Draycote Water Fishing Report w/e Sunday 25th July 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 25th  July 2021     Rod Av: 5.2   Water Temperature: 23.5 °C

The week started the way the weekend ended, with temperatures hitting high 20’s to low 30’s as a result the water temperature started the day at 22.5°C. Phil Murphy & Craig Dootson landed 10 fish using fast sinkers and lures. Ian & Shaun Gaskell used Booby Bashers fished with sparklers around A,B & D Buoy to land 15 fish to the boat including a couple of nice perch. John Hurst & Richard Ellis also enjoyed a good day landing a dozen fish.

Once again the sun made a big appearance Tuesday, however all the anglers came equipped with fast sinking lines and the rod average finished at 6 fish per angler. All water season ticket holder Keith Coley fished with Bob Taft with the pair boating 21 fish. They fished with Di 7 sinking lines and bright lures back drifting through the Aerators down to B Buoy to land their fish. Another all water season ticket holder Chris Bobby fished with Mark Macleod landed 27 fish using Booby Basher sinking lines and a mix or cormorants and boobies. Fishery Guide Lee Henfrey fished with Martin Rowson landing 23 fish to the boat again using Booby Bashers with various sparklers with the majority of the fish coming from between B & A Buoy.

After the 2 previous hot days the water temperature Wednesday started at 24°C, however despite this the fish still could be found willing to take a fly deep in the water column. Ged O’Donoghue fished with fellow all water season ticket holder Steve Orton with the pair landing 20 fish to the boat. Ged took the lion share of the fish as Steve left earlier in the day. Ged, caught the majority of his fish in the Aerators using Diawl Bach’s and a small fry pattern on the point on sinking lines. Mark Braun fished around A & B buoy using a black booby on a Di 5 sinking line to land over 15 fish to the boat. Fishery Guide Andy Miller took reservoir beginner Phil Waters out for a beginner boat session, landing 8 fish and some cracking Perch. Phil loved the session and had action for the entire time as well as learning all the key skills to handle a boat safely on his own. For bookings for any tuition please give Tom a call on 01788 812018.

Another hot day with the water temperature still sitting at 24°C at 7am in the morning. Although once again the fish responded to flies’ fish deep. Mr B Clark & J Lee landed 12 fish using Di 5 and Di 7 sinking lines with minkies and cutthroat cat whiskers. There best area was around the Aerators. Season ticket holders Dave Kennell & Eddie Mitchell landed 15 fish to the boat using Booby Bashers and Di 7 sinking lines fishing around A & B Buoy.

Friday saw a number of boats practicing for the Angling Trust Loch Style Championship being held over the weekend. The water temperature had dropped by half a degree over night with it sitting at 23.5°C. However it was still the fast sinking lines that caught the majority of the angler’s fish with the main concentration of the fish coming from the deep water around A & B Buoy, with other teams practicing around D Buoy catching fish as well with sparklers and cormorants featuring well. Outside of the match Ged O’Donoghue landed 16 fish fishing over the Aerators with Diawl Bach’s on the droppers and a fry pattern on the point. Rod Wilson used the rudder to great effect using a Di 7 sinking line and gold and silver tube drifting from Y-B Buoy landing 25 fish to the boat. Kev Hart fished with John Hoskins landing 30 fish back drifting on Booby Bashers from P Buoy across to Y Buoy.

The weekend saw the fishery host the Angling Trust Loch Style Championships with 5 teams competing for a £1,800 prize pot. With £1,100 going to first and £700 to 2^nd place, the practice day showed the fish sitting deep and booby bashers and Di 7 sinking lines were the best method to catch them. The change in wind had knocked the fish off the feed and it was a difficult first session  with the wind making it hard to get the flies down to the fish.  However, as the anglers honed in on the methods during the day the catch rate went up, with the third session yielding the most fish. At the end of the first day The Renedages were leading with 31 fish, Fly Boys in second with 21 fish and Greenwell Persuaders in third with 18 fish. The fish came to flies fished deep on Booby Bashers and Di 8 sinking lines in the deep water around B Buoy. A slightly better day weather wise on Sunday saw A lot more fish being caught and the chance of positions changing in the competition. It was touch and go at times but in the end the Fly Boys landed 69 fish for 3021cms to take first place. The Renegades were runners up with 59 fish for 2589cms. Well done to all those who took part. Further details of the competition can be found on the Angling Trusts website.

Outside the match over the weekend Jim Dempsey & Ifor Jones landed 24 fish using the rudder with Gold & Silver Tubes fished on a Di 7. Richard Wood & J Humes landed 16 fish on minkie boobies fished out the back of the boat around the Aerators. Kevin Hart and his boat partner Dave Pacey netted a bakers dozen on Sunday.

Thornton Fishery Weekly Report – 01530 230807

**New Email Address**: thornton@flyfishstore.co.ukThornton Fishery Weekly Report – 01530 230807

Stocking Policy As we enter the period of the year with expected higher water temperatures we alter the average size of trout we stock our stocking policy for Thornton is explained on our website Stocking Policy | Fly Fish Thornton – Leicestershire Fly Fishery

Week Ending 25^th July.  Rod Av: 2.6   Water Temperature: 23c+

Monday with the forecast giving high temperatures for most of the week. Anglers took our advice and fished the morning session, hoping to catch cooler temperatures before they went up during the day. Surprisingly fish are still been caught in the top 5ft with Phil Cross fishing a midge tip with olive buzzers to catch 5 trout for his mornings visit. Richard Price fished and okey dokey to take his 3 trout.

