Draycote Water weekly report week ending 7^th October 2018

Telephone Number 01788 812018

This past week at Draycote has seen just about every weather condition possible. We’ve had days of bright sunshine followed by overcast conditions, leading into the Saturday which was downright awful. All in all though, the place has fished well. Bank anglers are definitely getting the better end of things now, outperforming the boats on most days. The fish are tight in along the margins, right under the bank anglers feet, and boat anglers are being told that where possible, they should be trying to get their point fly onto the bank. Although lures are doing quite well as are dries, most fish this week have been caught on small hares ears, diawl bachs and crunchers fished on a floating or midge tip line.

This week 327 anglers caught a total of 1631 fish, giving us a weekly rod average of 4.9.

A fairly quiet Monday saw the cornfield fish well from the bank, with Ian Richardson netting 7 fish on crunchers. A buoy in rainbow corner and H buoy in toft was producing well for the boats with Mr P Sanders and Mr A Campbell both netting good bags of fish on dries.

Gusty conditions greeted us on Tuesday, although the overcast conditions which remained all day did help. Gordon Slack, Tony Broadway, Peter Allan, Colin Grainger, Jim Hall, Don Roper, Brian Allwood and Brian Warwick all had good catches from the bank in a variety of areas along the north shore, mainly on wets. The boats had a bit of a rough time out on the water, but Geoff Preston made the best of it on the rudder, netting 5 fish from the middle of the reservoir.

Wednesday was a very different day, slightly warmer with a light north westerly breeze and decent cloud cover. Mr C J Day caught 9 fish from the bank in toft shallows on nymphs and damsels. Ed Douglas caught and released 18 fish from a drifting boat, all on dries.  Alan Grant netted 7 fish from the boat, including a 4lb 8oz brown. Ian Richardson caught 10 fish from the bank in toft using crunchers and floating fry patterns. The boat pairing of Brent Vinall and Andy Birkett netted 23 fish on “All sorts of patterns”, including dries and pin fry patterns pulled on a DI3. It was good to see Eugene Hughes out on the water, with 22 fish to the boat from around P, X and Y buoy on a DI5 sweep and a humungus.

Thursday dawned with an overcast start but became bright and breezy by the afternoon. Again the reservoir was in excellent form, with Peter Elliott and Lee Patten knocking out 40 fish between them from the bank. Tony Boadway, again fishing from the bank netted 10 whilst Mr G Barlow caught 7. Season permit holder John Dickens ventured out on a boat and caught 11 fish on dries such as bobs bits and the ever deadly crippled midge. Soldier palmers where the fly of the day for Peter Fisher as he boated 11 fish and remarked on a “ lovely day, but hard work”.

Friday looked like a great day to be out on the water with good cloud cover and a light south westerly breeze. The bank was extremely busy and fished very well, with plenty of positive comments on the catch return. Brian Warwick, Tony Broadway Brian Allwood and Ian Richardson, to mention just a few, all caught good bags on a variety of patterns in the cornfield and biggin bay. They used flies such as floating fry patterns, red hoppers, diawl bachs and back and peacock spiders. Out on the water the boats were enjoying good sport as well with Terry Evans and Joe Bilinski netting 23 fish on dries. Jim Smith and Ed Douglas had over 20 fish each to the boat, also using a variety of dry fly patterns. Mr M E Moore boated 13 fish on daddies and bobs bits. Howard Rutter netted 5 fish from a boat using diawl bachs on a washing line. John Hoskins caught 11 fish on lures.

Saturday was an awful day weather wise, with heavy rain and very blustery conditions. Although this didn’t seem to dampen some anglers spirits as boat and bank anglers returned some good numbers at the end of the day. Neil Coulson and Glyn Yeates caught well into double figures from a boat as did Andy Cooper and Neil Deakin, who remarked on an “ Excellent Day”.  Another boat pair who did really well in the conditions where Iain Barr and Ed Foster, with 37 fish to the boat. Jim hall caught and released 10 fish from the bank including a 5lb brownie, whilst Mr A Joseph caught 1 good perch of 2lb plus.

Sunday started mild and overcast and then very quickly brightened up, looking like a good day for fishing. Again the bank performed well with Mr N Scowen and Mr M Will  catching 31 fish between them. Tony and Ruth Kirk did well from the bank with 12 fish on diawl bachs and hares ears. Neil and Martin Hollingshead also had a dozen fish from the bank on crunchers whilst fishing at the swans nest. Season permit holder Paul Walley caught 15 fish from the bank on diawl bachs and cormorants. Iain Barr and Andy Axon had 37 fish to the boat whilst Stuart Ellins and Craig Barr caught 17. Iain Scott netted 12 fish from a boat and remarked on “a very good day”.

Weekly Boat draw

Congratulations to Mr T Evans  from Kirkby in Ashfield,  the winner of this week’s free boat draw.

Weekly Stats:  

Number Rods: 327     Number Trout Taken: 227    Number Trout Released:  1404

Total Catch: 1631      Weekly Rod Average: 4.9

Current Fishing Times:

Bank:  07:30 until 18:30

Boat All Day: 07:30   until 18:30

Boat Part Day:  AM 08:30    until 13:00  PM 13:00 until   18:30

Last 4 Hours from:  14:30   until     18:30 (Ticket sales available from 14:15)

Gutting Room Closes – 18:00

All Anglers to be off site by: 19:00

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

Fur & Feather

This seasons Fur & Feather match at Draycote will be held on Sunday 25^th  November 2018. Fished as a pairs competition with 12 fish to the boat.

1^st Prize Christmas Hamper for winning pair

2^nd Prize 2 Bottles of Wine Each

3^rd Prize Box Chocolates

Largest Fish Bottle Spirits

The match will be fished to fishery rules and will start at 09:30 and finish at 16:00. All those wishing to take part should call the lodge on 01788 812018.

Tight lines,

The Draycote Team

Follow Us on

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Draycote Water weekly report week ending 30th September 2018

Telephone Number 01788 812018

Draycote has experienced a sunny week with very little cloud, with it only making an appearance on Sunday. This week has really felt like the start of autumn with chilly, frosty mornings. Despite the cold starts, and less than ideal conditions, a total of 1356 fish have been caught by 421 anglers giving a rod average of 3.2. Despite the sun, flies fished in the top 3 feet of water have scored best with dries featuring heavily on the catch return, with snakes and fry imitation patterns starting to score well.

A cool start on Monday meant the first real frost on the ground and as a result the water temperature hit 15°C. A bright day teamed with a northerly wind didn’t bode well for the anglers taking to the water. However, the fish still pulled back with anglers catching well to post a rod average of 4.7. The best catches of the day came to dry fly tactics despite the sun. Ed Douglas found the fish willing to come up for a size 12 big red hopper around X buoy landing 16. Meanwhile, Kevin Rees, fishing in the same area, found Bob’s Bits to be his top pattern landing 14. M Frances & A Moore used a mix of wets and dries in Toft to land 13 fish between them with Zulu and hoppers being their best patterns. On the bank Derek Brooks landed 6 fish on the Cornfield on Diawl bachs. Season ticket holder Michael Ravenscroft, fishing for just a few hours, landed 5 on buzzers again off the Cornfield.

Very similar conditions on Tuesday with another cold bright start. The day started with no wind to speak of, but this did pick up as the day wore on coming from the South West. Out on the boats Tony Broadway & Brian Warwick enjoyed good sport landing 14 fish between them using 2 diawl bachs and a cruncher fished on a floating line, drifting from A to M buoy. Norman Perkins & Lord Richard Dayman enjoyed a good day’s sport landing 11 fish fishing down in Toft on a mix of lures and nymphs.

Wednesday saw Draycote host the Association of Major Fishing clubs’ group 2 match. Another bright day greeted the anglers competing with the wind once again coming from the South West. At the start of the match there was an even spilt of boats with half heading for Toft and the others for Rainbow Corner and just a couple opting for the open water around X buoy. This proved to be the best area for the match with several limits coming from drifting from X to S buoy and Croft shoal. The best methods for the match was to either fish dries or to washing line nymphs on a midge tip with a small blob on the top dropper. At the end of the day Bewl “A” took top spot with GWFFA taking a very close second. Some great sport was had by all as the match produced a rod average of 5.1.

