Weekly fishing report 9th October 2022

Weekly Fishing Report: Draycote, Eyebrook, Thornton

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Thornton Fishery Weekly Report – 01530 230807

Email: thornton@flyfishstore.co.uk

Stocking Policy Details of our stocking policy for Eyebrook is explained on our website www.flyfishthornton.co.uk/about-us-2/stocking-policy/

Can we remind members & day rods of our pre payment policy for 2022 details are on our website www.flyfishthornton.co.uk/about-us-2/day-permits/

Week Ending:  9^th October       Rod Av: 3.1      Water Temperature: 13c

Monday a calm start to the week with most of the fish caught taking buzzer, diawl bach & dries with fish moving during the last hour. A Wilson caught 7 on static buzzer with Mark Hunt catching 10 during the rise on daddies and bobs bits with fish up to 3lb

Tuesday and a change in the weather with a windy day forecast for Wednesday. D Pritchard did the best fishing the calmer part of the day between 8.30am & 12.30pm catching 4 from the Markfield arm.

Wednesday the wind blew, no boats were allowed out.

Thursday fry patterns worked best with minkie booby, cats whisker best, not an easy day with Richard Price & Russ Martin top rods with 3 trout each

Better day Friday with a south westerly breeze again fry patterns best with Chris Sayer fishing a minkie booby to catch his 18 trout. Saturday the light South Westerly wind continued with the fishing for the day averaging 5+ Again fry pattern with anglers catching from various areas of the reservoir from the stones to Markfield arm and in front of the Wood. Keith Cowen fished boobies to catch his 12 trout, Jan Webber fished a Sink 7 with gold & black booby to catch 22 with Paul Martindale fishing a cats whisker & snake to catch his 12 trout.

Sunday & a change to the weather with a North westerly. Colwick fly fishers paid us a visit with K Saxton top rod with 7 trout to 3lb13oz caught on a DI3 cats whisker with J Parnham catching 6 on a DI7. Mark Hunt decided to fish buzzers in the morning and yellow owl in the afternoon catching 7 trout for his visit

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Draycote Fishery Weekly Report – 01788 812018

Email:  draycote@flyfishstore.co.uk

Stocking Policy Details of our stocking policy for Draycote is explained on our website www.flyfishdraycote.co.uk/about-us-2/stocking-policy/

Week Ending:  9^th October 2022              Rod Av:  3.6   Water Temperature:  13°C

A nice overcast start to the day with the sun breaking through as the day progressed. On the bank the anglers continued to land nice quality fish with both Tony Broadway and john Clifford landing nice silver fish of 3lb 12oz and 4lb 2oz. On the boats there was a real mix of methods, from snakes to dries all featuring well on the catch report. Bob Askew used popper minkies on the morning and then snakes fished on a Di 5 in the afternoon to land 9 fish. Gary Russell also used snakes fish tight in at Farborough spit to land 7 fish with 6 coming in 45 mins a real purple patch. Draycote members Ian Richardson & Bob Barfoot landed 17 fish between them drifting from N to Y Buoy. The pair opted for midge tips with cormorants on the droppers and snakes on the point and commented on “a good day”. Paul Davison fished with Ian Bradfield landing 34 fish to the boat with all of them coming to dries. Paul used his normal team of Midas while Ian opted for popper hoppers. With the fish coming from various marks across the reservoir but drifts over the shoals proved to be very productive.

Overcast conditions Tuesday with the winds coming from the Southwest blowing around 20mph in the middle of the day. On the bank all water member Andy Lille landed 3 fish on Perch fry from the Outlet. Richard Walker fished alongside Andy to also land 3 from the bank on the same patterns. Bank regular Stan Hillman enjoyed a good day sport landing 5 fish from the Hensborough Bank and the outlet on minkies and floating fry. On the boats John Jones enjoyed a good day landing 7 fish taking them all in the morning using a 12ft slow tip and a team of cormorants drifting from A Buoy to Y Buoy. Danny Lovegrove fished with Dhan Nataly with the pair landing 15 fish to the boat. Using a mix of flies with Humungus, Tadpoles and daddies all featuring. With the best areas being Y, P & S Buoy. Tony Baldwin fished with Paul Davison with the pair landing nearly 40 fish to the boat all on dries with Midas being their best pattern.

Wednesdays’ weather forecast did not make for good reading, with it due to deteriorate as the day progressed. Three anglers braved the conditions, with Stuart Bottomley catching from the bank in Dunns Bay on a tadpole. Danny Lovegrove and Dhan Nataly ventured out in a boat to catch half a dozen fish between them. Danny and Dhan used big reds, humungus and hot head damsel just off A buoy near Rainbow Corner.

