Draycote Water weekly report week ending 29th July 2018

Telephone Number 01788 812018

Report

A week of two halves with the first part, continuing in the same form as the previous two with temperatures well into the 20s with light winds and bright sun. However, by the end of the week the temperatures had dropped down around 15°C bringing some much needed winds to help cool surface temperatures. This drop in temperatures helped to bring the fish towards the surface meaning that some fantastic top of the water sport could be had. Overall a total of 116 anglers visited the fishery landing a total of 353 trout for a rod average of 3.

Monday started warm with high cloud and a light south westerly wind. Rod Wilson took to the water to land 6 fish from the boils on a di 7 sinking line and a gold tube. Season ticket holders Jim Smith & Ed Douglas had a good day’s sport landing 17 but it wasn’t till 6pm when they found the method to unlocking the door to success. Using a di 8 with cormorants around A & B buoy before a change to dries for the last hour.

A cloudy start to Tuesday which soon brightened up to another warm day by 11am. Mr Mclean fished a black a green snake on a sinking line by C Buoy to boat 4 fish. Season ticket holder Jim Hall also landed 4 fish fishing around the boils and B Buoy. Darren Fox out for an afternoon landed 4 fish drifting between A-B buoy with Midas being the best flies.

A very warm day Wednesday which saw the surface water temperature start the day at 25°C. As expected these flat very hot conditions made for some challenging fishing for those anglers who headed out on the day. Stephen Mclean fished with a di 7 sinking line and a mix of hot head damsels and gold humungous on the boils to land 8 fish on a very tricky day. Season ticket holder Jim Smith fished a last four hour on dries to land 5 fish over the deep water around B buoy and then the boils. In House guide Lee Henfrey took Darren Fox out for an afternoon guide with the pair landing 10 fish between them in a 4 hour guide. The pair used sinking lines with a mix and cormorants and boobies around B buoy.

Terrible conditions with not a breath of wind all day and bright sun Thursday resulted in only a boat going out landing 1 fish apiece of the boils. Friday saw the start if the much needed cooler temperatures and overcast conditions. This saw the fishing improve overnight. However, it wasn’t till later in the day around 6pm when the fish really started to pull back. Season ticket holder Jim Smith hit this window on a last four hour landing 15 fish all on orange daddies fished just underneath the surface. Jim found that the key was to just move them slightly and the fish would and lock up, with b buoy being the hotspot.

A windy wet day Saturday, with strong south westerly winds. The rudder lads Ifor Jones and Jim Dempsey found these conditions great enjoying good sport landing 12 fish to the boat using a mixture of snakes and tubes on di 7 sinking lines. Paul Davison enjoyed good sport fishing midas landing 14 fish across Rainbow Corner and going towards B buoy and out from the Draycote Dam. Scott Graham practicing for the Scierra Pairs the following day used a floating line with 2 FABS and 2 nymphs to enjoy great sport drifting out of Rainbow corner and commented at one stage he couldn’t get his flies back the boat without a fish on.

Sunday saw Draycote host the final round of the Scierra pairs with 16 pairs all fishing for 4 places in final at Grafham in September. The match fished to a 3.2 fish rod average with 3 pairs all catching their 12 fish limits, with a further 3 pairs all with 10. So it was  very close affair for the 4 places in the final. Winning the day, Gary Owen & Dom Sheratte who fished around Rainbow corner and A buoy with Gary on dries while Dom pulled tubes on a di 5 sweep. In second place was new member of staff Mark Haycock and Neil Deakin who used pink snakes again on a di 5 sweep around Rainbow Corner and A buoy. In third season ticket holder Alec Urquhart & Bernie Maher used dries and snatchers on floating lines to land their 12 fish. Then in 4^th beating Draycote Ranger Lee Henfrey & Ronnie Gent by half a pound was Scott Graham & Paul Morris who used the same tactics as the day before to land 10 fish again with A buoy and Rainbow coroner being the hotspot. Outside of the competition Matt & Callum Russel landed over 20 fish to the boat including some fantastic overwintered fish but kept the tactics close to their chest as Callum is competing in the youth international on Wednesday.

Looking ahead to the coming week Draycote looks forward to hosting all the home nations on Monday and Tuesday ahead of the youth international on Wednesday. With the water temperature cooling off over the weekend and the fish coming up in the water we are expecting to have some good sport for the nations and wish them all the best of luck.

Weekly Boat draw

Congratulations to Mark Harrison from Walsall who is the winner of this week’s free boat draw.

Weekly Stats:

Number Rods:  116   Number Trout Taken:  132  Number Trout Released:   221

Total Catch:   353       Weekly Rod Average: 3.0

Current Fishing Times:

Bank:  07:30 until 21:15

Boat All Day: 07:30   until 21:30

Boat Part Day:  AM 08:30    until 15:00   PM 15:00   until   21:15

Last 4 Hours from:  17:15    until     21:15 (Ticket sales available from 17:00)

Gutting Room Closes – 20:45

All Anglers to be off site by: 21:30

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

Scierra Pairs – Sunday 29^th July- To book please visit https://www.scierrapairs.co.uk/ (organiser Phil Dixon)

Youth International Wednesday 1^st August- PLEASE NOTE ALL BOATS ARE BOOKED FOR THIS EVENT

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

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Draycote Water weekly report week ending 22nd July 2018

Telephone Number 01788 812018

Report

What a great week at Draycote it has been, as we were voted the UK’s number one Stillwater by Trout Fisherman magazine. The management and staff would like to thank all our customers for their support, as well as the positive comments we have received both personally, and on our facebook page. These only help to motivate us as we try to move forward and improve the fishery in the future.

While the heatwave continued this week at Draycote we did have overcast conditions at times, which helped to cool the surface temperature by a couple of degrees. This teamed with a consistent wind direction, meant that some cooler surface temperatures could be found at the back of the wind, and as a result fish could be taken on dry flies. Overall a good week with a total of 176 rods visiting the fishery, landing a total of 621, for a weekly rod average of 3.5.

The week started off on Monday with more of a reduction in air temperature, than had been seen over the previous weekend. Season ticket holder Jim Smith & Ed Douglas took the water hoping to tempt a few fish. The pair fished around A & B buoy with a Di 5 sweep in the morning, combined with a team of nymphs and a booby. Although later in the day the fish did come up on dries and the pair capitalised on this using red harry potters. In total the pair enjoyed fantastic sport landing 42 fish between them. Adam Larbaister & Ben Bayliss took the long drive down from Cumbria to enjoy a day afloat. Both landing 8 fish each drifting from A to B buoy with drifts over the boils also proving productive. The lads found the fish keen to pull back on snakes fished on a sinking line. Jeff Ide fished for an afternoon session around A buoy to land 14 fish all on dries with a daddy and a big red.

A largely overcast day Tuesday greeted the anglers, and with the conditions the fishery produced a highly impressive 7 fish rod average. Peter Elliot fished with Stuart Lee before his flight back to Canada later in the week. Between them landing 21 fish using snakes and dries over the boils and towards A buoy. Ed Douglas fished again this time enjoying a boat with fellow season ticket holder Lee Patten, the pair used nymphs and dries over the boils and landed 14 between them. Once Lee had left, Ed decided to return to the water to see if he could tempt any more. This proved to be a good call as he landed an impressive 18 fish all on dries fishing around the Top Dam Wall on big reds. Ian Earle and a party of 5 other traveling anglers from Scotland, enjoyed great sport landing 69 fish between them on dry flies fished tight in to the Draycote dam wall just along from the flat stones.

A sunnier day on Wednesday than previous days did cause the fish to go of the feed slightly and drop in the water, although some anglers did post some good returns to dry fly tactics. One such angler was Kevin Rees who landed 9 fish on bob’s bits around the Draycote Dam wall and over near A buoy. Eddie Mitchell & Dave Kennell used fast sinking booby bashers and di 7 sinking lines to land 9 fish to the boat around A & B buoy on a mix of boobies and cormorants. The traveling Scottish anglers landed 25 fish between them again on a mixture from dries and lures on sinking lines again around the Draycote Dam and A & B Buoy. Martyn Price & Dave Hancox enjoyed good sport on the last four hours landing a total of 12 fish between them on the boils on snakes and a few on dries.

The conditions of Thursday saw the fishing drop off considerably with bright hot skies teamed with no wind. Most anglers managed to tempt one on a variety of methods with the only consistent area being the boils. The only angler who caught over 2 wad Mr F Campbell who landed 5 fish from the boils.

