Draycote Report W/E 8th May 2022

Weekly Fishing Report: Draycote, Eyebrook, Thornton

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Draycote Fishery Weekly Report – 01788 812018

Email:  draycote@flyfishstore.co.uk

Can we remind members & day rods of our pre payment policy for 2022. Details are on our website www.flyfishdraycote.co.uk/about-us-2/day-permits/

Stocking Policy Details of our stocking policy for Draycote is explained on our website www.flyfishdraycote.co.uk/about-us-2/stocking-policy/

2022 Prices & details on our pre-payment visit our website www.flyfishdraycote.co.uk/about-us-2/day-permits/

Week Ending:  Sunday 8^th May 2022              Rod Av:  4.4      Water Temperature:  13°C

The bank holiday Monday saw a number of anglers taking to the water taking advantage of the long weekend. On the bank Draycote season ticket holder Paul Walley landed 7 fish from the Swan’s Nest. Paul used a intermediate line teamed with a FAB to land his fish. On the boats John Dickens enjoyed a good day’s sport landing 17 fish using a washing with buzzers on the droppers and a FAB on the point. Another boat who using a washing line to great effect was Ross Wilson & Bill Brown who landed 41 fish to the boat. Ross & Bill found the afternoon to the best time of the day with lots of fish moving over Musborough shoal near Y & N buoy. While they tried dries for the fish moving on the surface it was a washing line with Diawl Bachs that produced the goods. The boat of Lee Cartmail & Paul Cramp landed over 27 fish to the boat and enjoyed a “Brilliant days fishing” again using a washing line to great effect.

Near perfect conditions to start Tuesday with overcast skies teamed with a gentle ripple. However unfortunately these didn’t last with he wind dropping out completely later in the day. All water member Ed Douglas landed 17 fish using a washing line for the majority. However, Ed did land 6 fish on dries with Ed concentrating on the open water in the middle of the reservoir. Fellow member Dan Mcelligott landed 22 fish using blobs pulled quickly on an intermediate line. Dan commented “the blobs needed to be pulled as fast as possible and it was great fun”. Fishing there final day of a three day break Ross Wilson & Bill Brown landed 22 fish with their best tactic being olive Grunters just fished slightly under the surface. Dave Atkins fished around Y Buoy to land 11 fish using a Di 3 sinking line and a white snake and commented on the “good fish” he landed using this method.

Overcast conditions for the main on Wednesday with some very heavy rain just after lunch which thankfully did clear as the day progressed. On the bank C.J Day landed 7 fish using black buzzers and a blob. Also on the bank for the afternoon was season ticket holder John Falconbridge who landed 6 fish using buzzers on Lincroft Point. On the boats All water members Phil Mee & Horace Wood enjoyed a good days sport landing 28 to the boat using buzzer at the School Slips & Hensborough Bank. Another angler enjoying good sport at the school slips was Chris Discombe who landed 16 fish again on buzzers. Draycote season ticket holder Dan Mcelligott landed 19 fish from a boat in the corner of the Hensborough Bank using a small blue flash damsel taking the majority of his fish in the afternoon. Jeff Ide landed 17 fish on buzzers fishing in Biggin Bay for the afternoon.

A bright day on Thursday with light breezes and sporadic cloud cover at Draycote Water. The fishing is still holding up pretty well with good returns from all four corners of the reservoir. Rather than giving out areas to fish it seems that if you avoid the Draycote Dam and the Farborough Dam, you should catch just about everywhere else. Once again if pulling is your thing, you don’t want to be too deep, but much better returns are coming from using small imitative patterns on a floater or a sink tip line. Bank fishing seems to suffer a bit in bright conditions, with catches dropping to twos and threes, but out on the boats it’s business as usual. Young Dave Smith had a bakers dozen using diawl bachs and buzzers fished on a midge tip line with a foam daddy on the point. Season permit holder Paul Havard reported “Buzzers Galore”, whilst boating over 20 fish up on the Hensborough Bank. Ian Richardson and Bob Barfoot caught 17 fish between them whilst straight lining buzzers in Biggin Bay and commented on “A lovely day”. Ed Douglas persisted with dries to net 17 fish from a drifting boat in various areas around the reservoir. Draycote regulars Jim Dempsey and Rod Wilson netted over 30 fish on snakes fished on a DI 5 around C Buoy.

