Draycote Fishing Report w/e Sunday 20th August 2017
Telephone 01788 812018
Another changeable week with, strong winds causing some issues with presentation for the mid part of the week. However, once the winds dropped some great sport was had by several anglers on dries. As a result, the strong winds, and sun at times, held back the rod average slightly, with 257 anglers catching a total of 783 for a rod average of 3.04.
On Monday, season permit holder Jim Hall landed 9 to dries such as Bob’s Bits and Shipman’s Buzzers. Another, season ticket holder using dries to great effect was Kevin Rees who landed 15 rainbows on crippled midge patterns, with brown size 14 being his top pattern.Draycote regular Mr Ray Cramp again utilised dries in a half day afternoon boat session to land 9 rainbows. Ray’s best pattern was a CDC buzzer.
Tuesday saw a slight increase in the wind, coming from the west, with an overcast start giving way later to sunny conditions. On the bank season ticket holder Tony Broadway landed 4 from the overflowusing washing line with a FAB and buzzers. Tony also commented on dropping 4 together witha number of bumps and knocks. Gordon Slack also fished the outlet to land 3 lovely Rainbows. Out on the boats Draycote RIO Masters team member Graham Pearson took to the water partnered by Mike Gunnell. The pair netted 17rainbows in total. They caught quickly on dries around the deep water near the Draycote Dam but once the sun had come out they needed a change to washing line and then later to deep sinkers &tubes to continuethe action. Another angler who caught well from the boats on the day was Pip Jeffs who boated 8 fish. Pip used the washing line technique drifting from Rainbow Corner towards A buoy. Keith Coley and Bob Taft fished the same area &landed 12 fish to the boat all falling to various muddler patterns waked through the surface
A lovely start to Wednesday with light winds and overcast skies although this quickly changed to a gusty bright afternoon. As a result, a variety of methods worked from a floating line all the way down to a di 8 sinking line. Jude Tuffs and season ticket holder Tony Broadway landed 16 fish between them using a variety of methods from washing line to lures on a deep sinking line. Derek Carleton used a medium sinking line with a home tied cat’s whisker variety fished on the rudder to land 8 fish for just short of 20lbs. Season ticket holder Paul Liversidge landing 8 fish back drifting on an intermediate line and a Cat’s Whisker drifting through the boils. Mr Purves & Mr Nichol landed 21 fish between then using washing line technique drifting around A, B and C buoy.
On the bank Thursday John Dews fished the overflow to land 4 fish using the washing line with small buzzers and a FAB. Out on the boats Ian Pugh landed 4 on dries but commented he must have risen about 20 up to the boat. Season ticket holder Richard Walker and partner C Merrett landed 10 to the boat drifting around the boils and C buoy. John Dickens used dries all around the top dam wall to land 6 with Bob’s Bits and Crippled Midge being his top patterns. Dave Kennell and Eddie Mitchell fished around A,B and C buoy to land 10 fish on a mixture on boobies and nymphs fished on a washing line in conjunction with a floating line.
Friday saw Draycote host the annual boat match between Bank of Scotland and Barclays bank. Bank of Scotland’s Simon Menzies sent us the below passage on the event :- “On the day of the Match against Barclays which was the 40th year the competition had been held, the result was also the closest on record with the Bank of Scotland team regaining the TW Walker trophy for the first time in 4 years. All fish were measured and released. Over 100 fish were caught between the two teams with the winning margin just 2 fish and a very tight 33cm in favour of Bank of Scotland. Stevie Nicol was our best rod with 11 fish. Dave Curry was Barclays best rod also with 11 fish”.A number of methods were employed on the day with washing line with hoppers and nymphs proving successful. Pulled foam daddies on a floater also accounted for a number of fish, with Scotland’s Stevie Nicol using this method to take top spot. Outside of the match on the bank, season ticket holder Ian Richardson landed 4 good rainbows on a mixture of minkie boobies, shrimp patterns and buzzers.