Thursday dawned with bright sunshine and a light south westerly breeze, which did increase as the day progressed. Draycote member, Dennis Tidmarsh fished with Steve Orton from the boat landing 9 fish on white snakes between them. Ray Wallace & Dave Mark fished landed 16 fish between them drifting from C-D Buoy. Opting to use snakes and boobies commenting “all good fish and a great day” Ian Richardson fished with Bob Smith using Di 3 sinking lines with a small snake and a cormorant at Farborough spit to land 8 fish to the boat. All water member Kev Hart landed 13 fish using a mixture of fry imitation lures with snakes, zonkers and humungus all landing him fish.

Another windy day Friday with the winds in the middle section of the day being just below the cut off limit for letting the boats out. As a result a restriction was in place keeping the boats from Toft and the bottom end of the wind. All water member Norman Perkins used minkies to land 4 fish from the bank off the Outlet. On the boats Roger & Graham Davies landed 10 fish between them using the rudder and tubes going from the Draycote Dam towards B & Y Buoy. All water member Craig Middleton landed 11 fish all on a black booby drifting off the Hensborough Bank towards M & N Buoy. Craig also landed a cracking fish which can be see on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/flyfishstore Mr C Butler used a silver lure to great affect landing 10 fish to the boat.

The winds dropped for Saturday coming from the Southwest with clear skies and a definite Autumnal chill to the morning. Overall Draycote fished quite well with the rod average at 5.8. There is also a good spread of fish with catches coming from Rainbow Corner, The Tower Bank, Biggin Bay, Middle Shoal and Toft Shallows. Lee Patten had 19 form the bank from both the Swans Nest and The Tower Bank using small snakes. Season permit holder Mark Braun caught 5 fish from the bank using black and gold boobies fished on a DI7 line in Dunns Bay. Alan Grant fished from the bank near the Valve Tower to net 8 fish on minkies fished on a slow intermediate line. Out on the boats Le Lerigo netted 10 good fish, one of which tipped the scales at 5lbs 8oz. Rob and Sam Edmunds netted nearly 30 fish from a drifting boat using a combination or cormorants and dries, most of them coming from near the Valve Tower. Mark Thistleton fished in Biggin Bay to net 6 fish using snakes fished on a DI3 line. Mr R Floyd and Mr N Loughrey had 15 fish to the boat using cormorants fished on a 3 foot midge tip line.

A busy day Sunday with a number of anglers fishing ahead of the Troutmasters on the Monday and a number of anglers taking advantage of the mild weather. Jon Crowley fished for a morning from the boats landing 6 fish on olive and black snakes drifting from Y Buoy over to the North Shore. Brian Cantle used pink or white snakes from the boats to land 10 fish with M Buoy an C Buoy his best areas. Draycote member Richard Walker landed 7 fish with 5 of them falling to a white muddler in the surface while the rest came to a black and green snake on Sink 6 line. David Hoppe practicing for the Troutmasters fished with Draycote member Peter Elliot with he pair landing 23 fish to the boat. Lea Tones out with Steve Farmer landed 15 fish to the boat using olive snakes, minkies and various boobies on any line from a slow intermediate to a Di 3 sinker.

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Eyebrook Fishery Weekly Report – 01536 770264

Email: eyebrook@flyfishstore.co.uk

Stocking Policy Details of our stocking policy for Eyebrook is explained on our website

www.flyfisheyebrook.co.uk/about-us-2/stocking-policy/

Week Ending: Sunday 09 October 2022       Rod Av:  4.4      Water Temperature: 15-16°

Monday morning was greeted with a good degree of cloud cover, but with a flat calm. This made the selection of where to fish somewhat more important as anglers were not going to be able to cover a lot of water. The beauty of a flat calm is that if there was any moving fish, they would be easily spotted & initially this proved to be the case as fish were caught from very early on. When targeting fish in a flat calm it is important to remember to keep disturbance down to a minimum & if fishing dries, consider using a single fly to aide presentation. As the day progressed, the wind grew & by mid-afternoon it was a moderate south westerly which meant the anglers on the drift were now covering more water & intercepting the pods of fish more frequently. Subsequently the reservoir fished better in the afternoon for most. One thing that didn’t change was that the fish remained high up in the water column throughout the day & were caught by those targeting the upper layers either on Dries or Washing line. The most productive patterns were Foam Daddies, Hoppers & small CDC Clarets & most productive area remained the Main Basin.

