Thornton Fishing Report week ending 15th August 2021

Weekly Fishing Report: Thornton, Eyebrook, Draycote

Visit our Fisheries Websites: www.flyfishdraycote.co.uk   www.flyfisheyebrook.co.uk  www.flyfishthornton.co.uk

Online Shop: www.flyfishstore.co.uk      Tuition & Guiding: www.flyfishtuition.co.uk

Fishery YouTube Channel: YouTube Flyfishstore

Thornton Fishery Weekly Report – 01530 230807

“New Email address”  thornton@flyfishstore.co.uk

Stocking Policy As we enter the period of the year higher water temperatures we alter the average size of trout we stock our stocking policy for Thornton is explained on our website Stocking Policy | Fly Fish Thornton – Leicestershire Fly Fishery

 Week ending 15^th August.  Rod Av 2.9   Water Temperature 18.0c – 19c

Monday our water temperature was 18c+ with the first of our larger claret buzzers on the water, its going the right way for August. Steve Windram and P Cross caught 7 for their visit on buzzers, hoppers and daddies, Peter Wurm fished the last 4 hours boating 2 but reported fish moving prepared to chase but they proved finicky when it came to taking the hook.

Tuesday and a water temperature of 18c greeted the anglers. Trout were high in the water & prepared to chase a pulled fly with small muddler, booby, diawls & damsels all taking fish. A rod average of 4.4 for the day. Pete Cox caught 9 with the Dawsons olive the successful fly, all water member P Walker caught 15 on buzzer, damsel & booby, Arthur Olding caught 9 fishing an intermediate with a white booby on the point & a small fry pattern on the dropper. Best area: Green Bay, stones & dam across to the Markfield arm with boats on the drift producing best.

Wednesday a still start to the day but once the breeze picked up the trout were once again high in the water & prepared to chase a pulled fly. Andre Russel fishing from his float tube caught 8 on a montana pulled through the surface, Jason Harrison caught 4 using similar patterns, Bob Jones also fishing from a float tube caught 4 on a daddy, booby & cruncher with all anglers reporting follows & pulls to a pulled muddler.

Thursday a warmer brighter day with the air temperature 25c+ by lunchtime. A change to the previous few days with the trout in less of a chasing mood. Tut & Bet Miles fished a #16 diawl static to catch their 6 trout during mornings visit with M Armstrong catching his fish in the afternoon on dries.

Friday with a fresh breeze the trout were once again high in the water with dries, buzzer & washing line taking fish. Paul Martindale caught 11 on buzzers & diawls, R Morton & A Iliffe caught 9 for their mornings visit.

Saturday Brian Sibley fished the morning session catching 5 with C Green & B Newton catching 7 for their mornings visit with Mark Hunt fishing cdc, bobs bits & buzzers to catch 18 for his visit

Sunday fish were moving when the rods first got out on the water & were prepared to chase a fly pulled but were difficult to get them to commit & take the fly, exciting sport. Richard Callis found later in the day a green & black lure worked with Thornton member Andrew Wilson opting to fish the washing line catching 10 trout on buzzers.

With the shortening of the daylight hours & our water temperature around 18c, with good water clarity we should see the buzzer hatches improve as well as the evening rise

Draycote Fishery Weekly Report – 01788 812018

“New Email address”  draycote@flyfishstore.co.uk

Week Ending 15^th August Rod Average 3.6      Water Temperature 19‘C

The wind had dropped from Sunday, however remained gusty at times, with sunny intervals making the fishing a challenge to start to the week. Fishery Guide Lee Henfrey fished in the morning landing 9 fish using an Airflo Booby Basher teamed with a Gold & Silver Tube. Lee used a fast Roly-Poly retrieve to keep the fly about 3 feet down. Kevin Rees fished on dries all day around A & B Buoy to land 6 fish with his best flies being small Bob’s Bits. Alex Campbell also fished around A buoy and the Outlet using 2 foam daddies’ fish on a floating line to land 4 fish.

