Draycote Water Fishing report w/e Sunday 15th April 2018.
Telephone Number 01788 812018
Report
Yet another week of unsettled weather with some cold starts, showers and windy conditions. The temperatures warmed up towards the end of the week with many anglers reporting large buzzer hatches out on the water, particularly in biggin bay and around croft shoal. Whilst a lot of fish were caught on sinking lines with blobs and boobies a number of anglers had great success on buzzers and some even reported catching fish on dries.
This week saw 311 rods land 1137 fish to give us a weekly rod average of 3.6.
Monday started calm and overcast and looked like good fishing conditions. The rod average came out at 6.4 and proved to be a good day for the bank anglers. Alan Bettles landed 28 fish from the cornfield on a white and green lure. Ian Richardson caught 20 fish from the bank using damsels, diawl bachs and a FAB, and remarked on “A red letter day”. Mark Edwards caught 13 fish from the bank on damsels and buzzers. Draycote regular Orhan Aliosman went trout fishing, and caught 2 pike. Another regular Peter Biernaki caught 15 fish during an evening session in the cornfield, all on black buzzer.
On Tuesday both boat and bank anglers reported lots of fish moving in toft and along the north shore from Grays barn up to Biggin Bay. It turned out to be quite a challenging day all round with fish mainly falling to small black buzzers and damsels. Season permit holder John Dews caught 26 fish from the bank at various points along the north shore. Norman Perkins caught 12 fish from the bank on black buzzers. Kevin Rees had 16 fish from the bank, again on buzzers. The boat pairing of Lee Pattern and Peter Elliott had 13 fish between them.
A chilly north, north easterly wind greeted us on Wednesday morning with the more comfortable fishing to be found along the cornfield and in Biggin Bay. Great clouds of buzzer hatches could be seen along the Farnborough dam with anglers reporting literally thousands of buzzers on the surface of the water. The fishing however turned out to be difficult with quite a number of anglers jotting down a nil return. Those that did catch reported a difficult day with plenty of fish seen moving but few fish to the net. Season permit holder Colin Grainger caught 3 fish from the bank. Dennis Tidmarsh faired better netting 6 fish from the bank. Out on the boats the pairing of Colin England and Tony Plumber caught 8 fish between them.
Thursday had a wet start, with a cold northerly breeze accompanied by a persistent drizzle which didn’t ease off for some time. The returns were slightly better with Tony Broadway kicking off proceedings on 15 from the bank. Season permit holder Peter Fisher caught 8 fish from a boat on black and green lures. Ian Richardson had “Another cracking day” on the bank with 11 fish falling to diawl bachs and buzzers. Mr P Foster did well from a boat, netting 18 fish, again on buzzers. Thursday also saw 14 members of the Civil Service take to the water for a competition in which they netted 43 fish for a rod average of 3.1. Taking top honours on the competition was season ticket holder Lee Patten who landed 14 fish on sinking lines and boobies. In second place was another season ticket holder Peter Elliott, who had 12 fish. Both anglers had been neck and neck all day until Lee landed a double hook up on his final cast. The pair found the fish drifting across the middle of Biggin Bay. Also taking to the water was Guiding and Tuition Manager Tom Bird with his client Mr David Holding, for a 4-hour morning session. In this time David managed 8 trout with 4 coming to buzzers in Biggin Bay, before a move over to Croft shoal produced the next four using boobies cast at moving fish. Also, out on the water was inhouse guide Lee Henfrey with season permit holder John O’Hara. John enjoyed good sport in Biggin Bay on buzzers under the bung, before a switch over to the midge tip and a move to Croft Shoal for the afternoon. To book one of our Guides for the season please visit http://www.flyfishtuition.co.uk/guiding.
Fridays conditions looked pretty good with overcast skies and a light south westerly. Again good buzzer hatches were seen around the water but good sport seemed difficult to find. The Boat pairing of Mr M Moore and Mr G Clarke were however bucking the trend with 30 fish to the boat in dunns bay on black buzzers. Also doing well in a boat was Andy Lane with 13 fish to the boat on buzzers. Seasoned regulars found it difficult going from the bank with only ones and twos here and there. Tony Broadway caught 3 fish in biggin bay. Mr Ian Ashwell caught 5 fish from the bank, deep down on buzzers. Roger Davis managed 6 fish from the bank. Roger Kerrison had 5 fish to the boat.