Friday started with 3 different wind directions, bright sun, and flat calm conditions, before some cloud and flat calm conditions rolled in the for the afternoon. Season ticket holder Ian Reeve landed 13 fish on the boils. Ian’s best tactic was to pull big reds at speed across the surface, which worked best once the cloud has arrived. Paul Davison used a sinking line with a mix of cormorants and boobies to land 17 fish away from the boils in the deeper water. The best catch of the day went to Ed Douglas who landed 24 fish from the boils. Ed’s tactic was to fish a long midge tip with a team of small crunchers and diawl bachs in size 14 fished on a washing line/

A warm sunny day with very light to no winds for most of the day Saturday. Jim Dempsey fished the rudder with a Di 5 sinking line with a black snake to land 11 fish before a change to an intermediate in the afternoon landed him another 2 fish. John Doots & Keith Allison enjoyed a good day’s sport on the boils. Using floating lines with teams of nymphs and dries the pair landed 22 fish between them. Gareth Jones & Howard Croston landed 15 fish between them using sinking lines to target fish in mid water as well as near the bottom. Mr Lester Booth & N Nixon found the fishing tricky during the day but decided if stay late hoping for a change of fortune. This turned out to be exactly what happened as they were rewarded with a great evening rise and landed 18 fish to the boat all in dries.

Saturday also saw Draycote host another of its “Boat Tuition Days” the day was a great success with all the participants loving the day. The icing of the cake was when participant Will Carr landed a fantastic 6lb brown from near the tower on a small olive snake booby fished on a sinking line. A picture of the fish can be found www.facebook.com/flyfishstore for information on our upcoming tuition day on August 11^th please visit http://www.flyfishtuition.co.uk/prices/

Cooler overnight temperatures and a north westerly breeze saw the surface water temperature drop by a couple of degrees on Sunday morning. Again tactics were split with large catches coming to DI7’s and snakes in the deeper water by the Draycote Dam, B buoy, and the Aerators. Patience proved the key later in the day as the cloud cover rolled in. Those anglers who switched to dry fly tactics from the afternoon through to the evening were rewarded with some fantastic sport. Dries fished blind from a drifting boat over the deeper water was the key to finishing off a good days fishing on a high note.

Weekly Boat draw

Congratulations to Iain Earle from Sauchie who is the winner of this week’s free boat draw.

Weekly Stats:

Number Rods:  176   Number Trout Taken:  73   Number Trout Released:   548

Total Catch:     621     Weekly Rod Average: 3.5

Current Fishing Times:

Bank:  07:30 until 21:30

Boat All Day: 07:30   until 21:30

Boat Part Day:  AM 08:30    until 15:00   PM 15:00   until   21:30

Last 4 Hours from:  17:30    until     21:30 (Ticket sales available from 17:15)

Gutting Room Closes – 21:00

All Anglers to be off site by: 21:45

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

Scierra Pairs – Sunday 29^th July- To book please visit https://www.scierrapairs.co.uk/ (organiser Phil Dixon)

Youth International Wednesday 1^st August- PLEASE NOTE ALL BOATS ARE BOOKED FOR THIS EVENT

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

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Draycote Water weekly report week ending 15th July 2018

Telephone Number 01788 812018

Report

With the continuation of the heatwave, the fishing this week has understandably remained difficult. Water temperatures have remained in the 22°C – 24°C bracket with us continuing to monitor temperatures at both ends of the day. Water clarity has begun to suffer a little with a green algae bloom but nowhere near what we had anticipated. A total of 241 angler visits were recorded during this period, up on the previous week despite the adverse weather conditions. This was principally due to a busy weekend of competition with many choosing to practise in advance. For the most part, fish have remained deep with significant numbers shoaling 25-30 feet down over the deepest parts of the reservoir off the main Draycote Water dam.

Monday started off the week with a continuation of this Mediterranean like weather. Only a few boats ventured out – regulars Ed Douglas & Jim Smith amongst them. They managed a total of ten between them which is actually well below their usual, consistently high returns and a good indication of how challenging the heatwave has made things. Peter Batchelor & Steve Bett proved to be the stand out exceptions however, with a joint tally of 23 rainbows to the boat. High density sinking lines & booby snakes appeared to be the order of the day. A couple of season rods bank fished on Tuesday, but without success given the overly high water temperatures in the shallows of the shoreline. This led regulars Tony Broadway and John Dews to go afloat & they chose to backdrift lures deep through the boils & across the middle. Their efforts were rewarded with 13 rainbows apiece. Steve Betts also had another great day into high double figures deep with boobies, blobs & humungous.

Not to be beaten, Ed & Jim were back on the water on Wednesday & this time achieved their more usual 30+ return. They found their fish in the Aerators, off the Tower & in the vicinity of both A & B Buoys. Both fished high density sinkers, mainly back drifted with a variety of lures, boobies & snakes. Ronnie Gent also did well with a double figure return but was practising for the TEFF event at the weekend so was keeping his tactics close to his chest! Eddie Mitchell & Dave Kennell stayed with the deep theme and caught half a dozen each together with some beautiful specimen perch up to the three pound mark. Ten anglers from Higham Ferrers Fly Fishing also fished a club match. Congratulations to Pip Jeffs who topped their leader board with a six fish weight of 13lbs 5oz.

Thursday and Friday saw plenty of boats out on the water with most of the fleet occupied by anglers practising for the TEFF Loch Style event. Whilst it is known that many caught & released into double figures, virtually all were reluctant to record their results through fear of giving too much away to opposition rods. Hence the rod averages for the two days bore no resemblance to the reality. What was gleaned however, is that lots of fine rainbows were being taken at depth on Di7 & Di8 lines with a mix of mini Boobies, Diawl Bachs, Crunchers & Cormorants. The best of the fish holding locations continued to be the deepest of marks off the main top dam wall. John Clifford was one of the few pleasure anglers out on the water for a short afternoon boat session. His afternoon was highlighted by the capture of a beautiful brownie in the 6-7lbs bracket. The specimen took a silver & gold tube fly, again at depth over the deepest water & John was pleased to release his trophy to fight another day.

Saturday saw twenty boats afloat to compete in the Angling Trust Team England Draycote Repechage with anglers seeking to qualify for the few remaining places in the national final to be held at Grafham in September. The hot, bright, sunny conditions continued in the same vain as practise days & fishing deep therefore remained the order of the day. A total of 232 were caught with top spot going to Graham Willis with 13 fish for 25lbs 4oz. Gary Haskins took second with 11 for 22lbs 1oz and David Eames, also on 11 fish, was third with a weight of 21lb 7oz. Best fish of the event was a 4lbs 4oz rainbow to the rod of Alan Williams. Booby Bashers with teams of Cormorants, nymphs & boobies were the favoured tactics although a few caught on floating lines later in the match. Our congratulations to all those competitors who made their way through to the final.

The whole fleet was also out on Sunday as we welcomed Alex Booth Fly Fishers back to Draycote to fish their annual Steve Parton Memorial Match. Twelve anglers took part catching 30 rainbows with top honours going to Colin Marriott with four rainbows for 13lbs 8oz. Hot on his heels, but having to settle for second spot, was Ian Footman, also with four but weighing in at 12lbs 8oz. “The Midland Counties” annual event also took place on Sunday with Kirby FF, Foremark FF, Colwick & Leicester FF all competing. Their event was time limited because of the World Cup final but nevertheless some good sport was enjoyed. Foremark took a decisive victory with a team weight of 54lbs 2oz. Colwick followed with 32lbs 7oz for second place whilst Kirby weighed in 15lbs 15oz for third. Once more, it was deep tactics off the top dam wall that worked best, particularly on drifts off the Tower. Top rod was that of Ric Saccone with a bag weight of 13lbs 6oz.

Weekly Boat draw

Congratulations to Ben Bayliss from Lancashire who is the winner of this week’s free boat draw.

Weekly Stats:

Number Rods:  241   Number Trout Taken:  321   Number Trout Released:   471

Total Catch:     792     Weekly Rod Average: 3.28

Current Fishing Times:

Bank:  07:30 until 21:45

Boat All Day: 07:30   until 21:45

Boat Part Day:  AM 08:30    until 15:00   PM 15:00   until   21:45

Last 4 Hours from:  17:45    until     21:45 (Ticket sales available from 17:30)

Gutting Room Closes – 21:15

All Anglers to be off site by: 22:00

Guiding & Tuition.

New for the 2018 season the Guiding & Tuition team will running a blog. The idea of this blog is to provide hints and tips from your guides to help keep you catching depending on the conditions, tackle reviews and write up of guiding sessions. To have a look at the blog please visit http://www.flyfishtuition.co.uk/latest-report/

Dates for the Diary

Scierra Pairs – Sunday 29^th July- To book please visit https://www.scierrapairs.co.uk/ (organiser Phil Dixon)

Youth International Wednesday 1^st August- PLEASE NOTE ALL BOATS ARE BOOKED FOR THIS EVENT

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

Draycote Water weekly report week ending 8th July 2018

Telephone Number 01788 812018

Help Required

On Wednesday 1^st August, Draycote is hosting the Youth International and we require boatmen for the event. Would you be willing to give up a day and be a responsible adult for the boat? We will give all boatmen who volunteer for the day a free boat voucher for a two-man boat across our water. On top of this the Angling Trust will provide £30 cash for all the boatman . If you would like to assist being a boat man and helping the future anglers of our sport, please call the lodge on 01788 812018.

