Rutland Water
fish for week 1130 (23686) returns403 (7036) rod average2.8 (3.36)
Fishing at Rutland is exceptional. Last week boat anglers enjoyed superb sport with rod averages around seven fish per rod every day (apart from last Friday when bad weather prevented boats going out).
Fish caught were mainly stock fish with an excellent average weight around 2lb and it was the main basin that produced the bulk of the fish with teams of lures and nymphs working well. Bank anglers are catching fish along the Normanton shoreline, the Sailing Club up to New Zealand Point, Whitwell and East Creek.
With high water level and below average water temperature, it has been decided to extend catch & release at Rutland Water until further notice.
Competition news
Tuesday Night Boat League
A grrr eight night with nearly every angler taking an eight fish limit. Fish were being caught very quickly. Anglers have endured some persistent stormy weather on Tuesday evenings, but this week anglers were rewarded with incredible sport proving every cloud has a silver lining.
1st Leon Smith 8 fish for 17lb 4½oz
2nd Paul Wild 8 fish for 17lb 1½oz
3rd Barry Vaughn 8 fish for 16lb 13¼oz
Leon has moved up to fourth place. The current leader Richard Cooper managed 3 points with third place. Even though second placed Si Gaines took his eight fish limit his weight was not enough for a single point.
Current leader board
1st Richard Cooper 35 points
2nd Si Gaines 31 points
3rd Paul Shaw 21 points
4th Leon Smith 19 points
5th Keith Jones 17 points
6th Paul Wild 16 points
RAF versus EFFA
Most of the anglers in this match took their 8 fish limit with a rod average of 7.3. Individual honours went to Roy Dixon fishing for EFFA. Roy took top rod by a whisker with 8 fish for 16lb 4oz from Dave Eames of the RAF with 8 fish for 16lb 3oz in second place.
Rutland Water continued
best rainbow 3lb 14oz taken Leon Smith
best brown 5lb plus taken by B Strickland
best boat areas Main Basin, Ernies Point, Whitwell front, East Creek, Sailing Club, Barnsdale, Carrot Creek,
best bank areas Ernies Point, Normanton to Fantasy Island, East Creek, Sailing Club, Barnsdale, Carrot Creek, Barn Hill Creek, New Zealand Point
best methods bank – nymphs and dry fly, hares ear, pheasant tail, diawl bach, damsel nymph.
Boat – as above but include sinking lines with various lures, blobs, orange, black cats whisker
mid week boat winner Stan Height of Stanion, Kettering
fish stocked 2000
forthcoming events Friday, Saturday and Sunday are very busy please phone the lodge for boat availability
Tuesday night boat league
Beginners courses 28 July, 5 & 22 August and other dates throughout the season
Anglian Water Over 50’s match 14 July
National fishing week 21-28 July, 45 minute casting sessions, daily 10am & 11am and 1pm, 2pm and 3 pm. Please call 01780 686441 to book
Grafham Water
fish for week 502(12919) returns 150 (3427) rod average 3.34(3.76)
John Mslellan of Northampton took both the best bag and biggest trout of the week. John caught 8 fish for 29lb 4oz, the biggest being a superb conditioned rainbow of 4lb 8oz from B buoy on an intermediate line with a booby on the point and diawl bachs and crunchers on the droppers. The fishing at Grafham Water this week has improved as the week has gone on, with the vast majority of trout being caught in the top five feet of the surface.
The boat anglers have had the cream of the sport this week with floating and intermediate lines with a booby on the point and diawl bachs, crunchers, pheasant tail nymphs, cats whiskers, blobs and cormorants on the droppers has been the most successful method. Traditional wets, (dunkeld, silver Invicta and Soldier Palmers) on floating lines have also produced some cracking top of the water sport for the anglers. The main areas for the boat anglers have been P,K,B,G and D buoys and the middle of the reservoir.
