Eyebrook Reservoir; Weekly report week ending 21st July 2019
Telephone Number: 01536 770264
The mild summer conditions have continued this week with warm days with light winds. We have had some warm muggy periods, when the cloud has built up during the afternoon and early evening but no thunderstorms. Although we had a few showers early on in the week, only Friday and Saturday were the really wet days. The water temperatures has remained above 20 degrees nearly all week, dropping slightly to 19 degrees on Sunday following the heavy rain of the preceding two days. It is therefore not surprising that we are finding that a lot of the fish in the main basin have gone deep, although we are still seeing moving fish over all parts of the fishery, especially in the mornings and evenings. The local insect life continues to hatch off in large numbers with sedges, damsels and caenis to the fore whilst the large shoals of fry are beginning to put on weight and are now starting to resemble actual fish. The trout are continuing to make the most of nature’s larder, preoccupation being a problem at times.
As highlighted in last week’s report, the most successful tactic remains deep fished lures such as tubes, snakes or blobs. These should be fished in conjunction with a fast sinking line such as a DI7 or Airflo booby basher, counted down for anything up to 40-50 seconds before retrieving. This retrieve should also include a period when the fly is hung, to tempt fish that have followed the fly up from the deep. Another successful method has been to utilise a floating line or midge tip to target fish lying in and around the marginal weed beds in areas such as Sam’s Dyke, Hawthorn or the Bell. Successful flies have included buzzers, diawl, bachs and crunchers, fished either on a washing line, straight lined or under a bung. Dries such as CDC’s, big reds, daddies or hoppers have also worked well when conditions were favorable. Finally, naturals such as buzzers, diawl, bachs and crunchers fished deep on a long leader with either a floating or intermediate line in the main basin has caught fish. Mark Hunt had a successful visit on a small suspender minkie fished tight along the weed beds catching 9 for his visit
On Monday morning, staff member Jason Pusey fished for a few hours before his afternoon shift and was rewarded with a fine 8 pound + brownie, taken on a sinking line and a large fly. Ollie Mills returned and repeated his successful tactics of the previous week (deep fished lures) landing 10 fish. Matt Lane used deep buzzers to account for 3 fish whilst out for an evening’s tubing whilst Mr Harvey accounted for four fry feeders in Mucky Bay. On Tuesday Bill Stewart and boat partner Roger Carlton accounted for four fish, with Ian Simmonds taking three fish.
Wednesday saw in- house guide Lee Henfry take over 30 fish using snakes. A video of Lee fishing that day and describing the successful method to maximise the effectiveness of snakes can be found on our Facebook page. Also, on Wednesday, Clive Moore fished from a boat to deceive a nice brace of fish as did Mr. Rumbahs. On Thursday morning, Malcolm Thompson fished from the bank near the Hawthorns. Presenting small dries in and around the weed beds, he landed six fish and moved at least another dozen which came for but didn’t take the fly. Bob Margery fished from a boat during his evening session and landed five nice fish.
The forecast was for rain on Friday all day which was accurate with periods of rain from 08.30 onwards. Mark Hunt fished floating fry and big red patterns to land nine fish whilst Ian Jobe fished from a float tube and landed four fish. A couple of anglers tried for the pike and both landed double figure fish, the best being a nicely conditioned fish of about seventeen pounds, taken by staff member Martin Blakeston.
Saturday was another wet day, but the reservoir fished reasonably well with the daily rod average approaching four. Lee Henfrey and his boat partner Neil landed 17 fish using deep fished snakes whilst season ticket holder Dave Chadwick used floating line tactics with Diawl Bachs to land five fish. He returned on Sunday morning and in a short bank session with Jerry Barnes, they landed nine fish between them. Matt Lane also managed to find fish in his morning tubing session.
Sunday Lee Henfrey & Andy Miller ran a boat fishing course, with clients been shown and proving successful catching fish during this warm spell.
Access
The “Alec Lane” ‘gate now has a combination lock on. Please remember to check the code with the rangers as it will change regularly.
Guiding & Tuition.
Our guiding and Tuition website ( http://www.flyfishtuition.co.uk) provides details of our beginners Tuition days at Eyebrook. We run a number of tuition days at the reservoir which are an ideal experience for any angler looking to take up the sport. This site will also provide details of this year’s boat handling courses as well as two courses aimed at anglers wishing to learn about the excellent sport provided by pike on the fly,
Guiding and tuition manager, Tom, and our in- house guide Lee, are both available for guiding. Full details can be found on our tuition face book page or by contacting our guiding and competition manager Tom Bird on 01788 812018. For the 2019 season the Guiding & Tuition team will be running a blog. The idea of this blog is to provide hints and tips from your guides to help keep you catching depending on the conditions, tackle reviews and write up of guiding sessions. To have a look at the blog, the latest being about fishing the washing line, please visit http://www.flyfishtuition.co.uk/latest-report/.
Competitions
For a full listing of competitions at Eyebrook and for bookings please visit our website www.flyfisheyebroook.co.uk
Fishing Buddy Required
Novice fisherman requires a boat buddy for midweek fishing trips to Eyebrook two to three times a month between the hours 10am and 6pm. Contact John on 07811138274.
Don’t forget to pick up your loyalty card from the lodge, once you have purchased 10 of the same permits, your next visit of that permit option is FREE valid at all three fisheries, Thornton, Draycote and Eyebrook
Weekly Stats:
Number Rods: 74 Number Trout Taken: 17 Number Trout Released; 114
Total Catch: 131 Weekly Rod Average: 1.8
Current Fishing Time:
Bank: 07:30am till 21.30pm, Boat All Day: 08:30 to 21.30pm
Morning Boats: 08:30 until 15.00pm, Afternoon Boats: 15:00pm until 21.30pm
Last 4 Hours from: 17.30pm until 21.30pm (Tickets on sale from 17.15pm)
All anglers to be off site by 21.45pm
Tight lines
The Eyebrook Fishery team