Friday was overcast with quite a gusty south westerly at times. Those who wished were able to sit in the lee of the wind for a comfortable days fishing up on the Hensborough Bank, Rainbow Corner and the Flat Stones. Other anglers worked their way through Biggin Bay, the outer markers and Toft, drifting onto fish using floating or sink tip lines with buzzers and diawl bachs. Out on the bank Peter Allen fished up in Rainbow Corner to net a total of 7 fish on Orange headed buzzers. Mr C Massey bank fished off Lincroft Point and netted a dozen fish on black and green lures. Out on the boats Ian Muir and Peter Edge had 17 fish on buzzers. Mr T Fox and Mr A Smith had 28 fish between them, again on buzzers. Mr A hodgkiss had 8 fish to the boat from Rainbow Corner using buzzers and crunchers on a floating line. The Draycote Fly Fishers held a bank match on Friday evening which was attended by 13 of their members, netting 22 fish between them. In third place was Mark Johnson Jones with 2 fish, second place went to Les Lerigo with four fish to the net, and first place went to young Dave Adkins with a grand total of 5 fish. Congratulations to all those who took part. Also mentioned in dispatches is Anthony Barrow who, during his first evening out with the DFF caught a brace from the bank, well done sir. The next match will take place on Friday 20^th May 2022.

Saturday morning started bright and sunny with quite a strong northerly breeze. Conditions were changeable through the afternoon with high cumulus cloud, making the fish move up and down in the water column throughout the afternoon. As a result, not the easiest of days, with anglers having to constantly change tactics. Those who persevered, following the fish as they moved, had some good catches on a wide variety of patterns. Mike Garner had a good day on the bank, fishing in the Cornfield. Mike used nymphs fished on a floating line to net 4 fish. Upon opening his bass bag outside the lodge we were all surprised and pleased to see a beautiful fully finned Rainbow, which tipped the scales at 5lbs 1oz. Season permit holder Mark Braun netted 8 fish from the bank in Biggin Bay and Lincroft Point using buzzers and a black lure. Visiting angler Mr Paul Grevett caught 10 fish from  a boat off Lincroft Point, using black lures fished on an intermediate line. Brian Cantlie used a midge tip line and hot head, red holographic diawl bachs to net a dozen fish off the Draycote Dam. Mr Andrew Brown had a total of 18 fish to the boat using the washing line method, with buzzers and a FAB on the point.

Sunday looked like a great day to be out on the water, with a light south easterly breeze and plenty of good high cloud cover. Regular Sunday bank angler, season ticket holder Jon Crowley enjoyed a good days sport landing 16 fish. Jon, used the bung with black buzzers fishing at the Swan’s Nest in Toft and then at Car Park 8 near Biggin Bay. All water member John Kirk also fished on the bank enjoying a good day landing 5 fish. From the boats Ed Douglas enjoyed a good day landing 16 with the majority coming to nymphs, however he did land 8 of them on dries. Draycote member James Alexander enjoyed a great day landing 20 fish by S Buoy, using hot head Diawl bachs. Bob Shaw enjoyed a good day landing 12 fish from the School slips and also Toft using a mix of Diawl Bachs and buzzers.

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Eyebrook Fishery Weekly Report – 01536 770264

Email: eyebrook@flyfishstore.co.uk

Stocking Policy Details of our stocking policy for Eyebrook is explained on our website

www.flyfisheyebrook.co.uk/about-us-2/stocking-policy/

2022 Prices & details on our pre-payment visit our website www.flyfisheyebrook.co.uk/about-us-2/day-permits/

Week Ending: Sunday 08 May22       Rod Av:  7.4             Water Temperature: 14C

As the Building work continues at the Harrisons corner area of the dam, we are still asking our customers to come to the lodge via the Alec Lane gate.

Monday morning started with flat calm but overcast conditions. Eyebrook member Steve Lawrence washing lined an intermediate during this time to good effect catching numerous fish from Sam’s Dyke. Steve found by making subtle changes to his set up he was able to convert pulls into steady lock ups; by swapping the faster sinking buzzers to slower sinking Diawl Bachs he found that his flies were remaining in the “zone” for longer & therefore giving the fish more opportunity to take them. Additionally, the intermediate line is an excellent choice for fishing a flat calm; it breaks the surface film & there is no disturbance on the water’s surface from the line which can prove critical when the fish are occupying the upper layers. As the morning progressed the flat calm turned into a gentle ripple & Steve changed to a floater to continue to catch. Fish were caught throughout the day from boat & bank with some excellent catch returns being recorded. Regular visitor Roy Lewin & his boat partner had a productive day from the boat catching fish on a variety of methods; the most productive of which was fishing Yellow Owls & Big Reds in Dogwood Bay. Later in the day there was large hatch of olives along the Leicester Bank and as  a consequence, there were numerous fish taken on Olive patterns; Crunchers, Bob’s Bits, etc.., fished high in the water column later in the day.

