Weekly fishing report 2 July 2023

Weekly Fishing Report: Draycote, Eyebrook, Thornton

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

Email: thornton@flyfishstore.co.uk

2023 Stocking Policy Details of our stocking policy for Eyebrook is explained on our website www.flyfishthornton.co.uk/about-us-2/stocking-policy/

2023 Permits & Pre Payment for Boat Bookings For Details of our Day Permits, Package Breaks & our Boat bookings pre-payment policy visit our website.

https://www.flyfishthornton.co.uk/about-us-2/day-permits/

Week Ending: 2^nd July   Rod Av: 1.4    Water Temperature: 19c+ – 20c+

Monday & were forecast for cooler temperatures this week which we will look forward to seeing. Start of the week and a rod average 3.3 with anglers still following our advice and fishing the cooler morning session. A Lilley and Mr England caught 14 for their mornings visit using a 10ft tip line 20ft+leader and buzzer with a few on a sink7 and booby. Keith Cowen & S Fairgrieve caught theirs on a booby and buzzer with A Wilson catching his 5 on buzzer and booby. Good start to the week

Tuesday overcast, cooler, light drizzle, water temperature had dropped by 0.5c surprising that it didn’t match the day before. Without doubt, the ones who caught fish a sink7 or sink5 with silver humungus or orange booby patterns worked best. They fished the cooler morning session with R Price top rod with 4 landed.

Wednesday, overcast, cooler breeze, water temperature down a degree since the weekend. It proved to be a mixed day, some rods reported seeing fish rising at times while others reported taps and follows to their flies fished deeper. A mixture of flies worked from buzzers, booby, small snakes, fabs to black hopper. Most fished the morning session, Alex White caught 4 as did J Scott. Brian Morris fished the afternoon from 3pm to 8pm when it looked as if a thunderstorm was due. Brian saw a few fish rising and fished a black hopper catching 1 and missing others up to 5pm when that stopped, he then moved to a sinking line catching 1 but again had taps and follows. Water clarity remains good.

Thursday and a fresh north westerly wind. Our water temperature at 7.30am had dropped to 20c+ There were odd fish to be seen rising, but they weren’t easy to tempt. Sink7 & sink5 fast sinking lines with booby patterns or small snakes caught fish but the method that seems to be best is a sink tip line either a 6ft or 10ft model with leaders of 16ft to 25ft depending on the area you’re fishing across the main basin. These fish when spooned are feeding on large bloodworm, at times also have daphnia and small buzzer. D Hussey was top rod he caught 8 on a long leader over 16ft depth with a #14 diawl bach been his best fly.

Friday, cooler start to the day with plenty of cloud, our surface temperature is 20c. Quiet day on the water probably due to the mixed weather forecast. Rods fished the morning session with fish caught on pink snake, olive snake & various booby patterns over the deeper water.

Saturday & similar weather as the day before. Rods reported seeing some fish rising, but the rise happens once as the water temperature is 20c but our water clarity is good. In those conditions the fish will be 3 to 5ft down, if they see a fly they want they will come up take the fly & drop back down to the cooler conditions. J Bebbington fished the cooler morning session saw odd fish rising went back drifting with a floating line & daddy pattern, landing 4 & getting a fair few rises to others. Keith Cowen continues to be having his best season ever catching 4 trout on a cocktail yellow eyed booby. Other flies that caught were damsel patterns & bloodworm.

Sunday and our water temperature is 19c+, bright start to the day with the cloud drifting in & wind picking up from 9am. 16 members of the All Abilities club fished Thornton finding the fishing challenging averaging 1 fish for their visit. Their top rods were Stewart Hume, Ian Bradfield, Horace Wood and Dave Porter who all caught 3 fish each.

Weather: we use two weather forecast pages.

Both options give a good 48 to 72 hour forecast.

XC Weather – https://www.xcweather.co.uk/forecast/LE67_1AR use this link for Thornton.

Windy App – https://www.windy.com/  on their home page, enter the fishery name Thornton Reservoir

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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/

2023 Permits & Pre Payment for Boat Bookings For Details of our Day Permits, Package Breaks & our Boat bookings pre-payment policy visit our website.

https://www.flyfishdraycote.co.uk/about-us-2/day-permits/

Exclusion Zone  Due to the work being carried out on the Hensborough Bank there is an exclusion zone in place, clearly marked with yellow buoys. Under no circumstances are anglers to enter this area as there are divers in the water.