Report

The hot weather has continued, making the fishing challenging in the most part. With the surface water temperature continuing to increase and now sits at a steady 22.5°C at 7am and is increasing at 5pm to a bath like 25°C. The week started well with the fish tearing up the rule books about how to behave in hot weather and pulling back well to flies fish in shallow water. However, by the end of the week they had clearly got to the correct section of the rule book and had dropped deep. A total of 153 anglers visited the water landing a total of 440 fish for a rod average of 2.9.

The week began with a north easterly wind of around 16mph, helping to turn over the top few feet of the water and reduce the surface temperature. Rod Wilson fished on the rudder around the deep water at the Draycote Dam in the morning before moving to the boils in the afternoon landing 13 fish. Rod’s best tactic was to fish very close to the bottom using two 7 inch a second sinking lines spliced together with a gold tube. Jared Burton came for an afternoon boat and having looked at the wind direction decided that the back of the wind in Toft was going to where he concentrated his effort. This proved to be a very good call as Jared landed 15 fish using a RIO Aqualux using various snakes with white being the best colour. Jared’s best area in Toft was around 60 yards off the bank at Greys barn and drifting out.

While the hot weather continued for Tuesday the high winds the day before had clearly done some good in cycling the hot water which resulted in a rod average of 8. Jeff Ide fished with Alice Thompson and the pair landed 12 fish to the boat in Toft using green diawl bachs. Derek Moore and Felicity Appleton tried various places across the lake with Toft being the hotspot landing 6 fish on pink lures fished on sinking lines. After a morning with just a couple of pulls father and son team Dave & Angus Robertson didn’t hold out much hope for the afternoon. However, the day turned around completely after a move to Toft finishing the day with 26 fish to the boat. The pair used blobs on a Di 3 after lunch ahead of a switch to dries for the last three hours. Which produced some fantastic sport including double hook ups and fish galore.

Another hot bright day Wednesday, Dave & Angus Robertson returned hoping to repeat the success of the previous day. However, their day turned out to be the opposite of the day before. With the pair landing 10 fish through the morning and the early afternoon before getting no fish for the later part of the day which had been their purple batch the day before. On the bank Richard Walker fished by the willow tree in toft to land a couple of fish in the morning on diawl bachs. Season ticket holder Pete Fisher fished in Toft on a floating line with a gold head damsel and a hot head caddis in the morning. Before changing to red and orange dries on the afternoon & early evening it was these tactics that landed Pete 12 fish for the day. Derek Moore & Felicity Appleton returned and fished in Toft to land 15 fish between them. Mr Oliver fished for a morning off the boats to land a dozen fish suing green diawl bachs with a white booby on the point.

The wind changed around to the North East with temperatures reaching towards the high 20s low 30s Thursday. Season ticket holder Peter Elliot took to the water with Stuart Lee from Canada to boat 35 fish from Toft and then the boils. Mr D Priestley fished with wets on the boils to and 10 fish with his best pattern being a leaded gold ribbed hares ear. Gordan Bramwell and K Cooke fished on the boils with a mix of floating and sinking lines to land 19 fish. Fishing away from the boils season ticket holder Eddie Mitchell & Dave Kennell landed 12 fish using a washing lines near the inlet including some cracking 3lb rainbows. Philip Malbott enjoyed great sport using damsels deep to land 14 fish.

After the all the hot days the week the fish had certainly dropped deep and didn’t really want to play ball by the time Friday rolled around. The best catch from the day came to Jamie Scott who boated an impressive 14 fish from the boils. Jamie used a Di 7 sinking line with a variety of flies to keep catching during the day. Jamie had sport to tubes, pink snakes and blobs with most of fish coming at around 1h2 down. Graham Homer took to the water with Mr Taylor & Mr Butler and between them landed 14 fish, again off the boils. Season ticket holders Dave Atkins and John Hanlon enjoyed a good evenings sport landing 5 fish off the boils on dries with daddies being the best pattern as well as lots lost in play.

Saturday saw Draycote play host to the 2018 HASSRA competition fishing to shortened match hours due to the football of 9-2. The 18 competitors landed 25 fish for a rod average of 1.38. The fishing started off extremely difficult for the competitors as the aerators were switched off for the morning due to some works in the morning. The top rod was Mr Tarbet from Scotland who landed 6 fish on a 7 inch per second sinking line and a weighted tube. Outside of the competition the best catches came to the rudder boats with Melvin Severn landing 6 fish using his double di 7 tactic and a tube. Where as Jim Dempsey used a RIO Deep 7 and tubes to land 5 fish from the deep water around B buoy and the top dam wall. Also, out on the water was in house guide Lee Henfrey guiding a competitor ahead of next weekend’s England qualifier. The pair caught come cracking fish including a fantastic 6lb rainbow. If you have upcoming competitions why not book a guided session with England Internationals & in-house guides Tom and Lee to see how they would approach the water. To book a session or to discuss the options please call Guiding & Tuition Manger Tom Bird on 01788 812018.

Several local clubs headed out on the water Sunday to brave the heat to see what fish they could tempt to take the flies in the hot warm water. Most anglers on the day headed over to the cool water produced by the aerators. Most of the anglers who fished the boils boated 3 or 4 fish to snakes on sinking lines as well as loosing some while playing. However, anglers such as Adam Gumby from Leicester Fly Fishers moved away from the boils opting to fish the deep water around the top dam wall and B buoy. This proved to be a good call for Adam as he landed 7 fish using a fast sinker and boobies. Unfortunately for Adam he did loss 4 of his fish in a bass bag over the side in the deep water. George Leaton started on the boils before moving away to D buoy and did well catching on a di 5 sinking line and boobies. Ronnie Gent & Richard Slater enjoyed good sport again on sinking lines to land 10 fish with the pair concentrating on the drop offs into the deep water.

Weekly Boat draw

Congratulations to J Dempsey of Bedworth the winner of this week’s free boat draw.

Weekly Stats:

Number Rods:  153  Number Trout Taken:  150   Number Trout Released:   290

Total Catch:     440     Weekly Rod Average: 2.9

Current Fishing Times:

Bank:  07:30 until 22:00

Boat All Day: 07:30   until 22:00

Boat Part Day:  AM 08:30    until 15:00   PM 15:00   until  22:00

Last 4 Hours from:  18:00    until     22:00 (Ticket sales available from 17:45)

Gutting Room Closes – 21:30

All Anglers to be off site by: 22:15

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

Scierra Pairs – Sunday 29^th July- To book please visit https://www.scierrapairs.co.uk/ (organiser Phil Dixon)

Youth International Wednesday 1^st August- PLEASE NOTE ALL BOATS ARE BOOKED FOR THIS EVENT

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

Draycote Water weekly report week ending 1st July 2018

Telephone Number 01788 812018

Report

To say it has been a warm week would be somewhat of an understatement, with temperatures in excess of 30°C on the hottest days with cloudless blue skies & bright sunshine for most of the period. On Friday it was announced that it had been the fourth hottest consecutive day of the year! Not unexpectedly, this made the weeks fishing particularly challenging and the water temperature in the top 18 inches has now reached 21°C. Virtually no-one has ventured out on the banks this week because of the weather conditions. However, some of the boat anglers found the key to catching in the heat with various good scores posted in spite on the conditions. A total of 177 anglers visited the water landing a total of 231 for a road average of 1.3

Monday kicked off where Sunday had finished, with a , calm start and a ripple picking up in the afternoon. Out on the boats Mr D Priestley landed a catch of 6 fish from the boils on lures fished on a medium sinking line. Also in a boat, but opting to fish in Rainbow Corner, was the pairing of Tim Simpson & Paul Vincent. They boated 5 rainbows between them on buzzer fished on a floating line.

Another seriously hot day on Tuesday, but fortunately the ripple remained for most of the day which took a slight edge of the serious heat of the day. Again though, another tricky one although season ticket holder Peter Fisher enjoyed a good days sport boating six. He found the fish in Toft willing to take a goldhead damsel fished on the point on a long leader with a floating line. Mr G McCulloch landed a brace in the morning using a di 7 sinking line and a sparkler booby through the deep water in the middle. Mr A Campbell enjoyed the best of the sport by fishing the last four hours to land 7 fish from the boils on sinking lines.

On Wednesday we had an overcast start to the day with a cooler, northerly breeze. Unfortunately, the cloud cover only lasted a few hours to once again be replaced with full sun. Geoff Preston fished for a few hours in the morning before it got too hot fishing over the top of Middle Shoal at P Buoy with a “Wet-Cel2” sinking line and a damsel. Fishing on the boils with sinking lines and snakes John Hurst and R Wood enjoyed a good day’s sport boating a joint total of 11 rainbows. Tim Lycett fished an orange blob on an intermediate line with a short leader near the nature reserve buoys in Toft to land three with his session including plenty of other takes and chances.

Thursday saw the Alex Booth host their annual charity match with 54 anglers taking to the water. Given the excessive heat all anticipated that the match would be a difficult one and this turned out to be the case with the anglers landing a total of 77 fish for a rod average of 1.4. The best areas seemed to be coming off the Cornfield, down the Draycote Dam, across the boils and near A Buoy. Competitors deployed a variety of tactics with goldhead damsels catching, washing lined nymphs and the odd fish coming to dries. However, a couple of anglers really found what the fish wanted on a difficult day and produced a fantastic bag in the hard conditions. Season ticket holder Paul Mitchell used a di 5 forty plus fished short, with two FABS and two Buzzers static. Paul drifted around A buoy and commented that all the takes came when the line was vertical. Also using this tactic to great effect was another season ticket holder Dave Kennell who boated six.

