Draycote Report W/E 6th June 2021

Weekly Fishing Report: Draycote, Eyebrook & Thornton

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Draycote Fishery Weekly Report – 01788 812018

**New Email Address**: draycote@flyfishstore.co.uk

Week Ending Sunday 6^th June 2021   Rod Av: 3.7  Water Temperature: 18°C

A warm start to the week, with the temperatures hitting over 20 degrees on the bank holiday Monday. These bright conditions made the fishing a little more challenging that it has been in previous days. However the rods still caught to produce a rod average of 3.4. Luke Orton fished the bank in the sunny conditions to land 9 fish all on nymphs. Phil Mee and Horace Wood fished buzzers and nymphs landing 10 fish between them at the Hensborough Bank. The Scottish party of John Watts group caught well drifting from the Farborough Dam well through past the sailing club catching on Diawl Bachs fished on a floating line with their best boat landing 17 fish to the boat. We also held the first of our evening boat league matches with only a couple in attendance due to the bank holiday Monday. It was Mark JJ that took top honours and won himself a free boat voucher. If you would like to fish the next round of the League give the lodge a call its on Monday 14^th June.

Another bright warm day Tuesday, however the water temperature remains a very friendly 14 degrees meaning the fish could still be caught using buzzers and nymphs. Season ticket holder Tony Broadway fished on the bank landing 11 fish on washing lined Diawl Bachs in size 14 and landed a cracking Rainbow of 4lb 9oz. On the boats Peter Elliot & Lee Patten caught 40 to the boat fishing the Hensborough Bank and Rainbow Corner with Peter opting for nymphs while Lee caught 10 of his pulling on a Di 3 sinking line. Lee Nolan & Glen Thompson landed 25 fish to the boat using lures on sunk lines. Johnathan Wood & Dave Reynolds fished nymphs with a Sunburst FAB on the point to land 21 fish to the boat on a RIO Midge Tip long fished at the School Slips. Draycote Manager Tom Bird was once again out guiding for 4 hours with client John Lewis. In the short 4 hour season John landed 8 fish all on buzzers, and lots countless out with John commenting “its one of his best days ever” for any kind of guiding & tuition enquiry please give Tom a call on 01788 812018

The sun remained Wednesday, but thankfully the breeze kept the anglers cooler on the water. Fresh from his guided day with Lee Henfrey last week Matt Crisp took to the boat with regular boat partner Paul Newman putting his nearly learned skills to great effect landing 26 fish to the boat using a washing line with buzzers, crunchers and Diawl Bachs fished on a Midge Tip line. Season ticket holder Paul Havard landed 9 fish from near the Outlet using a washing line with Crunchers. Paul Cramp enjoyed a good day using a washing line on a Midge Tip fishing along the Tower Bank drifting towards the Dam Wall. Paul used nymphs with a FAB on the point and found that most of his fish fell to the FAB on the point on the hang landing 19 for the day. Both Tom Bird & Lee Henfrey took to the water guiding with both clients catching well using buzzers and Nymphs Tom using straight lining tactics from a floating line while Lee had his client on a Washing Line. For bookings for tuition and guiding give Tom a call on 01788 812018.

Some much welcome cloud for the main part of the day Thursday which broke and about 2pm leaving a sunny afternoon. Out on the bank season ticket holder Brian Allwood landed 4 fishing including 2 fish over 4lb. Fellow season ticket holder Mike Garner landed 3 fish on Nemo Crunchers down the Cornfield. On the boats we hosted Fly Fishing Large Reservoir club outing with 20 anglers taking to the water, landing 72 fish for a rod average of 3.6 fish per angler. Winning the day was Bob Shaw with 10 fish, second was Steve Jones with 9 and Third Scott Graham who took all his fish on dries. We can also announce that its now the start of the pin fry season with the club commenting on the numbers of fish taking the new hatched fry. Outside of the club match all water member Alec Urquhart fished with Johnathan Wood with the pair boating 22 fish to the boat. Using a washing line on a RIO 3ft Midge Tip with a mix of FABS on cruncher boobies on the point and Jungle Cock Diawl Bachs on the droppers. The pair commenting that a key aspect to the fishing was the hang with the fish taking a lot on the hang.

Bright and sunny conditions and at times a flat calm made for some difficult fishing here at Draycote water on Friday, with some anglers fairing better than others. The bank seemed to fish reasonably well for those who started early, as did the boats, with things slowing down a bit as we moved through the middle of the day. Season permit holder Bob Barfoot caught 4 fish using the crippled midge and then buzzers on a washing line. Russell Swinbourne had his 8 fish to the boat on daddies and buzzers in Rainbow Corner. Mr M Webster and Mr R Wheeler had a dozen between them on buzzers and diawl bachs on a floating line. Season permit holder Paul Walley had a brace from the bank in Rainbow Corner and reported a mayfly hatch coming off, something not seen here at Draycote for a while.