Outside of the match Guiding & Tuition Manager Tom Bird enjoyed a busy day guiding with back to back 4 hour guides. In the morning Tom took season ticket holders Dave Hancox & Martyn Price out with the pair catching on snakes around X Buoy and Croft Shoal. Tom then returned to the water with Dennis Tidmarsh who wanted to look at dries. Even with the sun being ever present Dennis enjoyed some good sport with plenty of action again around X Buoy with a big red & daddy being the best patterns. To book a session with Tom call the lodge on 01788 812018.

The good fishing of the previous day continued into Thursday with conditions staying the same as the previous two days although without the cold overnight temperatures. Ed Douglas returned to the water once again using dries as well was washing lined nymphs to land 24. Ed found the best area to be drifts from H buoy into Farnborough spit with the fish really coming onto the dries in the afternoon. Out on the bank Ian Richardson landed 13 fish the overflow using a variety of flies including floating fry, snail patterns, crunchers & Diawl Bachs. L Tones & S Farmer enjoyed good sport landing 38 fish between them drifting the Swan’s Nest side of Toft. The pair started on di 3 and lures in the morning before a switch to dries in the afternoon kept the pair catching. Kevin Rees fished around X Buoy once again to land 23 on Bob’s Bits with John Dickens also using the same method to land 16. Dave Kennell & Eddie Mitchell enjoyed good sport to land 20 fish to the boat on washing line nymphs and dries all through the middle.

Yet another bright day Friday, but the wind did swing into the North East meaning there was a definite chill in the air. Terry & John Evans fished diawl bach and dries in Toft to land 18 fish between them. Jamie Scott used a di 3 sinking line teamed with a snake and a blob to land 11 fish. Jamie took fish all over the lake but did find a concentration of fish around Lincroft Point and E Buoy. Felicity Appleton & Derek Moore enjoyed good sport fishing in Toft, Biggin Bay & around Farnborough Spit to land 14 fish. Season ticket holders Peter Elliott & Lee Patten experienced excellent sport but found the fish didn’t really come on till the afternoon. The pair used bob’s bits to tempt fish up to the surface landing 31 fish to the boat. Ed Douglas fished a half day session to land 12 fish drifting around Farnborough Spit using dries or shrimps. On the bank Mark Hunt enjoyed great sport in a short afternoon session to land 7 fish at the Swans Nest on small nymphs.

The wind swung back to the south west for Saturday, still teamed with the sun but without the chilly North wind, although clear skies overnight meant it was frosty start. Rudder regulars Jim Dempsey & Ifor Jones landed 17 fish to the boat finding the best sport drifting near J Buoy and down the Farnborough Dam. Mr Purves & Mr Malcolmson enjoyed great sport on pink snakes drifting around H Buoy to Farnborough spit and into Toft fishing on a di 3 sinking line landing 34 fish. Ian Buckley & Vince Aronica also used snakes and tubes on various sinking lines to land 29 fish once again drifting around H Buoy drifting down towards Toft.

Sunday saw cloud roll in for the first time this week and as a result the fish responded well to dries. The wind swung again starting as a straight westerly before moving into the North West in the afternoon. Mr S Nicoll & Mr M Williams fished for a morning before heading back up the road to Scotland. With the pair landing an impressive 26 fish with drifts through the middle of the lake on two foam daddies. Season ticket holder Ed Douglas landed 17 fish on dries drifting in Toft with a Big Red producing the goods. Tom & Jim Marriott fished around the middle of the lake and drifting near H buoy to land 20 fish to the boat, again with daddies being the stand out pattern. Mr D Lewis and his boat partner used snakes drifting down the Farnborough Dam to enjoy great sport with 18 fish to the boat.

Weekly Boat draw

Congratulations to David East from Coventry the winner of this week’s free boat draw.

Weekly Stats:  

Number Rods: 375    Number Trout Taken:  421   Number Trout Released: 935

Total Catch:  1356     Weekly Rod Average: 3.22

Current Fishing Times:

Bank:  07:30 until 18:45

Boat All Day: 07:30   until 18:45

Boat Part Day:  AM 08:30    until 13:00 PM 13:00 until   18:45

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: 19:15

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

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 8^th 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

Follow Us on:

facebook www.facebook.com/FlyFishStore twitter www.twitter.com/FlyFishStore

Draycote Water weekly report week ending 23rd September 2018

Telephone Number 01788 812018

It’s been a very changeable week here at Draycote Water, with near perfect fishing conditions at times, and then strong winds blowing the boats off the water for Wednesday and Friday. The water temperature has held at a healthy 16 degrees which has helped a lot, with fish now being caught by both bank and boat anglers in good numbers at most of the popular spots around the reservoir. Indeed at the overflow on the Hensborough bank on Wednesday, fish could be seen grubbing around for shrimp amongst the rocks, and were being caught by one bank angler no more than a rods length from the edge of the water. 236 rods caught 642 fish, giving us a weekly rod average of 2.7

Mondays overcast conditions seemed to help the anglers, with a lot of returns showing the fish coming to dries. The boat pair of Jim Smith and Ed Douglas Netted a total of 36 fish between them, all to dries. Mr J Honour and Mr D Andrew had 18 fish to the boat on daddies. Mr J Row caught 9 fish from a boat, again all on dries. Again it was all dries for Kevin Rees, who used bob’s bits to great effect, netting 17 fish from a drifting boat, as did yet another season permit holder, John Dickens with 14 fish. A slight change in tactics for Cheryl and Gareth Bulman, who had a good day out on cormorants.

A slight change in the weather on Tuesday, with brighter conditions pushing the fish down a bit and out into deeper water. On the bank Mr J Watson netted 8 fish on bibio’s, whilst Alan Grant caught 3. Mr A Linwood and Mr J Vincent had 7 and 8 respectively. Bob Toft and Keith Coley had 11 fish to the boat between them on slime lines, hares ears and diawl bach’s.

Wind speeds of over 40 mile per hour kept the boats firmly roped to the pontoon on Wednesday with bank anglers restricting themselves to rainbow corner and the overflow on the Hensborough bank. Their efforts however produced a good rod average with all but one angler catching fish in very difficult conditions. Chris Mills caught 4 fish on bobs bits whilst Richard Snape caught his 4 fish on big reds. Alex Campbell netted 3 fish on a variety of patterns such as claret crippled midge, and reported seeing lots of fish moving right in front of the overflow.

On Thursday a drop in wind speeds allowed us to get the boats out on the water in what looked like ideal conditions, overcast with a light south westerly breeze to start with. The EFFA held their Autumn Members Day with 25 rods taking part. Although it turned out to be tough going at times, with the wind picking up in the afternoon, the group netted 63 fish between them giving a rod average for the match of 2.5. Other anglers who went afloat also enjoyed some good sport with Peter Fisher netting 6 fish on a variety of dries, including soldier palmers. Mr G McGinley and his boat partner also had a good day out catching 26 fish between them.

Once again on Friday the wind speeds were too high to let the boats out and anglers who had planned to go afloat where yet again restricted to the bank. The wind blew hard right through the day, with strong gusts coming from nearly every point on the compass. The few hardy souls who braved it out, fetching flies from trees and undoing tangles faired pretty well overall. Lee Patten and Peter Elliott fished the bank together to net a dozen fish between them. John Dickens caught 5 fish on diawl bachs and shrimp patterns. Seasoned regular Colin Grainger netted 3 fish in a morning session and remarked that he’d had some good sport.

