Draycote Water fishing report week ending Sunday 18th August 2019
Tel: 01788 812018
Overall it has been a terrific week at the fishery despite some extremely wet, windy & blustery conditions at times. In total, 350 anglers fished the venue catching 2,149 trout for a weekly rod average of 6.14. The general improvement in sport is primarily down to decreasing water temperatures which in turn has brought fish actively back on the feed.
Monday was a good start to the period with a 9-12 mph WNW wind, broken cloud & a maximum temperature of 17°C. Eugene Hughes found fish in the vicinity of B Buoy and switched between dries & lures as they rose & fell in the water column. He also found feeding fish right through the middle which he took on lures presented on sinking lines. His hectic session ended with 25 to the net. Meanwhile Kevin Rees searched off the Draycote Water Dam with his own Bob’s bits patterns to land 17, closely followed by Tony Parker who boated 15. Ed Douglas shared a boat with Jim Smith & they also stuck to dry fly tactics over open water to end with over 15 apiece. Season rod Paul Walker however, stuck to nymphing tactics taking over 20 rainbows on diawl bachs & olive crunchers. Tuesday saw an increase in wind speed with a shift into the west. With bright sunshine to also contend with, anglers found things a bit harder. That was not to put off Tony Broadway & Brian Warwick who came off the banks to share a boat with Tony netting 10 & Brian 13 using a mix of buzzer & cruncher as a washing line setup. Graham Homer was also on the water, drifting the middle with a team comprising black diawl bachs to bring 9 to the net. David Webb used black & red buzzers in size 14 to tempt 5 from Biggin Bay whilst Ged O’Donoghue had a 6 fish day mixing dries & lures. Wednesday was very quiet on the water given extremely high SSW winds and heavy showers. Nevertheless the trout kept pulling for those prepared to go afloat and five anglers recorded a total of 65 trout landed representing a staggering rod average for the day of 13 topped by a catch of 20 for Norman Perkins who fished diawl bachs on a washing line. By contrast, Thursday’s anglers enjoyed warm, dry conditions, albeit on a brisk westerly. Many chose the relative shelter of the main Draycote Dam towards Rainbow Corner, either at anchor or on short drifts towards A buoy or past the Overflow & along the Hensborough. Ian Pugh & Tony Whitcher both washing lined crunchers & diawl bachs near Rainbow netting 6 & 8 respectively. John Hoskins chose similar tactics at anchor off the Flat Stones to take 10 with a Nemo Cruncher proving to be his top pattern on a floating line. Tony Broadway was also back afloat fishing nymphs off the main dam. His 9 fish nymph caught tally included a beautiful grown on full finned rainbow which tipped the scales at 5lbs 8oz. The father & son pairing of Jim & Richard Hall were also afloat, enjoying good sport bringing 17 to net. Jim has been successful with a small olive snake pattern of his own tying whilst Richard scored heavily on a small black tadpole incorporating a little UV in the body. Although few have ventured onto the banks this week, Ifor Bullock fished the shoreline at Dunns Bay for a 5 fish total taken on nymphs with additional takes missed. Friday brought some very windy, wet conditions to contend with on a very gusty SSW, especially during the afternoon, which kept angler numbers low. It was, however, a productive day for some with Andy Cooper landing 11, Paul Roach 18, Derek Moore 14 & Robert Middleton 10. The rod average for the day was 5.4 but with most rods practising for the Anglers World Holidays Fly Fishing Championships final on Sunday, methods, flies & locations were being kept very close to their chests! The same applied for Saturday with over 45 boats on the water for the official practise day. Weather conditions were thankfully much improved with the wind back in the WSW with speeds decreasing to 16-17mph although it was a very sunny day for the most part with top temperatures of 19°C – a very similar forecast to the forthcoming match day. Action was witnessed right across the venue throughout the day with competitors searching out locations, testing tactics & patterns. The majority found the fishing slightly more challenging than on previous days, with the bright and breeze conditions knocking the fish off kilter slightly. But it became clear that lots of fish were getting caught high in the water with the best lines seeming to be a floater down to a fast glass. Talking to the anglers coming off the water confirmed that Rainbow Corner still held a good head of fish. Again there seemed to be a variety of flies, although sunk hoppers and daddies were to be mentioned by several anglers. However, specifics on the areas and the specific flies were quite clearly being kept under wraps until after the match.
