Draycote Water weekly report week ending 15th July 2018
Telephone Number 01788 812018
Report
With the continuation of the heatwave, the fishing this week has understandably remained difficult. Water temperatures have remained in the 22°C – 24°C bracket with us continuing to monitor temperatures at both ends of the day. Water clarity has begun to suffer a little with a green algae bloom but nowhere near what we had anticipated. A total of 241 angler visits were recorded during this period, up on the previous week despite the adverse weather conditions. This was principally due to a busy weekend of competition with many choosing to practise in advance. For the most part, fish have remained deep with significant numbers shoaling 25-30 feet down over the deepest parts of the reservoir off the main Draycote Water dam.
Monday started off the week with a continuation of this Mediterranean like weather. Only a few boats ventured out – regulars Ed Douglas & Jim Smith amongst them. They managed a total of ten between them which is actually well below their usual, consistently high returns and a good indication of how challenging the heatwave has made things. Peter Batchelor & Steve Bett proved to be the stand out exceptions however, with a joint tally of 23 rainbows to the boat. High density sinking lines & booby snakes appeared to be the order of the day. A couple of season rods bank fished on Tuesday, but without success given the overly high water temperatures in the shallows of the shoreline. This led regulars Tony Broadway and John Dews to go afloat & they chose to backdrift lures deep through the boils & across the middle. Their efforts were rewarded with 13 rainbows apiece. Steve Betts also had another great day into high double figures deep with boobies, blobs & humungous.
Not to be beaten, Ed & Jim were back on the water on Wednesday & this time achieved their more usual 30+ return. They found their fish in the Aerators, off the Tower & in the vicinity of both A & B Buoys. Both fished high density sinkers, mainly back drifted with a variety of lures, boobies & snakes. Ronnie Gent also did well with a double figure return but was practising for the TEFF event at the weekend so was keeping his tactics close to his chest! Eddie Mitchell & Dave Kennell stayed with the deep theme and caught half a dozen each together with some beautiful specimen perch up to the three pound mark. Ten anglers from Higham Ferrers Fly Fishing also fished a club match. Congratulations to Pip Jeffs who topped their leader board with a six fish weight of 13lbs 5oz.
Thursday and Friday saw plenty of boats out on the water with most of the fleet occupied by anglers practising for the TEFF Loch Style event. Whilst it is known that many caught & released into double figures, virtually all were reluctant to record their results through fear of giving too much away to opposition rods. Hence the rod averages for the two days bore no resemblance to the reality. What was gleaned however, is that lots of fine rainbows were being taken at depth on Di7 & Di8 lines with a mix of mini Boobies, Diawl Bachs, Crunchers & Cormorants. The best of the fish holding locations continued to be the deepest of marks off the main top dam wall. John Clifford was one of the few pleasure anglers out on the water for a short afternoon boat session. His afternoon was highlighted by the capture of a beautiful brownie in the 6-7lbs bracket. The specimen took a silver & gold tube fly, again at depth over the deepest water & John was pleased to release his trophy to fight another day.
Saturday saw twenty boats afloat to compete in the Angling Trust Team England Draycote Repechage with anglers seeking to qualify for the few remaining places in the national final to be held at Grafham in September. The hot, bright, sunny conditions continued in the same vain as practise days & fishing deep therefore remained the order of the day. A total of 232 were caught with top spot going to Graham Willis with 13 fish for 25lbs 4oz. Gary Haskins took second with 11 for 22lbs 1oz and David Eames, also on 11 fish, was third with a weight of 21lb 7oz. Best fish of the event was a 4lbs 4oz rainbow to the rod of Alan Williams. Booby Bashers with teams of Cormorants, nymphs & boobies were the favoured tactics although a few caught on floating lines later in the match. Our congratulations to all those competitors who made their way through to the final.
The whole fleet was also out on Sunday as we welcomed Alex Booth Fly Fishers back to Draycote to fish their annual Steve Parton Memorial Match. Twelve anglers took part catching 30 rainbows with top honours going to Colin Marriott with four rainbows for 13lbs 8oz. Hot on his heels, but having to settle for second spot, was Ian Footman, also with four but weighing in at 12lbs 8oz. “The Midland Counties” annual event also took place on Sunday with Kirby FF, Foremark FF, Colwick & Leicester FF all competing. Their event was time limited because of the World Cup final but nevertheless some good sport was enjoyed. Foremark took a decisive victory with a team weight of 54lbs 2oz. Colwick followed with 32lbs 7oz for second place whilst Kirby weighed in 15lbs 15oz for third. Once more, it was deep tactics off the top dam wall that worked best, particularly on drifts off the Tower. Top rod was that of Ric Saccone with a bag weight of 13lbs 6oz.
Weekly Boat draw
Congratulations to Ben Bayliss from Lancashire who is the winner of this week’s free boat draw.
Weekly Stats:
Number Rods: 241 Number Trout Taken: 321 Number Trout Released: 471
Total Catch: 792 Weekly Rod Average: 3.28
Current Fishing Times:
Bank: 07:30 until 21:45
Boat All Day: 07:30 until 21:45
Boat Part Day: AM 08:30 until 15:00 PM 15:00 until 21:45
Last 4 Hours from: 17:45 until 21:45 (Ticket sales available from 17:30)
Gutting Room Closes – 21:15
All Anglers to be off site by: 22:00
Guiding & Tuition.
New for the 2018 season the Guiding & Tuition team will running a blog. The idea of this blog is to provide hints and tips from your guides to help keep you catching depending on the conditions, tackle reviews and write up of guiding sessions. To have a look at the blog please visit http://www.flyfishtuition.co.uk/latest-report/
Dates for the Diary
Scierra Pairs – Sunday 29th July- To book please visit https://www.scierrapairs.co.uk/ (organiser Phil Dixon)
Youth International Wednesday 1st August- PLEASE NOTE ALL BOATS ARE BOOKED FOR THIS EVENT
Angler World Fly Fishing Championship- Saturday 11th August (Any Line) & Sunday 12th August (Floating line)- To book please visit http://anglersworld.flyfishingchampionships.uk/ (organiser John Horsey)
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!
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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