Tuesday saw Eyebrook host a Police Pairs competition which saw 39 anglers take to the water. They were greeted by a moderate south westerly wind with plenty of cloud cover & as the day progressed, some isolated sunny intervals. Between the 39 anglers they caught 202 fish between them which gave them a rod average of 5.1 which is an excellent rod average, so well done to all. The winning pair was Tony Barkley & Andrew Bate who had 17 fish between them & top overall individual was between Richard Hood & Rich Watkins. Both had 13 fish, although Richard Hood had his first fish slightly earlier than Rich Watkins & took the spoils, well done Richard. The most productive area remained the Main Basin with the fish still sat in the first few feet of water & were caught on a variety of methods; Dries & the Washing Line. The Foam Daddy continues to take a lot of fish whether that is fished as a Dry Fly or as a part of the Washing Line.

Wednesday brought with it some very strong winds, luckily from the south. As the day progressed the wind maintained its strength & gradually swung round to the west, by the mid-afternoon the wind subsided but brought with some heavy showers. Those venturing out fished under restrictions to mitigate the strong winds & reduce any potential risk of boats drifting into dangerous areas. The Main Basin continued to fish very well with the fish remaining in the top couple of feet & they were caught on either Dries or the Washing Line. With the Dries, Foam Daddies continued to take fish, as did the Midas & Grunters. Even though there weren’t many fish seen moving, they were willing to come blind. Rather than rolling over the fly or the classic head & tail rise, the fish sat below the fly & gently sucked it under. Anglers had to be extra vigilant to any abnormal movement in the vicinity of their flies to connect with them. With the Washing Line, the Foam Daddie also caught well as did a small Sunburst FAB fished either as a top dropper or on the point.

Thursday the main basin continues to produce from the Bell, casting platforms, hawthorn across to the netted bank, robbo`s cabin with most of the trout being taken on floating lines or tip lines with daddies, hoppers, cormorants, cutthroat cat. Some fry feeders along the weed beds in Mucky bay & stock dry. Bank Anglers are catching along the far end of the dam to Harrisons.

Friday, wind was a bit fresher today that kept most of the boats to the lodge side of the island. Fish are still high in the water with floating lines, midge tip or intermediate best with daddies, hoppers, fabs, cormorants, diawl bach & crunchers. Some fish are chasing the fry along the margins. All water member Albert Coles had a very productive morning session, catching 14. We hosted the annual Bank of Scotland – Barclays competition which was fished to a catch & release measured format. The reservoir fished very well for with most competitors catching their 8 fish limit & some continued to catch once their limits had been reached. Between 18 anglers they caught 141 fish giving a rod average of 7.8.

Saturday, the wind swung to the northwest. Some rods persevered with the daddies & hoppers with K Lawrence catching 13 on black hoppers with Kevin Hart catching 8 on foam daddies. D Sparrow & V Sparrow caught 24 for their visit from the main basin. With the brighter conditions on Saturday some rods found an intermediate with cormorants, cutthroat cat with a fab or booby on the point worked for them. Eyebrook member K Johnson caught 4 from the bank for his morning session fishing along the island & towards the chestnut tree.

Sunday brought with it a westerly breeze which petered out as the day progressed to a flat calm. The cloud cover was in the main, continual, but it did give way to some sunny intervals. The fish remained high in the water column & were caught on either Dries, the Washing line or lures pulled just under the surface. Resident guide Andy Miller hosted Jenny & Michael for a 2-hour experience session who had an great time catching 8 fish between them on Foam Daddies, which is an excellent introduction into fly fishing, well done to both. Elsewhere, Neil Shilton & Gary Martin both landed 6 fish, all from the Main Basin area. What has been noticeable as the air temperature continues to drop is the amount of fry feeding that is beginning to occur. The boats have up until now, benefited more than the bank anglers as the fish are sat slightly further out feeding on fry over the weedbeds. As the air temperature continues to drop, it is only a matter of time until the fish start to move closer into the shallows.

Last few spaces available: The 2022 Eyebrook Fur & Feather will be held on Sunday 23rd Oct. The Fur & Feather is a Pairs Competition fished to a 12 fish Boat Limit & Fishery Rules. The price is £83.50 per pair which includes 2 x 6 fish Tickets & Boat costs, Members can use their season tickets & just have to pay for a member’s boat. For anyone who is interested please call the Lodge on 01536 770264 for bookings.