A busy day Tuesday with lots of anglers making the most of the overcast conditions hoping for some good sport. Draycote members Lee Patten & Peter Elliot found the fish willing to taking providing the good sport they hoped for, with he pair boating just short of 40 fish. They both used different tactics with Peter opting for dries while Lee using a washing line set up to tempt his fish. Fellow Draycote member Tony Parker landed a dozen fish using a mixture of dries and washing line techniques. Ed Douglas stuck to dries to land 16 fish with Ed’s best drifts being from X buoy down towards J. With a number of wind lanes opening up Ed reported them to be full of fish. In the evening we saw a great fall of flying Ants as a results the afternoon and evening boats caught well on Fiery Brown dries in various different forms.

Wednesday was another good day for fishing with light breezes and good cloud cover. Mr P Hallam had 5 “quality” fish overall, on dries such as Shipman’s buzzers and midas, from rainbow corner, A and M buoy. Ian Richardson and Bob Smith caught 9 between them, again on the dries. The dries were working really well for Mr I Tearle and Mr N Mead. They had 40 fish to the boat between them, all on “fiery brown”. Kevin Rees and Ed Douglas also used the dries to good effect, getting well into double figures on Bob’s bits and Shipman’s buzzers. Kevin Hart and Lee Henfrey caught 14 fish between them using sinking lines and lure around A and B buoy up near the Draycote Dam.

A bright start to Thursday with the cloud arriving around lunch. Draycote season ticket holders Dave Kennell & Eddie Mitchell Landed 19 fish using washing lining techniques using a mix of nymphs, FABs and daddies. Gordon Bramwell fished with Phil Thompson with the pair landing over 20 fish to the boat using a midge tip line and washing line techniques. Fishery Manager Tom Bird took David Holding & Geoff Brooks out in a boat on a 4 hour guide with the pair enjoying good sport landing 9 fish between them and losing a number of others. The best methods being a RIO Midge Tip Long with cormorants with a blob on the point and then two daddies fished on a floating line with the orange daddy being the best pattern.

Friday turned out to be a very windy day, with some gusts up into the high 20’s. This made for difficult fishing at times, but the rod average still came out at a very reasonable 3.0. Andrew and Nathan Blackwell had 7 fish to the boat on foam daddies. Mr K Saxton caught his 4 fish on poppers. Adam Larbalester and Ben Bayliss had 17 fish between them on snakes and sparklers, daddies, and claret bob’s bits. Mr A Wilson caught 4 fish on a single biscuit blob and boobies.

Saturday turned out to be a great day for fishing with good cloud cover and a light south westerly breeze blowing out of Rainbow Corner down across the reservoir. During the last few days the water temperature has dropped again and now good numbers of fish are being caught in the top few feet of the water column. There are some good catches being made on various techniques such as dries, a washing line fished on either a floater or a midge tip, and also pulling lures just under the surface. Ed Douglas boated 19 fish on big reds and bob’s bits. Nick Parker caught 9 fish using a sink tip line and boobies. Dan Mcelligott had 7 fish to the boat using olive snakes pulled fast, just under the surface on a DI 5. Dan spent part of his day in a boat with staff member Lee Henfrey, who using the same technique boated 17 fish. Mr Ian Watts managed a dozen fish to the boat, all on dry flies. Tom Bird and his boat partner Craig had nearly 40 fish to the boat which they did using various lures pulled just under the surface of the water.

A breezy day Sunday with the wind still coming from the South West with sunny and cloud intervals. Despite the sunny conditions at times the majority of fish stayed high in the water. Season ticket holders Paul Mitchell & Chris Bobby enjoyed a good days sport landing 29 fish to the boat. The pair both opted for a washing line set up Chris using a floating line while Paul used a Slow Glass. There cast involved a foam daddy on the top dropper, nymphs and then a FAB on the point. The best drift the pair found was around J Buoy to the blue boat and then T Buoy to the spit. Jim Smith & Ed Douglas fished around A, B & C Buoy to land a dozen in a half day with dries working for Ed while Jim used a sunk line and a sparkler. The All Ability Friendly Fly Fishers took to the water with 18 members landing just short of 80 fish. The best catches from the group came to dries with Midas, daddies and hoppers all featuring well.