A cloudy start to the day again on Friday with a north eastly wind. Once more though this was soon burnt off to leave a blistering hot day with bright sun & cloudless skies for the duration. Out for the morning Paul Davison fished Midas in the sun to boat 4 on searching drifts through the middle. Dave East was another angler to fish the morning landing a brace back-drifting with tubes on a di 7-sinking line, once again through the middle. However, the best catch of the day came from Jamie Scott who ended the day with a fine catch of nine rainbows. Jamie located taking fish drifting out of Toft, at Lincroft Point and on the Aerators. His best tactics were using sinking lines ranging from a di 3 to a di 7 to search out various layers in the water column with a mix of tubes and damsels. Tubes over the boils on a di 7 took most of his fish.

We tried to get the boats out as fast as we could on Saturday morning to give anglers the best benefit from a cooler, cloudy start to the day –  before the inevitable burn off by mid-morning. It certainly assisted Mark Hunt who actually took a fish to a dry fly on his first cast! Regulars Jim Dempsey & Melvin Severn both took morning boats to explore the deeper marks on the rudder. Both found fish with Jim taking six deep in the vicinity of the Aerator whilst Melvin concentrated his efforts in the vicinity of B Buoy to end with a fine six fish limit with a further three caught & released. His best was a fine rainbow of 5lbs 8oz. Sean & John Hanlon shared a morning boat & searched all over before finding numerous fish holding deep coming out of Toft. They had a purple patch around midday landing four & five respectively with Sean using tubes presented on a Di8 & John on a Di7 in conjunction with a boobie minkie. As the temperatures began to drop later in the day Paul Cramp did well in his afternoon/evening boat with a 7 fish total which he took on a Sedgehog & buzzer team.

This reporting period ended with a slightly cooler Sunday which also had the benefit of reasonable cloud during the afternoon. Fishing orange boobies by the Draycote Dam wall season ticket holders Martyn Price & Dave Hancox, landed 7 fish to the boat. Mr T Warden & I Stevens used snakes over the boils on sinking lines to land 8 fish between them for the day. Fishing the last four hours to avoid the main heat of the day was Matt Marston & Paul Murphy who again used snakes to land 6 fish from the boils with black and green snakes being the best colour combination.

Looking ahead to the coming week, there is hot weather forecast for the early part of the week, so the best tactics will continue to be fishing deep to drop below the 21°C surface temperatures. However, looking at the forecast for later in the week there is the chance of overcast conditions and rain which should hopefully drop the surface temperatures.

Weekly Boat draw

Congratulations to M Severn of Loscoe the winner of this week’s free boat draw.

Weekly Stats:        

Number Rods:  177  Number Trout Taken:  139   Number Trout Released:   92

Total Catch:     231      Weekly Rod Average: 1.3

Current Fishing Times:

Bank:  07:30 until 22:00

Boat All Day: 07:30   until 22:00

Boat Part Day:  AM 08:30    until 15:00   PM 15:00   until  22:00

Last 4 Hours from:  18:00    until     22:00 (Ticket sales available from 17:45)

Gutting Room Closes – 21:30

All Anglers to be off site by: 22:15

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

Scierra Pairs – Sunday 29^th July- To book please visit https://www.scierrapairs.co.uk/ (organiser Phil Dixon)

Youth International Wednesday 1^st August- PLEASE NOTE ALL BOATS ARE BOOKED FOR THIS EVENT

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

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Draycote Water weekly report week ending 24^th June 2018

Telephone Number 01788 812018

Report

A windy start to the week with the winds up towards the high teens, however by the end of the week these had dropped giving way to some fantastic fishing conditions. The great top of the water fishing that had been seen towards the end of the previous week continued for most of this week with most of fish being caught in the top few feet of the water. Another busy week here at Draycote with 350 rods visiting landing a total of 1635 for a rod average of 1635.

A windy start to Monday with 18pmh winds coming from the south west with bright skies greeting anglers. Out on the rudder regular Rod Wilson was accompanied by his wife Sheryl for the day. The husband and wife team enjoyed a great day’s sport landing 13 fish between them on a Di 7 with tubes. Their 6 fish weighed an impressive 19lb 8oz with the biggest tipping the scales at 5lb 4oz. On the bank Terry Tappenden enjoyed great sport from Rainbow Corner landing 9 fish all on claret bob’s bits. Northern anglers Tim Grove and Gordon Byers enjoyed great sport on the first of their three-day break, landing 26 fish to the boat. The majority of their fish came to buzzer fished in Rainbow Corner, however a evening rise did prompt a switch to big reds continued the good sport throughout the day.

A drop on the winds and overcast conditions, saw some great returns on a variety of methods to give a rod average for the day of 6.5. Colin Day fished off the bank in Rainbow corner to land 7 fish on black buzzers. Season Ticket holder Brian Allwood also enjoyed a good day’s sport off the bank landing 9 fish again all to buzzers. Out on the boats fellow season ticket holder Tony Broadway fished with John Clifford and between them they landed 20 fish. In the morning they used tubes and minkies deep around the middle before changing to Big Reds in the afternoon. Gordon Byers & Tim Grove fished dries around the Outlet, Inlet and Rainbow Corner using Big reds to land 36 fish. Andy Birkett & Brett Vinall got the first day of three days break off to a flyer landing 31 fish. The pair fished around Rainbow Corner and D buoy using a mixture of dries and washing line techniques. Big reds and Crippled Midge being the best pattern on the dries and on the washing line hares’ ears and diawl bachs proved the most effective.

Wednesday saw the wind speed increase again making presentation slightly trickier, however, while the wind increased the cloud cover remained resulting in the fish staying near the surface. On the bank season ticket holder Richard Walker landed 8 fish all on Diawl Bachs in Rainbow Corner. Wednesday was clearly a day for Richard Walker’s as the other season ticket holder Richard Walker landed 17 fish from a boat using buzzers and nymphs from Rainbow Corner. Andy Birkett and Brent Vinall once again found the fish keen to take either dries or washing lined nymphs. The pair found that the bets tactic for the day was to drift out over the deeper water around B buoy and in the bigger wave a larger Midas proved to be the best fly. Season ticket holder John Dickens used crippled midge drifting towards A buoy to land 14 fish. Also out on the water was Gareth Jones and Steve Cullen the pair landed 37 fish between them using hoppers and daddies fished along the top dam wall. Gareth also landed a cracking 6lb brown from the top dam wall on a small suspender fry, pictures of the fish can be seen at www.facebook.com/flyfishstore.

A change in the wind direct Thursday with it swinging into the North West and like Monday blowing in the high teens. Peter Elliot & Lee Patten enjoyed a good day sport fishing all along the top dam wall and over the boils to land nearly 40 fish to the boat. The pair found the fish once again keen on the dries with big reds working but also fishing a washing line technique with hot head diawl bachs. John Hurst & Richard Wood enjoyed a real red letter day boating over 60 fish to the boat fishing over the boils with snakes. Season ticket holder Gordan Bramwell & boat partner K Cooke landed 23 fish to the boat drifting along the top dam wall on washing line and dries. Once again Andy Birkett and Brent Vinall enjoyed top quality sport landing 33 fish. The pair found that the fish didn’t really want dries on Thursday and that the best tactic was to use a washing line again with Hare’s Ears before a change to straight lining in the afternoon, with the best area being near A buoy. Paul Angell took advantage of the afternoon ticket to land 9 fish with 4 falling to a claret hopper fished dry and the other 5 to a washing line. Paul found that the best area was to drift around D buoy.

The wind dropped on Friday but remined in the North West, which gave much easier conditions for presenting a fly. Friday and the Civil Service held their national final with 28 anglers taking part from all different regions across the UK. The match was fished to a 4 fish kill limit with a further 8 fish released then stop fishing with no time bonus for quick finishes, this meant that landing good quality fish in the first 4 was needed. The 28 anglers landed an impressive 198 fish giving them a rod average of 7 of the match. Taking top honours was J Underwood whose 4 fish bag weight tipped the scales at 9lb 4oz which with his returned fish gave him a total weight of 25lb 4oz. The best tactics in the match were to fish around the boils and down the top dam wall either fishing a team of nymphs or pulling snakes. While there was no bonus for quick finishes K Thomas had his 12 fish by 11am, some going as the match only started at 9.30!

Outside the match Draycote members Tony Broadway & John Dews fished along the Tower Bank to land 8 and 9 fish each. Their best method was a tequila FAB on the point a black buzzer and then a diawl bach.