Tuesday and another hot day, Pete Cox fished a gold headed Damsel to catch his 4 trout, John Lund fished an olive barred snake to catch his 2 trout with my grand daughter catching her first trout photo on our social media page www.facebook.com/FlyFishStore

Wednesday & the hot weather continues with few rods out on the water, John Thomson fished buzzers and was rewarded with 3 trout, excellent fishing in the conditions

Friday & our best day of the week with a rod average 5.1 Chris Sayer & Mick Cross fished a booby to boat 15 trout for their mornings visit, Greg Weatherdon caught 4 on a damsel, with P Hunt & J Bebington both catching 6 trout for their visit.

With the cooler forecast for the weekend & excellent fishing on the Friday expectations were high but in reality the fishing proved challenging with Mark Hunt catching 5 for his visit with all other rods registering 1 or 2 fish

Eyebrook Fishery Weekly Report – 01536 770264

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

Stocking Policy As we enter the period of the year with expected higher water temperatures at the Eyebrook we alter the average size of trout we stock. Our stocking policy for the Eyebrook is explained on our website Stocking Policy | Fly Fish Eyebrook – Leicestershire Trout Fishery

Week ending 25^th July 21               Rod Average:2.04                Water Temp: 21C+

Weather reports looked fantastic for the start of the week, if you were looking to top up your sun tan. But for us fly anglers, it made for grim reading, bright skies and very little wind. Undeterred, John Duncan headed out on to the water and spent a good part of the day fishing over the deep water and was rewarded with 8 fish to the boat. Fantastic angling in such harsh hot and still conditions.

Tuesday seen All water ticket holders Ian Jobe and Ged O’donoghue venture out on their float tubes. Ian quickly figured out that the fish were really deep, and he was getting plenty of action on a Di7 line with lures to get in to double figures of fish to the tube. Ged wasn’t getting the same sort of results but was really happy that he got to try out his new flippers. After a bit of a chin wag with Ian, Ged started to think about upgrading his float tube so that he would have a bit more elbow space for his retrieve. This could have been the contributing factor in the difference in results.

Wednesday seen Ian Jobe back for another day out on the water with his regular boat partner and Eyebrook Season ticket holder Clive Moore even though it was a couple of degrees lower than the previous 2 days, it certainly didn’t feel that way. The pair persisted out in the open water around the dam area and managed to bring 9 fish to the boat between them. Obviously, the fish were a bit more elusive than the day before but still willing to put in the occasional appearance. This just shows that not only does Eyebrook produce fantastic sport for the dry fly angler when the conditions are good for it, but it will still produce fantastic sport if you are willing to put on those heavy sinking lines and get down deep when the surface temperatures start to rocket, and clouds are a rare thing to see in the sky.

Thursday started off a bit cooler with a cool mist on the water. The temperatures were starting to drop slightly and were presenting some really good conditions for fishing. However, on this day the fish just didn’t seem to want to come out and play. As the day progressed, the temperatures started to rise, and the clouds disappeared once again. The boats that had ventured out were all in the right sort of areas, but everybody struggled to get a pull back on the line.

Friday seen a slight upturn in visiting anglers. This was probably due to the cooler conditions than we have previously been experiencing. All water ticket holders Adam Gunby and Steve Jordan kicked the day off by calling the lodge to report that they had brought a large Brownie to the boat. Andy Miller was morning boatman and rushed out to weigh the fish and get some pictures before safely returning the stunning 12lbs Brown back to the water. An outstanding result for Adam Gunby. Read all about it on our Facebook Page. www.facebook.com/FlyFishStore. The day still proved challenging for a lot of the anglers, but most managed a fish or 2 to the boat. Eyebrook Season ticket holder Bob Margery had a fantastic session by successfully landing 11 fish. Bob was fishing a Di7 with a Humungous. It may not be everybody’s idea of pleasure fishing but getting the flies down to the right depth on hot spells like this is the key to catching a few fish.

The weekend saw a change in the weather with Jim getting his jacket out of the car due to it being a little bit cooler than previous mornings. A bit more of a gentle breeze from the East should have seen the fish coming up in the water. However, the change in conditions didn’t seem to be to the liking of the fish, with the majority of the rods struggling to find fish willing to take their offerings. The exception though was Aurelijus Petraitis and his boat partner, Vythutas Vhitkey who fished lures on DI7’s to boat 17 fish between them. Sunday saw a similar day weather wise, with a moderate north-easterly wind and overcast conditions and again only one boat found the fish, Steve Lawrence and Dave Chadwick using fast sinking line and Humungus to boat 12 fish, drifting from Robbos cabin toward the Valve tower.  The other boats and the bank anglers found the conditions difficult and fish hard to come by.

With more moderate temperatures forecast for the coming week, together with some rain, it seems probable that these stabilised weather conditions and resultant cooler water temperatures will encourage the fish to feed and provide our anglers with some good top of the water sport with dries and nymphs.