Bank anglers have found the fishing more challenging than the boat anglers with the brisk westerly winds making fishable bank spots hard to find, however, there have been some good bags of trout caught off the Plummer bank and south dam on nymphs and mini lures on floating and intermediate lines.
Competition news
The England Youth Flyfishing Association held its national loch-style championships at Grafham Water on Sunday and Tom Cooper from Rutland regained the title he first won in 2005.
Conditions were perfect at the 1500 acre Cambridgeshire reservoir for the 25 competitors from all over England who fished this event to select next years International Team. Fish were near the surface early on but bright sunshine soon brought a change in tactics with sinking lines finding the fish.
Tom Cooper (17) caught the maximum eight trout limit weighing 19lb3oz, closely followed by Edward Field (16) from Gloucestershire who took seven trout for 12lb10oz and last year’s Champion Josh Fenton from Sunderland taking six trout for 10lb14oz. Oliver Gilman was fourth with five fish for 10lb 7oz. All three top rods were amongst the first three last year – but in a different order! Best fish of the day was 3lb 3oz , one of four trout caught by fifth placed Karl Manley.
EYFA Chairman Alastair Smith said “This was a very successful event and the standard of fishing technique among these youngsters was very high. With almost all of them catching trout and an average of nearly three per rod. As a result we have selected a very strong team to fish the International Championship in Ireland next year. The volunteer boatmen and Anglian Water staff were excellent and our thanks to all the parents and helpers who support these young people, enabling them to compete for their country.’’
Qualifiers for 2008 International team
Tom Cooper, Edward Field, Josh Fenton, Oliver Gilman, Karl Manley, Matthew Holroyd, Carl Malpass, Tom Davies, Patrick Senior, Stephen Pringle. Reserves Matthew Kidd and William Payne.
Grafham Water
Competition news continued
Anyone who wants to join the EYFA or take part in coaching days and fish in next year’s event can find details on www.eyfa.co.uk
Invicta Tuesday Night Boat League
3 July saw a three way tie for the top spot with Andy Newman, Keith Gilchrist and Alan Briggs all catching four fish.The main method on the evening was to fish an intermediate line with small nymphs and an orange booby on the point.
Inter Club floating line competition 1 July
1st GWFFA 30 fish for 67lb 7oz
2nd Mid Northants 22 fish for 48lb 11oz
3rd RWFF 18 fish for 36lb 8oz
4th Inivcta 17 fish for 36lb 1oz
5th EDFA 13 fish for 29lb 8oz
6th EMTFA 13 fish for 28lb 15oz
Best fish Mike Hill 3lb 15oz. Mike Smith caught the best bag with 8 fish for 16lb 12oz. Best boat – Mike Smith and John Clarke 11 fish for 23lb 7oz.
best rainbow 4lb 8oz taken by John Mslellan of Northampton
best brown 2lb 4oz taken by A Riley from Bolton
best boat areas P,K,B,G and D buoys, central Drifts
best bank areas Plummer Park, South dam
mid week boat winner Mr Lawson Wright of Cambridge
fish stocked 2000
forthcoming events Beginners courses 15 July, 19 & 22 August & other dates throughout the season
Tuesday evening boat league
National Fishing Week 21-28 July 4 daily 45 minute tuition sessions pre –booking essential on 01480 810531
Ravensthorpe Reservoir
fish for week 350 (season 8828) returns 68 (1753) rod average 5.12(5.01)
Shaun Marriott from Stoke Albany and his boat partner Graham Dutton landed 27 Rainbows, whilst drifting off the Island with fish of 6lb and two at 4lb amongst their bag.
There has been plenty of surface activity this week with fish ‘looking up’ chasing damsel nymphs over all areas of the reservoir. Pulled dries from drifting boats are taking fish together with nymphs and c.d.c’s. Top flies are muddlers, hoppers, flue brush, invictas, diawls, damsels and buzzers. Anglers fishing early or late in the day are taking some nice rainbows from the bank fishing a single dry fly on 10/12lb leaders over the weedbeds. The dam is producing consistent sport to both floating and intermediate lines.