Saturday looked great first thing with a light south westerly breeze and good cloud cover. The AMFC were here for their group 3 match, loading boats up, readying for a  day out alongside some of our Saturday regulars. The match seemed to go really well, judging by the weigh in, and was won by the team from the Royal Navy. The fishing proved a little tough for some at first with reports coming back through the early part of the day. Those who fished deep on sinking lines did ok, but again, most of the fish were caught in the top few feet of the water. Things seemed to improve in the afternoon with the best bags of the day coming out of toft shallows for the first time in ages. The boat pairing of Mr G Pelini and Mr G Mcginlay caught 28 fish between them. Draycote regular Mark Hunt caught 15 fish from a boat on crunchers and daddies. Season permit holder Tony Parker caught 6 fish on daddies.

Sunday was a very wet start with a light breeze. The wind changed direction a couple of times during the day with some heavy showers, and blew up well in to the teens in the afternoon. It was tough going in heavy conditions with few anglers managing any more than a brace to the boat. Bank anglers faired little better. Although it was noted that the fish are now spread well throughout the reservoir and fishing should improve now with more settled conditions forecast for the coming week.

Weekly Boat draw

Congratulations to Tony Broadway from Coventry the winner of this week’s free boat draw.

Weekly Stats:  

Number Rods: 236     Number Trout Taken:  296    Number Trout Released: 346

Total Catch:  642     Weekly Rod Average: 2.7

Current Fishing Times:

Bank:  07:30 until 18:45

Boat All Day: 07:30   until 18:45

Boat Part Day:  AM 08:30    until 14:00  PM 14:00 until   18:45

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: 19:15

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

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 8^th 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

Follow Us on

facebookwww.facebook.com/FlyFishStore twitter www.twitter.com/FlyFishStore

Draycote Water weekly report week ending 16^th September 2018

Telephone Number 01788 812018

Overall a good fishing week with overcast conditions for much of it and the continued falling water temperature. We have seen some good catches of the top on dries as well as bank anglers reporting good catches on washing line and dry fly tactics. A total of 276 anglers visited landing a total of 1552 fish for a rod average of 4.1

Light winds from the south west kicked off the week, with dries featuring well on the catch return. Peter Elliot landed 18 fish all on size 12 bob’s bits drifting from the overflow to A buoy. Ian Richardson fished from the bank at the overflow to land 5 fish on crunchers and diawl bachs including a lovely 4lb rainbow. Season ticket holder Kevin Rees landed 15 on dries using bob’s bits and hoppers. Jeff Ide also fished dries to land 11 fish from the overflow.

The wind remained in the south west on Tuesday which started blustery, although the wind did drop later in the day. Season ticket holder Brian Warwick enjoyed good sport from the bank landing 6 fish from the overflow on diawl bachs and crunchers. Out on the boats Colin England & Tony Plummer enjoyed great sport landing 20 fish using a washing line and big hoppers. Ian Pugh and Tim Tong landed 17 fish all on dries drifting from Rainbow Corner out towards A Buoy. Mr Woodroofe utilised dries to great affect landing 10 fish with beetles being the best pattern.

Near perfect conditions with overcast conditions, with he wind swinging slightly into the North West. Fishing the overflow Ian Richardson landed 8 fish on big reds taking 4 with 4 more falling to nymphs. Ian also landed a fantastic 5lb rainbow. Terry Tappingden fished alongside Ian at the overflow landing 9 fish on big reds and bob’s bits. John Hurst & Peter Watson landed 17 fish from Rainbow Corner using black pennel teamed with a white fry booby on a washing line. Andy Lane also fished around Rainbow corner with hoppers to land 17 fish. In House guide Lee Henfrey took Kevin Bright out on the water for an 8 hour guide. Enjoying fantastic sport with 40 fish coming to the boat using washing lined hoppers on a midge tip. To book a guided session with Lee call the lodge on 01788 812018.

The water temperature dropped down to just over 16°C which will hopefully mean that the difficult fishing off the water summer is behind us and the trout will start to look up before switching onto fry for the back end. Season ticket holder Peter Fisher landed 16 fish on a dry soldier palmer. Another season ticket holder also catching well from the boats was John Dickens who boated 14 fish all on dries. Steve Barby used the rudder to land 10 fish on tubes and snakes on a di 3 sinking line over the shoals. Thursday also saw the West Midlands police hold a small competition with 8 anglers taking part landing 57 fish for a rod average of 7.1 with the best tactics being dries and washing line in Rainbow Corner.

With temperatures around 17-18°C with winds from the west south west and intermediate cloud it looked a good day for fishing Friday and this turned out to be the case with a rod average of 6.3. Tony Broadway fished the bank from the overflow to land 10 fish which all fell to a big red. It was also dries that proved to be the best tactics from the boats. With Ed Douglas landing 23 all on dries drifting from Rainbow Corner towards A buoy with ginger midas being his top pattern. Kevin Rees also used dries to land 24 but this time it was Bob’s Bits, Kevin found the fish around the flat stones and down the dam wall. Paul Cushnie and Henry Russell from Scotland fished around B buoy to land 29 fish to the boat again on dries. Alan Masters fished Biggin Bay on the boats to land 12 fish using a washing line with a coral booby on the point and cormorants and hoppers on the droppers.

The good sport that had been experienced Friday continued into the weekend with good catches coming from both bank and boat. Mike Garner fished on the tower bank in the morning then rainbow corner later in the day, straight lining diawl bachs to land 7 fish. Mr D Baker fished from the bank at the overflow to land 9 fish on washing line technique with a floating fry and cormorants. Saturday also proved a good day for the rudder as three boats fishing the method all caught well landing doubles figures. Using tubes and snakes on sinking lines across the deep water towards the Draycote Dam. Iain Barr & Ed Foster ventured down to Toft and were rewarded with a catch of 25 between them. Nick Lant enjoyed good sport using a RIO Hover and a booby snake drifting from the overflow to down the Hensbrough bank to land 17 fish. Once again Paul Cushnie & Henry fished dries around B buoy as well as using snakes for a short period to land over 50 fish to the boat.

A much winder day Sunday with speeds up towards 20mph, make the conditions slightly trickier that the previous days. Andy Birkett enjoyed a great days sport boating 31 fish. Andy used buzzers in the morning to great effect with dries later in the day with hoppers being the bets pattern. On their final day of 3 Paul & Henry landed 25 fish on sedge hogs drifting from the Draycote Dam towards B buoy. Father & Son team D & A Speight enjoyed a good day’s sport using popper hoppers to boat 21 fish from Rainbow Corner. John Maxwell also fished Rainbow Corner to land 16 fish on washing lining on a midge tip with hoppers and cat booby.

Weekly Boat draw

Congratulations to Jim Hall from Hinckley the winner of this week’s free boat draw.

Weekly Stats:  

Number Rods:  276   Number Trout Taken:  393    Number Trout Released:   1159

Total Catch: 1552      Weekly Rod Average: 4.1

Current Fishing Times:

Bank:  07:30 until 19:30

Boat All Day: 07:30   until 19:30

Boat Part Day:  AM 08:30    until 14:00  PM 14:00 until   19:30

Last 4 Hours from:  15:30   until     19:30 (Ticket sales available from 15:15)

Gutting Room Closes – 19:00

All Anglers to be off site by: 20:00

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

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 8^th 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

Follow Us on

facebookwww.facebook.com/FlyFishStore twitter www.twitter.com/FlyFishStore

Draycote Water weekly report week ending 9^th September 2018

Telephone Number 01788 812018

Another cooler week teamed with light winds and overcast conditions saw several perfect days, resulting in some excellent rod averages. The continuing cooler nights have also helped to drop the water temperature down further, with the mercury hitting 17°C at the time of writing the report. Overall a total of 238 anglers visited the fishery landing a total of 1,297 fish for a rod average of 5.4.

