Weekly fishing report 12th September 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 12^th September.  Rod Average: 2.5 Water Temperature:19.5c+

Monday and a change to the weather, blue skies, air temperature 27c+ not surprising with the forecast anglers opted in the main to fish the morning session. Emad Razi & his boat partner caught 12 for their mornings visit with P Cross & S Windram catching 5 on buzzers

Tuesday, early morning mist gave way to blue skies & another hot day. Anglers fished the deeper water with most finding success on sinking lines with booby, small humungus, damsels & buzzer. Pete Cox caught 5 for his mornings visit with All water members P Mee & H wood catching 3 for their morning’s session as did Arthur Olding. D Wilton, R Dunster & P Wrigley fished the afternoon session catching on nymphs

Wednesday and a good southerly breeze was most welcome. Some fish to be seen moving off & on during the day but they proved picky fish to catch. Most anglers fished the washing line, intermediate or sink 3 – 5 fly lines with buzzers, diawls, cats whiskers and booby. Thornton angling club secretary P Birdsall fished with his son boating 6 on booby for their afternoon visit. John Thomson fished the washing line to boat his 4 fish on buzzers during his morning’s session. The anglers concentrated their fishing across the deeper water.

Thursday, a little cooler overnight with our water temperature dropping to 19.5c+ Its not been hot long enough yet to push the fish deep but some success was had with a DI3. During the day anglers caught on floating lines, midge tip, intermediate & DI3 with cruncher, tadpole, blob, fab, diawls & claret buzzer. Andre Russell, S. Frakes, T. Ward, R Dunnett fished from their float tubes catching 21 trout between them. Ian Leach had fish come to his dries in the morning but wouldn’t take them properly with Ian changing to a tadpole & cruncher in the afternoon to catch his 3 trout. Peter Wrigley fished the afternoon & evening a few fish were moving with Peter taking 1 on a dry & 2 on buzzers.

Friday, overcast, humid day although the forecast rain missed us. Floaters, midge tip, intermediate were the popular lines with claret buzzer, fab, hopper, small muddler & montana being the popular flies. Paul Martindale caught 5 on buzzer, hopper & muddler with  Steve Proffitt fishing a montana to catch his 4 trout. P Mee fished a fab & buzzer washing line to catch his mornings fishing 4 trout with Carl Bond fishing the evening session catching 3 trout for his visit.

Saturday anglers caught their trout in the top 3ft on floaters, midge tips or intermediate or in the bottom 3ft with sink 7 lines. Flies working in the top 3ft were #14 red or claret bobs bits, hoppers, small daddies, claret buzzer, olive buzzer or black & red buzzer or muddler. On the sinking lines booby or cats whisker. Jan Webber caught 4 on a booby, Martin Clay fished buzzers for his 4 trout as did B Perrie who caught 5. The party of Wallace, Kerr & Gillies caught 11 with a size #14 bobs bits taking the lions share of the catch.

Sunday for much of the day little or no wind. Fishing was similar to Saturday with anglers catching in the top 3ft or bottom 3ft. Thornton members S Zeleny & S Swinfield caught 6 for their mornings visit on fast sinkers & booby. Member John Thomson fished the washing line catching 5 on buzzers for his mornings visit with  Karl Dobson using pheasant tails to catch his 5 trout. Paul & Sam Cook fished the last 4 hours with an orange & natural coloured daddies putting 3 fish in the boat for them

Water Clarity is good

Draycote Fishery Weekly Report – 01788 812018

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

Week Ending 12th September      Rod Average 2.3                 Water Temperature 17 °C

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 anglers please note; Severn Trent are running an event which is taking place in Toft, using up anglers car parks and some grassed areas. This is being set up and run from Tuesday 14^th September through until the 26^th September. All bank anglers are asked to only use car parks which are available, but limited by our landlord, and to avoid areas which may interfere with the event. Please also note that there will be extra vehicles and pedestrians at this end of the reservoir throughout this time.

 We were greeted by a flat calm and bright sunshine on Monday morning. Things did not look great I admit but it turned out to be a good rod average in the end, coming out at 3.6. The group from Scotland visiting us on a three day package did quite well, with Mr A Ritchie landing 14 fish on a booby basher and lures. Mr G Michie and Mr I Preston also caught 4 and 5 fish respectively on the same method. Chris Bobby and Lianne Frost had 3 to the boat between them whilst Mr D E Barnes netted 2.

