valve Tower and in Rainbow Corner.
Sunday started off a bit foggy but cleared up about ten o’clock to leave us bathed in bright sunshine with a light breeze.. The rod average for the day was 4.4 with both boat and bank anglers getting their fair share of some great sport. Ruth and Tony Kirk had 4 fish from the bank on Shrimp and Perch Patterns. Draycote regular Stan Hillman had 6 fish from the Tower Bank on sinking lines and fry patterns. Mick Cronin caught 5 fish from the bank, 2 of which weighed over 4 lbs. Andy Lane ventured out in a boat to net 8 fish on Minky Boobies. Mr P Sanders netted 9 fish from a boat on the Hensborough Bank using a DI7 and Snakes.
Competitions
This year’s Fur and Feather match will take place on Sunday 24th November 2019. The competition will be fished to reservoir rules and is a boat pairs match with a limit of 12 fish to the boat. The competition will be fished from 9am until 4pm with prizes for first second, third and biggest fish. Call the lodge on 01788 812018 to reserve your boat.
Fishery Tackle Shop & Online Shop at www.flyfishstore.co.uk
Stocking SAGE, RIO, VISION, REDINGTON, WYCHWOOD, GREYS, SNOWBEE, FULLING MILL, FARIO, LOON, FISHPOND and STREAMWORKS
Demo SAGE, Vision & Redington rods & RIO fly lines for you to take out and try. Call the Draycote lodge for details
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.
Weekly Boat draw
Congratulations to Mr Dean Leask from Reading, the winner of this week’s free boat draw.
Weekly Stats:
Number Rods: 287 Number Trout Taken: 227 Number Trout Released: 774
Total Catch: 1001 Rod Average: 3.4
Current Fishing Times:
Bank: 07:30 until 17:00
Boat All Day: 08:30 until 17:00
Boat Part Day: AM 08:30 until 13:00
Last 4 Hours from: 13:00 until 17:00 (Ticket sales available from 12:45)
Gutting Room Closes: 16:30
All Anglers to be off site by: 17:30
Tight lines,
Follow Us on
facebookwww.facebook.com/FlyFishStore
twitter www.twitter.com/FlyFishStore