A hazy day Saturday which helped to mask the glare of the sun, as a result the fish where in the top 2ft of the water column. As you might expect in conditions like these dries played a massive part with the Welsh Youth team landing some great numbers on dries, fishing around the top dam wall, Tower Bank and the boils. Rudder specialists Ifor Jones & Jim Dempsey for the second Saturday in a row enjoyed great sport. Using di 3 sinking lines with a mix of snakes and tubes to land 31 fish. Another angler utilising the rudder to great effect was Melvin Severn who landed 9 fish during a half day fishing deep around B buoy with a tube. On the bank Mike Garner landed 7 fish from Biggin Bay and Lincroft Point on various bloodworm variants. Steve Gibson also fished off the bank to land a dozen fish from Biggin Bay all on black buzzers. Lester Booth & Martin Greatbatch enjoyed a good day’s sport on the dries landing 17 fish each all on dries, with shipman’s buzzers being the bets patterns. Shaun Higgins & Ian Bradfield enjoyed good sport landing 38 fish to the boat drifting near Rainbow Corner. Season Ticket holders Jim Smith & Ed Douglas landed over 30 fish to the boat all on dries with Big Reds being the best pattern fished along the top dam wall and coming out over the deep water around B Buoy.

A very hot flat calm day greeted the anglers on Sunday with temperatures over  25°C with little to no wind. As expected with such bright conditions after a day of near perfect conditions the day before the fish did not really feed and as a result the fishing was tricky. The Welsh youth team once again took to the water on the second day of their training weekend and did land 52 fish between their 9 boats. They found that in the hot weather the fish pulled well on the boils in the morning to blobs and other lures fished on intermediate line but then as the sun got hotter the fishing went much harder. Season ticket holder Richard Walker with boat partner Pete Davis enjoyed a good day’s sport in the tricky conditions landing 17 fish between them. Again, they found that fishing with lures and buzzers on the boil was the best tactic. Jim Smith and Ed Douglas had limited success to CDC culs in the morning before the heat of the day took hold and then after that landed about 5 fish on various blobs and lures fished on sinkers again with the boils being the best area.

Weekly Boat draw

Congratulations to Nick Lant of Leicester the winner of this week’s free boat draw.

Weekly Stats:

Number Rods:  350   Number Trout Taken:  348   Number Trout Released:   1287

Total Catch:     1635         Weekly Rod Average: 4.67

Current Fishing Times:

Bank:  07:30 until 22:00

Boat All Day: 07:30   until 22:00

Boat Part Day:  AM 08:30    until 15:00   PM 15:00   until  22:00

Last 4 Hours from:  18:00    until     22:00 (Ticket sales available from 17:45)

Gutting Room Closes – 21:30

All Anglers to be off site by: 22:15

Dates for the Diary

Alex Booth Annual Charity Match – Thursday 28^thJune

Scierra Pairs – Sunday 29^th July- To book please visit https://www.scierrapairs.co.uk/ (organiser Phil Dixon)

Angler World Fly Fishing Championship- Saturday 4^th August (Any Line) & Sunday 5^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

Draycote Water weekly report week ending 17^th June 2018

Telephone Number 01788 812018

Report

Some fantastic action experienced by many this week – most notably for those out in the boats on dries. A total of 261 anglers visited the fishery with a total catch for the week of 1247 trout recorded. This represents a weekly rod average of 4.6.

The week started very bright & very hot on Monday with only a slight ripple on the water from the NNW. Whilst most found these conditions hard three rods stood out from the crowd. Rod Wilson fished tubes deep on the rudder for a six fish bag weighing 22lbs. His total catch of 16 fish included a brown of 7lbs. Dermot Murphy fished under the watchful eye of guide Tom Bird, assisting him with his buzzer techniques. He netted 15 in total topped by a magnificent rainbow of 4lbs 12oz – all from Toft. Brian Moore also enjoyed a red-letter day – his best ever in fact. He fished a weighted red buzzer deep at anchor off Lin Croft to land over twenty. He described how he dare not put his rod down as takes proved to be so violent! An overcast start greeted anglers on Tuesday. Surface pulling tactics worked in the morning with Lee guiding John Powell out over open water. A team of hoppers saw 16 to the boat by the end of the 4-hour session, with rainbows up to 4lbs. Peter Fisher also boat fished but presented gold head damsels deep together with grey & black buzzers for a 14 fish tally. Season rod Paul Walley fished an afternoon boat to land one for the pot with a further 9 caught & released. His catch included a rainbow of 4lbs+ & all came to a tungsten beaded damsel nymph off Lin Croft Point. Darren Fox is getting himself back into the sport after a few years break and took time to have his casting skills polished with a 1:1 casting lesson with Tom prior to going out for a four-hour evening guided session afloat. Fishing claret buzzers in Toft he was quickly into fish, ending with 8 to the buzzer plus a further two on dries. The bank anglers had a harder time, but Ken Key managed a well-earned brace, as did Brian Allwood.

Wednesday saw a sunny start with some cloud cover build up as the day progressed & the wind swinging into the SW. Very few anglers fished the bank, which remained hard. Nevertheless, John Stanley took a nice brace in the evening. Regular bank angler & season rod Ian Richardson decided to go afloat and enjoyed “First Class sport” anchored at various spots along the Hensborough Bank. He stuck to dries taking 9 rainbows on Big Reds. John Dickens also fished dries but on the drift over the middle. He landed a dozen on a mix of Crippled Midge & Bits. The boat pairings of Draper/Shiers and Campbell/Gillett both stuck mainly to the buzzer theme and had “really good days” with combined tallies of 16 & 13 respectively. Kev Hart also went afloat on a day off & enjoyed fine sport from pin fry feeding fish mainly around A Buoy. He landed 11 on a variety of home tied patterns. Thursday was a day of extremely high winds, described by Al as “blowing a hooley!…” with the SW wind moving into a westerly. Only 14 anglers ventured out onto the water, but some fine sport was had. Lee Patten & Peter Elliott stuck to dries all day with drifts of the main Draycote Water dam. In the high winds this area was in fact the only viable proposition for the day. Both caught consistently- mainly on Big Reds in size 10 – and by the end of the day they had netted over twenty apiece. Darren Woodness & Dave Parker did similar but stuck more towards Rainbow Corner. They too ended the day with over 20 fish each. Only Colin Grainger braved the bank for a brief morning session & landed a very creditable five. The day’s fishery rod average ended on 9. Frantic boat angler sport continued into Friday, made all the more pleasant by a drop in the wind to a light WSW breeze. Although a bright sunny start, many pin fry feeders remained around A to B Buoy, whilst off the School Slips & Flat Stones buzzer feeders were being caught. Dave Kennell & Eddie Mitchell were back out and this week it was Eddie’s turn to record their biggest fish – rainbow of 4lbs 12oz. They enjoyed steady sport on both nymphs & dries for a joint total of 18 netted. Enjoying day 2 of their three-day break, Darren Woodmass & Davie Parker had another joint 40+ day experiencing tremendous sport to CDCs & Midas dries. Lee & Rob Hankins had an amazing day too. They both recorded 6 fish limits & returned a further 38! They fished Invictas, Black Bits, Red holographic diawl bachs & FABs. Martin Greatbatch & Lester Booth shared a boat & alternated between dries & wets ending the day with 23 to the net. Another great day for the venue with the rod average on 9.6.

Saturday started off with light winds and overcast skies with a little bit of drizzle around in the area as the day progressed these winds strengthen building to a 18mph south westerly with the cloud remaining. Unsurprisingly in these conditions the boats opting to fish rudder techniques enjoyed great sport. Mr Melvin Severn used two di 7s with a tube to land 12 fish around the deep water at B buoy. Melvin found that the tactics to go deep rewarded him with bigger fish as his 6 fish bag weight was 19lb 8oz. Rudder regulars Jim Dempsey and Ifor Jones enjoyed a red-letter days sport landing a fantastic 42 fish to the boat. The pair used Di 7 sinking lines with a mixture of tubes and snakes once again around the deep water around B buoy and the flat stones. Once again on the last day of their three day break the boat of Darren Woodmass & Davie Parker enjoyed great sport with 38 fish coming to the boat. They found that in the strong winds the fish wanted Midas fished on a short line and almost dapped on the water. The pair found the fish along the top dam wall and drifting from the inlet over towards B buoy. Over the three days Darren & Davie have really enjoyed some fantastic sport landing over 130 fish between the two of them in 3 days. Martin Introna & Julie Emerson enjoyed a great days sport with over 50 fish to the boat the pair found the fish all around the top end of the lake around Rainbow corner, inlet and Hensbrough. Using a wide range of methods if it was fished within the top 3ft of water, tactics such as dries, washing lining and pulling all accounted for a share of their fish. Saturday also saw Guiding & Tuition Manager Tom Bird host another bank tuition day, which was a great success with all the participants going away full of the joys of learning a fascinating new hobby for the years to come. For details on our next courses please visit www.flyfishtuition.co.uk.

