Thornton weekly report week ending 1^st May

Tel: 01530 230807

Although our summer visitors the swifts & swallows have arrived this past week’s weather has resembled winter not late spring!

With morning frost, cold wind, rain, sleet, hail, snow it’s not surprising rod numbers were down, although those who ventured out enjoyed good sport.

Norman Perkins banked fished and caught 10 trout, Trevor Pegg fished claret buzzer to catch his 15 trout, Phil Cross fished a damsel to catch his 8 trout, Tony Lorrimer fished through some atrocious weather and was rewarded with 16 trout with Mark Hunt picking up where he left off last week recording 21 trout including a number of overwintered trout on fabs & crunchers. John Kirk caught 7 trout to 5lb on blobs and buzzers

Despite the weather buzzers have continued to hatch in ever increasing numbers and with improving weather forecast for the coming week we should see some good top of the water sport with the last 4 hour session providing sport to an evening rise or two.

Bank anglers are finding the fish well spread from opposite the lodge down to the farm bank, with the farm bank producing better and better as the week moves on.

Boat anglers are also finding other areas of the reservoir starting to fish with the main dam, orange buoy, green bay all worth a look.

In the main floating lines with buzzers, suspender buzzers, cdc, dries and wet flies such as the bibio will be the best patterns, although an intermediate or slow sink line 3inch a second with fabs, damsel and snake will continue to work.

Our Loyalty card valid at Thornton, Draycote and Foremark is proving popular with some anglers already claiming their first Free visit having purchased 10 trips, ten Loyalty stamps, speak to the lodge for further information and to pick up your card.

Car Park, Lodge and bank fishing open 7.30am

Full Day Boats 8.30am – 8.45pm

Part Day Boats 8.30am – 2.30pm  /  2.30pm – 8.45pm

Last 4 Hour 4.45pm – 8.45pm

 All anglers off site by 9.00pm

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 Details on Tuition or Guided trips visit our website www.flyfishtuition.co.uk

Thornton weekly report week ending 24^th April

Tel: 01530 230807

Thornton continues to provide consistent sport to bank and boat anglers with this week’s rod average 4.0

This was the week buzzers featured more than any other fly pattern

A Lilley who only started fishing last year had his best fishing day to date catching 14 all on buzzer patterns, Danny Lovegrove fished a combination of buzzer & hares ear to catch his 12 trout. Clive Holt fished the late evening session recording 7 trout reporting “lots” of trout rising. Mark Hunt persevered with his suspender buzzers and in the afternoon it paid off with 14 fish coming to the boat.

Mike Cupitt 8 fish, Russ Martin 7 fish & Dave Leavesley 9 fish, fished from the bank, generally in the lonesome tree area fishing buzzer & nymph patterns to take their fish, this are and around to the farm bank will produce for the bank anglers during the next few weeks

Our water clarity continues to improve with visibility of 4ft+ by the end of last week, our surface water temperature is above 10 degrees, not surprising therefore its buzzers and floating lines

Lots of birds working the main basin to excellent buzzer hatches, it’s time for boats to look at the stone`s and green bay area with boats on the drift across the main basin starting to pick up fish.

Our Loyalty card valid at Thornton, Draycote and Foremark is proving popular with some anglers already claiming their first Free visit having purchased 10 trips, ten Loyalty stamps, speak to the lodge for further information and to pick up your card.

With the trout still running close to the bank we remind boat anglers they are required to give way to bank anglers. We recommend bank anglers bring waders

 Car Park, Lodge and bank fishing open 7.30am

Full Day Boats 8.30am – 8.30pm

Part Day Boats 8.30am – 2.30pm  /  2.30pm – 8.30pm

Last 4 Hour 4.30pm – 8.30pm

All anglers off site by 8.40pm

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Thornton weekly report week ending 17^th April

Tel: 01530 230807

Another consistent weeks fishing returning another respectful rod average of 4.5, same as the week before

The improving buzzer hatches were noticeable this week with fish to be seen feeding on the buzzer over most areas of the reservoir. Bank anglers continue to catch concentrating their efforts on the shallows of the Thornton arm opposite the lodge down to the corner of the wood towards the lonesome pine area, we would expect the farm bank area to start producing as the buzzer hatches keep improving.

Boat anglers have started moving towards the main basin and those on the drift have caught although the corner of the wood as for the bank anglers has been a consistent area to fish.

Floating line in the main although a midge tip or intermediate has also worked with damsel patterns, black buzzer, cdc & diawl bach taking fish, with the key to success, fish it slow, dead slow or static.

On the evenings the wind dropped we are seeing the first signs of an evening rise.

Our Loyalty card valid at Thornton, Draycote and Foremark is proving popular with some anglers already claiming their first Free visit having purchased 10 trips, ten Loyalty stamps, speak to the lodge for further information and to pick up your card.

