Draycote Water fishing report week ending Sunday 29th September 2019
Tel: 01788 812018
A harder week for most mainly due to the prevailing weather. Whilst contending with clear skies & sunshine previously, this week anglers were faced with some extremely windy, and at times very wet, conditions. In fact, torrential overnight rain on Saturday left the whole boat fleet knee deep in water. It was nevertheless another busy week on the water, but the challenging conditions did lead to a lower catch rate for most. In total 318 anglers fished & recorded a combined catch return of 752 trout representing a rod average for the period of 2.3
Monday started dry & fine through the morning but clouded over in the afternoon with the arrival from the south and west of the forecast winds and heavy rain which were to remain throughout the week. It proved to be a very tough day for the seven bank anglers who ventured out with only season ticket holder Paul Walker managing to net fish with a brace of rainbows. It was similar in the boats for many recording ones & twos or nil on the catch returns. However, regulars Terry & John Evans netted 7 and 6 respectively all to dries on long exploratory drifts over deep water. Ed Douglas couldn’t get them to rise properly to his dries so changed to nymphs high in the water column and ended with 11 to the boat. Kevin Rees though persisted with his fiery brown Bob’s Bits and netted a dozen. Both Ed & Kevin fished drifts across the middle. Eugene Hughes excelled once more fishing across the middle as well & also drifts offshore from the Sailing Club. He fished Humungus & Humungus Boobies on a mix of Di3 & Di5 to end with a fantastic tally of 28 landed. He said that he would drift for lengthy periods with nothing followed by spells of frantic activity catching rainbows that were hitting perch fry. Tuesday was very wet until mid-afternoon, but some good sport was enjoyed by Dafydd Evans & Mike Williams who both took their 4 fish limit together with an additional brace each caught & released. Keith Coley & Bob Taft alternated between diawl bachs & lures for a combined total of 13. There has been a lot of small black beetles around for a week or so now and it was interesting to see that Mr Woodroffe took a six fish limit plus another four released on a good old black & peacock spider. Alan Grant had a tremendous day on the bank on Wednesday when he found fry feeding fish in Toft. He caught & released 8 using fry patterns with a further two taken for the pot, his best tipping the scales at 5lbs 2oz. Bob Smith was also on the bank but over on Lin Croft where he took two rainbows on minkies & two on shrimps. He also lost a further 3 fish in play. Out on the water & All Water member Ed Douglas was back out exploring on his second visit of the week. This time he was able to properly interest the fish into rising to dries and netted 17 fine rainbows in total. Dave Kennell also did well with an 8 fish total on foam daddies, bob’s bits & dabblers presented on a 12’ slow tip. Weather wise, Wednesday was probably the best day of the week with lighter winds, some sunshine & only limited light showers.
The stronger winds were back on Thursday with some prolonged sunshine making for tricky fishing with quite a lot of blank rods. Dave Adkins took a boat and chose to explore the whole venue in search of feeding fish. He found fish all over and managed to end with 5 rainbows taken for the pot with all taken on his pair of dries – a midas & a big red. Given the winds, John Jones decided to anchor up in his boat off Lin Croft Point. He drifted a team of daddies across the wave and steadily notched up a tally of 7 rainbows to the net. Roger Davis braved a very gusty shoreline on the bank and was rewarded with a nice brace. Friday brought with it some very heavy rain for the anglers to contend with whilst many struggled there were, as always, some nice catches. Ifor Bullock bank fished his favourite spot in Dunn’s Bay and caught a lovely grown on rainbow of 4lbs 8oz which took his black cruncher. John Hoskins took what shelter he could find anchored at the Sailing Club end of the Hensborough Bank. He fished a pair of humungus on a Di3 all day for a six fish tally. His first fish, which he released, was a 4lbs brownie. He suffered with dropping fish in play saying that he actually lost more than he landed during the course of the session. Top boat of the day was unquestionably that of Paul Davison. Paired with Mark Withyman, they fished midas dries all day to end with 27 to the boat. The big winds refused to subsist & Saturday anglers again had big winds & protracted gusts to contend with. Indeed, one angler enquired as to whether we sold seasick pills?! Ifor Jones & Jim Demsey fished lures all day on the rudder to land 9 & 11 rainbows respectively. Kit Coleman stayed with the dry daddies all day for an 8 fish tally, as did his boat partner Andrew Farmer who netted 6. Paul Davison returned hoping for a repeat of his Friday sport but this time sharing with Ian Bradfield from the All Abilities Club. Paul’s midas patterns came up trumps for him as usual & they landed 17 & 9 respectively on drifts mainly out from Rainbow Corner & the main Draycote dam.
Twenty of the Invicta Fly Fishers fished a club competition on Saturday in some quite testing conditions. The competition format was a 4 fish kill and then catch and release. In first place was Chris Mcleod with 10 fish for 18lbs 7 oz, second was Paul Heavans and third place went to Keith Gilchrist. A total of 58 fish were caught, giving a club average of 2.85.
Sunday was yet another day of very testing conditions with gusty winds and sporadic showers. Mr P Mitchell and Mr T Burn did extremely well boating 25 fish between them on Daddies and FAB’s. The brothers Hanlon all netted at least 4 fish a piece but were keeping their method top secret. Jed O’Donaghue and Phil Mee caught on dries, as did Ed Douglas.
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Demo SAGE, Vision & Redington rods & RIO fly lines for you to take out and try. Call the Draycote lodge for details
Disabled Anglers
Draycote has a wheelie boat for hire, which includes a ramp and hydraulic lift for wheelchair access. To book the wheelie boat, call the lodge on 01788 812018.
COMPETITIONS:
TROUTMASTERS – Please also note that we are once more hosting the Troutmasters’ Final at Draycote which this year will be on Monday 7th October. This is a boat & bank event and the fishery will be closed for the day.
Weekly Boat draw
Congratulations to Jim Dempsey from Bedworth, the winner of this week’s free boat draw.
Weekly Stats:
Number Rods: 318 Number Trout Taken: 272 Number Trout Released: 480
Total Catch: 752 Rod Average: 2.3
Current Fishing Times:
Bank: 07:30 until 18:45
Boat All Day: 08:30 until 18:45
Boat Part Day: AM 08:30 until 14:15
Last 4 Hours from: 14:45 until 18:45 (Ticket sales available from 14:30)
Gutting Room Closes: 18:15
All Anglers to be off site by: 19:00
Tight lines,
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