Week Ending: 2^nd July  2023      Rod Av: 5.7   Water Temperature:  17°C

Cooler overnight temperature’s Sunday evening, resulted in a drop in the water temperature down to 19°C and a strong Southwest wind. These improvement in conditions and water temperature resulted in a marked improvement in the catch return with the fishery averaging 8.23 fish per angler. However, the best method was still fishing deep. Draycote members Tony Broadway & Pete Allen took a morning boat and landed 33 fish. The pair opted to back-drift with Di7 sinking lines and a variety of different snakes throughout the morning to take their fish. The best areas the pair found the fish was B Buoy out towards Y Buoy and then around H Buoy and Farborough Spit. Fellow member Bob Askew also found back-drifting to be very successful, landing 21 fish. Using either a Di 5 or Di 7 sinking line and olive snakes. Mr Fowler & Mr Attwood landed 19 fish to their boat using either lures fished on a Di 7 or buzzers. With the best area’s being A, B & C Buoy. Peter Flay fished for the afternoon around the Draycote Dam and the Outlet using a Damsel pattern on a sunk line to land 17 fish.

What a great day for fishing Tuesday turned out to be. The forecast was for overcast conditions and a light south westerly breeze, and that’s exactly what we got. There is, once again , a good spread of fish throughout the reservoir, but the best of the sport is to be had coming off the Draycote Dam at the moment, drifting out towards and past A, B and C buoy. Quite a few of the fish are being caught using dry fly tactics with most of the fish coming blind. Another method to try at the moment is to use a DI7 and a snake or a humungus pattern. If you back drift one of these along the bottom of the reservoir at the moment you should catch fish in good numbers. Staff member Mark Braun took to the water to land over 20 fish using black and gold snakes on a DI7 near the Aerators.  Ed Douglas caught over 30 fish yesterday from a boat, with some coming to dries, and the rest to snakes back drifted on a DI7. Eddie Mitchell and Stuart Lee had 14 fish to the boat between them one of which was a cracking 6lb plus rainbow which took a booby hopper out in the open water. James Kelly bank fished the deeper water from the Tower Bank using shrimp patterns on a sinking line to land a brace.

Once again an ideal start to fishing on Wednesday morning saw Draycote return another good rod average. A good head of fish and a good spread of them throughout the reservoir is providing some great sport for our visiting anglers, (and some of the staff as well). Martin  Foster and John Vyse had 14 fish to the boat back drifting on a DI5 with snakes and humungus. Ian Richardson and Bob Barfoot had 16 fish back drifting using DI7’s and snakes from the Draycote Dam out past C buoy. Fishery Manager Tom Bird took to the water for a filming session and took a total of 15 fish using two different methods. He started off in Rainbow Corner using foam daddies on a floating line before shifting down to the Flat Stones and the area in front of the Valve Tower, where he back drifted on a Di7 line with snakes.

A wind change Thursday into the Northwest with bright skies for most of the day. It was a good day to be out on the water with the rod average for the day ending at 7.1 fish per angler. The key method for the day was to fish deep, with a number of fish sitting deeper in the water column due to the warmer water temperature. Fishery Rangers Lee Henfrey & Michael Hanlon took the water on a day off and enjoyed great sport landing over 30 fish. The pair used the rudder to get the flies down deep, using Di 7 sinking lines and Booby Bashers. Casting 45 degrees off the side of the boat and then paying the rest of the line out, until the line was tight. Then a steady roly-poly retrieve was the best tactic, with black and gold humungus, snakes and tubes all featuring well. The best areas being B Buoy, C Buoy or around Y Buoy. Another boat who found the fish deep and used the rudder was Rod Wilson & Jim Dempsey who landed 28 fish. Draycote members Ian Reeve & Colin Granger opted to back drift to get the flies deep landing 43 fish. Using a Di 7 sinking line with a barred olive snake booby or a black and gold snake booby. Andy Ross & Dave Barrett landed 20 fish again on a Di 7 fished out the back of the boat around B Buoy out in the middle.