Another overcast days with slightly lighter winds Sunday, with these types of conditions its hardly a surprise that dry flies made up a large part of the catches on the day. Mr M West drifted out of Rainbow Corner towards A buoy using big reds to land over 20 fish to the boat. Another boat who found big reds the key to good sport were season ticket holders Jim Smith and Ed Douglas who fished a half day landing an impressive 40 fish to the boat on big reds. Jim & Ed found the fish drifting off the Hensbrough bank towards M buoy and the school slips, along the top dam wall and out off the overflow. Guiding & Tuition Manager Tom Bird enjoyed good sport on a day off, fishing with Gareth Jones. The pair landed around 35 fish to the boat using claret crippled midge and hoppers drifting from the inlet towards B buoy and along the Draycote Dam. Fishing the last four hours Darren Fix enjoyed good sport landing 12 fish using midas and big reds drifting from rainbow corner to A buoy.

Weekly Boat draw

Congratulations to John Powell of Penybryn the winner of this week’s free boat draw.

Weekly Stats:

Number Rods: 261 Number Trout Taken: 222  Number Trout Released:   1025

Total Catch:   1247         Weekly Rod Average: 4.7

Current Fishing Times:

Bank: 07:30 until 21:45

Boat All Day: 07:30  until 22:00

Boat Part Day: AM 08:30   until 15:00   PM 15:00  until 22:00

Last 4 Hours from: 18:00   until    22:00 (Ticket sales available from 17:45)

Gutting Room Closes – 21:30

All Anglers to be off site by: 22:15

Dates for the Diary

Alex Booth Annual Charity Match – Thursday 28^thJune

A few places remain for this prestigious event. Please contact organiser Roy LEWIN on 07762 746 825 to reserve your spot.

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 10^th June 2018

Telephone Number 01788 812018

Report

Another good week with some fabulous catches. We experienced better weather conditions generally this period and there were times when boat anglers were really “having a field day”. Still harder for the bank anglers – especially on the hot, bright days when fish understandably dropped offshore & out over deeper water. A total of 429 anglers visited the fishery with a total catch for the week of 1875 trout recorded. This represents an increase in the weekly rod average up from 3.82 to 4.37

We had a complete weather change overnight with rain through the night, winds switched into the North East together with a significant temperature drop. This helped Derek Brookes & Phil Hedges who fished their usual Monday slot on the bank and netted seven between them. Gary Turner boat fished with his father & the pair stuck to dries throughout, mainly in Biggin Bay. Their efforts were well rewarded with 16 rainbows to the boat. Kevin Rees was also out with his dries & light outfit. Exploring the deeper water with his home tied Bob’s Bits he netted nine. James Maplethorpe stuck to the Overflow in his boat & persevered with buzzers presented at depth to end with a fine total of 18. Jude Tuffs stayed on the bank on Tuesday & was quick to spot fry feeding fish off Lin Croft. Having started with a washing line set up she soon switched to small lures pulled on a floating line. A mix of Pitsford Pea & Mini Cat’s saw her land a total of ten rainbows, all coming from Lin Croft. Mick Cronin also bank fished and targeted pin fry feeders. He concentrated on the Tower bank with a bespoke home tied pattern based on pearl holographic which also accounted for a ten fish tally.  Out on the water Chad Critchley teamed up with Tony Parker for the day & had a memorable session with totals of 25 & 15 respectively. They fished buzzers deep in Biggin Bay first thing, then onwards to Rainbow Corner where they caught on straight lined buzzers presented 3-4 feet subsurface. During the afternoon they targeted fish moving hard on the huge quantities of pin fry which we have been seeing. They found that fish were happy to rise to dry flies which they stuck to for the duration of their stint. Dave Kennell & Eddie Mitchel were afloat again having fine sport with quality fish down the Hensborough bank. Their 14 fish tally was topped by a 4lbs 12oz rainbow to Dave’s rod which took a diawl bach which he had presented on a washing line fished with a midge tip line.   Peter Fisher also did well with a 15 fish total but he stuck to gold head damsel patterns teamed with green buzzers in size 14.  Ian Morris & boat partner Brian Hall were ten fish apiece too -fishing Silver Invicta & diawl bach to pin fry feeders. They too landed a couple of fish to dries towards the end of their day.

We were pleased to be playing host to the Police National Finals on Thursday. Wednesday was booked out as their formal practise day and, although many were keeping their tactics & catch locations very close to their chests, it was a day of extremely good sport for most. In total 450 trout were recorded caught & released on the day. Although much sport was being had from the Sailing Club right down the Hensborough & into Rainbow Corner, anglers were also exploring secondary, alternative locations with Biggin, Lin Croft, Cornfield & Toft found to be holding feeding fish. Season rod Mark Edwards was the exception on what proved to be a very hard day for the bank anglers. He chose to fish The Cornfield in the evening where fry feeding activity was apparent. His Silver Invicta accounted for four rainbows up to 3lbs.

Police match day on Thursday saw 34 boats out on the water battling for both individual & regional titles. Competitors deployed a range of differing tactics from buzzer to dries & washing lines to pulling with blobs. Action was fast & furious throughout the venue. The event was fished to a first three fish kill followed by catch & release of a further nine fish and then a time bonus for any rods reaching their limit. In total a staggering 489 rainbows came to the net with an overall rod average for those competing of 7.64. The PSNI team had Martin Allen & Kenny Balfour over on a short break prior to the match & their homework, practise & research clearly paid off as their team took top honours with all four members achieving limit catches. Their total weight with nominal weight for returned fish + time bonuses, was 115lbs 10oz. They split team tactics to great effect between targeting fry feeding fish down the Hensborough & buzzer feeders in & around Toft. In the individual event congratulations go to Mick Cartlidge whose total weight, (again with nominal weight C&R fish + time bonuses), was 31lbs 8oz. Mick spent most of the match pulling with blobs. There were too many great catches to record all although a special mention for Gary Haskins who fished to great effect catching his 12 fish limit by lunchtime. Although stuffed with small fry, all his fish came to dries over the deep water down towards Rainbow. The best fish of the event was a rainbow of 4lbs 9oz.The competition was extremely well organised and our collective “Draycote Team” sincere thanks go out to Steve Owen & Callum Frazer for all their hard work during four days when 154 of their colleagues fished. Thanks similarly for the team’s invitation to the post-match dinner & presentation.

Friday was a little quieter on the water. However, the pressures of the previous days activity had not dampened down sport. Martyn Moore was back to fish his deep buzzers off Lin Croft and caught 12. John Clifford back drifted deep water & netted 7 fine grown on rainbows to 4lbs. Jim & Richard Hall also shared a boat & fished CDC dries for 12 & 7 respectively & also caught 4lbs+ fish. Whilst Stephen Conway had great fun netting 6 on dries, with three over 3lbs, he came back somewhat frustrated having “missed more than 40!!”. James Cavanagh fished an evening last 4 hours on the bank & his brace of buzzer caught rainbows included a 4½ pounder.

The weekend saw the wind still coming out of the north east, but Saturday in particular was very hot & the fishing for many proved hard. Nevertheless, Jim Dempsey & Ifor Jones fished their usual rudder tactics over deep water & found fish consistently. They ended with 9 & 12 rainbows respectively and their catch included fish over 4lbs. It was also good to see the England Youth on the water for a training weekend. Tom Finney & Ollie Jenkinson spent time honing their skills on the dries & did well with 10 & 8 to Big Reds & crippled midges. Alan Masters & boat partner fished Biggin Bay & the Hensborough Bank with damsels, diawl bachs & Fraser nymphs to great effect landing a joint total of 18.  Bob & Nick Ring fished both Toft & Rainbow catching at both locations. Their joint tally of 12 came to orange buzzer & blue flash damsel. Tony Parker was back too & accounted for a further 14 rainbows to his own fiery brown dries. Ian Reeve has been enjoying some great sport since opening day & he spent Saturday drifting the Hensborough, mainly with dries, to catch & release 11. The extremely hot & bright conditions on Sunday really took its toll on prospects for the bank anglers although Mr Ashwell caught a brace including a 2½ rainbow for the pot on emergers. He also caught a large perch – many of which have been recorded lately as they are also predating heavily on this year’s fry. Chris Discombe & Jim Brennan also had a good day afloat with 7 & 6 netted to gold ribbed hare’s ear nymphs. They commented on the fact that the fish they took for the pot were absolutely stuffed with these small fry.

With forecasts looking good & the venue brimming with actively feeding trout, it looks like fine sport is set to continue.

Weekly Boat draw

Congratulations to Brian Moore of Coventry the winner of this week’s free boat draw.

Weekly Stats:

Number Rods:    429   Number Trout Taken:   416   Number Trout Released:   1459

Total Catch:      1875           Weekly Rod Average:  4.37

Current Fishing Times:

Bank:  07:30 until 21:45

Boat All Day: 07:30   until 21:45

Boat Part Day:  AM 08:30    until 15:00   PM 15:00   until  21:45

Last 4 Hours from:  17:45       until     21:45 Ticket sales available from 17:30)

Gutting Room Closes – 21:15

All Anglers to be off site by: 22:00

Dates for the Diary

Alex Booth Annual Charity Match – Thursday 28^thJune

A few places remain for this prestigious event. Please contact organiser Roy LEWIN on  07762 746  825 to reserve your spot.

