Draycote Water Fishing report w/e Sunday 6th May 2018.
Telephone Number 01788 812018
Report
A mixed week here at Draycote, starting with windy cold days, which then by the Friday changed to lovely warm calm days perfect conditions for fishing buzzers and enjoying the sun. a total of 318 rod fished Draycote this week catching 1900 trout for a weekly rod average of 5.98.
Monday kicked off with a strong North Westerly wind, which put off most anglers from venturing out. However, Alessandro Piccioli and a party of three other traveling anglers from Belgium did head out in boats. Between the four of them they landed 23 trout. The best tactics the anglers found were to fish buzzer along the North Shore with Biggin Bay and the Cornfield being the hotspot in the morning before a move down to Toft in the afternoon produced the goods for them on the buzzers.
Another windy day Tuesday but this time with the winds coming from the west. This made fishing the bank very tricky with a lot of seasoned Draycote bank anglers recording nil. The boats faired better with Dom Muddier and Matt Osbourne fishing along the deep water near the Draycote Dam and B buoy. Using 5 inch per second sinking lines and olive snakes and blue flash damsels to land 15 fish between them including two lovely rainbows of 3lb 13oz & 3lb 3oz. The best catch of the day was recorded by Mr R Swinbourne who boated a fantastic 37 fish all on small dark buzzers fished along the dam wall near Rainbow Corner. Mr Swinbourne also landed a lovely 4lb brown which he returned to fight another day.
A very wet start Wednesday with heavy rain up until lunch, after this it brightened to a lovely afternoon. With winds coming from the west before swinging into the North West and dropping in strength to go with the clearing skies. Out on the boats Mr Lawrence & Mr Sutton landed 8 fish to the boat fishing in Biggin Bay and Dunn’s on a team of buzzer on a floating line. Also using a team of nymphs to great success was Edgar George and Nigel Evans who fished all along the North Shore to land 13 fish between them.
An improved day regarding the weather saw the rod average increase to 6.6 on Thursday. Light westerly winds meant that most of the bank was fishable, fishing on the Swans nest Ian Richardson landed 11 fish all on small green sleeve diawl bachs fished on a long leader on a floating line. On the boats R Ballie and Mr Reeks landed 22 fish between them on a mixture of snakes and buzzers from Toft. Gordan Bramwell & K Cooke fished in Rainbow Corner to land 56 between them all on buzzers the buzzer of choice was a black buzzer with a small red tag at the back. Neil Picken and Graham Harks landed 27 fish using teams of nymphs from various spots around the lake, including Toft and Rainbow Corner.
Near perfect conditions of warm overcast and a light south westerly winds meant for some great buzzer fishing Friday. George Smith fished the bank at Swans nest to land 15 fish in a morning. Further down the bank towards the Willow Tree, Mr Day landed 27 fish on a mixture of nymphs, blobs and damsels. With the majority of fish coming in the morning. Also fishing at the Swans Nest season ticket holder Tony Broadway landed 12 fish on cormorants and a blob. Another season ticker holder catching well from the bank in Toft was John Dews who landed 21. Fishing down in Toft from the boat Mr More landed 42 fish all on buzzers. Down from Scotland Steve McGregor and a party of three other anglers fished there first of three days with the 4 anglers landing 54 fish between on snakes and buzzer from rainbow corner and Toft, with Mr Carns landing a lovely 5lb 4oz rainbow on a buzzer in Rainbow Corner. Out on the boats Dave Kennel and Paul Mitchell enjoyed some great sport landing 37 fish using a midge tip washing lining buzzers with a small FAB on the end they found fish all along the Farnborough Dam after the spit drifting down to Toft and then all down the Cornfield and through the middle of Toft. On the bank along the Cornfield season ticket holder Paul Walley and Paul Walker enjoyed great sport on buzzer landing 26 and 32 each. Out the water Draycote Fly Fishers held a fundraising match organised by Paul Farrell for “Help The Heroes”. All 13-boats enjoyed great sport with various catches of over 20 fish a man and even over 30 fish a man on buzzers and nymphs fish either on floating lines or midge tips. In house guide Lee Henfrey took to the water for an 8-hour guide with regular client John O’Hara. Under Lee’s watchful eye John landed over 40 fish to the boat on a mixture of damsels and then olive buzzers in the afternoon. The sport was that good John even had to put the complimentary deli lunch on hold as he could not stop catching fish. To book a guided day at Draycote please visit http://www.flyfishtuition.co.uk/guiding/ or call the lodge on 01788 812018 to speak to Guiding & Tuition Manager Tom Bird.
