Draycote Water Fishing report w/e Sunday 8th April 2018.
Telephone Number 01788 812018
Report
A cool start to the week Monday and Tuesday with rain and gusty cool winds. The weather seems to have broken and spring seems to have sprung with fantastic buzzer hatches and fish moving on the top to dries. Let’s hope that the good hatches continue and keep the fantastic sport we have been experiencing for the week. A total of 342 angler came, catching 1997 fish for a weekly rod average of 5.8.
A cold, wet blustery start to Monday put off a few boat anglers however guiding, and tuition manager Tom Bird braved the cold early spring conditions with season ticket holder Ed Douglas. The pair were rewarded with a dozen overwintered fish to the boat fishing over Musborough shoal with 7 inch a second sinking lines and 2 humongous boobies.(We have the RIO In Touch Fast Sinker 7inch/sec demo line for you to take out and try call the lodge to book a RIO demo line) If you fancy a day out with Tom trying to land some of these fantastic overwintered fish, please call the lodge on 01788 812018.
Due to the strong southerly winds the bank fishers found conditions tricky and as a result opted to fish from along the near side of Toft. Season ticket holder Steve Gibson landed 6 fish all on buzzers from the Swans nest. Also fishing near Steve was Tom Flower who again landed 6 on cat’s whiskers.
Tuesday as another cold windy day with wintery showers at times, the fishing remained tricky due to these conditions. Although some anglers did enjoy good sport. One such angler was John Dickens who fished in Rainbow Corner from the bank to land 5 fish all on buzzers. It was the boats however, that enjoyed the best sport with K Coley and B Taft landing 14 fish between them on the boat fishing in Toft shallows. Also, on the boats C Williams landed 11 fish mainly on cat’s whiskers from Toft and the cornfield.
The wind remained on the south for Wednesday with another cold overcast start with some rain around. On the boats Draycote regular Geoff Preston landed 5 fish in a short 4-hour session down in Toft using a wet cell 2 and damsels. Also fishing a short session but this time from the afternoon was season ticket holder Rodger Kerrison who landed 5 fish using a di 7 line and boobies. Out on the water from the boats were the Welsh Youth team enjoying a team get together session ahead of the Youth International held here in July. The 16 youth anglers enjoyed good sport landing 96 between them. The best boats fished down the Farnborough Dam wall on sinking lines from di 3 to 5s with a combination of blobs, boobies and cormorants.
Thursday saw the weather break with a lovely warm spring day, once the wind had swung into the south. On the bank Jude Tuffs landed 13 fish from Toft on buzzers under the bung. Also catching well from the bank in Toft were season ticket holders Lee Pattern and Peter Elliott, who both landed over 20 fish each on washing lined buzzers. Steve Robinson used damsel’s lures in Toft to land a dozen fish from the bank. Out on the boats James Scott and boat partner James Foster landed 28 fish between then fishing around Farnborough spit on dancers and blobs. Mr A Greenhalgh and boat partner Dave Heseltine enjoyed good sport from the boat fishing down the Farnborough dam wall with a white lure and then black buzzers in the afternoon to land 37 fish. The Welsh youth team once again took to the water on the second of their two days, again the best catches from the team came to a mix of mini lures fished on either di 3 or 5 lines in Toft and around Farnborough spit. Although several the team did catch on buzzers and nymphs fished the same areas.
Friday saw another day of warm conditions with winds from the South East, this wind direction meant it was near perfect conditions for fishing buzzers in Toft. Due to the mild overnight temperatures the buzzer where hatching straight from the off. Mr C.J Day enjoyed great sport from the bank landing just short of 20 fish on a mix of blobs, buzzers and cat’s whiskers. Stan Hillman fished the bank to land a dozen fish from along the Cornfield. Mr D Stowe enjoyed great sport on the last four-hour ticket landing 11 fish from along the Cornfield on a black and green lure. Out on the boats Tim Grove enjoyed great sport in Toft and Dunns Bay using crunchers and diawl bachs on a floating line. M Mathieson & C Critchley enjoyed a red letter day of buzzer sport landing 88 fish to the boat all on buzzers in Toft shallows, Mark’s words being “It’s the best buzzer sport I have ever had”.
