Weekly fishing report 6th September 2021

Weekly Fishing Report: Thornton, Eyebrook, Draycote

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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 5^th September   Rod Av 2.7  Water Temperature 17c+

Coolish bank holiday Monday, but great weather for the fishing with our water temperature at 17.5c the trout were up & about on the feed. Fish were moving over most of the reservoir although the largest concentration seems to be down the Markfield arm. A real mixture of flies took fish on the floating line, muddler & cats whisker pulled through the surface, claret bob bits, hoppers, cdc, olive or red buzzers, shipman’s, pheasant tail & diawl & as you would expect as we move into the autumn the daddy.  The top rod on the day was All Water member Ian Leach with 10 trout on hoppers, daddies, shipman. K Dobson caught 7 on bobs bits, daddies & nymphs, Bob Menhams caught 5 on a cats whisker pulled with P Mee taking his on buzzers. Good evening rise.

Tuesday, damp cold day, but anglers report good numbers of fish moving from late morning into the evening, plenty of follows but the trick was to get them to commit fully & take the fly! P Cox caught 5 for the morning session catching most during the latter part of the session. P Wurm fished the last 4 hours evening session finding good numbers of fish moving along the Markfield arm with the fish willing to take a red dry fly as long as it was small, Peter finished the session with 5 trout to the boat

Wednesday and it’s fishing better late morning, afternoon into the evening with small buzzers, few of the larger claret buzzer & some daddies drifting onto the water. The Markfield arm to the stones seems to be holding a good number of trout. T & J Evans caught 14 between them on dries & cdc, M Litchfield caught his 6 trout in the afternoon with fish chasing a fab & booby across the surface, Jim Carrier caught 5 for his mornings visit. Water temperature 17c which is good for top of the water sport.

Thursday Andre Russel, S Frakes, R Dunneth fished from their float tubes catching 28 trout between them on hoppers, cruncher, blob, diawls and montana. Paul Martindale caught 7 for his visit with L Serrano catching 7 on daddies during his afternoon / evening session

Friday and a mixed day with dries, buzzers, nymphs & fry patterns recorded on the return sheet. Mark Hunt during a morning visit caught 8 on a floating fry, Malcolm Beck fished daddies for his 3 trout wit C Bond fishing the afternoon session catching 5 on red diawl & blob with All water member Mr Ravenscroft catching his 4 fish on an olive snake pattern.

Saturday the trout are up on the surface with late morning, afternoon & evening session best. Markfield arm continues to hold a good number of fish with Jan Webber finding fish all the way down the arm to the tern rafts. Jason Harrison found a single orange blob on a floater but stripped through the surface created lots of follows with Jason boating 7 trout, Thomas Bell also boated 7 trout with Martin Ward fishing the afternoon session catching 10 on a orange fab, tequila booby pulled through the surface. All Water member Tim Price fished a black popper hopper to boat his 4 trout

Sunday and again a mixture of flies caught from dries, hares ear, diawls to booby and snakes. Trout were rising well from early afternoon into the evening although they proved difficult to tempt at time, Ged Odonoghue bout his 8 year old granddaughter fishing for the afternoon with Ged catching his fish on the grunter with his granddaughter catching her first ever Thornton trout on a diawl bach

Draycote Fishery Weekly Report – 01788 812018

**New Email Address**: draycote@flyfishstore.co.uk

Week Ending 5th September         Rod Average 2.8                  Water Temperature 17  °C

BOATMEN NEEDED: On Sunday 12^th September Draycote is hosting the Youth National final. For the event we will require boatmen, however, we are unsure at the point how many. If you’re interested please give the lodge a call and leave your name and number then we will give you a call back to confirm your place as a boatman when we know exact number.

 ANGLER PARKING NOTICE: All Anglers please note that from Monday 23^rd August Severn Trent has requested that all anglers will now have to return their car to the main car park after unloading, if you require a yellow parking pass please ask for one in the lodge on the morning of your visit.

 Bank holiday saw a number of boats take to the water enjoying the longer weekend. All water member Neil Shilton fished with brother Dean the pair fished floating fry patterns to land 15 fish between them. Ed Douglas fished dries all day landing a dozen fish and rose a number of others. Fellow dry fly enthusiast John Dickens landed fish using Bob’s Bits. Mr McVay used Big Reds, Daddies and Bob’s Bits to land a dozen fish. Draycote members Paul Walley and Mark Johnston-Jones drifted from B Buoy to the Aerators landing 17 fish on FABS and muddlers. The key on Monday seemed to be keep the flies high in the water, as the fish feed high in the water column with the cooling water temperatures.