Tuesday fished even better with overcast conditions but a slight increase in the wind strength. The Leicester bank continued to produce excellent results for both bank and boat anglers with numerous double figure returns. Eyebrook members, Lyndsey Bates and Roy Swinfield enjoyed nonstop action all day whilst bank fishing as did Bill Law and Steve Sibley. There was also similar success for visiting boat anglers with Chris Hartley and John Wilson each netting over 20 fish apiece on the first of their 2-day trip. Mike and Liz Rawson enjoyed a successful start to their 3-day trip with both taking a double figure catch.  As was the case on Monday, the fish remained in the upper layers of the water column with washing line or straight-lined buzzers producing excellent results. Some anglers though, switched from the successful buzzer and diawl bach patterns, to take advantage of the flowering Hawthorn bushes and fish hawthorn patterns, although the usual favourites such as Big Reds and Yellow owls also produced.

Wednesday seen a few horrible downpours during the day which may have slowed the fishing down a little. Mr Hartley and Mr Wilson had a great day out in the boat with each of them bringing over a dozen fish each to the boat. Mr Wilson also managed to land and return a 10lbs+ Brown Trout on a Buzzer while fishing buzzers on a washing line, not a bad way to finish up a 2-day package. Lots of boat anglers are enjoying some great sport at the moment. A few of the bank anglers are having good sessions as well. Mr R Charles managed 11 to the bank, and Ruth and Tony Kirk landed 18 between them on their second visit this week. The fish continue to feed in those upper layers with small buzzers and lake olives coming off. As well as these small flies, there are small daddies being blown on to the water and the Hawthorn flies are starting to buzz around quite a bit due to the hedgerows and the hawthorn trees start to bloom.

Thursday started off bright with a North westerly wind that topped out at 9mph, almost perfect conditions if there was a bit of cloud cover. Long term fishing buddies and Eyebrook season ticket holders L. Bates and R. Swinfield had a fantastic session from the bank while fishing Diawl Bach’s, Muskins and Corixa patterns. S. Normington was having the same sort of results on small black buzzers. Some areas of the lake are producing more fish than others, but the general consensus is that there are fish everywhere. Floating lines with small flies fished almost static are producing the results for those patient enough not to move their flies and let the wind do the work for them. The rod average is holding around 8 at the moment and with crystal clear water, the fish are enjoying a bit of a banquet out there.

Good to see another busy day at the Eyebrook with bank and boat anglers catching from the hawthorns to Sam’s dyke, chestnut tree down to Stoke dry and stoke dry up past Watsons cabin to the willows. Buzzers, olive nymphs, diawls, shuttlecocks and dries all caught trout. Best tactic with the buzzer is to fish them static. J Malcom and G Borthwick on their visit from Scotland fished dries to catch their 50 trout, Eyebrook member M Farrell fished cdc emergers to catch his 28 trout from Sam’s dyke and Stoke dry. G Hall caught trout weighing 4lb, 3lb8oz & 2lb with D Morton catching 11 trout of which 3 were browns that he returned. All Water member Sue Potts enjoyed her day catching 6 trout for her visit. Lots of hawthorn and pond olives about in the afternoon with a steady hatch of buzzer during the day.

Saturday a brisk northerly greeted the anglers with most of the boats getting out of the wind by fishing Sam’s dyke and down along Watsons to Stoke dry. \some of the bank anglers enjoyed the best of the sport with Bob Margery having a successful morning in Sam`s Dyke catching 20+ on buzzers with D Etty fishing the afternoon evening catching 12 on crunchers and diawls before moving onto the dries. Mr Vasey and partner down for the Phillips competition on Monday fished the afternoon session catching 12 from a boat. All water members Lee Edwards & M Ball caught 35 between them on yellow owls & black buzzers. We are starting to see the first of the damsel nymphs becoming active with a video of some around the pontoon found by Jason on Saturday, watch the video on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/FlyFishStore interesting to note the variance in the colour, one was green the other a brown colour.