Near perfect conditions Saturday saw the fishing really take off with 53 rod catching 576 fish for a rod average of 10.9. On the bank Mike Oliver fished the Cornfield to land over 30 fish on buzzers and pheasant tail nymphs. Mr T Beebe fished buzzers for the first time at Draycote and landed a personal best of 14 fish, which made the long drive very worthwhile. Mr G and O Cooper fished the bank to land 31 fish between them. The boats also enjoyed fantastic sport, D Middleton landed 34 fish in Toft using a small olive nymph fished on a fast sinking line. Season ticket holder Dennis Tidmarsh enjoyed a great day afloat with Rod Goldthorpe with the pair boating 55 fish between them on cat’s whiskers. Mark Hunt landed 24 fish using black snakes and viva in the morning before swapping to dries after seeing some fish move in the wind lanes with f-flies and CDC shuttlecocks being his best pattern. Neil Cohen and Nigel Angus also used dries to great effect landing 35 between them on bobs bits fishing for moving fish in the wind lanes. Kieron Thomas and Brendan Thomas used washing line Diawl Bachs with a black booby to landed 46 fish to the boat fishing down in Toft shallows. Iain Scott, N Brackenridge and S McFadyen 66 fish between the three of them while down on a three day package from Scotland.
Another mild night Sunday meant that the buzzers where on the surface from the start and the light winds once again meant the fish where up on the top. the rain did slightly lower the air temperature which did put some of the fish off from rising in the same fashion as they had the day before, but their was still plenty up on the top looking for buzzers. Bank angler Clive Wilkins caught a total of 28 fish on a variety of patterns. Ivan Cotterill, also fishing from the bank, caught 8 fish on buzzers. Draycote regular Yousef Dar ventured out in a boat to net 23 fish while Andy Lane, also fishing from a boat netted 17. Season permit holder Mike Garner caught 10 fish from the bank on nymphs and a mini cormorant in Dunns bay. Another season permit holder Jim Smith had 15 fish to the boat, all on dries. Lee Cheshire caught 22 fish from the bank on buzzers. Lee weighed in his 6 fish limit for a total of 15lb 4oz. Season permit holder Paul Walley caught 19 fish from the bank on diawl bachs and damsels, also encountering 3 double hook ups during the day. Draycote regular Nick Dunn had 25 fish to the boat on buzzers and dries. Mr C Massey caught 20 fish whilst fishing on the cornfield, all on buzzers.
Weekly Boat draw
Congratulations to Mr Keith Byrne of Nuneaton, the winner of this week’s free boat draw.
Weekly Stats:
Number Rods: 342 Number Trout Taken: 483 Number Trout Released: 1514
Total Catch: 1997 Weekly Rod Average: 5.8
Current Fishing Times:
Bank: 07:30 until: 20:00
Boat All Day: 08:30 until 20:00
Boat Part Day: am 08:30 until 14:00 pm 14:00 until 20:00
Last 4 Hours from: 16:00 until 20:00 (Ticket sales available from 15:45 )
Gutting Room Closes – 19:30
All Anglers to be off site by: 20:15hrs
Fishery News
Fishery Management UK Ltd Stocking Update.
Our trout suppliers have been in touch to inform us that due to the extreme cold, wet & wintery weather conditions experienced during late February & March they have struggled to achieve sufficient growth rates to bring enough stock up to the 2lb+ (900g) trout size for our Draycote stockings booked during early April.
We will continue to stock as planned, we have a busy April booked with day rods, groups & competitions, but expect during the next couple of weeks to see some fish stocked at a slightly reduced size than expected at Draycote with some fish being stocked at around the 1lb12oz upwards (800g+) size while our suppliers get the extra time required for enough of their stock to reach the 2lb+ range.
Hopefully with better weather conditions this blip in the expected growth rates at the farms will be rectified by mid-April.
Ifor Jones
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
Loch Style Team Championships- 30th June/1st July- Angling Trust- www.anglingtrustevents.net Potential cash prize pot £8,000 and TV coverage
Scierra Pairs- 29th July- Phil Dixon- www.scierrapairs.co.uk
10th/11th August- Anglers World Holidays- www.anglersworld.flyfishingchampionships.uk
Troutmasters Final – Monday 8th 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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