Draycote Fishing Report w/e Sunday 23rd July 2017
Telephone 01788 812018
The warm temperatures continued through until the middle of the week making the fishing difficult for some. With overnight showers from Wednesday onwards, and water temperatures cooling, more and more anglers are having good sport in the top few feet of the water, mainly at the western end of the reservoir. There has been a lot more surface activity in areas such as the flat stones, B buoy, A buoy, rainbow corner and the aerators. Dries seem to be the main order of the day, with most anglers fishing them blind from a drifting boat, as opposed to casting to rising fish. Patterns such as fiery brown hoppers, crippled midge, big reds, CDC buzzers and of course bobs bits, are showing up on the catch return on a regular basis. The weekly rod average was 4.4 with a total of 824 fish caught by 185 rods.
On Monday Mr D Brookes had a good day on the bank catching 15 fish from the tower bank on shipman’s buzzers and crunchers. Mr P Hedges caught 3 fish from the same area. Kevin Rees caught 8 fish from a boat on dries. Mr R Ellis and Mr J Hurst had 11 fish to the boat on cormorants and small fry patterns.
On Tuesday Ed Douglas caught 21 fish from a drifting boat, 9 of which came to dries. Mr Ian Morris reported having “a very good day”, catching 17 fish from a boat, using damsels, Invicta’s and muddlers over the aerators.
Wednesday dawned with light showers and a stiff easterly breeze which was due to move round to the south by mid morning. Mr Tom Johnson and Mr Dave Bied took advantage of the early overcast conditions to net 24 fish from a boat on daddies and hoppers. The boat pairing of Mr R and Mr E Clark boated 12 fish between them. Mr Kevin Barnett caught 4 fish from a boat. The bank fishing proved very difficult with season permit holders Brian Froggit and Dennis Tidmarsh catching 1 and 2 fish respectively.
Over night rain helped the rod average shoot up to a very respectable 4.6 on Thursday with many boat anglers catching their quota and more. Ed Douglas caught 26 fish from a boat on buzzers and dries. John Dickens had 12 fish on dries. Ian and Richard Reeve caught 30 fish between them in various areas around the reservoir on snakes, buzzers and diawl bachs. Mr Ian Pugh and Mr Tony Whitcher caught 32 fish between them from a boat. Mr Paul Angel caught 15 fish from a boat in an afternoon session using static nymphs and dries. Paul fished around A and M buoy and over the aerators. Messrs Frazer Duffy (senior and junior) caught 12 fish between them during an evening session.
Friday started with heavy showers, putting about 6 inches of water in the boats. This eased off by about 9 o’clock but sporadic downpours continued throughout the day. Again bank fishing was slow, with only a few catching 1 or 2 fish. The boats again faired a bit better with Mr D Naylor and Mr S Houton netting 23 fish between them. Mr Robert Lindsay caught 6 fish from a boat using a tequila booby right in the surface. Mr Graham Homer caught 3 fish from a boat. Mr A Guest and Mr A Dowell caught 7 fish between them, again from a boat.
Saturday was again overcast with a slight southerly breeze and light showers in the afternoon. These ideal conditions gave us our highest rod average of the week at 7.6. Mr Jim Dempsey managed 24 fish to the boat. Season permit holder Mr Roger Kerrison caught 8 fish. Mr S Fowler and Mr G Darby caught 14 fish on black buzzers and red diawl bachs. Mr N Mead and Mr I Tearle netted 30 fish from a boat using fiery brown and red hoppers. They fished in areas such as the flat stones and the aerators. Draycote regular Jim Smith caught 20 fish from a drifting boat on dries. Mr T Finney caught 11 fish from a boat on nymphs, sparklers and FAB’s. Steve Peart and Ollie Jenkinson caught 17 and 13 fish respectively, with Steve taking his drifting off the back of the boils with dries. Mr Iain Barr and Mr Mark Rooney caught 30 fish between them from a drifting boat around b buoy to the tower. The pair found the fish willing to take dries in the morning with Midas being Iain’s best pattern and a small Hare Ears CDC for Mark. In the afternoon a switch to Iain’s latest Jelly FABs really produced good results. Iain commented that the key to success was to fish them completely static. Iain’s latest Jelly FABs are available in the lodge.