A flat calm start to the week, which looked like it could have proved challenging to present the flies effective to catch good numbers. However, the fish reacted well to the conditions and could be seen moving just under the surface for much of the day. Season ticket holders Jim Smith & Ed Douglas had an absolute red letter day and couldn’t put a foot wrong. With a score a cricketer would have proud of. The pair found most of their fish around A & M buoy drifting towards the Hensbrough bank with what little wind there was. The best tactic was to fish a RIO Midge Tip Long with a cat booby on the point and then cormorants on the droppers. In the evening however, quite a stiff northly wind picked up and a change of areas and tactics was needed. Jim & Ed moved up to the Draycote Dam drifting down from the tower on dries with hoppers and big reds being the best patterns. Kevin Rees opted for dries all day, fishing around C buoy and the aerators to land another impressive score of 29 with bobs bits, crippled midge and hoppers being his top patterns.

The northerly wind from the previous day remained for Tuesday bringing a chill with it. John Dews and Tony Broadway fished washing line technique around N buoy drifting towards Hensbrough before drifting the middle around P buoy to land 19 fish between them. Peter Elliot stuck to dries all day to land 25 fish finding success in the boils to start with before finding great afternoon sport around P buoy using bobs bits. Richard walker fished over the aerators using snakes on intermediates to tempt 13 fish to the boat. Guiding & Tuition Manager Tom Bird took Keith Back out on a 8 hour guiding landing fish in the morning over the boils on an olive weightless snake fished on a RIO Aqualux. Before a change for the last hour and half to dries and drifting down the top dam wall resulted in a further 7 fish on the boat with Harry Potter’s being the top pattern. To book a guide for your next session call the lodge on 01788 812018. Gary Turner & Dad Dave enjoyed tremendous sport on a last four hour ticket boating 18 fish all on Big Reds.

A lovely cloudy day Wednesday meant some great dry fly sport, the only problem was when the sun broke through at around 3pm the fish weren’t as keen to poke their noses through. Lester Booth & Nigel Nixon landed 30 fish to the boat on dries in the morning and then washing line in the afternoon with red shipmen’s being the best pattern. They found the fish around the tower and towards C buoy and then across the middle. Dave Kennell & Alec Urquhart landed 13 fish using daddies fished on a floating line, the key was to fish them dry and then if nothing came and ate figure of eight them just subsurface.

A sunny start to the day but the cloud soon rolled in around mid morning. Once again season ticket holders Ed & Jim took the boat landing 50 fish between them. The tactics for the day where like Monday with washing line on the RIO Midge Tip Long producing the results, with the stand out pattern being a gold arsed cat booby. The pair found the best drifts on the day to be from D buoy just off Dunn’s Bay to P buoy then from P down to Lincroft shoal and F buoy. Kevin Rees stuck to dries all day with Bob’s Bits and hoppers producing landing 22 fish on bob’s bits and hopper. Welsh anglers Phil Wood & Brian Parry enjoyed a great day landing 58 fish from D buoy to the open water using a long midge tip with boobies and cormorants.

A sunny start to the day with winds swinging a little more into the south west. Lester Booth & Phil Hallam landed 32 fish on dries with ginger hoppers and big red being the best pattern with the Draycote Dam to the middle being the best areas. Paul Mitchell and Dave Kennell landed 21 fish on daddies and washing line in the same areas. Mark Hunt landed 8 fish on diawl bachs through the middle and then in Biggin Bay with the bets fish being a 4lb 6oz rainbow. Phil Wood and Brian Parry once again enjoyed great sport washing lining through the middle on a mix of cat boobies and cormorants. On the bank Tony Ward enjoyed a good mornings sport landing 6 fish from Biggin Bay on black diawl bachs. Brian Warwick also enjoyed good sport from Biggin picking up 5 fish.

Saturday saw a cloudy start with the wind in the south west, which strengthened as the day wore on, as the wind increased it also brought in some rain. On the bank father son team of Nick & Martin Hollingshead landed 7 fish from the Swan’s nest & Biggin Bay on a Montana and buzzers. Also, on the bank Mike Garner landed 5 fish from Tower bank all on crunchers. Ed Upton & son Will landed 24 fish between them on dries and washing line from various areas of the lake. Corey & Chad Russel boated 26 with most of their fish coming from drifts off the Draycote Dam wall on dries. Tom Finney & Jonathan Fromant also used washing line and dry fly tactics to land 21 fish with drifts around P Buoy and D Buoy proving successful. William Crawford used slightly different tactics to the rest of the anglers to land 10 fish. Will found the fish keen to chase a cat booby on a di 5 sweep line drifting near A buoy.

On Sunday Draycote played host to the Youth National Championship with 21 juniors’ fishing for a place in the 2019 England Youth Team. The comp was a complete catch and release match with all fish measured and released. The day was broken into two 3 hour session with place points being used. Windy conditions made presentation a challenge. After several of the lads caught well on washing line techniques and dries on practice it was pulling flies on a di 5 sweep that produced the goods for the match with drifts around A buoy being the most successful area. Winning the day was Harrison Douds who caught 9 fish for 6 place points. Using a gold arsed cat booby on the point a cormorant in the middle then a tequila blob on the top dropper. In second place was Jake Leake and third Corey Russell. Draycote would like to congratulate all the qualifiers and thank the boatmen for giving up their time as without them these events couldn’t happen.

Outside the match Andrew Marton & Spencer Williams landed 38 fish on diawl bachs and hares ears drifting from Rainbow corner out on the open water.

Weekly Boat draw

Congratulations to T Evans from Kirkby In Ashfield. the winner of this week’s free boat draw.

Weekly Stats:  

Number Rods:  238    Number Trout Taken:  189    Number Trout Released:   1108

Total Catch: 1297      Weekly Rod Average: 5.4

Current Fishing Times:

Bank:  07:30 until 19:45

Boat All Day: 07:30   until 19:45

Boat Part Day:  AM 08:30    until 14:00  PM 14:00 until   19:45

Last 4 Hours from:  15:45   until     19:45 (Ticket sales available from 15:00)

Gutting Room Closes – 19:15

All Anglers to be off site by: 20:15

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

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 8^th 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

Follow Us on

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Draycote Water weekly report week ending 2nd September 2018

Telephone Number 01788 812018

Report

The water temperature has held at a steady 18°C with a cool start to the week followed by some lovely later summer sunny days for Friday and the weekend. Overall a good week’s sport was had by the 201 anglers that visited the fishery.  A total of 740 trout were landed which represents a rod average of 3.68 for the period. Good numbers of fish have been caught using dry fly tactics over the week with some big numbers falling to the deadly method. However, some of the sport has been coming late in the day due to massive sedge falls that we have experienced during the evening.

A gusty start to the week with winds in the south west, teamed with some sun made for a tricky day for the majority. However, some anglers found a method to land good numbers. Colin Granger landed a very credible 3 fish from the bank fishing the Overflow in Rainbow Corner. Mike Garner also landed 3 on the Tower Bank using black hares’ ears. Out on the boats Ed Douglas stuck to dries all day to land 19 fish, fishing along the Flat Stones with big reds and hoppers. Kevin Rees also stuck to dry flies all day and landed 13 on bobs bits and hoppers. Kevin did comment that most of his sport came in the last 2 hours of the day. Season ticket holders Richard & John Hanlon landed 10 between them in an afternoon session fishing in the middle on drifts from P- X Buoy. Jim Doyle and Ian Wilson enjoyed a good day on the first of their 3 days from Scotland to netting 13 with Midas being one of the top patterns. Also worthy of a mention Monday was Adrian Gibbard who landed a fantastic 9lb 5oz brown on a deer hair sedge from the Flat Stones. To view a picture of the fish please visit www.facebook.com/flyfishstore

Conditions looked perfect for Tuesday with a light southerly wind and overcast conditions. However, for some reason the fish didn’t really want to play ball. Perhaps it was the overnight swing in the wind direction that knocked them off the feed a little. Tony Broadway & Gordon Slack shared a boat & landed 9 rainbows. Gordon used a small cats whisker while Tony used dry fly tactics to land his fish. Jude Tuffs and Dave East were also on the water & boated 10 from over the aerators but commented on how many they lost in play. The boat of Jim Doyle & Ian Wilson once again accounted for 13 on dries fishing in various spots over the deep water.