Draycote water was becalmed and bathed in bright sunshine for most of Saturday, with only the slightest of breezes blowing through in the afternoon. With the advent of pin fry, the trout are concentrating hard on these and therefore can prove very frustrating. The best of the rods yesterday ignored the surface feeders and used midge tips lines with long leaders and teams of buzzers and diawl bachs to catch fish sitting deeper in the water. Mr Dave Philpott took advantage of the last four hour permit to catch 4 fish on buzzers from the bank. Mr Steve Ottridge caught 16 fish through the middle of the day from a boat and lost a huge fish after a brief fight which he never even saw. Messr’s Adams, Maxwell and Cockburn all  caught well into double figures from a boat using buzzers fished deep.

Another day of very light to no winds at Draycote, however, we did at times get some very welcome cloud. On the boats James Maplethorpe & Trevor Moore landed 25 fish to the boat using crunchers and Diawl Bach’s fishing in from of the Saddle bank. Paul Mitchell fished with Tim Burn using the Bung with buzzers to land 26 fish to the boat. If you are unsure on how to set up the bung with Buzzers, Fishery Manager Tom Bird has done a video on our YouTube channel explaining this deadly method https://youtu.be/-V2aT7ZAVOI Draycote season ticket holder Dave Hancox landed 13 fish from the Aerators using olive snakes on a Di 5 sinking line. Michael Hanlon landed 12 fish using a mix of methods of a midge tip line and buzzers at the Inlet to Snakes on the Aerators.

Eyebrook Fishery Weekly Report – 01536 770264

**New Email Address**: eyebrook@flyfishstore.co.uk

Week ending 6^th Jun                       Weekly Rod Average: 4.7               Water Temp: 20C

After a cold and changeable week last week, the weather has decided that it want’s to get warm very quickly. 18C on Monday and bright sunshine should have seen the fish moving in to deeper water. however, our anglers were still finding fish in relatively shallow water and still taking small dries such as hares ear shuttlecocks and yellow owls down to size 16. Tom Cooper and his brother decided to take their dad out for a float tubing experience for his birthday on the Monday. Taking out 2 float tubes and having a single man in a boat gave them the opportunity to congregate out on the water to take on food and drink without having to carry too much in the float tubes. The weather was really kind to them, and a gentle breeze made life a bit easier for a first-time paddle in the tubes. Obviously, the guys had a great day out bringing nearly 50 fish to the net between them. The evening rises are becoming a bit more popular with the last 4 hours from 6 o’clock to 10 o’clock providing some fantastic top of the water sport.

Wednesday saw Eyebrook host 2 groups for the day, the fishing for fun group who have joined us for 3 days on the water and the EDFF (English Disabled Fly fishers) with a group of 9 boats and 2 wheelie boats. This was the EDFF’s first organised event since 2019. Despite the conditions being far from favourable, very gentle winds, really hot and sunny, all of the club members managed to get fish to the boat with a total of 154 fish caught between 21 anglers giving a Rod Average of 7.3 for the club. Ian Bradfield was awarded the Frank Roberts Trophy for the largest fish.  All anglers came off the water happy and were welcomed in to a buffet that was lovingly prepared by Pauline and the girls. The event was capped off when Stuart Hume won a free boat voucher from Fishery Management in a raffle. While all this had been going on, Fishery Management Guide Andy Miller was out on the water Guiding Michael Daymond on an 8 hour session. Andy successfully guided Michael throughout the day to bring more than double figures of fish to the boat using blobs and buzzers or the bung with buzzers. Adam Compton took his son Archie out for his first fishing trip on a boat and had a fantastic day out on the water Archie had his first fish on the fly and was all smiles for the rest of the day. Well done, Archie. The youngsters are the future of this sport.

We have started to see the start of the pin fry around the main pontoon as well as clouds of daphnia. So, there is even more food sources to try and replicate and snare some trout.

Thursday and Friday have seen a gradual slowing down of the numbers on the returns due to the rapid increase in temperature and bright windless days. A lot of the fish seem to be coming early in the morning or late in the afternoon when the temperatures are cooler. Anglers are reporting that they are seeing a lot of fish moving throughout the lake but finding it tricky to tempt them at times. Some of the fish seem to have defied conventional thinking and stayed in the upper layers and relatively close to the bank even in these conditions. Those that are adjusting their set up and changing flies and presentation can be rewarded with some great sport. Some anglers that have taken fish for the pan have spooned their catch and found some that are stuffed with Damsel nymphs, others stuffed with buzzers and then others that have a bit of everything and anything. At times like this, keeping a close eye on what is coming off the water can give you a great indicator of what flies to try. Size, profile and colour of the fly can sometimes be the difference between a take or nothing happening. For sub surface feeding fish, try fishing a couple of Muskins and a Stealth Bejeezus on the point, either on a midge tip or floating line.