Sunday was overcast with a slight westerly breeze for the morning and conditions looked ideal. In the afternoon very changeable weather did make for spells where the fish switched off, but after 20 mins of settled weather and they came back onto the feed. Out on the boat for the morning was season ticket holder Dave Pacey and Paul Lloyd. The pair fished over the boils on an intermediate line with a small minkie to boat 23. Another pair out on the boats was that of Keith Harding and Mike Clarke who landed 27 fish to the boat. Keith fished dries all day with the Midas being his best pattern, while Mike did fish dries he also found success on the washing line using small crunchers and FAB combination. Martin Introna and Julie Emerson took to the water in a boat landing over 20 fish. The pair found fish along the aerator line and then through the middle. Julie commented that they fished mini lures in the morning. Then a switch to dries later in the day really produced the results as the fish would just follow the lures, whereas dries produced the positive takes. Jim Smith took to the water once again armed with his trusty 5 weight and dries. Jim landed 34 fish all on dries, with his best patterns being Big Red, Orange Hopper and CDC Yellow Owl. Jim found the fish around the aerators then out towards B Buoy. Another pair fishing dries to great success was the boat of Mr F Duffy & Mr F Duffy. They found the fish all around B buoy and the top dam wall with big reds and shipman’s being the best patterns. Mr Kasit Leoviritakit enjoyed his first ever trip to Draycote. Before he returns to the water in October for the Trout Master final. He landed 10 fish from around the aerators using hoppers, big reds and shipman’s.
Congratulations to Mr I Morris of Shipston on Stour, who is the winner of this week’s free boat draw.
Weekly Stats:
Number Rods: 185 Number Trout Taken: 121 Number Trout Released: 703 Total Catch: 724 Weekly Rod Average: 4.4.
Current Fishing Times:
Bank: 07:30 until 21:30
Boat All Day: 08:30 until 21:30
Boat Part Day: 08:30 until 15:00 – 15:00 until 21:30
Last 4 Hours from: 17:30 until 21:30 (Ticket sales available from 17:15)
Gutting Room Closes: 21:00
All Anglers to be off site by: 21.45
Fishery News
Reservoir Dry Fly Masterclass
On Thursday 24th August 2017 Draycote Ranger and fishery guide Tom Bird will give a presentation on reservoir dry fly tactics. The presentation will include tackle set up, fish spotting, fly selection and presentation. During the presentation Tom will reveal the secrets that have led to his remarkable success, both as a member of the England squad and the Five Nations Team. The presentation will take place in the Sailing club. Doors open at 18.30hrs. The presentation will start at 19.00 to 20.00hrs. Ticket are priced at £5.50 each. A bar and refreshments are available.
Call the Draycote lodge 01788 812018 to reserve your place. Find more information on www.facebook.com/FlyFishStore
Tuition Days- Beginners Courses
Saturday 14th October Hosted by Kevin Hart and Tom Bird. Currently five places available
Call the lodge on 01788 812018 to book or for further information
Trout Masters
Draycote has joined the Troutmasters Competition. Entry forms can be found next to the booking out sheets. You will need a member of staff to countersign your entry. Good luck!
Dates for your diary:-
Competition Contact
Angling World Holiday Heat 5th and 6th August – Visit website
TEFF Fundraiser. Dry Fly Championship 16th September – Ian Colclough – 01543 689117
Angling World Holiday Final – 23rd and 24th September
Troutmasters Final – 9th October. – See Fishery staff.
Boat manners & etiquette:
As is so often the way at this time of the year, many fish tend to gravitate towards the aerators as a comfort zone & naturally many anglers wish to get in amongst the action there. Please be aware that the area is a strictly no anchoring zone.
We also respectfully ask that all anglers demonstrate good boat manners & etiquette when fishing in close proximity to other vessels there & elsewhere in general. Incidents have been occurring where anglers have rudely reversed back up their drift into oncoming boats or have cut straight into the path of a drifting boat instead of taking their turn returning to the top of the drift. This is unsporting, spoils the action & enjoyment of others & understandably leads to frayed tempers. Should you find yourself at the receiving end of repeated displays of such poor boatmanship & bad etiquette, we ask that you phone the lodge in order that we can come out to rectify the situation ourselves as deemed appropriate.
Boat Cleanliness:
Our hard pressed team strive to maintain the boats to a high standard of cleanliness. Anglers are kindly requested to respect their endeavours by keeping their vessels shipshape & litter free. Particular attention should be paid to avoiding the unnecessary practise of pulling muddy anchors on board. These should be shaken clean before being lifted into the boat. Your assistance in this regard will be most appreciated.
Guiding & Tuition:
Why not take your own fishing further with a day out on the water with England Internationals and fishery staff Lee Henfrey or Tom Bird? Whether you wish to get to know the water better or hone a particular skill, our guides can help to improve your catch rates. Visit the website www.flyfishguiding.co.uk for more information or book a slot by calling the lodge on 01788 812018.
Keep up to date with the latest catches and fishing posts from our in-house fishery ranger and guide Tom Bird, by following him on Facebook. Tom has been catching some great fish this season and posting pictures of the fish as well as a light write up on how he has been catching them.
Tight lines,
The Draycote Team
Follow Us on
facebookwww.facebook.com/FlyFishStore twitter www.twitter.com/FlyFishStore