Draycote Water weekly report week ending 3rd March 2019
Telephone Number 01788 812018
Well what a different year than the rather failed opening day of the previous year, when the country was in the middle of the ‘Beast from the East’. Lovely gentle south westerly winds of around 7mph greeted the anglers queuing at the gate for the chance to get the first Draycote fish of the 2019 season. After the sunny week leading up to opening day there was much excitement in the air for both staff and anglers hoping for a great day’s sport. This proved to be the case with 108 anglers visiting the fishery landing a total of 868 fish for a rod average of 8.0. Once the rush of anglers had passed Lee took a drive around the bank with Ifor to assess the sport and it was clear that Toft was the place to be. One such angler who just hit it right was Andy Ball who fished the Swan’s nest in Toft using a blue flash damsel to land 27 fish. Again, using a Damsel in Toft Henryk Pycz landed 19 hard fighting fish, including some fantastic overwintered fish. Draycote season ticket holders Lee Patten & Peter Elliot fished all round the banks to enjoy great sport landing 14 & 17 respectively. Peter opted to fish with a small black tadpole on a floating line for his 17 where was Lee went for a team on small black buzzers on a washing line. All water season ticket holder Alex Urquhart fished on the far side of Toft opposite the Swans nest and landed 18 fish on a small blue flash damsel. Out on the boats some real cricket score catches where recorded. Ben Bayliss & Dave Morris had 63 to the boat with Farnborough spit being the hotspot for the lads. Their best tactic was to use a di 5 sinking line with black minkies and tequila blobs proving the best. Tim Ham & boat partner Rob Jones landing 29 from Toft using di 3 sinking lines with Viva’s and blobs. Mike Williams and John Cowan also fished in Toft towards the bottom end of the Cornfield near the willows to land 30 fish on blobs and boobies once again on sinking lines. A party of 7 travelling anglers from Scotland had a great day landing 137 fish with the majority coming from Toft & Biggin Bay on Damsels on slow intermediate lines.
Saturday started much the way Friday has finished with light winds and overcast skies. As was the case the previous Toft was the place to be with most of the boats catching well on sinking lines and t the bank anglers around the Swan’s nest. However, after a couple of hours the wind picked up to around 20mph meaning a lot of boats moved away looking for more shelter. On the bank M Chuser landed 11 fish, taking two cracking overwintered fish first thing in Toft before moving up the overflow in the afternoon. He found the key was to fish a black fritz on a floating line and commented that the fish where taking it right on the end of the cast within the first 8 pulls. Out on the boats Kieron Jenkins & Matt Russell enjoyed a fantastic day’s sport with over 50 fish to the boat. The pair found that anchoring in Toft produced the best tactics as the fish were tightly shoaled up. Using di 7 & di 8 sinking lines and boobies the pair really made the most of the fish in Toft. In the afternoon with the introduction of the high winds the pair took the successful method up to Rainbow Corner landing a couple of cracking 4 & 5lb overwintered fish. Using similar tactics Stuart Malcolmson & S Miller landed 40 fish to the boat once again from Toft but this time using di 5 sinking lines and boobies.
The conditions looked set to challenge the anglers Sunday with very high winds forecast to come through in the afternoon. Luckily the forecast had dropped enough that the boats could still go out for the day, with he conditions for the morning being near perfect. The Ian Scott party of 7 traveling down from Scotland make the most of the morning coming off just before 12, but still manging to land 45 fish between them. The best method was to use a damsel on a slow sinking intermediate in Biggin Bay tight to the bank, this method also claimed a lovely 5lb 8oz Rainbow for the lads with an even bigger one just slipping the hook at the net. Mark Miles & Tim Wellman enjoyed good sport coming off just after lunch landing 19 fish. The pair found the fish in Toft in the morning before heading up to the outlet to keep catching. The method was two small boobies fished on a booby basher hard on the bottom. Several other anglers used this method to great effect Andrew Barrowman and Paul Sharp used a cat booby and a black booby on a di 7 sinking line in Toft to finish with 20 to the boat. In Biggin Bay Martin Griffiths and Ian Richie landed 14 and enjoying fantastic sport before the stronger winds caused issues with presentation.
Overall a great start to the 2019, with Toft being the place to be from both the boat and the banks. With other great catches coming from Biggin Bay and the overflow near Rainbow Corner, its great to see some really quality fish coming out at the start of the season. It was great to see so many regulars returning to the fishery for the opening weekend and we look forward to seeing you all over the course of the 2019 season let’s hope it’s a good one with tightlines had by all.
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. To kick off the season we have reduced our remaining Airflo Sixth Sense sinking flies from £44.99 to £25 in order to clear our stock, ready for the new lines coming in the next few weeks. The offer can be found at https://www.flyfishstore.co.uk/offers/.
RIO & Sage Day
On Sunday 14th April Draycote is hosting its popular RIO & Sage with Jim Fearn (Sage) and Simon Gawesworth (RIO) in attendance. They will be able to talk you through the latest kit and be on hand to provide casting sessions. The guiding & tuition team will be running the 1 ½ hour guided sessions, taking you out on the water to test the kit. Helping the tuition team will be Brown Bowl winner and RIO & Sage sponsored angler David Hoppe. To book a session on the boats call the lodge on 01788 812018.
Weekly Boat draw
Congratulations to Mr Martin Price from Coventry, the winner of this week’s free boat draw.
Weekly Stats:
Number Rods: 254 Number Trout Taken: 261 Number Trout Released: 1123
Total Catch: 1384 Weekly Rod Average: 5.4
Current Fishing Times:
Bank: 07:30 until 17.45
Boat All Day: 08:30 until 17.45
Boat Part Day: AM 08:30 until 12.30 PM 12.30 until 17.45
Last 4 Hours from: 13.45 until 15.45 (Ticket sales available from 13.30)
Gutting Room Closes –17.15
All Anglers to be off site by: 18.00
Tight lines,
The Draycote Team
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