Another wind direction for the anglers Wednesday with the wind swinging into the north west. It started at around 9mph before strengthening as the day wore on, with sun in the morning before clouding up as the wind increased. Peter Fisher landed 9 fish on solider palmers fished dry before switching to small spiders on the upwind of the boils. Kieron Barnes fished over the boils with Declan Whelan to land 9 fish on dries and washing line tactics. Finishing up their 3 day break in fine form landing 22 fish, again on dries, was Jim Doyle and Ian Wilson.

A flat calm start with bright sun didn’t have most anglers rushing to the water on Thursday morning. However, the sunny start didn’t appear to have forced fish too deep in the water column as the two boats of John Dickens and Kevin Rees were into fish straight away. The both fished dries around B buoy and the Flat Stones. This action continued all day with steady sport coming in the bright conditions. Once the cloud arrived in the afternoon the dry fly sport kicked up a gear and the pair fished a terrific day with 22 and 25 respectively. Tom Johnson and Dave Ward boated 16 fish all on an olive snake in the afternoon back drifting around B buoy. Dave Kennell & Eddie Mitchell used washing line tactics to land some fantastic fish around 3lb in the open water with their final tally for the day of 17 to the net. Guiding & Tuition Manger Tom Bird enjoyed a day off fishing and landed 12. He found fish around B buoy in the morning using a washing line technique with a booby on the point in conjunction with two nymphs and a claret hopper on the top dropper. In the afternoon it was action with some fry feeding fish over Middle Shoal using the same tactics other than a swap to a sparkler booby on the point.

A warm and sunny Friday culminated in a prolific algae bloom which meant much of the angler pressure was concentrated on the Aerators. However, this did not lead to a reduction in the numbers of fish caught. Ed Upton fished with his wife Jayne using orange foam daddies in the boils to land 14 fish and commented that he had never seen so many fish up and feeding over aerators.  John Dews and Tony Broadway landed 10 on a mix of washing line and dries. Ian Pugh and Tim James landed 15 over the boils also using dries. Season ticket holder Ian Reeve enjoyed great sport too, using a small olive snake to land 17 rainbows in a 5 hour afternoon session.

More bright sun to start off September on Saturday morning although cloud developed shortly after lunch. Nick Mead & Ian Teale enjoyed fine sport using diawl bachs on drifts just off the side of the boils towards Dunn’s. They netted a total of 14. Chris Discombe & Jim Brennan landed 7 on small white boobies drifting through the aerators. Tom Bird guided husband & wife team, Pete and Beth Wood, out on the water following an introductory casting session to experience fly fishing for the first time. They had a red letter day landing 12 rainbows on their first experience of the sport. Drifting over the boils with daddies on a floater for Pete and an olive snake on a sink 3 line for Beth proved to be the recipe for success. To book a session with Tom call the lodge on 01788 812018.

Sunday rounded off the period with a continuation of warm and bright conditions. Great sport was enjoyed by many anglers though with the rod average for the day rising to 4.7. George Leaton’s early morning drive up from London was rewarded with a 13 fish tally by lunchtime. All his fish came to pink snakes fished high in the water column. Dave Adams paired with Andy Ross for a morning session too & fished washing line tactics, with a sparkler booby on the point, on drifts through B buoy. Fry feeding fish were quick to attack the sparkler & they ended the session having landed ten between them. Dixie Baxter & Gareth Davies enjoyed similar sport throughout the day to end on a collective 14. Brendan Thomas was unquestionably top rod for the day fishing a combo of FABs & blobs drifting through the Aerators. His action was fast & furious & his day ended with him having landed a total of 24 rainbows.

With water temperatures now falling & the likes of daddies, sedge  & fry on the menu, we look forward to the prospects ahead for even more improvement in our sport.

Weekly Boat draw

Congratulations to Ted Mills from Tenbury Wells. the winner of this week’s free boat draw.

Weekly Stats:  

Number Rods:  201    Number Trout Taken:  179    Number Trout Released:   561

Total Catch: 740      Weekly Rod Average: 3.68

Current Fishing Times:

Bank:  07:30 until 20:00

Boat All Day: 07:30   until 20:00

Boat Part Day:  AM 08:30    until 14:30   PM 14:30 until   20:00

Last 4 Hours from:  16:00   until     20:00 (Ticket sales available from 15:45)

Gutting Room Closes – 19:30

All Anglers to be off site by: 20:30

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

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 8^th 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

Follow Us on

facebookwww.facebook.com/FlyFishStore twitter www.twitter.com/FlyFishStore

Draycote Water weekly report week ending 26th August 2018

Telephone Number 01788 812018

Report

A much cooler week overall, with heavy showers at times and overnight temperatures, down into single figures towards the back end of the week. As a result, the water temperature at the time of writing the report was holding at a more trout friendly 18°C. Causing the fish to move higher in the water column with dries and washing line on a floater accounting for good numbers of fish. Overall a total of 214 anglers visited the fishery for a rod average of 3.1 landing a total of 656 fish.

A sunny start to the week, however, by 11am the cloud arrived making for near perfect conditions. Season ticket holder Ian Reeve fished for the afternoon from a boat landing 6 fish. The most successful tactic for Ian was washing lined Diawl Bachs on a floating line with a FAB around X buoy, although, he did take 2 on a pink snake. Andy Birkett & Brent Vinall kicked off the first of their three day break in fine form boating 18 between them. The pair found the best tactics to be fishing a washing line with a mix of Diawl Bachs, buzzers and hares’ ears with either a FAB or Humongous booby on the point. The best drifts seemed to be around P buoy in the afternoon and then over the aerators. Fishing the last four hours Richard Pelly boated 6 fish all on a big red fishing in the scum lanes either side of the aerators.

Conditions Tuesdays where the complete opposite to the day before with a cloudy start that saw the sun break through towards the afternoon. With the arrival of the sun, the boat of Andy & Brent decided to drop down slightly in the water column and straight line the same nymphs as the previous day. This proved to be a good call as they boated 16 fish, again over the aerators, but drifts from the Draycote Dam to B buoy with a washing line proved affective in the morning. Tony Baldwin enjoyed a good day’s sport landing 15 fish from around J & N buoy. In the morning Tony landed 8 fishing dries, before a switch to washing lining in the afternoon. Tony’s washing line set up consisted of a claret hopper on the top dropper, two nymphs in the middle then a FAB on the point all fished on a midge tip.

Overcast with an increase in wind speeds on the Wednesday, promised to provide good sport. However, the fish had not read the rule book and proved to be slightly tricky. Andy & Brent finished their 3 day break by landing 11 fish, once again using nymphs fished static through the boils. Although the pair found success using a di 3 sinking line with crunchers drifting off the Draycote Dam. Season ticket holder Dave Atkins enjoyed good sport from the aerators landing 8 fish on a washing line set up with pheasant tail nymphs and a yellow FAB. Also, out on the water was Guiding & Tuition Manager Tom Bird who took 11 year old Finlay out to see if he could land his first fish on his brand new Redington Minnow outfit purchased for his birthday. After a short casting lesson, it wasn’t long before Fin had landed his first fish on his new rod and was beaming from ear to ear. To see the picture please visit www.facebook.com/flyfishstore to talk to Tom about an experience session for your child to get them hooked on Fly Fishing ring the lodge on 01788 812018.

Lucky the fish had read the rule book for the anglers when the great conditions arrived Thursday with light winds and overcast skies all day, resulting in the rod average shot up to 5.3. Peter Elliot fished around A & B Buoy to land 14 fish with 4 on dries before switching to washing lined crunchers to land the further 10. Season ticket holder Gordon Bramwell fished with boat partner Ken Cooke, enjoying great sport with over 30 fish to the boat. The pair found the fish around the aerators then drifting around A,B & C buoy with a mix of washing line and dries. John Dickens stuck to dries all day landing 15 fish with a size 12 red Bob’s Bits being his best pattern.

