Weekly Fishing Report: Thornton, Eyebrook, Draycote

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Eyebrook Fishery Weekly Report – 01536 770264

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

Week ending 27th June                  Rod Average: 1.4                 Water Temp: 18 – 19C

This week has seen Eyebrook experiencing some welcomed cooler and wetter weather which will hopefully reduce the ambient water temperatures. Monday only saw a handful of anglers venture out on the water for some limited action on the day. Eyebrook Season ticket holder Roy Swinfield managed to whittle out 4 from the bank in Sam’s Dyke area whilst fishing over the weedbeds. He said he had a few more on, but they smashed him up in the weeds.

The following day was a much more suitable day for being out in the water. But despite the better conditions for fishing, the fishes were still reluctant to come and say hello to our anglers. Eyebrook local legend Bill Law turned to the dark side to fish a sinking line with Blobs and managed to snare 3 on a Di5 from the boat in around the Sam’s dyke area. Tim Strachan was top angler on the day managing to lure out 9 on a hot head damsel pattern. R Taylor managed a half dozen on a CDC Damsel.

Wednesday was a bright day with changeable wind throughout. Ken Waters and All water ticket holder Roger Kerrison were the top anglers on the day with 3 fish each most other anglers found the conditions challenging but most of them had at least 1 fish to the boat. Most of the anglers catching fish were catching them earlier in the day on sinking lines.

Thursday has seen quite an upturn in bookings due to the improving fishing conditions. Hopefully with the cooler forecasts we will see the fish getting more into the levels where they are more likely to provide some surface action for our anglers. The Eastern Region Police had an informal meet at Eyebrook sending 10 boats out on to the water for a day out. Most of the anglers managed to bring fish to the boat and having a rod average of 1.7 between the 20 Anglers. S Hume and N Hodgeson joined us for a day out so that Mr Hume could make use of his Free boat voucher that he had won at the EDFF Floating line match. They managed to buck the trend by fishing sinking lines and intermediate lines and were rewarded with 10 fish to the boat each. The secret to their success was changing flies and fishing them between 4 and 10 feet down. Blobs, Damsel Nymphs, and mini snakes seemed to account for a majority of their fish.

With the weekend rapidly approaching, Eyebrook was blessed with some cooling rain and overcast conditions on the Friday morning. Throughout the day Anglers were exploring the lake in search of fish with a few of them having varied results. Some were taking the occasional fish on dries, where others were having some good sport on Blobs. But the best result of the day was from Vince Sparrow who managed 11 to the boat while fishing a Di7 with humungous lures.

The weekend carried on with challenging fishing conditions for quite a few of the anglers, with the few that managed to figure out a method and flies managing to land around about 4 fish to the boat. Eyebrook season ticket holder Dave Etty managed to whittle out a brace on a short mid-day session bank fishing from the dam wall. He was fishing a couple of hare’s ear CDC’s over the top of the weedbeds.

With the cooling temperatures, we should see a marked improvement in the next week or so as the fish start to find the more comfortable upper layers of the water to patrol around. Don’t exclude exploring the open waters as the fish start to roam out into the other areas of the lake.

Thornton Fishery Weekly Report – 01530 230807

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

Week ending 27^th June   Rod Av: 2.0  Water Temperature: 18 -19c

A slow start to the week with anglers struggling to find the fish. The trout that were caught were taken on damsels, buzzer, diawls and booby

Tuesday and the cooler weather continue to take the heat out of the water with our water temperature at 7.30am 18c+ The cooler morning session continues to fish best with a few trout moving in the evening to caenis, sedge and small buzzer. Our water temperature at 6.30pm was just under 19c

During the morning anglers reported the trout were feeding on snails & damsel nymphs. Colin Chambers caught 4 for his mornings visit down the Markfield arm on damsels, Peter Wrigley & Rodger Dunster found the fish across the main basin feeding on snails, they boated 6 but reported that they missed or lost considerably more.

Wednesday and our water temperature at 7.30am was back down to 18c+ but with blue skies and the sun already out it was likely to climb during the day. Most rods fished the morning session, reporting fish were moving for short spells but proved difficult to tempt. Bob Jones came float tubing and caught trout on buzzers and crunchers, other rods caught fish on damsels, snakes and booby. With our water temperature during the day climbing to 20c its not surprising our late evening sport is limited.

Thursday and our water temperature at 7.00am is back down to 18.5c+ Anglers reported fish were moving in some areas but it was difficult to establish what they were feeding on, our buzzer hatches currently are small black or vivid olive coloured but small #20, #22. During the early afternoon we had black aphids on the water with increasing numbers of damsels. No sign of any pin fry

Dave Pritchard caught 3 but lost or missed a number of other trout fishing a diawl bach, Mick Glover managed to get M Riley a trout on his first attempt fly fishing, Mick went on to catch 3 on a washing line with black buzzer. Tony Lorrimer caught 5 fishing his bunny patterns with the majority of Tony catch coming from the area in front of the valve tower to the orange buoy.

Friday and the water temperature was back down to 18.5c but proved to be a difficult days fishing, fish could be seen moving at times but proved difficult to tempt with member George Jackson top rod with his catch of 4 trout

Saturday our water temperature was again back down to 18c+ but unlike Friday the fish were in a taking mood with the majority of the trout in the top 3ft and they were prepared to chase a fly. Jan Webber caught 9 on crunchers, Tim Price caught 6 on diawls & biscuit blob with a damsel pattern taking fish for Bill Holland. Mark Hunt fished sparsely tied cdc, big reds, red Sedgehogs catching 21 for his visit. The majority fish caught were from the lower red buoy to the mouth of the Markfield arm & down the arm. Some reports of pin fry along the weedbeds of the wood & along the main dam but compared to normal years low number, lots of damsel nymphs with the fish moving best between 11am & 5pm.

