Weekly fishery report week ending 18th July

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 with expected 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 18^th July.  Rod Av: 3.1   Water Temperature: 21+c – 23c+

A good start to the week with a rod average 4 with anglers following our advice & fishing the morning session. Main car park, dam wall & green bay were best areas again with intermediate & midge tip lines with damsel, #14 red diawl, #14 #16 bright olive or black buzzer & pin fry patterns. A Illiffe & R Moreton shared a boat catching 5 trout, A. Adams fished small black buzzer to catch 11 for his morning visit with all water member Ian Leach also fishing buzzer to catch 5. Bob Menhams fished a combination of hoppers & black buzzers catching 4 for his 4 hour visit. Water clarity is good.

Anglers heeded our advice and came early, we managed to get the boats out before 8am as we tried to beat the heat. Main car park, dam & green bay the deeper water areas are where most of the anglers headed concentrating their fishing to intermediate & midge tips. All water member Ken Key fished a team of hares ear & caught 6 trout, P Cox also fished hare`s ears to take his 7 trout with Richard Price fishing bunny leach & sparkler to catch his 7 fish with Mick Litchfield fishing dazzlers to catch his 7 trout as they targeted pin fry feeders. P Hunt caught 8 with Arthur Olding fishing the deep channel down the Markfield arm where he had plenty of nips and pulls boating 3 trout. Another excellent mornings fishing for July with a daily rod average 4.9

Wednesday the water temperature at 7.30am was 21c we managed to get the boats out before 8.00am. Phill Mee fished diawls & fab to catch 6 trout with D Slessor catching 6 also. M Armstrong fished the afternoon session catching 3 on a sinking line & blob with David Hussey fishing the 2.30om to 9.30pm session boating 14 trout on diawls & buzzers fished static on a floating line.

Thursday a warmer morning with the water temperature 21c+ fortunately clouds did arrive & a fresher breeze did arrive around 9am Angler were spread out across the reservoir from the deep channel down the middle of the Markfield arm across to the dam wall

Cool of the morning fished best with Terry Miles fishing with cloud building Terry too himself to the Markield arm 2hr 15 min later he was back at the pontoon having caught 8 on damsel. His brother A Miles & Bet fished black buzzers catching 6 for their morning’s visit. P Hunt fished to 4.30pm catching 13 with Carolyn Brown catching her 3 on minkie booby. Andy and Christine Warren fished the mouth of the Markfield arm with fast sinkers an intermediate to tale their 6 fish for the morning’s visit

Friday and the forecasted heat started to build; water temperature was 21.5c at 7.30am climbing to 24c by 4pm. Few rods out on the water Richard Bowers fared the best fishing a short morning session from his float tube catching 3 trout

Saturday & Sunday the high temperatures arrived, understandably few anglers out with some taking our advice and visiting Draycote where the cooler aerator line & generally deeper water will still offer some sport

Thornton Water temperature at 7.30am was 22.5c and would climb during the day. Few rods out over the weekend not surprising with the forecast. Mark Hunt had an exceptional Saturday considering the conditions. He started with a sinking line but quickly switched to a 6ft tip line with a small damsel and grey boy buzzer catching 10 trout for his mornings visit

Sunday another quiet day with the temperature forecast to be 29c. S Zeleny & S Swinfield fished sinking lines to catch their 3 fish with John Thomson & P Hunt fishing a floater with buzzers to boat their 5 trout

With another week of high summer temperatures forecast we recommend you fish the morning session we will if at all possible try and get you out on the water a bit earlier than 8.30am

Draycote Fishery Weekly Report – 01788 812018

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

Week Ending Sunday 18th  July 2021     Rod Av: 2.85            Water Temperature: 22.5 ‘C

Light winds to start the week, which did pick up later in the day and come from the North, with a mix of sun and cloud for the day. All water member Norman Perkins fished buzzer and a FAB on a floating line around A, B & C Buoy to land 8 fish. Draycote household members Debbie & Sean Gilbert landed 8 fish to the boat using a barred olive snake booby and FABS. Draycote member Ian Reeve once again took to the water fishing with friend Paul the pair landed 17 fish. Landing them on a variety of methods from dries, blobs with nymphs and then booby snakes fished on sinking lines. Richard Parris fished from the bank for the last four hours taking 3 fish all on dries with Big Red being his best pattern.