Another unseasonable warm day Tuesday with the temperatures reaching 30°C, with very light winds in fact no wind at all until after 11am. Mark Braun used a Di 7 sinking line a short leader teamed with a white booby to land 9 fish, taking most of these when the wind picked up in the afternoon and he was able to back drift. Danny Lovegrove & D Nataly landed 9 between then using shrimp patterns fished on an intermediate or Di 3 sinking line with their best area being N Buoy. The package break of G Michie and his fellow Scottish anglers caught well once again on Booby Bashers with a mixture of boobies and nymphs. Taking fish from the Aerators, Tower Bank and B Buoy.

Another hot day Wednesday, this time teamed with strong gust winds from the East. As a result it was a challenging day to be out on the water. Tim Illsley a participant of an earlier tuition beginners course fished on the bank using Daddies to land 2 fish a great catch on a difficult day and having only been fly fishing a couple of months. Gordon Michie fished with A Richie landing 7 to the boat while I Preston & T Forbes landed 10 to the boat. Both boats fished on anchor around B buoy using booby bashers and boobies catching the fish deep in the hot weather.

A bright start to Thursday which became overcast with light showers in the afternoon. With a rise in both water and air temperature the fishing seems to have slowed a bit. Those who are catching are keeping on the move fishing such areas as Toft Shallows, the Aerators and  Lianne Frost and Chris Bobby had 18 fish to the boat using a mixture of a washing line and nymphs, and then dries. Season permit holder Bob Smith had a brace on dries such as foam daddies and big reds. Brian Allwood also netted a brace from a boat on Minkies.

A drizzly start to Friday, with light winds although the wind did increase as the day wore on. All water member Alec Urquhart fished with Marnie ahead of her England Ladies Qualifier on Sunday. They enjoyed a good days sport using a hover line with a washing line set up off nymphs with a FAB on the point. Ian Morris landed 7 fish fishing over the Aerators using Diawl Bachs on a floating line. Fishery Manager Tom Bird took Gwyneth Mooney & Louise Callow out on the boat for a full days guiding before the lady’s qualifier. The pair enjoyed a great day landing 10 fish to the boat trying a variety of methods and areas. The most productive method was washing lining on a RIO 3ft midge tip with a biscuit FAB on the point and nymphs on the droppers with the best sport coming in Toft.

The wind remained in the Southwest with overcast skies on Saturday. We had Cwmllynfell angling club with 9 anglers taking to the water for a club competition. With the anglers finding it a challenge landing 24 fish between the 9 of them. We also had a number of the England Youth perspective qualifiers fishing ahead of their national final on Sunday. Some good numbers seemed to be reported with Albert Edmounds landing 17 however, specific numbers and methods weren’t mentioned. We also had the ladies out practicing ahead of there national again on the Sunday with Chris Bobby & Lianne Frost boating 17 with washing line techniques on a slow glass seeming to be the best tactic around A & B Buoy.

Flat calm conditions greeted the anglers on Sunday morning with what looked like some light showers through the afternoon, which failed to appear. On the bank Jon Crowley landed 7 fish and had a number of other pulls, Jon fished from Lincroft point, using a Daddy, hoppers and Big reds and reported a lot of fish in the area just needing the wind. Michael Wright also caught 7 fish from the bank using dries both from Toft Shallows and Lincroft Point. Season permit holder Chris Bobby and his boat partner Tony Curtis had 9 fish to the boat on CDC hoppers. Mr Ford caught 7 fish, 6 on dries and 1 on a buzzer. Also on Sunday we had both the youth and ladies national taking place. Both competitions were a tight run thing with competitors changing fishing methods and areas of the reservoir throughout the day. The England Youth Match results were as follows; Izaac Slack came in third with 14 points, Albert Coales came second with 17 points, and the competition winner was Alexander Jaffrey with 19 points. Over in the Ladies National in what were very difficult fishing conditions, in second place was Lianne Frost with 3 fish, with overall winner being Gwyneth Mooney with 4 fish to the boat. Congratulations to all those who took part in both competitions.

FMUK / Draycote Fishery would like to thank all the volunteer boatmen who helped with the Youth National, without who’s assistance the competition could not have taken place.

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 12^th Sep 21               Rod Average:3.3                  Water Temp: 18C

Monday started off as a hot day. You wouldn’t think we were into autumn at this point. The weather seemed to knock the fish off kilter a bit and made things a little bit more challenging for the anglers heading out on the water. Quite a few people tried the bank for a change, but the fish were just out of range for them which led to a hard day on the bank. the boat anglers were having slightly better success. Franny Coleman was top rod on Monday managing to land 9 fish. In the morning the fish were taking orange daddies, but in the afternoon, he found that they were more likely to take a tequila blob.