Quiet day at the fishery on Sunday but not for Andrew Wilson who fished the morning session catching 6 trout on an intermediate & diawl bach

A mixed weeks fishing with no two days fishing the same. The cooler forecast has helped reduce the water temperature at 7.30am to around 18.5c Best of the fishing is the morning session.

Draycote Fishery Weekly Report – 01788 812018

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

Week Ending Sunday 27^th June 2021   Rod Av: 3.0  Water Temperature: 17°C

A nice overcast day to start the week Monday, as a result there was good catches fishing higher in the water column. Peter Elliot & Lee Patten landed 13 fish drifting in Toft on a mixture of dries and washing line techniques. John Dickens fished dries to land 9 fish using Cripple Midge and Black Owls CDC. Kevin Rees had an exceptional day in Toft on dries boating 27 fish all on dries with size 14 crippled midge and Bob Bits his patterns. Fishing the bank in the evening Paul Walley landed a couple of fish from the Cornfield on the team of nymphs before heading over to the Tower Bank and catching a cracking 4lb fish on dries along with seeing a number of others moving.

A bright start to the day Tuesday with cloud rolling in around lunch time which did break again later in the day giving a lovely sunny evening. The wind was stronger than we had seen in the previous few days coming from the North East. On the bank Stan Hillman landed 4 fish on a pheasant tail nymph from the Tower Bank. On the boats using the wind to his advantage Steve Barby landed 12 fish on the rudder, commenting he caught fish all over the lake. Season ticket holder Tony Plummer & Colin England landed 8 fish in Rainbow Corner and commented on the number of fish moving up there. Adam Turner & David Adams landed 15 fish between them on dries with Bob’s Bits and Yellow Owl CDC being their best patterns. The best catch of the day came from Richard Pelly fishing the last four hours on dries landing 20 fish on big reds, just shows how productive these evening sessions can be.

A brighter day that the previous day with light to no wind on Wednesday. These bright conditions brought the newly hatched pin fry up to the surface and the trout followed. The reservoir was boiling with fish all over the lake gorging themselves on the protein packed fry. However, while the pin fry feeders could be seen it was a challenge to get them to take. On the rudder Jim Dempsey fished with Rod Wilson with the pair boating 14 fish with their most productive area being J buoy and the Aerators. Mr Sowerby landed a dozen fish on nymphs from Rainbow Corner and Toft. Phil & Dave Over enjoyed a good day landing 13 fish. Draycote season ticket holder Ian Richardson fished with fellow season ticket holder Bob Smith with the pair landing 9 fish on Diawl Bach’s and blobs.

Overcast with fine rain greeted the anglers for the Alex Booth Charity Fly Fishing Match, this well attended competition saw 29 boats heading out onto the water. There was a good head of fish everywhere and boats could be seen spread from up in Rainbow corner, across the Farborough Dam and down into Toft Shallows. There were also a lot of fish cruising up through the wind just beyond P buoy into Biggin Bay feeding on small green midge. A total of 58 rods fished the competition, catching 202 fish. This gave a rod average of 3.4 for the day. In third place was Sam Smith with 11 fish for 21lbs 4oz, In second place was Dave Kennell with 12 fish for 23lbs 6oz, and the winner, with 12 fish for 25lbs 5oz was Gordon Bramwell.

Quite a stiff north westerly was blowing on Friday morning when we got to work, but this died down by mid morning to produce almost ideal conditions for the rest of the day. Again, good numbers of fish could be seen feeding on either pin fry or small green midge right in the surface of the water. These fish were proving hard to catch for some anglers whilst others did a lot better. Some anglers pulled blobs and boobies high in the water on intermediate lines whilst others targeted these fish mostly with size 18 midge or hares ear and mirage butt culs. Season permit holder Paul Havard boated 15 fish using a washing line and diawl bachs with a tequila booby on the point. Tony Parker caught a baker’s dozen on big reds, twitching it back. Gareth Jones and his boat partner caught a hat full of fish, concentrating their efforts on midge feeders on the edge of Middle Shoal beyond P buoy, and using green midge patterns from size 14 down to size 18.

Saturday was again a good day for fishing weatherwise and brightened a little through the afternoon. Ivor Jones and Jim Dempsey had 15 between them to the boat using lures, the best of which was about 4lbs. Dave Smith used olive snakes on an intermediate line to boat 6 fish from the deeper water around A buoy. It was dries that did the trick for Mr Andy Taylor around P buoy early on, with the same method working for Mr A Smith and Mr T Fox.  All three anglers caught in good numbers but moved over to the aerators as the day brightened up. It was good to see the bank fished well for Luke and David Orton, who netted a baker’s dozen from various points around the reservoir.

A windy day Sunday with rain forecast put thankfully it never arrived, the wind made the presentation a challenge and as a result the fishing was challenging. Season ticket holder Richard Walker landed 7 fish on a variety of lures fished on sinking lines, taking the fish from down in Toft. Michael Hanlon landed 5 fish fishing snakes on a Di 5 sinking line taking fish on various drifts across the lake. Fishing for the last 4 hours Mr T & Mr G Wilson landed 4 fish with large snakes being their best pattens with Mr G Wilson landing a cracking fish about 4lb.

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