Competition news
On Saturday 17 members fished the British Float Tube Association Open competition in bright and breezy conditions. Top of the water tactics saw 40 fish weighed in with not a single fish under 2lb. Kevin Primmer won and also took the best fish of the match (and the best rainbow of the week) at 8lb 12oz.
1st K Primmer 17lb 5oz
2nd R Whitehouse 11lb 14oz
3rd R Trevis 9lb 12oz
best rainbow 8lb 12oz taken by Kevin Primmer
best boat areas all areas fishing well
best bank areas dam wall
mid week boat winner Mark Salt of High Cross
fish stocked 500
Pitsford Water
fish for week 340 (9717) returns 148 (3436) rod average 2.3 (2.8)
Pitsford Water hosted a qualifier for the Lexus European Fly Fishing Championships on Thursday. 17 anglers took part and the match fished to a 3.2 rod average with an average fish weight of 2lb 1oz. Stuart Thompson won with 7 fish for 15lb 8oz. Second, and qualifying for the final is Miloslav Hosenseidl from the Czech Republic, he caught 5 fish weighing 12lb 1oz. Miloslav was in a group of six anglers who came over for the match - with all six finishing in the top ten. Local angler, and previous Lexus champion, Richard Slater caught the best trout – a rainbow of 3lb 10oz, this now qualifies him for the final.
Bank anglers are enjoying good sport with fish being very close to the bank making for excellent sport from 7pm onwards. Anglers are using small nymphs and dries to tempt fish that are very close to the bank in the evenings.
Pitsford Water continued
The newly introduced Boat Buddies was a great success. Five novice anglers took to the water accompanied by 5 experienced anglers. They paired up and boat fished from 6pm through to 9.30pm. This gave many of the anglers their first experience of boat fishing. One angler took two fish whilst at anchor in Sailing Club Bay whilst under instruction from Ray Buckland. Thank you to boat men Ray Buckland, Mark Fountain, Bev Perkins and Peter Daniels who shared their expertise and gave up their evening. The next Boat Buddies session will be on Tuesday 17 July at 6pm. Please contact Pitsford Fishing Lodge on 01604 781350 to book a place.
best rainbow 4lb
best boat areas dam, Gravels, Gorse
best bank areas Gravels, Sailing Club Bay
best methods see report
mid week boat winner Reg Wheeler of Rushden
fish stocked 500
forthcoming events Wednesday night boat league
boat buddies Tuesday 17 July. Book in at the Fishing Lodge for a free evening’s boat fishing with an experienced angler to show the ropes
beginners club 22 July
Please book in at the Fishing Lodge. Bank fishing for beginners with help from experienced anglers
beginners courses 21 July, 4 & 23 August and other dates throughout the season
National fishing week 23-27 July, 45 minute casting sessions, daily 10am, 11am and noon, 2pm and 3 pm. Please book on 01604 781350 Pike - boat fishing with lures over 18cm only at Pitsford alternate weeks Monday to Friday commencing Monday 18 June. Call Pitsford Fishing lodge on 01604 781350 for details
coarse fishing
Ardleigh reservoir
Season permit holders are continuing to find the carp on the main reservoir with Luke Cummins landing three fish to 24lb and Spencer Joyce reporting a fantastic 32lb specimen. Day anglers are still able to find fishable swims on the main reservoir around Lodge Lane and Noahs Ark with John Judge reporting a good bag of bream to 7lb. There are no weed problems on the Wick Lane lake and most anglers are catching some excellent mixed bags. Nick Hustle had bream to 7lb, Peter Eccleston had a similar bag of bream and roach and Robert Green had roach, perch, rudd, bream and a 3lb eel. Matthew Smith also had a 4lb tench from the same lake.