With the trout still running close to the bank we remind boat anglers they are required to give way to bank anglers. We recommend bank anglers bring waders

Car Park, Lodge and bank fishing open 7.30am

Full Day Boats 8.30am – 8.15pm

Part Day Boats 8.30am – 2.00pm  /  2.00pm – 8.15pm

Last 4 Hour 4.15pm – 8.15pm

All anglers off site by 8.30pm

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Thornton weekly report week ending 10^th April

Tel: 01530 230807

Thornton continues its very consistent start to the 2016 season with this week returning another respectful rod average of 4.5

Bank & boat anglers continue to catch along the shallows of the Thornton Arm, wood bank & around the corner down towards the lonesome pine, with floating & intermediate lines with damsel, green pea, cats whiskers continuing to take fish, however with our water temperature creeping ever closer to 10 degrees we are seeing buzzer & diawl bach patterns starting to take fish as we see increasing numbers of buzzer hatching with martins & swallows this morning working the main basin area. Not surprising therefore to see traditional wet fly patterns taking fish with Jim Raeside catching on a soldier palmer & Mark Hunt catching on a bibio.

The most productive part of the day is the morning session to early afternoon but on the days the air temperature went into double figures we had some fish moving into the evening, with the forecast this week giving light winds & late afternoon temperatures at 11 – 12 degrees we should see our first proper evening rise, time to get those cdc buzzer patterns ready.

With the trout still running close to the bank we remind boat anglers they are required to give way to bank anglers. We recommend bank anglers bring waders

 Car Park, Lodge and bank fishing open 7.30am

Full Day Boats 8.30am – 8.00pm

Part Day Boats 8.30am – 2.00pm  /  2.00pm – 8.00pm

Last 4 Hour 3.45pm – 8.00pm

 All anglers off site by 8.15pm 

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Thornton weekly report week ending 3 April 2016

Tel: 01530 230807

The sand martins arrived and by the end of the week our surface water temperature was 9 degrees with the first of our larger grey buzzer stating to hatch, spring is literally around the corner.

Another excellent weeks fishing which got better and better as the week progressed and the weather improved with another excellent rod average 4.6

Steve Windram caught an overwintered rainbow of 7lb4oz part of a 9 fish catch with the fish coming to a variety of small lures fished from a floater and intermediate.

The bank continues to fish well with the trout close in along the shallows of the Thornton arm, wood and lonesome pine as Dave Simmonds found taking 6 on damels & pink snake, J Kirk fished buzzers and lures off the bank opposite the lodge to catch his 6 trout while Norman Perkins caught opposite the lodge and down by the lonesome pine with S Giles catching 4 opposite the lodge for his Sunday morning visit. If your coming to fish the bank bring either thigh or chest waders.

Steve Warner took to his tube for a short 2 hour visit catching 6 on damsel and buzzers.

Kirby Fly Fishers visited Thornton with 12 of their members recording 69 trout for rod average 5.7, we also had Colwick Fly Fishers pay us a visit with 9 of them recording a total catch of 84 trout for rod average 9.3

Boat anglers are catching along the Thornton arm and into the Markfield arm although we can expect to start seeing some boats drifting the main basin as our water temperature and buzzer hatches improve.

Top flies this week, blue flash damsel, green pea, cats whisker, buzzer & apps bloodworm

Car Park, Lodge and bank fishing open 7.30am

Full Day Boats 8.30am – 7.45pm

Part Day Boats 8.30am – 2.00pm  /  2.00pm – 7.45pm

Last 4 Hour 3.45pm – 7.45pm

All anglers off site by 8.00pm

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Thornton weekly report week ending 27 March 2016

Tel: 01530 230807

Monday to Good Friday we enjoyed good fishing conditions, then over the weekend the strong winds arrived preventing the boats from going out.

Bank and boat anglers caught fish in good numbers giving us a rod average of 4.5 for the week.

Bank anglers in the main are still catching along the shallows opposite the lodge down to the corner of the wood with floating lines crunchers, bloodworm, buzzer, tadpole and damsel patterns doing best. A number of bank anglers have commented on the number of damsel nymphs in the margins, G Clark on his first visit to Thornton spotted damsel nymphs in the margins, swapped onto a skinny damsel nymph pattern and caught 12 trout. Bill Nichols fished buzzer along the margins to catch 9 trout for his 4 hour visit, as did Norman Perkins. New member C Bond fished buzzers off the bank during his 3 hour afternoon visit to catch 5 trout.

Boat anglers and float tubers have caught on a variety of methods, from a floating line to fast sinkers using patterns from buzzers to booby. Dave Price and Neil James fished nomads to get into double figures as they did the week before, Peter Wrigley and Mick Hanson fished crunchers and bloodworm patterns to great effect on their visits again getting well into double figures.