The final day of August and once again the cold Northerly wind made for a definite chill on the water. Draycote member Tony Hart fished the bank at Lincroft point to land 3 fish. Out on the boat All water members Norman Perkins & Steve Orton landed 9 fish to the boat fishing boobies. Kevin Rees used Bob’s Bits dry flies to land 10 fish. Stuart Lee fished on a PM boat landing 7 fish in Toft with Claret Hoppers being his best pattern, with a lot of other fish being rose and lost.

The cold north easterly continued through Wednesday with the threat of the odd shower which never appeared. Season permit holder Paul Walley caught 7 fish mainly drifting in the Aerators using minkies. Young Mike Garner ventured out on to the bank to net 3 fish on crunchers from Toft Shallows. Mick Cronin also fished the bank and netted 5 fish on a sinking line and lures from the Tower Bank. Mr D and Mr L Orton had a dozen fish to the boat between them from the top few feet of the water on a variety of nymphs.

The overcast and breezy conditions should have given some good fishing through Thursday morning but by lunchtime things were looking a bit slow. Things must have picked up in the afternoon however as the rod average for the day came out at 3.9. Season permit holder Steve Lees had a total of 8 fish to the boat using dries, and then a washing line with nymphs. Tony Broadway used the same methods to net a bakers dozen. Paul Havard caught 9 fish, starting in Rainbow Corner  and then moving through into Toft Shallows in the afternoon. Paul used a midge tip line with nymphs and a booby on the point. Lianne Frost and Chris Bobby had 26 fish between them to the boat on a washing line with a FAB on the point and then dries. Kevin Rees had half a dozen, all on bob’s bits.

A number of bank anglers fished Friday, with C Massey fishing at Lincroft point landing 3 fish on daddies. Alec Twaites fished in Toft near the Willow Tree only landing 1 put reported chances to daddies that if they had stuck would have put his catch in double figures. Draycote member Simon Ringer fished off the bank for the last four hours landing 5 fish on a variety of flies Daddies, Nemo crunchers and FABS. Husband & Wife members Debbie and Sean Gilbert enjoyed a great morning with Debbie landing 5 fish using a Sink Tip line with a blue flash Damsel and a black dancer taking her fish at Lincroft Point and Toft. Matt Baggott fished with Mike Goodwin with he pair landing 8 fish using a Di 3 sinking line and minkie boobies. Also, on a boat Geoff Allsop fished with Graham Wood landing 19 fish on Corixa patterns, Green Hoppers and white lures. Dave Naylor & Steve Houlton landed 23 between them on hoppers and CDC’s. Former Manager Kevin Hart fished with John Hoskins landing 24 fish to the boat washing lining crunchers.

Another overcast day for the most part with the sun making an appearance late in the afternoon with light winds coming from the Northeast. Darren Woodman fished with Mr Clark in the second of their 2 day break landing 16 fish to the boat using Hot Butt Yellow Owl CDCs. Lindsey Simpson fished with Mr Lumsdon with the pair landing 8 fish using a washing line set up catching in Toft and around the Blue boat down the Farborough Dam Wall. On the water we also had Scottish Power Group fishing there Annual match with 19 anglers taking to the water landing 58 fish for a rod average of 2.9 fish per angler. With the majority of their fish getting caught drifting through the Aerators.

Another bright and sunny day at Draycote on Sunday with light breezes. A good amount of the catch return is coming from Toft Shallows however, other areas are producing as well such as the Aerators by the Valve Tower, Dunns Bay and Rainbow Corner  Jon Crowley netted 7 fish from the bank using a white booby and then the ever popular big red dry fly. Season permit holder Ed Douglas had 18 fish to the boat, all on dries. Mr S Bray caught 4 fish using an orange lure and orange blobs. Later on into the evening “Tim and Sean” caught 6 fish near the Aerators.

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 5^th Sep 21                 Rod Average: 4.1                 Water Temp: 18C

This week started with a stiff NNE wind coming down the lake on to the pontoons averaging between 14 – 16mph. The conditions lasted throughout the week, making it a little bit more challenging out in the open water, but shelter was available along the Rutland bank. With nicely oxygenated water at a temperature bordering on 18 degrees, the fish were active in the top layers of the water column and were more than happy to come to dries and nymphs fished sub surface. A further stocking of 1500 rainbows from Westacre took place on the Wednesday, not only to help maintain the fine form that the reservoir has been in this summer but provide fresh impetus to the autumn fishing.