Gusty winds and rain showers mixed with sunny spells saw the fish slightly knock off the fed from the great rod average of Thursday. Mr D Nataly & Danny Lovegrove landed 11 fish on orange daddies, bloodworm and black & gold humongous fished round C buoy drifting on to the aerators. The boat of John Hurst & Peter Watson landed 14 fish on pink snakes and boobies fished near the surface on intermediate lines. The best boat on the day was that of William Riddick’s & Alastair Murphy with 18 fish to the boat. However, they were keeping the tactics tight to their chest ahead of the Fly Dressers Guild John Watts trophy the next day.

Saturday saw Draycote host the Fly Dressers Guild (FDG) for the John Watts competition. With 54 anglers taking part making up teams of 4 from FDG regions all around the country. A total of 156 fish were caught for a rod average of 2.9 The winning team was Newhaylie Fly Fishers who landed an impressive 26 fish. With the competition top rod Alastair Murphy with an impressive 9 fish, helping Newhaylie to the win. The team had found the fish drifting from the Draycote Dam wall to B buoy. Then out over the open water as well as all the way down the Draycote Dam drifting to the valve tower and C buoy. The method employed by the team was to fish a 3ft midge tip with 2 black or bibio hoppers and a tequila FAB on the point. Outside the competition rudder regulars Jim Dempsey & Ifor Jones landed 15 fish between them going down the boils with tubes and snakes on a di 3 sinking line.

A lovely start to Sunday with light winds and overcast conditions, this soon changed by 10am with the arrival of the rain and then the wind by lunch time turning the day into a wet and windy affair. The rain stayed all day and as a result at 3pm in the afternoon there was only one boat left on the water. George Leaton landed 3 in his short time on the water using a tequila FAB on a di 3 sinking line. The boat of Mick O’Farrell and Son Darren landed 3 fish between them on dries before the rain got the better of them. The best catch of the day went to Michael Hanlon who landed 5 fish in his morning session, fishing over the deep water near the Draycote Dam. Michael found the fish keen to take washing lines hoppers with a small FAB on the point on a floating line.

Looking ahead to next week the weather is set to remain cooler, with overnight temperatures hitting single figures. This has already helped to drop the water temperature by 2°C in two days. If the water temperature continues to drop should start to see the fish more and more on the top and catches to dry flies increase just in time for the return of the daddies.

Draycote is pleased to once again be hosting the English Youth National which will take place on Sunday 9^th September. However, to help make the event as successful as possible we are looking for volunteer boatmen for the day.  Their role is predominantly to ensure the young anglers have a safe & enjoyable day, fishing fairly and in a friendly spirit. Competitors will all be looking to fulfil their dream of competing for England in next year’s youth international. If you have an interest in assisting us with this event as a volunteer boatman, please contact the lodge on 01788 812018. All boatmen will receive a free boat voucher in appreciation of their assistance. These will be valid for use at any of our fisheries.

Weekly Boat draw

Congratulations to Ifor Jones from Perton the winner of this week’s free boat draw.

Weekly Stats:  

Number Rods: 215  Number Trout Taken: 214  Number Trout Released:   442

Total Catch: 656    Weekly Rod Average: 3.1

Current Fishing Times:

Bank:  07:30 until 20:15

Boat All Day: 07:30   until 20:15

Boat Part Day:  AM 08:30    until 14:30   PM 14:30 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: 20:45

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

English Youth National –   ! Request for Boatmen!

Draycote is pleased to once again be hosting the English Youth National which will take place on Sunday 9^th September. However, to help make the event as successful as possible we are looking for volunteer boatmen for the day.  Their role is predominantly to ensure the young anglers have a safe & enjoyable day, fishing fairly and in a friendly spirit. Competitors will all be looking to fulfil their dream of competing for England in next year’s youth international. If you have an interest in assisting us with this event as a volunteer boatman, please contact the lodge on 01788 812018.

All boatmen will receive a free boat voucher in appreciation of their assistance. These will be valid for use at any of our fisheries.

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 8^th 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

Follow Us on

facebookwww.facebook.com/FlyFishStore twitter www.twitter.com/FlyFishStore

Draycote Water weekly report week ending 19th August 2018

Telephone Number 01788 812018

Report

With the water temperature having dropped to 20 degrees, and more cloudy conditions through the day, the fish now seem to be getting caught across a larger area of the venue. The assistance of the odd shower or two also seems to have improved conditions for bank anglers, with some turning their perseverance into decent numbers of fish landed, particularly so when targeting the deeper areas off the Tower bank and Dunn’s Bay. The main areas to fish remain A, B and C Buoys but fish are now showing up on the Hensborough Bank, as well as P and X Buoy over Middle Shoal.

During the period 157 anglers visited the fishery and caught 391 fish, producing a weekly rod average of 2.5

Monday was a blustery day which led to difficult conditions. However, anglers reported a combination of hooking into fish but dropping them almost immediately or experiencing very tentative takes which were never converted. Mr Malcolm Bryan faired well with 4 fish to the boat on foam daddies. Kevin Rees managed only 2 to the boat on dries and reported on “a tough day”.

Tuesday produced much the same weather conditions and no real improvement in the fishing. A number of our seasoned regulars drew blanks whilst others, through nothing but hard work and determination, managed to get some respectable numbers to the boat. David East and Jude Tuffs caught 4 and 10 fish respectively. Dave Adkins managed to boat 7 rainbows on Pheasant Tail Nymphs in the Aerators. Alan Grant, and his boat partner Mr L Morris, took four each from a boat at the western end of the reservoir.

Wednesday dawned with some cloud cover and a light westerly breeze. The rod average took a turn for the better with anything from a floating line to a Di7 showing up on the catch returns. Fellow boat partners Peter Elliott and Lee Patten caught a dozen between them and John Dickens boated 17 fish for the day, commenting that whilst he was catching on dries early on, he later progressed to a Di 7 and lures. Chris Howkins and Steve Owen boated 18 fish around C Buoy and along the Tower Bank on snakes.

Thursday saw the water temperature drop to 20.5 degrees with showers blowing in from the south west. The weather cleared by the afternoon, but it was just enough to get us all thinking that the end of these difficult conditions was in sight.   S Radcliffe caught 5 fish from a boat and Mr Richard Walker and Mr N Barber had seven between them.

Friday was the first time we saw the water temperature show 20 degrees and whilst it seemed a bit chilly and windy at times throughout the day, it remained muggy & the fishing proved a little difficult for some anglers. Draycote regulars Tony Broadway and John Dews managed six from a drifting boat. Mr Peter Fisher managed 4 on soldier palmers. However, Eileen Chatwin boated a dozen and commented on “a nice day out”.

The surface water temperature remained at 20 degrees on Saturday, with winds in the south west and strong gusts at times. This teamed with patches of cloud interspersed with sunny spells made it look like it was to be a slightly challenging day for the anglers. However, several anglers proved that, despite the less than ideal conditions, good catches where still to be had. Jim Edwards had a great day drifting over the boils to boat 20 fish. Jim’s winning tactic was to fish a pink snake on an intermediate line and pull it back straight off the top with the fish taking just a couple of feet under the surface. The boat of L & D Orton enjoyed good sport too netting 21 rainbows between them. Daren Fox fished on a short 5 hour afternoon session in fine form to land eight. He found fish drifting from B Buoy down to the tower about 75 yards off the Draycote Dam wall. All his fish took a yellow FAB fished as part of a washing line on a floater.

Southerly winds to start the day on Sunday which then strengthened and swung more to the west. A cloudy start that did see some sun breakthrough in the afternoon before the cloud returned once more into the evening. Eyebrook season ticket holder Richard Watson enjoyed a good day afloat with son Duncan. They boated 12 fish using black snakes on Di 5, although the fish came just under the surface as the flies were retrieved straight off the top with a quick roly-poly retrieve. Martyn Price and Dave Hancox landed 11 fish using yellow FABS drifting over around C Buoy and down the Tower Bank. Brothers Michael & John Hanlon enjoyed a good mornings sport together using again a yellow FAB but this time on a Di 3 sinking line. They searched out fish feeding at the Flat Stones, along the Tower Bank and then around B Buoy. Alistair Beaumont & Stuart Hall took advantage of our two day breaks. Having enjoyed great sport at Eyebrook on Saturday, it was time to see if they could replicate their success here. This they did landing 19 rainbows between them using a fast intermediate with a pink snake and white minkie with a roly-poly retrieve. All their fish came on drifts from the back of the boils to P Buoy.