Bright sun and hot temperatures Saturday teamed with very light to no winds looked like it might but a stop to the good fishing that had been experienced the last two days however this was not the case. With the great buzzer fishing continuing, Nigel Evans fished with a party of Ex-navy services who all enjoyed great sport on buzzers from Toft and around the outlet on buzzers. Steve McGregor’s party enjoyed good sport landing into double figures down the Cornfield and Biggin Bay. Coppenhall Fly Fishers fished a boat match Saturday, with several good catches coming from Toft and Biggin Bay on snakes and buzzers. However, the overall winner of the match was Mick Laycock who used dries through the middle to catch better fish who’s 4 fish bag went 10lb 12oz.
Another hot flat day Sunday with temperatures more than 20°C, although despite these hot bright conditions it didn’t stop the fish from pulling back. On the back Marcus Hickman landed 8 fish from Biggin Bay on buzzer fished on a floating line. On the boats Ian Gaskell and Ken Hardy enjoyed great sport with over 30 fish to the boat fishing buzzers either straight lined or on a washing line. The found fish through Toft in the morning with Ken landing a lovely silver 3lb rainbow. Before a move to Biggin Bay and Dunn’s resulted in prolific sport on the buzzers with double hook ups. Also catching well was Robert Ball’s part of two boats who landed 48 fish between the four of them on buzzers. Once again the McGregor party who fished in Biggin Bay using buzzers to land 32 fish before an early finish to head up the road to Scotland. Paul Davison used dries through the middle in the afternoon to land well into double figures.
Sunday also saw the third year of the ever-popular RIO & Sage day with both bank and boat sessions available for people to try the latest RIO line or Sage Rod. It was great to see many anglers getting casting advice of Simon Gawesworth from RIO and Jim Fearn for Guide Fly Fishing, as well as being able to try specific tackle. Out on the boats the guides Tom Bird, Lee Henfrey, David Hoppe and Martin Rowson. Got the participants into fish during their 1 ½ hour guided session while offering advice on fishing and information on the tackle being tried. The guides caught fish on a mix of straight line and washing line buzzer tactics from Biggin Bay, Toft and the Inlet.
Weekly Boat draw
Congratulations to Mr Lee Patten from Tenbury Wells the winner of this week’s free boat draw.
Weekly Stats:
Number Rods: 318 Number Trout Taken: 351 Number Trout Released: 1549
Total Catch: 1900 Weekly Rod Average: 5.98
Current Fishing Times:
Bank: 07:30 until: 21:00
Boat All Day: 08:30 until 21:00
Boat Part Day: am 08:30 until 15:00 pm 15:00 until 21:00
Last 4 Hours from: 17:00 until 21:00 (Ticket sales available from 16:45)
Gutting Room Closes – 20:30
All Anglers to be off site by: 21:15hrs
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.
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!
Our congratulations go to Chris Traverse who, as detailed in this week’s report, has won his way through to represent the fishery in the “2017/2018 Final” to be held at Draycote on Monday 8th October.
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
Fishery Management UK Ltd Stocking Further Update.
As previously reported, our trout suppliers have been in touch to update us that due to the extreme cold, wet & wintery weather conditions experienced during late February & March they have struggled to achieve sufficient growth rates to bring enough stock up to the 2lb+ (900g) trout size for our Draycote stockings booked during early April.
They have since advised that given improved weather conditions & temperatures, farm fish are now feeding well & packing on the desired weight. As a result, it is anticipated that things will be back to normal within a few weeks and our policy of introducing all our Draycote stock in the 2lbs+ range will be back on schedule.
Tight lines,
The Draycote Team
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