Friday was overcast for most of the day with once again quite strong Southwesterly winds. The fish seem to be holding in the same areas but have risen up in the water column as some anglers were using DI3’s and DI5’s to catch their fish. Whilst there are fish being caught in or near the surface of the reservoir the rise in rod averages over the past week or so is due to the more consistent use of sinking lines and lures. Season permit holder Ray Rawlings put 16 fish in the net using a DI7 with black and gold snakes whilst drifting from B buoy to the Aerators. Jamie Scott netted a total of 20 fish using Airflo’s Booby Basher line and black and gold snakes. Mr F Campbell had 17 fish to the boat on the same method fishing up at the western end of the reservoir. Ruth and Tony Kirk used a combination of dries as well as sinking lines and lures to tempt 18 fish to the net between them.  Draycote regular Mick Cronin caught 9 fish during a bank fishing session from Rainbow Corner.

The wind swung a little more to the West on Saturday, with the cloud cover remaining. Once again the fishery fished well with a rod average of 5.91. Martin Rowson & Neil Deakin fished from a boat landing 22 fish. However, Martin said it should have been double that the amount of fish lost in play. The pair started on dries in Rainbow Corner to take there first fish. Before Martin swapped to washing lining on a floating line or a 12ft slow tip with a booby and hoppers on the droppers. While Neil used a Di 5 sweep sinking line and a snake. Their best area was Rainbow Corner drifting towards A Buoy or drifting from the Valve Tower towards C Buoy. Draycote members Terry Bolderson & Bob Humphries landed 14 fish to their boat also fishing in Rainbow Corner. Fishery Ranger Mark Braun took advantage of a day off heading out in a boat landing 17 fish on a booby snake fished on a sinking line around A, B & C Buoy. Fishery guides Lee Henfrey & Jim Sheehan, both took newcomers out on an experience session. With the clients landing their first ever trout. Both Jim & Lee used fast sinking lines and booby snakes, fished on the rudder or back drifted. To see the pictures please visit www.facebook.com/flyfishstore Currently there certainly seems to be two layers or fish out on the water, those sitting high in the water who seem keen to take dries or nymphs in the first few feet them fish that are sitting 30ft down.

Once again strong westerly winds were blowing across Draycote on Sunday, with thankfully, the best of the fishing to be had at  the more sheltered end of the reservoir. Debbie and Sean Gilbert got into quite a few fish by starting on DI7’s and moving up onto DI3’s with dancers. Ed Douglas Had 19 fish to the boat mostly on dries, with a little bit of sunk line work thrown in to bag the remaining few. Mark JJ had 17 fish to the boat using sparklers and diawl bachs. Young Trevor Moore and James Maplethorpe used much the same method to bag over 20 fish between them and remarked on a superb day. Season permit holder Martin Hancox ventured out for an evening session to catch a dozen on a mixture of snakes and cormorants.

Competitions Due at Draycote:

Greys Pairs Draycote Heat Sunday 16^th July – contact Phil Dixon to enter.

John Horsey Wychwood Individual Fly Fishing Championship Individual Competition Sunday 20^th August entry details https://flyfishingchampionships.uk/

Weather: we use two weather forecast pages.
Both options give a good 48 to 72 hour forecast.

XC Weather – https://www.xcweather.co.uk/forecast/CV23_8AB use this link for Draycote.

Windy App – https://www.windy.com/  on their home page, enter the fishery name Draycote Water

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Eyebrook Fishery Weekly Report 

Tel: 01536 770264  Mobile 07834 581424

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/

2023 Permits & Pre Payment for Boat Bookings For Details of our Day Permits, Package Breaks & our Boat bookings pre-payment policy visit our website.

https://www.flyfisheyebrook.co.uk/about-us-2/day-permits/

Week Ending: 02 Jul 23   Rod Av: 1.4      Water Temperature:   20°c – 19c

The week started somewhat cooler than the previous one ended with a westerly wind that become strong to moderate as the day progressed. The cloud cover that was forecast did not materialise & it remained bright throughout the day.  It was a very quiet start to the week angler wise with just a few boats out & those that did catch, caught in the Main Basin with lures fished deep on sinking lines.