On Monday, Mr Benjamin and Mr Simmonds started their 3-day session by taking 11 to their boat, whilst Mr Cheery and Mr. Turner had 7. Mark Hunt fished the afternoon session and took a baker’s dozen on CDC’s and daddies. The wind remained in the same direction on Tuesday with similar results. Best drifts were from the willows across to the Leicestershire Bank whilst anchored boats fared best either off the willows, in Harrisons or against the weed beds on the Leicestershire bank. Top boat on Tuesday was Mr Benjamin and Simmonds who had 13, but the best fish of the day was a fine 6-and-a-half-pound brownie taken by Ian Brearley on a daddy.

Wednesday saw the Eyebrook hosting an English Disabled Fly Fishers national eliminator which was fished to competition rules. The wind remained the same as the previous two days, but the fishery still provided good sport. 14 anglers ventured afloat for the 6-hour competition and nearly everybody caught with a competition rod average of 4.33.  Jim Watts was top rod with 12 fish with Steve Cranston second with 8 trout. Further details of this competition and information on the EDFF can be found on our Facebook page. Also on Wednesday, visiting anglers Alan Simmonds and Neal Benjamin finished their 3-day package with a further 6 fish bringing their 3-day total to a creditable 30 Fish. Eyebrook regulars Ian Jobe and Clive Moore landed 14 during their all-day boat session, whilst Ged O’Donoghue landed 9.

With the conditions on Thursday remaining the same as the previous few days, the majority of anglers fished similar drifts and tactics that had been successful earlier on in the week. Dries were producing the goods with Daddies, Hoppers, yellow owls, and Popper Hopers some of the patterns moving fish.  Sub surface tactics included straight lining, the washing line and pulling lures. Successful sub surface patterns included blobs, boobies, FABs, diawl bachs, Pheasant tails and buzzers. Draycote stalwart, Ed Douglas went afloat with staff member, Lee Henfrey and took over 30 to their boat using dries whilst Ged O’Donoghue was afloat again, this time, joined by regular partner Steve Orton and between them they took 20 fish. Colin and Christine Davies travelled down from North Wales on Thursday for a two-day package and enjoyed some fine sport, landing 15 using Boobies, Diawl Bach’s and black buzzers.  Although the predominantly northerly wind had made the Leicestershire bank very difficult for the bank anglers due to the wind and coloured water, the Rutland side of the reservoir was more accessible, and Mr Labrum spent some time there working the bank and was rewarded with a fine brace.

The wind became a little bit lighter on the Friday but held that North Easterly direction making conditions perfect for drifting from the seat, all the way along the Rutland bank to the Netted bank. occasionally the wind would change to an easterly which would push boats out towards the Island. This didn’t really matter as there were fish everywhere out in the open water. They’d come out of nowhere and attack boobies and foam daddies. This was more out of curiosity than feeding. The more confident takes were coming to Claret hoppers and small Culs. Quite a few anglers were also having some great success on small Diawl Bach’s, buzzers and Crunchers. Coral coloured FABs seemed to be working well as well.

Saturday was almost identical to Friday, but there was a lot more sunshine and a little bit less wind. A few folk struggled to connect to takes or suffered the frustration of fish trying to drown their larger dry flies. But the anglers that had the better percentage of hook ups were those fishing Diawl Bach’s, Hares ears, crunchers and buzzers. Tequila blobs and coral blobs were working really well as attractors.

Sunday seen Eyebrook hosting Thornton Fly Fishers, Draycote Fly Fishers and Eyebrook Fly fishers for a long overdue gathering of anglers that fish our waters. The weather was fantastic for the morning but as lunch time approached, the cloud disappeared, and things got a little bit warm. The friendly match was fished as a blind pairs match from 08:30 to 12:30, then from 13:30 to 17:30, this way, nobody knew who their boat partner was until the end of the match. Due to us having an odd number, one angler was drawn twice from the hat to fill the last space for the weigh in. Lots of anglers had a few fish early in the morning and were looking forward to a BBQ and a few cold drinks by lunch time. There was plenty of chit chat and banter before heading back out for the afternoon session. After the weigh in John Hanlon and Ian Jobe were the clear winners with 8 Fish weighting in at 17lbs 12oz. John had the biggest fish weighing in at 3lbs 13oz and Ian Jobe weighed in a fish at 3lbs 8oz. The Thornton Fly Fishers kindly donated a few bottles of wine and some chocolates for 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th place. Full results can be found on the fishery management FB Page www.facebook.com/FlyFishStore