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 3^rd June 2018

Telephone Number 01788 812018

Report

Another good week with some great highlights, but often somewhat more challenging than the previous week. Some significant changes in weather conditions have had their effect on sport – not always for the best. However, the water clarity remains excellent, the buzzer continues to dominate return sheets as do increased numbers of fish succumbing to those fishing dries. Pin fry have also entered the frame with many trout becoming pre-occupied on them & proving extremely hard to tempt, particularly for the bank angler. Boat anglers have enjoyed the best of the sport by far, as one expects at this stage in the season with a large percentage of the population moving off the shallows & out over open water. A total of 362 anglers visited the venue during the week recording a total catch of 1386 for a rod average of 3.82

The week actually started with a bang in perfect late spring/early summer conditions and trout feeding hard on Monday. Regulars Jim Smith & Ed Douglas took advantage, explored different locations all day and ended with an impressive 40+ joint return all on dries. The pair have really worked on their set up & presentation & now deploy their #5 weight outfits on most visits reaping impressive results with almost embarrassing regularity. The Conway brothers also had a fantastic day on Monday but went mainly down the buzzer route (although they also caught on teams of Diawl Bachs). They drifted the Hensborough Bank down towards Rainbow Corner & amassed a total to the boat of 34 & 22. Stephen later emailed the lodge to comment on the quality of the action they enjoyed highlighting the quality of the rainbows encountered which had included six silver bars over 4lbs. Tony Parker boated 14 on open water drifts, of which 10 were to dries,  & Mr W Brown did very well to catch & release 17 rainbows on Black Buzzer. Very few bank anglers on the water but season rod Ian Richardson had some interesting (and frustrating) sport with pin fry feeders around the Overflow. He did manage to put 3 in the net including a silver bar of 3lbs+ together with some specimen perch. The day ended with over 400 trout netted and a rod average of 7.5!

A weather change into Tuesday led to a cold start with overcast skies on a north easterly wind. It really made things difficult for the bank anglers despite the numbers of trout seen moving. That didn’t stop Mr Teil & Mr Hatton starting their bank fishing holiday break in style with a 5lbs rainbow from the Cornfield on a silver Invicta for Mr Teil followed up with a 5 ½ pounder for Mr Hatton on his own pin fry pattern in Rainbow Corner. Things warmed up as the day progressed & those on the nymphs started to catch. Martyn Moore has been on a really good run this season & he was back afloat with his deep fished buzzers – this week off Lin Croft.  He fishes at anchor deploying a very long leader on a floating line & often has a tungsten beaded dark buzzer on the point. Fished almost static he knows that his team is “properly in the zone” when he can feel the point fly just nipping & dragging into the weed growth on the deck. These tactics paid dividends for him on Tuesday with twelve rainbows to the net. The “Broadway/Dews” duo left their bankside haunts once more for a day in the boat & decided to fish deep with tube flies all day. Their efforts were also rewarded with a joint catch of 15 including some real silver bars for the pot. Also out on the tubes, was rudder specialist Rod Wilson. Rod has been very consistent all season which demonstrates the extent of his knowledge of Draycote’s underwater contours that he has developed over many years. He brought a total of 18 grown on rainbows to the net by the end of his session. Jamie Scott is also very consistent at all four of our venues which he rotates around. His Draycote visit this week saw him stick mainly to damsel patterns for a 16 fish tally from a variety of locations.

Rain overnight and into the morning led to a slow start on Wednesday followed by warm, humid conditions & a flat calm afternoon. Nevertheless, season rod Paul Walker ventured out onto the banks in Dunns Bay catching consistently by alternating between a buzzer team and dry fly sport to Klinkhammer patterns. He ended with an impressive total of 12 to the net. Viv Davies also fished the boat with a similar mix but he used CDC Emergers & Bob’s Bits as his dries with Muskins & UV Crunchers his successful nymphs. Geoff Preston was also on the water for his regular morning boat. He failed to find fish down in Toft so headed up to the main Draycote Dam above the Inlet. He located taking fish near the edge of a mucky water line at the bottom of the wind & came off at lunchtime with four fine bars of silver & a further 8 caught & released. His fish came to his favourite olive woolly bugger /damsel pattern presented on a floating line. He commented on his amazement at the number of fish showing all around him. We have enjoyed the company of many Belgian visitor this season & the venue played host this week to a five-man party headed by Alex Van Rijkel over for a four-day break. They really got into the swing of things & were pretty consistent all week. Mainly utilising deep buzzer tactics their combined tally on the Tuesday was 49 to the net – mainly from the Hensborough Bank. On Thursday we had an easterly wind of 5-7 mph; it was 20°C, very humid & cloudy. C J Day worked the bank hard & was rewarded with 5 rainbows to a mix of mini booby & damsel. Again though, it was the boats that excelled with some tremendous returns. Phil Harding & Chad Critchley teamed up to find fish taking static buzzer in the morning but needed to resort to pulling tactics on a Di7 in the afternoon. Exploring much of the venue they ended the day with a combined total of 37 rainbows caught & released.  The “Jim & Ed” show were back out too & stayed on the dries all day for a combined 25 fish catch. Big Reds & crippled midges feature highly in their favoured patterns. Gordon Bramwell also had a terrific day in his boat fishing a 50/50 split of buzzer or dries for a very creditable 34 to the net. John Hoskins & Nick Banham were afloat & concentrated their efforts along the Hensborough Bank where they straight lined teams of black glass buzzers. They recorded a catch of 18 & 15 respectively with some fine 3lbs fish weighed in at the end of their session topped by a magnificent rainbow at 5lbs 1oz for Nick. Also in on the fabulous sport were season ticket holders Dave Kennell & Eddie Mitchell. They caught 16 & 10 respectively & commented later on “such quality fish & a superb, unbelievable day with 4 weighed in at 12lbs 2oz”. Tom Bird spent most of the day afloat too, guiding John O’Hara out in open water near M buoy off the Hensbrough bank and drifting into Rainbow corner. After their mid-day break to enjoy the complimentary ploughman’s lunch, John’s UV cruncher, fished on a washing line, was taken by what resulted in a personal best cracking rainbow which later tipped the scales at a fraction under 6lbs! To discuss booking a guiding session call Tom on 01788 812018 to discuss the options in order to tailor the perfect option. It was good to see Richard Pelly on the water in a “Last 4 Hours” boat. Fishing his usual Big Reds & Shipman’s, on his delightful #3 outfit, he enjoyed fine visual sport with 6 to the net before the close. On Friday Bob Smith got amongst the fish on the bank recording 6 caught & released – but not revealing his successful flies or tactics in the returns sheet! Visiting us again this year, on holiday from his home venue Blagdon with a group of friends, Mr Hatton had a very good day on the bank with five to the net. Ian Richardson was back on the bank too & he recorded four rainbows from Biggin Bay & the Overflow on FAB blob, damsel & diawl bach. Mike Garner stuck to Lin Croft Point on the bank & landed three on cormorants & diawl bach. Harder conditions generally saw boat angler returns reduced with a rod average for the day down to 2.6. However, Russell Swinbourne bucked the trend with a total of 20 rainbows from his boat on the Hensborough Bank on buzzers & Hare’s Ear Nymphs. He described his catch as including “clonking good rainbows up to 4lbs”.

Saturday started with a light westerly breeze & conditions looked really good. Regulars Jim Dempsey & boat partner Ifor Jones were on the water early for their regular week-end boat session on the rudder. They matched each other fish for fish on drifts over the middle ending on 4 each for the pot with 7 each returned. Clive Wilkins had a really good day in the boat too with most of his 20 fish tally coming to Hare’s Ear Nymphs or Hare’s Ear Booby in the surface. Regulars Ian Reeve & Chris Aubrey also got into sport finding action with 14 & 11 respectively from Rainbow corner. Mr Nicholls enjoyed great sport boating a dozen fish from the School Slips just past the Sailing Club. He washing lined black buzzers and hot head diawl bachs. The England Ladies Team also enjoyed a good team building day with all experiencing good sport around the Overflow and Rainbow Corner fishing washing lined nymphs and dries.

Tom was busy on Saturday hosting another of our ever-popular beginner tuition days. After a morning learning the knots, matching the hatch and the art of casting a fly, the group took to the water for their first fly fishing experience. Several fish were caught including a fantastic 4lb 6oz pin fry feeding rainbow. Pictures from the day can be seen at www.facebook.co.uk/flyfishstore. Next on the tuition day schedule are the new for 2018 boat tuition days. To find out more about booking a place please visit www.flyfishtuition.co.uk/prices

Sunday was very bright & extremely hot with all anglers reaching for the sunscreen. Nevertheless, season ticket holders Jim Smith and Ed Douglas took to the water yet again & enjoyed tremendous sport around the Overflow and Rainbow Corner. The pair found that in the hot, flat calm conditions fish had dropped lower in the water column than they had been during the week Both therefore chose to fish a washing line on the new RIO 3D Single Hand Spey which has a camolux and hover sink tip., Getting the washing line to present deeper in the water column proved to be the best tactic on the day. They netted over 50 fish to the boat by the end of their session with the best patterns being a FAB on the point and red diawl bachs and crunchers on the droppers.  As the day progressed and the fish dropped even deeper the pair scaled down the size of FAB to decrease buoyancy and keep their teams in the taking zone. The Derby Fly Fishers were also with us on Sunday fishing their annual boat match.  Despite the sweltering conditions, which had left many concentrating on the boils, Clive Wilkins decided to return to the Hensborough Bank where he had had such good sport the previous day and managed to net another 10 to come off in winning place. Second & third slots went to Keith Smith & Stan Cierech, both with 6 rainbows apiece.