Sunday continued with some fantastic sport on Buzzers fished with a FAB on the point. With the water temperature hitting 14C we are seeing more fish coming up and confidently taking small emerger patterns and even occasionally going for something a little larger like a Hopper or Foam Daddy. A Black Foam Daddy can be a great alternative when the Hawthorne Flies are coming off. Jude Tuffs had a great day afloat landing 13 while fishing Washing line Buzzers with a FAB and then 2 Daddies in around Sam’s Dyke and Mucky Bay areas. G Chewter and W. Ormiston had 19 each to the boat during a 9 and a half hour session.

As this week has progressed, we have seen the rod average spike and then slowly drop off towards the end of the week. The factors affecting this would have been down to the weather being warmer and brighter as well as the fish in one area feeling a lot of pressure from the bank and boats. However, anglers that are venturing out in to other areas that have not had as much pressure have reported catching good solid over wintered fish that put up a hell of a fight.

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Thornton Fishery Weekly Report – 01530 230807

Email: thornton@flyfishstore.co.uk

Stocking Policy Details of our stocking policy for Eyebrook is explained on our website www.flyfishthornton.co.uk/about-us-2/stocking-policy/

Can we remind members & day rods of our pre payment policy for 2022 details are on our website www.flyfishthornton.co.uk/about-us-2/day-permits/

Week Ending:  8^th May       Rod Av: 6.2     Water Temperature:14c

First full week of May & at last we have good numbers of swallows & martins working the water with the buzzer hatches increasing every day. Water clarity is good with the water temperature 13c+

J Bennett, Wick, Miller, Vallance & Bolton on the first of their 3-day package fishing Thornton today with Draycote & Eyebrook later in the week. Thornton didn’t disappoint them with a rod average 14 for their visit. All water member Dave Ravo decided to bank fish using a midge tip with Fab, diawls & buzzer he caught 14 trout. Bob Menhams fished a short 4 hour morning session with a floating line & damsel, buzzers & diawls to catch his 7 trout.

Tuesday with an overcast morning and light rain the trout moved all day across the reservoir. A sign on how high in the water the trout were was clearly shown by Richard Price and I Schofield who caught 15 on an orange muddler stripped across the surface. P Mee fished a combination of midge tip & floater with buzzers & diawls to catch his 12 fish from the lower buoy area. Arthur Olding fished opposite the lodge with orange cheeked buzzers to catch his 10 trout for the morning session. The flat calm during the evening made for challenging fishing during the last 4 hours

Wednesday, every says we needed the rain therefore we cant complain! Best conditions were during the morning with a noticeable drop in air temperature during the early evening. Trout remained high in the water with Jamie Scott catching 18 on buzzers, damsels in front of the wood. Kevin Hart took to his float tube catching 12 from the main car park to green bay. David Rowbotham fished a morning session fishing a fab to catch his 8 fish, with a washing line & buzzers catching 9 trout for P Hunt & J Thomson for their mornings visit.

Thursday was a day for buzzers & diawls during the day with emergers & dries during the evening. John & Terry Evans fished straight line buzzers to catch their 18 trout with P Mee also catching his 15 trout on buzzers & diawls. Ian Brearley fished diawls and a small fab to catch his 7 trout with the area from the lower buoy to the top of the Markfield arm fishing well for them. P Wrigley used a bloodworm pattern to catch his 9 trout with Barry Deeley using a combination of midge tip with cruncher & buzzers or a sink 7 with boobies to catch his 7 trout. Tony Lorrimer caught his 12 trout from all over the reservoir on his bunny patterns

Friday Graham Clark fished the bank catching 10 opposite the lodge & off the corner of the wood on damsels & buzzers. Greg Weatherdon fished booby & damsel pattern to catch his 11 trout with M Beck fishing the morning session with buzzers to catch his 11 trout. With hawthorn flies being blown onto the water during the afternoon D Dyer fished a small black daddy pattern to catch his 6 trout

Saturday was an excellent day’s fishing with a rod average of 9+ with trout been caught with floaters down to fast sinkers. K Cowen caught 9 on a cats whisker and tequila blob, Kevin Hart & Dave Pacey caught 20 fishing a washing line with fab, diawls & buzzer. Intermediate with crunchers during the morning with a single black bobs bits  caught 20 for Mark Hunt with B Perrie, B Sibley, M Clay & H Davies all catching double figure numbers of trout.

Sunday Keith Cowen returned for a second visit, he headed into green bay and fished a cats whisker, damsel, tequila blob, tequila booby to catch 12 trout. Andy Lilley fished dries to catch his 11 trout with Jason on his day off from working at the Eyebrook fishing with his father during an afternoon session catching 12 on blob and small daddy