Mark Hemmings bought his non fishing wife out for a mornings fishing and to enjoy the fabulous Good Friday weather and she bought Mark some luck helping him boat12 trout for their visit, having your non fishing wife in the boat must bring you luck as Phil Mee also found with his wife helping him catch 11 trout for their mornings visit. Kevin Dewey was top rod in the party of anglers Nigel Organ arranged from London with Kevin boating 9 on a variety of patterns.

With the longer daylight hours we should see our water temperature start to climb and with it our buzzer hatches will continue to improve, although it’s great to see the amount of damsel nymph in the water, the most I think we have ever seen for the time of year.

Car Park, Lodge and bank fishing open 7.30am

Full Day Boats 8.30am – 7.30pm

Part Day Boats 8.30am – 2.00pm  /  2.00pm – 7.30pm

Last 4 Hour 3.30pm – 7.30pm

 All anglers off site by 7.45pm

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Thornton weekly fishing report week ending 20^th March

Tel: 01530 230807

Our water clarity continues to improve daily with visibility over 2ft.

Bank anglers have enjoyed some of the better sport with Andre Russell opting to bank fish catching 12 trout in a couple of hours on crunchers. Russ Martin caught 6 for his two hours bank fishing with John Kirk fishing the bank to catch 8 trout to 5lb2oz on crunchers and buzzers. If your coming to fish the bank we advise you bring waders.

Bank anglers have found a floating line working best while boat anglers have used intermediate and floaters, with the trout close in on the banks the slowest of retrieves produced the best results.

Bob Jones boat fishing also found fish along the lodge side bank of the Thornton arm, up past the lodge past the spot where the old fir tree lies in the water, again these fish were tight on the bank.

Main areas continue to be the shallows opposite the lodge, wood bank and down towards the lonesome pine.

Most productive time of the day has been the warmer hours 10.00am – 3.00pm with a few buzzers to be seen hatching on the warmer days.

This week’s top patterns, Cruncher, Damsel, Tadpole Black & Green & Cats Whisker

Our water temperature is also moving the right way finishing the week at 7 degrees, the closer it gets to 10degrees the better our buzzer hatches will become with some of the larger grey buzzer putting in an appearance.

Rod average for the week was 3.9

Main Gate, Lodge and car park open from 7.30am

Full Day Boats 8.30am – 6.00pm

Part Day Boat 8.30am – 1.30pm  /   1.30pm – 6.00pm

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Thornton Weekly Report Week Ending 13^th March

Unfortunately we didn’t escape the floods last Wednesday & for the past 5 days we have been waiting for our clarity to improve, and I’m pleased to report improving it is.

Our rod average before the flood was 3.2 and with a stocking going in last Wednesday & another due this Thursday we should start to see our fishing improve.

The shallows always clears first, it’s likely therefore bank anglers will enjoy the best of the sport with the shallows opposite the lodge & corner of the wood fishing best.

It’s likely flies fished slowly with patterns such as booby, cats whisker, dawsons olive will perform best but with my surface temperature up to 7 degrees during any warmer spells we could see some buzzers hatching.

Main gate, lodge & bank open from 7.30am

Full Day Boats 8.30am – 5.45

Part Day Boats 8.30am – 1.00pm /  1.00pm – 5.45pm

All anglers offsite by 6.00pm

Call the lodge 01530 230807

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Thornton update 11th March 2016

Following the heavy rain on Wednesday the two streams that feed Thornton ran in flood, resulting in the reservoir becoming coloured again.

It will take a few days for the clarity to improve enough for fly fishing.

Keep in touch with the latest news by contacting the lodge on 01530 230807 or via our facebook page www.facebook.com/FlyFishStore

Thornton Weekly Report week ending 06/03/16

Despite the weather trying to give us a final cold blast of winter overall we enjoyed another good weeks fishing.

With the colder conditions the trout moved away from the bank during to colder morning conditions moving back in during the warmer afternoons. Boat anglers during the morning found the fish in slightly deeper water 50 – 60yds off the bank before moving closer to the bank as conditions warmed.

Intermediate and sinking lines fished best with a wide variety of patterns taking fish with the top patterns being, Cats Whisker, Blue Flash Damsel, Green & Black tadpole, booby on the warmer days buzzer have also taken fish.

During the early part of the week the area opposite the lodge to the corner of the wood fished best, by the time the weekend arrived with its colder conditions the lonesome pine down the Markfield arm was producing best.

 Average size of the trout caught are 1lb14oz – 2lb2oz  with trout up to 4lb8oz recorded.

 Rod average for the week was 3.3

Main gate, lodge and bank fishing open 7.30am

Full Day Boats 8.30am – 5.30pn

Part Day Boats 8.30am – 1.00pm / 1.00pm – 5.30pm

All anglers offsite by 6.00pm

Call the lodge 01530 230807

 Follow us on our Facebook page,  www.facebook.com/FlyFishStore