On Tuesday Daniel O’Hare brought a group of 10 Anglers to the lake and it was clear that they all knew what they were doing out on the water. Top Rod from the group was S Strachan who managed to get well in to double figures by himself. With a majority of the boats from the group getting well into double figures in hot, bright, and still conditions. I was really surprised at the haul of fish landed. The method on the day for most of them was fishing 2 FABs with a single buzzer in the middle. Cast it out on a floating line and then leave it. The fish were running away with the buzzer in the middle or occasionally with the FAB.

Eyebrook also hosted the family and Friends of Nigel Sudborough for a memorial gathering for him. Nigel had been a long-term angler at Eyebrook and had a great fondness of the Lake. As well as his fondness for Eyebrook, He had been the Commanding officer at the RAF unit that the original Dambusters came from during his distinguished career which led to him attaining the prestigious rank of Air Vice Marshal. The Memorial was capped off with an RAF fly past from an RAF Typhoon which dipped the wing and banked left as a salute to Nigel and his family.

Wednesday seen the hot still weather provide that extra bit of a challenge as it started to affect the fish. Our anglers couldn’t quite work out what they wanted or get into the right depth where the fish were sitting. Top Boated pair on the day were Season ticket holders Clive Moore and Ian Jobe. They persevered to bring 8 to the boat while fishing daddies and small buzzers. P Lingard managed 1 from the dam wall on a green daddy and had a few more pulls and bits of interest. A really good result considering that the bank fishing has been really difficult for quite a period now.

Thursday saw a little bit of improvement for our anglers as the rod average crept back up to 3.7. Eyebrook Season ticket holder R Swinfield had a cool 10 fish to the boat fishing a small booby and 2 size 14 Diawl Bach’s. Roy said that minimal movement was the key. R Taylor had a 4 hour guide session with Fishery Management Guide Andy Miller. After the guided session, he ventured out onto the water to put into practice what he had learned and landed 8 fish on the day.

Friday, and the fishing kept getting better. Anglers are still heading out on the boats for the better action. All water ticket holder P Walker managed to get into double figures, as did D Naylor and Eyebrook Season ticket holder K Johnson. Lots of fish were falling to hoppers, sedges, CDC’s and Diawl bach’s. This just shows that a lot of fish are still near the surface despite the hot bright weather experienced earlier in the week.

Saturday has been the busiest day of the week so far and the fact that a majority of anglers managed to net fish just shows that Eyebrook is still producing good results despite the weather that has rolled through this week. Andrew Farmer was top rod on the lake on Saturday with an impressive dozen to the boat. M Glister rounded off his 2-day package with 7 to the boat. With a fair few other anglers picking up 4 and 5 fish to the boat it looked to be a really good day for those that found fish and presented something that garnished interest from the trout.

Once Again, Eyebrook hosted the AAFFF who were battling it out to see who would win the Unfinished Fly Trophy for 2021. 20 Competitors headed out on to the water on a warm day with very little breeze. The anglers were spread all over the main basin area and early sightings of rods bending was a positive indication. 1^st place went to Steve and Norma Cranston with a combined 4 fish bag weight of 10lbs 5oz. Steve was over the moon at finally winning the trophy. 2^nd place went to Ian Bradfield and Paul Davidson, and in 3^rd place was Phil Mee and Horace Wood. Once again, the AAFFF club done an outstanding job of looking after their anglers and making sure everybody got out on the water to enjoy themselves. Mark Goodge, Shaun Higgins, Dave Davies, Ian Bradfield and the rest of the helpers do a fantastic job of looking after anglers with reduced mobility to ensure they get the opportunity to enjoy a great days fishing on lakes like Eyebrook and Draycote. If you’d like to get involved, look them up here: All Ability Friendly Fly Fishers. Once Again Fisher Management Guide Andy Miller had the pleasure of guiding Colin Pennington on an 8-hour session to assess his casting. Colin had very little wrong with his casting and promptly put a few fish in the boat. Colin has been a competent competition angler in the Soldier Palmers but has had a few years away from fishing and is now starting to get back into his fishing.

To book a Guided session or casting tuition to iron out those errors and gain those extra yards check out our guiding and tuition here: Guiding & Tuition