Looking ahead, Draycote is pleased to once again be hosting the English Youth National which will take place on Sunday 9^th September. However, to help make the event as successful as possible we are looking for volunteer boatmen for the day.  Their role is predominantly to ensure the young anglers have a safe & enjoyable day, fishing fairly and in a friendly spirit. Competitors will all be looking to fulfil their dream of competing for England in next year’s youth international. If you have an interest in assisting us with this event as a volunteer boatman, please contact the lodge on 01788 812018. All boatmen will receive a free boat voucher in appreciation of their assistance. These will be valid for use at any of our fisheries.

Next week’s forecasts look favourable with some cooler days on the horizon. We hope to see further drops in water temperatures, and with it a greater increase in fish activity. Considerable numbers of fish taken for the pot have been found to contain small perch fry and we have also started to see the first of the daddy-long-legs in & around the shop.

Weekly Boat draw

Congratulations to Alistair Beaumont from Lancaster – the winner of this week’s free boat draw.

Weekly Stats:  

Number Rods:  157    Number Trout Taken:  130    Number Trout Released:   261

Total Catch: 391      Weekly Rod Average: 2.5

Current Fishing Times:

Bank:  07:30 until 20:30

Boat All Day: 07:30   until 20:30

Boat Part Day:  AM 08:30    until 14:30   PM 14:30 until   20:30

Last 4 Hours from:  16:30    until     20:30 (Ticket sales available from 16:15)

Gutting Room Closes – 20:00

All Anglers to be off site by: 21:00

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

English Youth National –   ! Request for Boatmen!

Draycote is pleased to once again be hosting the English Youth National which will take place on Sunday 9^th September. However, to help make the event as successful as possible we are looking for volunteer boatmen for the day.  Their role is predominantly to ensure the young anglers have a safe & enjoyable day, fishing fairly and in a friendly spirit. Competitors will all be looking to fulfil their dream of competing for England in next year’s youth international. If you have an interest in assisting us with this event as a volunteer boatman, please contact the lodge on 01788 812018.

All boatmen will receive a free boat voucher in appreciation of their assistance. These will be valid for use at any of our fisheries.

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 8^th 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

Follow Us on

facebookwww.facebook.com/FlyFishStore twitter www.twitter.com/FlyFishStore

Draycote Water weekly report week ending 13th August 2018

Telephone Number 01788 812018

Report

A total of 220 anglers visited the fishery during this period and enjoyed much better sport towards the middle and end of the week with the benefit of a drop in temperatures. With Wednesday posting a rod average of 6.25, this drop in the air temperature, teamed with some much need rain, has seen a dramatic improvement in fishing. For the week anglers landed a total of 691 fish representing a rod average 3.14

A quite start on Monday with the warm weather keeping most of the anglers away. D Molyneaux enjoyed a good day’s sport landing 5 rainbows from the boils on a floating line with a small foam daddy fished just under the surface.

Tuesday saw another hot sunny day with winds in the south west and surface water temperatures at 24°C in the morning rising slightly as the day progressed. Because of the water temperatures the best sport was found over the boils. Elliot Fawdington & Martin Matthews fished over the aerators using a di 5 sinking line and pink snakes to land 10 fish to the boat. Fabrice Dockier also fished around the boils and C buoy using sinking lines with lures to land 4 fish. In the evening manger Kevin Hart took young angler Chasen and his dad Chris from California out for a short  session landing 3 nice rainbows all on foam bodied daddies fished in the boils.

Wednesday saw the break in the weather with the air temperatures dropping down to around 18°C. This caused an overnight drop in water temperature of 1 degree taking it to 23°C and by the evening it had dropped even further to 21.5°C. This drop caused an increase in the rod average with it shooting up to over 6. The boils remained the hotspot but with good cloud cover fish rose generally in the water column to hold just under the surface. Keith Allison & Stuart Foulds enjoyed some great sport fishing floating lines. The pair found the best flies to be black buzzers and diawl bachs with red and green being their favoured colours. They finished the day with 30 fish to the boat. Messrs K James & A Williams also fished the boils but with slow intermediates and a mix for cormorants, boobies and blobs to land 22 to the boat.

A massive drop in overnight temperatures with the mercury hitting 9°C through the night helped to keep the surface temperatures down at 21°C. This resulted in fish on the surface feeding on adult buzzers and sedges first thing in the morning on Thursday. As a result, some good returns came to dries. Season ticket holder Paul Mitchell landed 10 fish on dries around B & A buoy as well as through the middle. Bob’s Bits was his best pattern. Graham Homer also fished dries in the middle around X buoy to boat 5 fish on a half-day session. Graham commented that he had lots of fish come and look at the dries but didn’t commit to taking and it wasn’t until he started to figure of eight the dries he had more positive takes. Fishing on his birthday, Colin England took to the water with regular partner Tony Plummer to enjoy a good days sport and celebrated the occasion landing 10 fish between them. Ian Reeve fished over the boils to land 14 fish for the day on a mix of daddies, diawl bach and the odd one on a snake. Jude Tuffs also fished over the boils with nymphs to boat 11 fish.

Friday saw yet another cloudy start to the day, with conditions looking great for some more of the same top of the water sport following heavy overnight rain. This proved to be the case with all the best returns of the day coming to dry fly tactics. Gordon Bramwell and Phil Thomas enjoyed a good day’s sport landing 15 fish between them fishing around A buoy and C buoy. Davie Auld and Jim Youngman landed 12 fish between them with Davie using dries for his 6 while Jim opted for a di 3 sweep and two FABS. Season ticket holder Kevin Rees took to the water using his trusty 4 weight outfit and dries to land 11 fish all on Bob’s Bits in size 14. Alex Johnstone & Kevin Perry also used dries to land all their 15 fish to the boat. The pair found most of the fish between A-B buoy. Another angler who stuck to the dries all day was Ed Douglas who boated 14 fish all on a big red hopper around B buoy and the Flat Stones.

Saturday saw a busy day at the fishery with every boat out including some of the boats from Eyebrook had been brought over for Youth International last week. A bright start to the day but it did cloud over in the afternoon bringing what looked like near perfect conditions although the fishing didn’t quite live up to the quality of the weather.  Invicta FFC took to the water for a club competition which saw 22 anglers land 55 fish for a rod average of 2.5. Winning the match was David Moore who landed 6 fish all of which came close to the boils on small nymphs fished on a floating line. Keith Gilchrist, who also landed 6 from the boils, again on small nymphs but fished on a RIO Midge Tip. Saturday also saw Draycote play host to the “any line day” of the Anglers World Holiday Fly Fishing Championships with 28 anglers also landing 55 fish for a rod average of 1.96. Winning the match was Fabrice Dockier from Belgium with a 5 fish total. He used nymphs on a floating line around A buoy. In second place was Alex Johnstone who landed 1 more fish than Fabrice with 6 but unfortunately for Alex the 3 on the scales weighed less.  Alex used small diawl bachs, figure of eighted on a floater, around A & B buoys. For the full copy of the results please visit John Horsey’s Facebook page.

More heavy overnight rain on Saturday combined with overcast, showery skies all day on Sunday, provided good conditions for the “floating line only” heat of the Anglers World Holiday Championship. The constant cloud and rain obviously had a positive impact with a total catch of 187 rainbows representing a rod average of 5.67 for the event.  Our congratulations go to 17 year old England Youth International Seth Mayhew-Tuson who showed his class in a field of great anglers by boating 12 fish to win the heat Seth used dries all day in the middle of the lake at X buoy to take all his fish on a straight southerly wind, His best pattern was a midas. The methods for those who caught well seemed to be a bit of a mix with three main tactics shining out:  either dries, washing lining or pulling fabs and boobies through the surface.