An overcast start to the day with winds coming from the North, however, later in the day the sun did make an appearance. The morning water temperature is now at 20°C, this had caused the fish to drop deeper in the water column. However first thing anglers did tempt a few on dries, John Dickens landed 3 quick fish on crippled Midge around B Buoy, as to did Chris Pyke however as soon as the air temperature warmed up the fish could not be tempted on dries. Draycote season ticket holders Tony Broadway & John Clifford landed 29 fish to the boat using fast sinking lines and various different snakes and lures. Steve Barby used the rudder to good effect landing 16 fish fishing around A, B & C Buoy. All water member Keith Coley fished with Bob Taft landing 19 fish back drifting through the boils on sunk lines.

A bright day Wednesday, with the winds coming from the North West. Despite these conditions season ticket holder James Kelly enjoyed good sport on the land landing 5 fish on Diawl Bachs and Damsels. On the boats Bob Smith & Ian Richardson landed 8 fish to the boat on shrimp, snakes and FABS and commented on “the lovely fish”. Chris Pyke once again took to the water landing 9 fish using a Di 7 sinking line and sparkler boobies. Trevor Moore & James Maplethorpe enjoyed a good day landing 15 fish on Diawl Bachs and crunchers fished on a floating line on a 24ft leader 150 yards from Rainbow Corner.

Well, the sun that was forecast did arrive until much later in the afternoon, as a result a number of fish were moving first thing in the morning, however, the majority of the fish still fell to sunk line tactics. Draycote season ticket holder Dennis Tidmarsh landed 4 fish on a Forty Plus Di 7 and had a number of good pulls fished a snake on a DI 7 forty plus. All water season ticket holder Paul Havard landed 7 fish using a Midge tip and nymphs in the morning, before switching to a DI 5 and a black snake to land his other 5 fish. Lianne Frost & Chris Bobby enjoyed a good days sport landing 15 fish to the boat using sunk lines and various lures. Former manager Kevin Hart fished with John Hoskins with the pair landing 25 fish to the boat using a Booby Basher and sinking lines with a mix of snakes and tubes, with their best area being the Aerators.

Once again it was a bright start on Friday with the same conditions due to stay with us all day. Sinking lines are just about the safest bet at the moment, with the odd fish falling to a midge tip and nymphs, but generally earlier on in the day. Debbie and Sean Gilbert used olive barred snakes to tempt 7 fish to the boat, concentrating their efforts over the deeper water around the aerators. Season permit holders Chris Discombe and Jim Brennan had 16 fish to the boat using sinking lines and lures fished over A and B buoy. Chris Pallot used sinking lines and snakes to catch 3 fish in deep water drifting around in the middle of the reservoir.

Hot and bright conditions on Saturday meant that the majority of the fish would be taken in deep water on sinking lines. With it being flat calm, fish could be clearly seen in the surface of the water but these proved very difficult to catch. Most anglers spent the majority of time over A and B buoy, the aerators and generally the deeper parts of the reservoir. The general method of the day was DI 7’s and DI 5’s, with lures such as snakes and minkie boobies. Most rods were practising for the Scierra Pairs match on Sunday so were playing their cards very close to their chest, hence the limited information.

Sunday dawned and once again we were in the Costa Del Draycote, with just the slightest of breezes. Amongst the pleasure anglers was Richard Walker who boated 5 fish on damsels during a morning session. The Draycote round of the Scierra pairs competition was in full swing with a total of 34 anglers taking part in what looked like extreme conditions. Despite this there were quite a few full bags of fish with 8 of the pairs getting time bonuses for finishing early. First back to the pontoon were Lee Henfrey and Tom Bird having boated 12 fish in a little over an hour and a half. They were closely followed by Sam Edmunds and Sam Smith, who hit the pontoon bang on 12 o’clock. The afternoon was then interspersed with a number of pairs rolling in with even heavier bags which obviously made the earlier finishers a bit nervous. Final results were; Tom Bird and Lee Henfrey in third place with a bag weight of 36 lbs 6 oz, Dean and Glenn Appleby in second place with 39 lbs 4 oz, and the competition was won by Sam Edmunds and Sam Smith with a bag weight of 39 lbs 5 oz.