As we go into the new week conditions have changed again with decreased air temperatures, cloud cover and a north east wind that is forecast to remain for the next few days. Hopefully consistent sport will follow. We are hosting the Police National final this week so the whole fleet has been booked out on Wednesday & Thursday to cater for the event. Plenty of boats available again from Friday.

Weekly Boat draw

Congratulations to Aneta Hojnor of Hanwell the winner of this week’s free boat draw.

Weekly Stats:

Number Rods:    362   Number Trout Taken:   255    Number Trout Released:   1131

Total Catch:      1386            Weekly Rod Average:  3.82

Current Fishing Times:

Bank:  07:30 until 21:45

Boat All Day: 07:30   until 21:45

Boat Part Day:  AM 08:30    until 15:00   PM  15:00   until  21:45

Last 4 Hours from:  17:45       until     21:45 Ticket sales available from 17:30)

Gutting Room Closes – 21:15

All Anglers to be off site by: 22:00

Dates for the Diary

Please be reminded that all boats are booked out on Wednesday 5^th June & Thursday 6^th June as we are hosting the Police National UK Finals. Bank fishing on those days remains unaffected.

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 Fishing report w/e Sunday 27^th May 2018.

Telephone Number 01788 812018

Report

The water clarity here this week has been fantastic, and although the weather has been bright with some blustery conditions, Draycote is in excellent form. The backbone of the fishing has been deep down on static buzzers and diawl bachs, fished on either a floating line using a bung, or on a midge tip line. Some other methods have been successful as well, such as dries or a washing line, but haven’t produced anywhere near the numbers of fish. It seems that the trout are holding right the way along the north shore from Grays Barn up to Biggin Bay, and along the Hensborough bank, overflow and Rainbow Corner. But the bright sunshine seems to have pushed the fish just out of reach of the bank anglers, who have not fared so well this week. A few anglers have fished sinking lines and tubes out in the deeper water and boated some lovely “silvered up”, over wintered specimens. Overall there is some outstanding sport to be had here, which is backed up by a weekly rod average of 4.3 with 373 anglers catching a total of 1,610 trout.

The week started with a bright sunny day, with winds from the North. Season ticket holder Lee Patten & Peter Elliot had a good day fishing buzzer from a boat the overflow to land 20 fish each on buzzers. Visiting anglers Keith Bunnet & Tim Grove enjoyed great sport fishing buzzers from an anchored boat in Toft landing 31 fish to the boat. Also using buzzers to great effect was the pairing of Tosh Storrar and D Marklow who boated 61 fish on a floating line and a team of 3 buzzers. Mr D Rees and J Cowan fished buzzers again in Toft to boat 31 fish. Mr Davies used the Bung to great effect in Rainbow corner to land 14 fish.

Very similar conditions Tuesday, but with slightly more wind which made presentation of buzzer slightly trickier. John Cowan used buzzers in Biggin Bay and Toft to land an impressive 23 fish. D Marklow used a washing line on a midge tip with a combination of FABs and buzzers to land 16 fish.  On the bank season ticket holder Paul Walker landed an impressive 12 fish, fishing from the Cornfield and Lincroft point on buzzers. Fishing on an afternoon boat James Maplethorpe & Trevor Moore landed 29 fish between them fishing buzzers in Albert’s Bottom in Biggin Bay. Out on the water in house guide Lee Henfrey took regular client John O’Hara out with John using Buzzers on the bung to land 17 fish from near the overflow of the treatment works. J Cowan and A Gourlay fished at Lincroft point from a boat using a Di 7 and a white dancer to land 25 fish including a 5lb rainbow.

Wednesdays started cloudy but soon brightened around 10 o’clock. Tosh Storrar fished at Lincroft point in a boat using black and red buzzers static on a floating line to land 12 fish. The boat pairing of Chris Howkins and R Symonds enjoyed good sport landing 21 fish between them on buzzers as well as pulling blobs and boobies on a di 5-sinking line. Geoff Preston enjoyed good sport on the rudder utilising a morning boat to land 9 fish on Damsels fished on a wet cell 2 fly line. North East anglers Don Coe, Keith Burrnet, Tim Grove and Gordon Byers enjoyed a great day’s sport using buzzers in Toft landing 44 fish between them. The icing on the cake was when Tim landed a fantastic 8lb 7oz overwintered rainbow on a buzzer, which he returned to fight another day.

Overcast conditions with yet another Northerly wind, with the overcast skies brighten as the day wore on. Mr D Marklow & S Marklow landed 17 fish from Toft on buzzers. On the bank John Hall landed 3 fish on Lincroft point on a green pea after trying buzzers for the morning with no luck. Steve Brown used the rudder to land 13 fish with the biggest tipping the scales at 3lb 8oz. Steve found the fish through the middle of the lake with N buoy being the hotspot. The boat of Mr Hallam & Mr Nixon enjoyed good sport landing 15 fish on hares ears and diawl bachs fished on a floating line in Toft. Mike Gillet and Colin Campbell also boated 15 fish all on buzzers from Biggin Bay. Tony Broadway and John Dews back drifted with tubes on around X & N buoy to land 15 fish. Also fishing the middle using tubes was John Clifford who boated 10 fish up to 10lb. Season ticket holder Dave Atkins fished from Lincroft point in the afternoon to land 12 fish on green fritz. Thursday also saw the Police fish a team qualifier with good catches coming to nymphs and buzzers fished along the North Shore and near J Buoy both Steve Thyer and Chris Howkins had their 12 fish limits in the match.

A very wet start to Friday with a light ripple coming from the North east, the rain did eventually clear but not until late in the afternoon. John Hoskins fished in Toft to land 11 fish on nymphs. Martyn Moore fished in Toft on Buzzers fished deep on a floating line and a long leader Martyn enjoyed great sport landing 29 fish. Keith jones and boat partner Steve landed 20 fish again all on nymphs and buzzers. Season ticket holder Pete fisher fished from a boat with a gold head damsel on the point teamed with a black and green size 14 buzzer to land 21 fish. Tim Grove, Keith Bunnett and Gordon Byers enjoyed their last day afloat landing 31 fish between them again on buzzers. Mr Williams & Masters enjoyed a good days sport fishing nymphs in the morning and dries in the afternoon to land 27 fish. Guiding & Tuition Manager Tom Bird took Martyn Price and Dave Hancox out for an afternoon session landing 18 fish to the boat on washing lined buzzers and diawl bach, before swapping to a long midge tip teamed with a booby and FAB landing all the fish from Rainbow Corner To discuss booking a guiding session call Tom on 01788 812018 to discuss the options.

An overcast start to Saturday with a strong gusty North Eastly wind, which later became bright in the afternoon. Ifor Jones and Jim Dempsey landed 19 fish on the rudder using tubes on di 3 sinking lines. Season ticket holder Tony Parker landed 15 fish on Buzzers from various spots on the reservoir. M Brown & J Cairney landed 15 fish on size black buzzers from Toft. Father and son team of S Mclean & D Mclean landed 36 fish on washing lined nymphs and dries from Rainbow corner before a move to Toft on the afternoon. Cai Lewin fishing with his Dad landed 17 between them on size 10 buzzers in Toft. Mr Harby also fished buzzers but this time on a midge tip to land 8 commenting that static was key.

The day started off overcast which brighten before thunder and lighting called an early finish to the day. Keith Harding & Mike Clarke used buzzers under the bung to land 22 fish. The pair found the fish in Toft, Biggin Bay, Rainbow Corner and Croft shoal. Mr Brown & Mr Cairney landed 14 fish again on small buzzers size 12 and 14s. George Leaton fished a damsel to land 16 fish. While season ticket holders Jim Smith and Ed Douglas used dries to land 16 fish a short 4-hour session before thunder and lightening stopped play.

Weekly Boat draw

Congratulations to Mr Jim Dempsey Bedworth the winner of this week’s free boat draw.

Weekly Stats:

Number Rods:  373 Number Trout Taken: 215 Number Trout Released:  1395

Total Catch: 1610   Weekly Rod Average: 4.3

Current Fishing Times:

Bank:  07:30 until: 21:45

Boat All Day: 08:30 until 21:45

Boat Part Day:   am 08:30 until 15:00        pm 15:00 until 21:45

Last 4 Hours from:  17:45 until 21:45 (Ticket sales available from 17:30)

Gutting Room Closes – 21:15

All Anglers to be off site by: 22:00 hrs

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