Looking ahead to next week, forecasts look favourable, so we hope to see water temperatures to continue to drop, and with it an increase in fish activity.

Weekly Boat draw

Congratulations to Ian Gaskell from Wigan, the winner of this week’s free boat draw.

Weekly Stats:  

Number Rods: 220  Number Trout Taken: 290  Number Trout Released:   401

Total Catch:  691     Weekly Rod Average: 3.14

Current Fishing Times:

Bank:  07:30 until 20:45

Boat All Day: 07:30   until 20:45

Boat Part Day:  AM 08:30    until 14:30   PM 14:30 until   20:45

Last 4 Hours from:  16:45    until     20:45 (Ticket sales available from 16:30)

Gutting Room Closes – 20:15

All Anglers to be off site by: 21:00

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

English Youth National –   ! Request for Boatmen!

Draycote is pleased to once again be hosting the English Youth National which will take place on Sunday 9^th September. However, to help make the event as successful as possible we are looking for volunteer boatmen for the day.  Their role is predominantly to ensure the young anglers have a safe & enjoyable day, fishing fairly and in a friendly spirit. Competitors will all be looking to fulfil their dream of competing for England in next year’s youth international. If you have an interest in assisting us with this event as a volunteer boatman , please contact the lodge on 01788 812018.

All boatmen will receive a free boat voucher in appreciation of their assistance. These will be valid for use at any of our fisheries.

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 8^th 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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Draycote Water weekly report week ending 5th August 2018

Telephone Number 01788 812018

Report

A busy week as Draycote played host to the 2018 Youth Home International with Teams from England, Scotland, Wales & Ireland all competing for the chance to take home the Gold medal. A total of 357 rods visited the fishery landing a total of 554 trout for a rod average of 1.5 for the week.

After the weekends high winds and cool temperatures, the week started with a 2 degree drop in water temperature and overcast conditions. This looked a great omen for some improved sport just in time for all the youth teams arriving. The drop in surface water temperatures teamed with good overhead conditions, certainly did the trick with good catches reported by all the nations. England reported an impressive 35 fish caught by the team, Scotland 25 and similar numbers for Ireland and Wales. The tactics on the day seamed to be focusing on fishing the top 5 feet of the water column with dries, washing lining or pulling wets and boobies on di 3 sinking lines. The fish seemed to be well spread across the lake with anglers catching from Rainbow Corner and down in Toft Shallows.

Tuesday saw a slightly different day weather wise with lighter winds and bright skies. As a result, this made the fishing slightly more challenging. With the fish dropping deeper in the water. While some fish still came to the dries in the bright weather it was the blobs, boobies and cormorants that tempted the fish with the best lines being di 3 & di 5s. The areas remained much the same with Rainbow corner looking like a hotspot as well as G buoy in Toft. However, later in the day the Welsh youth team did catch well over at E buoy drifting towards Lincroft point.

A bright start the international match day but as the teams started their procession up to the boats being led by the traditional piper the cloud started to role in. A great excitement around the fishery the start of the match. With some fantastic patriotism being shown by all nations flying the country colours. At the start of the match the boats split evenly with half the field heading up towards the Draycote Dam with 3 heading for Rainbow Corner and the rest C buoy and the tower. The remaining boats headed down towards G buoy and Toft. After a few hours after taking a drive out the safety boat it was clear it was going to be a very tight match. With all the nations seeming to be getting one and twos but no one running away with it. At the end of the day it was a very close affair with good catches from all nations with Zach Neufeild, doing well for Scotland with 5 with a number of fours from all nations. After a very tense weight in the results were announced.

1^st Scotland 26 2^nd England 23 3^rd Wales 21 4^th Ireland 20.

A very close match with only 2lb 12oz separating Scotland and England. The best tactics for the day seemed to be dries for most of the anglers who used a mix of orange daddies, big reds and midas. The top areas seemed to be around the Inlet, outlet and Rainbow Corner. With the top individual Zach from Scotland fishing tight into the inlet.

From everyone at the fishery we would like to thank all the anglers and coaches from all nations who made hosting the event an absolute pleasure. A special thanks must also be given to the boatman & ladies who gave up the time, as without you the match would not be able to go ahead.

After the cool days at the start if the week Thursday saw the temperatures increase again. However, the previous days cool weather had dropped the water temperature enough that we were able to stock 1,050 fin perfect trout over in the deep water at Dunn’s Bay. Despite the water weather and sun the fish continued to pull back with a rod average for the day of 4. Dennis Tidmarsh fished around the boils with a mix of lures to land 6 fish. While the boat of Richard Walker and N Barber landed 24 fish to the boat fishing in the boils. Season ticket holder Graham Homer enjoyed good sport in a short session landing 4 out in the middle on traditional wets. In House guide Lee Henfrey good regular client John O’Hara out with John enjoying great sport landing 16 fish. John under Lee’s watchful eye used a di 5 forty plus with a white booby snake. John and Lee commented how they caught nearly everywhere they went but that there was a main concentration of fish at the flat stones off the dam. Top honours of the day went to the boat of John Goldie & John Poote who landed an impressive 30 fish using green buzzers on a floating line drifting between A & B buoy before moving to the boils to continue catching on red holographic diawl bachs.

A difficult day Friday with another hot day putting the fish off the fed for most of the day. However, they did come on in the evening with the brotherly team of Michael & Richard Hanlon landed 12 fish on a last four hour ticket fishing in the boils. Visiting from California, Chasen Yuen and Dad Chris landed 4 fish on daddies fished in the boils.

A cloudy start to Saturday, although, the sun did soon break through around 11am. Stan Suddick enjoyed good sport boating 11 fish from the boils on a floating line and a team of nymphs. Glyn Williams used a team of diawl bachs to tempt 10 fish with the aerators again producing the goods, but this time fished on a intermediate line. Mr Middleton used dries and boobies to great effect landing 10 fish with the aerators being the hotspot. Draycote also hosted the English Premier Performance league (EPP) with some of the top anglers’ fishing as part of the their league of matches hoping to gain a place in the world and European team for the next year. A difficult day with the best tactics for the lads being either to fish dries for the morning session or to pull zonkers on a di 5 or di 7 sweep.

A very warm day with temperatures in the 30s for the anglers heading out on the water Sunday. Mark Goodge from Leicester all abilities fly fishers enjoyed a good days sport landing 6 fish all on dabblers and hare ears fished on a floating line. Ian Bradfield also from the all abilities had a good day landing 11 fish on a di 3 using a black and green lure. The EPP also returned Sunday for the final round with the best tactics on the day being a di 5 sweep with either pink or black zonkers. With sparklers on the same line also producing the goods. Mid North Hants also fished Sunday in their Chairman’s Trophy with Mark Frost taking the top honours with a 4 fish bag weight of 9lb 8 oz including a cracking 3lb 3oz rainbow.

Looking ahead to next week the weather is set to break Thursday with temperatures cooling off towards the 20s with the chance of some rain forecast that should hopefully bring the fish back up towards the surface looking for food. Saturday also sees another ‘Boat Tuition Day’ being ran by Guiding & Tuition Manager Tom Bird. There’re still places available on the day please visit www.flyfishtuition.co.uk/prices for more infomation.

Weekly Boat draw

Congratulations to Dave Bailey from Markfield who is the winner of this week’s free boat draw.

Weekly Stats:

Number Rods:  357   Number Trout Taken:  179  Number Trout Released:   375

Total Catch:   554     Weekly Rod Average: 1.5

Current Fishing Times:

Bank:  07:30 until 21:00

Boat All Day: 07:30   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: 21:15

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

Angler World Fly Fishing Championship- Saturday 11^th August (Any Line) & Sunday 12^th 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 8^th 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

Follow Us on

facebookwww.facebook.com/FlyFishStore twitter www.twitter.com/FlyFishStore