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 18^th July 21               Rod Average:1.5                  Water Temp: 21C+

Monday started off as overcast with light winds from the Northwest. The day was relatively quiet. Despite the conditions being near perfect, only a handful of anglers ventured out. This was probably due to a historical sporting moment in England’s history. The few anglers that ventured out in the morning had a few fish, but in the afternoon after a bit of a deluge things became more difficult for the anglers venturing out on the lake.

The wind had maintained its direction and slightly increased from the previous day. With fish showing in the surface all along the dam frontage and all the way up to Robbo’s cabin at about 100 yards from the bank, we were expecting a lot of good action for our anglers. However, the fish seem to be preoccupied with something that the anglers are struggling to replicate. Mr Adams had 5 fish that fell to buzzers or cormorants. Yet again Mark Hunt managed 5 on dries on a day where the fish were being very finicky about what they were taking.

Midweek saw the weather start to settle. With a NNW wind at an average 13mph at its strongest, the fishing should have seen a few fish being taken on dries or just sub surface with damsel nymphs and olive crunchers. But, despite the great conditions, our anglers were still struggling to put a finger on what exactly the fish were taking. Top rod on the day was Ewan McGregor who managed 8 to the boat while using a selection of dries that he was given by Mark Hunt. A lovely gesture by one of our All-water Season ticket holders. Just another example of how friendly and welcoming our season ticket holders are and it isn’t just restricted to our staff. Richard Sutcliffe had a cracking guided session out on the water with Andy Miller and managed one of our new resident Brownies which made his day. However, not to be outdone, Andy Miller then managed to land a stunning 8lbs 8oz Brown. Andy had them both fishing sinking lines and booby snakes. Sometimes when the fishing is challenging, you need to get down and use those big nasty lures. Photo of Andy with his brown on our social media page www.facebook.com/FlyFishStore

Thursday saw Eyebrook being hit with a Northerly wind. The weather reports were saying a top average wind speed of 13mph was to be expected. However, our anglers were experiencing slightly stronger than they thought. The conditions were fantastic for getting out and doing a bit of drifting. But once again, the fish were proving to be elusive even though they can be seen moving through the water all over the lake.

Friday and Saturday saw the Mercury rise on the thermometer making the chances of taking fish in the upper layers extremely challenging. There was still the occasional fish breaking the surface. There are a number of theories as to why the fish were crashing around in the surface. But those that persevered with dries struggled to get a pull on their line. Some were fortunate enough to pick fish up on nymphs on sink tip lines. However, those that were a bit more daring and employed the use of Di5 and Di7 lines with fry patterns were picking fish up over the deep water.

Sunday saw Eyebrook play host to the Midland Counties cup where 12 boats with 24 anglers ventured out on to the water. Most of the fleet were around the main basin area and fishing all manner of lines and flies. Mark Redfern was top rod. He weighed in his 6 fish limit for 12lbs 10oz. His boat partner Rich Miller also caught his 6 fish limit making them the only boated pair to catch their limit. Outstanding angling in such challenging conditions. Ultimately the Foremark team were victorious with the team weighing in 24 fish between the 8-person team. The rod average for the 24 anglers was 2.3 which was a fantastic result considering Eyebrook has tested even the most seasoned of anglers in the past week.

Looking forward into next week; the conditions are looking to be hot and bright with very little wind, ideal conditions for anglers that don’t normally fish Sinking lines to get out there and give them a go. With the sunny conditions expected, it is advisable to wear some sunblock and adequate protection from the elements.

Jim Wright & Tom Bird have spent Monday & Tuesday fishing sinking lines for our next YouTube video, using a variety of sinking lines we caught well on both days. The video will be out soon subscribe at YouTube Flyfishstore