Saturday started warm and sunny with a light southerly breeze and lots of buzzers hatching on the reservoir. However, despite the massive buzzer hatches it was blobs and boobies fished on sinking lines that ruled the day. From the bank father and son team of Nick and Martin Hollingshead landed 13 fish between them on black buzzers and damsels on a floating line. Mr M Braun also used buzzers at the Swan’s nest to land 8 lovely fish. Out on the boats Ifor Jones and Jim Dempsey landed 23 fish on the rudder with sinking lines and a mixture of tubes and snakes. Melvin Severn returned hoping to land another big brown, unfortunately he didn’t manage to match the fish of the previous week, but he did land 6 lovely fish on a Di 7 and a tube. This weekend we were visited by the England Youth team. On Saturday they caught and released some 250 fish on a wide variety of methods under the guidance of some of the current senior England team members.
Sunday started overcast with a light southerly breeze. Again it was another busy day with all the boats out on the water and most of the bank spaces taken up as well. Casting into the breeze from the north shore was season permit holder Steve Gibson who, using small hares ears, managed to land 23 fish from close in on the cornfield. Mr Keiran Barnes netted 7 fish from the bank in toft on buzzers. The boat pairing of Mr R Dudley and Mr N Holdsworth caught 20 fish between them fishing close in on the north shore. Keith Harding and Mick Clarke ventured afloat and netted 34 fish between them on a variety of methods, such as a DI 5 with FABs and boobies, and a floating line with diawl bachs and buzzers. Day two for the England Youth team plus senior England team guides saw them net a total of 223 fish. All participants seemed to enjoy the day withonce again fish being caught on a wide variety of methods from a DI 7 and boobies to floating line and small dries.
Weekly Boat draw
Congratulations to Mr Ivor Jones of Wolverhampton, the winner of this week’s free boat draw.
Weekly Stats:
Number Rods: 311 Number Trout Taken: 213 Number Trout Released: 924
Total Catch: 1137 Weekly Rod Average: 3.6.
Current Fishing Times:
Bank: 07:30 until: 20:15
Boat All Day: 08:30 until 20:15
Boat Part Day: am 08:30 until 14:00 pm 14:00 until 20:15
Last 4 Hours from: 16:15 until 20:15 (Ticket sales available from 16:00 )
Gutting Room Closes – 19:45
All Anglers to be off site by: 20:30hrs
Notice to all fishing guides & instructors
We continue to welcome independent guides & instructors on all our water.
However, to ensure in this world of potential litigation that all parties are covered, and on advice from our insurance company, if you are guiding or instructing a client at Draycote, Foremark, Thornton & Eyebrook you will in future be require to produce:
- A copy of your Liability Insurance, this you can email to us for it to be on file for 2018
- A copy of your Risk Assessment for that days guiding / instruction
If you are guiding or instructing and are unable to produce the required documents you will be refused access to the fishery.
To enable us to deal with all our customers quickly & efficiently we suggest you forward copies of your liability insurance for us to place on file and, prior to your visit, a copy of that days risk assessment emailed to the fishery lodge, this will enable our staff to get you & your client out on the water as quickly as possible.
We would like to thank the guides & instructors who have already forwarded copies of their liability insurance.
Draycote Rio and Sage day Sunday 6th May 2018.
We still have some spaces left on the bank for our Rio and Sage demonstration day on Sunday 6th May 2018. Come along and try out any Rio fly line or Sage rod in the company of Simon Gawesworth and Jim Fearn. Call the lodge to book your time slot on 01788 812018.
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
Loch Style Team Championships- 30th June/1st July- Angling Trust- www.anglingtrustevents.net Potential cash prize pot £8,000 and TV coverage
Scierra Pairs- 29th July- Phil Dixon- www.scierrapairs.co.uk
10th/11th August- Anglers World Holidays- www.anglersworld.flyfishingchampionships.uk
Troutmasters Final – Monday 8th October – See Fishery staff. PLEASE NOTE THAT THE FISHERY WILL BE CLOSED FOR THE DAY FOR THIS BOAT & BANK EVENT
Tight lines,
The Draycote Team
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