Tuesday saw another quiet day with those venturing out catching either in the Main Basin, fishing on the drift with Di 5 or Di 7s or fishing small nymphs & dries around the weed beds. When fishing the open expanse of the Main Basin & searching for fish, you will be far more productive fishing from a drifting boat, be that back drifting or fishing loch style using a drogue. The principle is simple, the more water you cover when searching for fish, the more successful you will be. It is counterproductive to sit in one area too long, unless you know there are fish in that area & even then, the fish need to be catchable.

The cooler weather continued Wednesday which saw anglers finding success both around the marginal weedbeds & over the open water of the Main Basin. Members Mark Hunt & Neil Shilton both had productive days, but they fished different areas & fished different methods. Mark chose to hunt the weedbeds using small Dries to intercept fish that were transiting from the cooler, deeper water into the shallower weedbeds to feed. Mark was duly rewarded with a great bag for the day of 10 fish, with Sam’s Dyke proving to be his most productive area. Whereas, Neil, out in his Float Tube, opted to fish the deeper, cooler water of the Main Basin using Boobies on a Di7. Searching out the deeper areas within the Basin Neil had a great return of 11 fish. Over his last couple of visits, Neil has caught 30 fish in very challenging conditions which is an excellent return. How has he achieved this…? Well, he has fished deep, he has fished slow & he has remained mobile.

There was a cool, damp start to Thursday which had cooled the water temperature to 20°C overnight & a gentle northerly breeze which increased as the day progressed. As the wind built, it brought with it clear, bright skies that made the afternoon, somewhat challenging. Subsequently, the reservoir fished better in the morning as the fish happily fed around the weedbeds for prolonged periods due to the cooler water. There were some good fish caught in Sam’s Dyke & Mucky Bay down to the Chestnut on Dries & Damsel Nymphs fished over the top & around the established beds of weed. Eyebrook member Bill Law had a very productive morning session landing 5 fish from the area of Mucky Bay. Elsewhere, regular visitor Nigel Woolnough also had a productive day dotting around the various weedbeds along the Leicester Bank, picking up fish as he went from various locations. Another Eyebrook member, Stuart Bilsdon also picked up fish throughout the day. Those that fished the Main Basin found fish deeper on Di7s with lures. When fishing deep in the Basin, remember that you can also fish buzzers deep, on a Tip Line with a long leader & on its day, it can be just as effective as the lures.

Friday brought with it a flat calm with plenty of cloud cover, but overall, not an easy days fishing. All water member Mark Hunt was top rod fishing from 10.00am to 8pm landing 9 trout from amongst the weedbeds but then during the evening over the deeper water on a floating line with big red and a cdc owl. Water temperature was 20c.

Saturday and despite the conditions a dry fly hopper pattern caught 4 trout for P Line, following from the day before if there’s cloud a dry seems to be working. Overall, a bit of a challenge Eyebrook member B Margery caught 3 for his mornings visit on a diawl and blob with Sam Edmonds catching 3 for her visit.

Sunday morning and the water temperature has dropped to 19c+ Mixed methods caught from lures on a sinking line to dries. Neil & Dean Shilton fished from their float tubes catching 8 trout between them. Dries certainly caught the largest percentage with Mark Hunt fishing the last 4 hours initially catching fish close to the weeds but as the wind dropped sedges emerged and a rise occurred, he caught fishing a single fly cdc yellow owl and sedge pattern later to catch his 8 trout.

With the cooler water Eyebrook is due a stocking on Tuesday with 2000 trout from 1lb8oz to 1lb14oz the size which from the past 3 years definitely provide better fishing during July & height of the summer.

Events: This coming Sunday 9^th  local angling club Eyebrook Fly Fishers hosts an inter club event with Draycote Fly Fishers & Thornton Fly Fishers attending with a break at lunchtime for a BBQ. If you’re a club member contact the lodge to book your place

Weather: we use two weather forecast pages.

Both options give a good 48 to 72 hour forecast.

XC Weather – https://www.xcweather.co.uk/forecast/LE16_8RP use this link for Eyebrook

Windy App – https://www.windy.com/  on their home page, enter the fishery name Eyebrook Reservoir