Come Sunday’s match day, as forecast, the conditions were very similar to Saturday. The wind remained in the west south west, but for the most part were lower than the day before with a mix of sun and wind. Ninety eight finalists competed in the event and competitors comprised many current & past internationals, together with nine previous title winners. The match itself was fished to a three fish kill followed by C&R. It was quite a sight to see 49 boats departing from the harbour at the beginning of the match & it soon became clear that fish were being netted throughout the venue. From the start a large proportion of boats headed up to Rainbow Corner with the rest of the boats split between the middle around X Buoy and drifting around J Buoy, T Buoy and the Farnborough Dam. As soon as the weigh-in commenced it became clear that large numbers of trout had been netted & results were likely to be tight. However, the winner claimed a decisive victory, his 20 trout catch for 40lbs 9oz being six fish ahead of nearest rival – our congratulations go to the 2019 champion Gary Morris. Second place was taken by Geert Janssens with 14 rainbows for 29lbs 13oz & third place taken by Maggie Curtis, again with 14 fish for 29lbs 9oz. Our own Lee Henfrey also featured in the top ten with 13 fish for 26lbs 2oz to take ninth spot. A staggering 697 trout were landed in the competition representing a rod average of 7.01 – (For full results visit our Facebook page www.facebook.com/FlyFishStore ). New champion Gary has since revealed that a 12 foot slow tip fished in conjunction with a 22 feet leader with 3 crunchers & a fab on the point was his winning setup. He caught variously at M buoy & out towards the middle, B buoy and the Tower. As a team, we were proud to have hosted such a prestigious match and extend our congratulations to all finalists for achieving their place in the final, as well as to John Horsey for such a well organised event.
Disabled Anglers
Draycote has a wheelie boat for hire, which includes a ramp and hydraulic lift for wheelchair access. To book the wheelie boat, call the lodge on 01788 812018.
Fishery Tackle Shop & Online Shop
Draycote has a tackle shop at the fishery stocking SAGE, RIO, VISION, REDINGTON, WYCHWOOD, GREYS, SNOWBEE, FULLING MILL, FARIO, LOON, FISHPOND and STREAMWORKS products with demo SAGE, Vision & Redington rods & RIO fly lines for you to take out and try.
We also have an online shop. For all you anglers who might not be aware www.flyfishstore.co.uk is the online store for Draycote and the whole of Fishery Management (UK) Ltd. During the 2019 season we will be looking at doing weekly specials offers on the website.
COMPETITIONS During August.
Fly Dressers Guild 24th August 2019
Weather Forecast:
We’re often asked which weather forecast we use. In our experience regional forecasts can be quite inaccurate. We tend to use more localised weather apps such as XC Weather or Windguru. These can be downloaded to your phone or computer, and using our post code of CV23 8AB, will give you a dedicated, more accurate forecast for Draycote water.
Weekly Boat draw
Congratulations to Mr Brian Moore from Coventry , the winner of this week’s free boat draw.
Weekly Stats:
Number Rods: 350 Number Trout Taken: 425 Number Trout Released: 1724
Total Catch: 2149 Rod Average: 6.14
Current Fishing Times:
Bank: 07:30 until 20:30
Boat All Day: 08:30 until 20:30
Boat Part Day: AM 08:30 until 14:30 PM 14:30 until 20:30
Last 4 Hours from: 16:30 until 20:30 (Ticket sales available from 16:15)
Gutting Room Closes: 20:00
All Anglers to be off site by: 20:45