A verygusty day Saturday made presentation difficult for the majority of anglers. However, a number did manage to present the flies effectively enough to fool the fish. Mark Hunt enjoyed great sport from the boat fishing tight in to the Draycote Dam wall to land 12. Mark found them willing to take either Diawl Bachs, Ginger Hoppers or Suspender Minkies. Amongst his12 fish haul were a couple of resident 4lb+ rainbows that took the Minkie. Another boat catching well in the challenging conditions was that of Derek Pozzi and Simon Nicol who landed 25 fish to the boat drifting from Rainbow Corner to A buoy. All 25 of their fish came to daddies fished on a floating line stroked through the surface. Simon commented that the fish where just coming from nowhere and smashing the daddies. Jon Whitefield also enjoyed a good afternoon session landing 7 on hoppers and damsel nymphs.
A changeable weather day Sunday with bright sun and gusty winds to start with then giving way to overcast skies and drizzle from 4pm. Nick Righton used a team of three hoppers to land 4 fish in a short four hourmorning session. Out on the boats Welsh anglers Steve Winston and A Gourlay used a mixture of washing line and dries to boat twenty four. The pair found the fish around the top dam wall drifting to B buoy and then beyond it. Later in the day they also found a number of fish drifting from B buoy through to D buoy and in to Biggin Bay. Also, out on the water was Draycote Fishery Ranger Tom Bird. Together with boat partner Jim Smith, the pair struggled in the morning with lots of fish falling off at the net using dries and washing lined hoppers, only boating 2. However, once the cloud came over and they got into a large wind line in the middle, their day was transformed. They finished with over 25 to the boat with 23 of them coming between four & seven in the evening. The best pattern was a claret crippled midge with a small size 16 black crippled midge working when the wind dropped towards the end.
Weekly Boat Draw
Congratulations to Mr John Pendleton of Nether Whitacre who is the winner of this week’s free boat draw.
Weekly Stats:
Number Rods: 257 Number Trout Taken: 216 Number Trout Released: 567 Total Catch: 783 Weekly Rod Average: 3·04
Current Fishing Times:
Bank: 07:30 until 20:30
Boat All Day: 08:30 until 20:30
Boat Part Day: 08:30 until 14:30 – 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: 20:45
Fishery News
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!
Dates for your diary:-
Competition Contact
England Youth Loch Style National Draycote:- 10th September
Book online: https://www.anglingtrustevents.net/e/121/draycote
Boatmen required for this event, please contact the Draycote Lodge 01788 812018
TEFF Fundraiser. Dry Fly Championship 16th September – Ian Colclough – 01543 689117
Angling World Holiday Final – 23rd and 24thSeptember c/o John Horsey
Troutmasters Final – 9th October. – See Fishery staff.
Boat manners & etiquette:
As is so often the way at this time of the year, many fish tend to gravitate towards the aerators as a comfort zone & naturally many anglers wish to get in amongst the action there. Please be aware that the area is a strictly no anchoring zone.
We also respectfully ask that all anglers demonstrate good boat manners & etiquette when fishing in close proximity to other vessels there & elsewhere in general. Incidents have been occurring where anglers have rudely reversed back up their drift into oncoming boats or have cut straight into the path of a drifting boat instead of taking their turn returning to the top of the drift. This is unsporting, spoils the action & enjoyment of others & understandably leads to frayed tempers. Should you find yourself at the receiving end of repeated displays of such poor boatmanship & bad etiquette, we ask that you phone the lodge in order that we can come out to rectify the situation ourselves as deemed appropriate.
Boat Cleanliness:
Our hard pressed team strive to maintain the boats to a high standard of cleanliness. Anglers are kindly requested to respect their endeavours by keeping their vessels shipshape & litter free. Particular attention should be paid to avoiding the unnecessary practise of pulling muddy anchors on board. These should be shaken clean before being lifted into the boat. Your assistance in this regard will be most appreciated.
Guiding & Tuition:
Why not take your own fishing further with a day out on the water with England Internationals and fishery staff Lee Henfrey or Tom Bird? Whether you wish to get to know the water better or hone a particular skill, our guides can help to improve your catch rates. Visit the website www.flyfishguiding.co.uk for more information or book a slot by calling the lodge on 01788 812018.
Keep up to date with the latest catches and fishing posts from our in-house fishery ranger and guide Tom Bird, by following him on Facebook. Tom has been catching some great fish this season and posting pictures of the fish as well as a light write up on how he has been catching them.
Tight lines,
The Draycote Team
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