The bright sunny conditions continued throughout the weekend. Even with the bright conditions, anglers were still tempting the occasional fish on dry flies in the surface. But these conditions seen a few anglers dip in to the sinking lines and pulling teams of lures with nymphs through the depths with varying success in certain parts of the reservoir. Anglers have reported a good number of fish along the dam towards Harrison’s corner. The usual haunts are still producing fish, but they are proving a little bit tougher to hook than they were in past weeks. The evening rises are tempting the fish to show all the way along the Leicestershire bank with the trout seeming to be preoccupied with the damsel flies and small sedges, often seen crashing out of the water after the Damsels. Small CDC Shuttlecocks have worked well as the fish are probably looking at them as emerging Sedge. Sunday saw All water season ticket holder Neil Shilton land an impressive 10lbs 4oz brown trout on his float tube. Just rewards for the hours and the miles that Neil put in on Eyebrook. G Owen and M McLintic broke away from what everyone else was doing and fished buzzers out over the deeper water in the main basin to bring around 30 fish to the boat and were by far the most successful boat on the water that day.

Over the past week a few anglers have reported some damage to fish that has been more than likely caused during Catch & Release. If practicing Catch & Release, we would like to urge people to either fish barbless or pinch down the barb on the hook to prevent damage to the fish and make life easier for the Angler to unhook the fish.

Looking forward at the weather reports, it looks like the weather conditions will pretty much be staying the same with warm temperatures. Please ensure you bring plenty of cool drinks, a good hat, sun glasses and some sun block. Be prepared and keep safe out on the water.

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Accommodation: Where to stay

Thornton Fishery Weekly Report – 01530 230807

**New Email Address**: thornton@flyfishstore.co.uk

Week Ending 6^th June   Rod Av: 1.8    Water Temp: 19c+

The sudden change from the cooler daytime temperatures during May to the warm temperatures were suddenly enjoying has had an impact on our sport. Our water temperature has started to creep upwards.

Tough day on Monday & Tuesday Bob Menhams was top rod on Monday with 3 trout caught on a red headed diawl with P Cox & David Button top rods on Tuesday with 4 fish each, Pete caught his on a dawson olive with David catching his on an olive booby

Better days fishing on Wednesday with anglers fishing static buzzers or booby patterns Robert Moreton & D Slesser caught 4 each for their mornings session, P Hunt & J Thomson fished buzzers to boat their 6 fish during their mornings visit with All Water member P Walker catching 11 for his days visit on diawls & buzzers

Thursday our water temperature was creeping upwards and with it the cooler morning session fished best. The deeper water across the stones, dam and main basin is were most anglers fished with intermediate down to fast sinking lines used. Keith Cowen enjoyed a successful morning catching 6 trout including a 6lb6oz overwintered rainbow photo on our facebook page www.facebook.com/FlyFishStore  Keith caught his fish drifting the main basin with a fast sinking line with booby & damsel patterns. Tut & Bet Miles fished buzzers deep off the stones to catch their 5 trout, Christine & Andy Warren caught 8 for their mornings visit with Mr Brocklhurst fishing a diawl bach deep to catch his 6 trout

Friday and another warm day, hint of algae greeted the anglers with the surface water temperature at 7.30am 19c. Very few fish moving on the surface with successful anglers fishing sinkers, Chris Sayer & Ian Leach both recorded 6 trout for their visit with D Slesser recording 4

Saturday another warm day with anglers again concentrating their efforts over the deeper water.  Jan Webber fished a booby basher with booby and minkie booby patterns to take his 6 trout. Brian & Alison fished sinking lines to catch their 10 trout for their mornings visit with M Clay opting to fish a fab and buzzers to catch his 5 trout

Sunday and another warm day anglers followed our advice and fished the cooler morning session with Mark & Anthony Stone catching 7 for their mornings visit fishing fast sinkers olive boobies and cats whiskers. Other methods that worked during the morning were floating lines and long leaders with weighted damsel and epoxy buzzers fished static or slow.

How quick the weather has changed from cool easterly winds perfect cool water temperatures to clear sky lots of sun driving the water temperature upwards. We measure the water temperature in the top 18inch off the pontoon. This week at 7.30am we were recording water temperature of 19c climbing to 20c+ by 3pm.

Those temperatures will see Thornton fish best during the morning session with little chance of an evening rise. It’s time to unpack those sinking lines for the next few weeks unless we get a significant change to the weather