Eyebrook Fishery Weekly Report – 01536 770264

“New Email address”  eyebrook@flyfishstore.co.uk

Stocking Policy As we enter the period of the year with expected higher water temperatures at the Eyebrook we alter the average size of trout we stock. Our stocking policy for the Eyebrook is explained on our website Stocking Policy | Fly Fish Eyebrook – Leicestershire Trout Fishery

Week ending 15^th Aug 21               Rod Average:4.2                  Water Temp: 19C – 18C

This week continued in fine form with the trout staying close to the surface. Most anglers opted to fish the washing line method with either a small booby or a FAB on the point and Diawl Bachs and Crunchers up the line. All water ticket holder Norman Perkins was top rod on the day fishing a FAB with small Buzzers to snare a cool 10 fish from the boat. A lot of the fish are being taken out in open water between the draw off tower and the Netted bank.

Tuesday seen things slow down a little, but most anglers still managed 2 or more fish to the boat. The few bank anglers that ventured out really did find it challenging. A few of the Boat anglers were having some success on Cats whisker patterns.

Wednesday seen the weather conditions settle a little bit better for fishing from a drifting boat. A nice steady breeze was enabling a lot of anglers to drift from the tower all the way past the netted bank. this enabled quite a few of them to pick up pods of fish cruising just below the surface. Yet again, washing line method worked best on floating line, midge tip, 6-foot slow tip or a slow intermediate line. A few reports coming in about fish chasing boobies in the surface when pulled. John Riley was top rod on the day with well in to double figures with a midge tip fishing the washing line method.

Thursday turned out to be another fantastic day, yet again a nice steady breeze made for pleasant fishing conditions. Lots of anglers were catching on FABS as well as nymphs and small lures. The fishing was going so well, some of our anglers were even breaking out the traditional wet fly patterns. All water ticket holders Chris Bobby and Lianne Frost were in to double figures with FABS and dries. Eyebrook Season ticket holder Lindsay Bates was joined out on the water by R Keeber, the pair managed a cool 20 to the boat between them using Midas Dries and pearly Whickams. With a rod average above 4 for the past few days, it was no surprise there were so many happy anglers coming off the water at the end of the day.

Friday morning started off with perfect conditions in the morning, but as lunch time approached, the wind started to pick up speed. This made fishing a little more challenging but offered the advantage of windblown terrestrials as the local farmer began harvesting in the field adjacent to the fishery. Mark Hunt took advantage of this to take 12 fish as did Steve Houlton and Dave Naylor who had 10 to the boat. With the fish moving up and down as the sun came out or went behind clouds, season ticket holder Mr. Farrell used a slow glass matched with pheasant tails, diawl bachs and cut throat boobies to catch and return over 20 fish.

Saturday saw the whole fleet out, with nearly every boat practicing for Sunday’s 6×4 competition. With this in mind, the majority of anglers kept their findings to themselves, although there were plenty of rods bending throughout the day. Some anglers however did record their catches, and these included several double figure catches. Best fish of the day though was a well-conditioned Brownie of about 12 pounds taken by Peter Costin, a photo of which can be found on the Fly-Fishing Large Reservoirs Facebook page. Sunday saw the whole fleet out with 52 anglers involved in the competition which was fished from 09.00 to 17.00. Overall, 274 fish were caught and returned for a competition average of 5.2. Top rod was Eric Caisley who netted a baker’s dozen. Top team were the Renegades. Season ticket holder, Malcolm Thompson spent the morning fishing from the bank near the Hawthorns and fishing a hares’ ears on a sink tip line caught 5 whilst members Dave Chadwick and Steve Lawrence netted 6 fish using snakes and Blobs