Eyebrook Fishery Report for Week Ending Sunday 25th June 2023

 Weekly Fishing Report: Draycote, Eyebrook, Thornton

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

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Eyebrook Fishery Weekly Report – Lodge: 01536 770264 & Mob: 07834581424

Email: eyebrook@flyfishstore.co.uk

2023 Stocking Policy Details of our stocking policy for Eyebrook is explained on our website:

www.flyfisheyebrook.co.uk/about-us-2/stocking-policy/

2023 Permits & Pre Payment for Boat Bookings Details of our Day Permits, Package Breaks & our Boat bookings pre-payment policy visit our website.

https://www.flyfisheyebrook.co.uk/about-us-2/day-permits/

Week Ending: 25 Jun 23       Rod Av:   1.3    Water Temperature:   22+ °C

The slightly cooler weather that ended last week began this, as Monday brought with it some warm air temperatures, overcast skies & the occasional light shower. The reservoir fished well to Dries & small nymphs on a washing line with Foam Daddies or CDC emergers proving to be the most productive Dry Fly patterns. The most productive areas were Stoke Dry, Sam’s Dyke & some isolated areas of the Main Basin. As the water temperature continues to steadily rise the fish will continue to seek out cooler, deeper water & will eventually find their way to the general area of the Main Basin.

It was a damp start to Tuesday with moderate rain & no wind which later developed into a moderate southerly wind & bright sunshine. The unsettled weather seemed to affect the fishing as anglers found it challenging to locate fish. There were a few fish caught out of Sam’s Dyke with Dries & Washing Lined Damsel patterns proving to be the most productive. There were also reports of a lot of fish feeding on Damsels up along the Leicester Bank between the Black Hut & the Chestnut. The fish are clearly in a period of adjustment where they are relocating to areas that are more comfortable for them to feed in. Where they will eventually end up is in the deeper, cooler water of the Main Basin.

Wednesday brought with it a gentle southerly breeze, intermittent cloud cover & a warm air temperature. Damsels were hatching off by midmorning & the blue adult damsels soon filled the air. Those targeting Damsel feeders around the marginal weedbeds fared slightly better those searching for fish in open water. Down on a 3-day short break, Tim Grove worked hard for his 7 fish, catching on Foam daddies in Sam’s Dyke which was a good return given the conditions. Meanwhile down between the Chestnut & Cowshed Dougie Skedd worked the margins with Crunchers on a floating & was duly rewarded with an excellent bag of 11 fish. Fish that were spooned were found to be full of Damsel nymphs & Blue Adults.

Thursday started with a flat calm & bright, clear sky. Later in the day there was a gentle North Easterly breeze that initially brought with it some periods of cloud before unleashing a thunderstorm late afternoon. The fish continue to feed well on small emerging buzzers & Damsels, Nymphs & adults. Up the shallower northern end of the reservoir the fish are becoming increasingly more difficult to locate as they seek out cooler water. There are still a few fish up by the Cowshed feeding relatively close to the bank & further down to the Chestnut. There are still a good number of fish in Sam’s Dyke, feeding hard on Damsels & anglers catching them fishing Dries just above the weedbeds. Fishing the last day of his 3-day short break, Tim Grove had a productive day landing 9 fish on small dries & damsel nymphs. Over the 3 days Tim had landed 19 fish which given the conditions, was a great return. Well done Tim.

Friday was another bright, clear, warm day although there a was a strong & gusty wind from the west. Bright, warm, weather with a strong wind is never a good condition & as a consequent Friday was a very challenging day. There was still fish caught however, but not in huge numbers. There are fish still feeding in & around the marginal weedbeds on the abundant Damsel nymphs & adults, Corixa & Fry. However, they are not spending a great deal of time in the warmer, shallower water. They appear to be holding in the deeper water, moving in to feed, before returning to the more comfortable water. The most productive areas were the weedbeds along the Hawthorns to Sam’s Dyke, around the Island & in front of the chestnut with the most productive methods being Dries & Washing Lined Floating Lines.

Saturday was another bright, clear, warm day. It has become increasingly noticeable that the Reservoir has generally become more productive in the cooler mornings than it has in the afternoons & evenings. The reservoir fished slightly better today than on previous days in conditions that can only be described as challenging. Eyebrook member Bob Margery had a productive morning session landing 6 fish fishing the deeper, cooler water of the Main Basin. There were a few fish caught in the Main Basin with some anglers exploring the deeper water, catching on lures on sinking lines & Buzzers fished deep on long leaders. The productivity of the weed beds was somewhat sporadic with some anglers catching on Dries & Damsels fished in & around the weed beds. Saturday also saw Eyebrook host a tuition course for father & son duo of Tom & Tony Sinclair. After spending time learning the basic overhead cast, they took to the water. Under the watchful eye of resident instructor Jim Sheehan, they hooked plenty of fish & despite only landing one they had a great time. Jim found fish out in the open water of the Main Basin & got all the interest on Snakes. Please us the following link for further information on our Tuition/Guiding services: https://www.flyfishtuition.co.uk/prices/

Sunday was extremely warm from the very start & as the day progressed it got warmer & warmer which made the fishing extremely challenging. It was good to see anglers fishing the deeper water of the Main Basin which has begun to be more & more productive as the water & air temperature has increased. Deep & slow seemed to be the order of the day as Eyebrook Member Neil Shilton landed an excellent 19 fish from his Float Tube. Neil fished a Di8 with Minkies & his most productive area was in the deeper water around the Tower. Saturday also saw us host the Mid Northants Fly Fishers which saw 22 anglers take to the water & catching 31 fish between them, giving a rod average of 1.4. Congratulations goes to Hank Needham who took the spoils on the day.

Given the rise water temperature, exploring the depths of the Main Basin will begin to pay dividends as the fish search out the cooler water. Fishing Lures on Fast Sinkers isn’t the only method open to us as anglers, we can also fish at depth using heavy Buzzers on Tip Lines with long leaders. When searching the open water of the Main Basin it is important to remember to adopt a mobile approach. Drifting using a Drogue will allow us to cover more water more effectively when locating deep lying fish. During cooler days, fish can still be found around the weed beds feeding on Damsels, Corixa & Fry.

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Thornton Fishery Weekly Report – 01530 230807

Email: thornton@flyfishstore.co.uk

2023 Stocking Policy Details of our stocking policy for Eyebrook is explained on our website www.flyfishthornton.co.uk/about-us-2/stocking-policy/

2023 Permits & Pre Payment for Boat Bookings Details of our Day Permits, Package Breaks & our Boat bookings pre-payment policy visit our website.

https://www.flyfishthornton.co.uk/about-us-2/day-permits/

Week Ending: 25^th June   Rod Av: 2.8    Water Temperature: 20c – 21c

Monday & Tuesday, anglers took our advice and fished the morning session, we are currently trying to get the boats out as early after 7.30am to ensure were fishing the cooler conditions. We had thunderstorms & heavy rainfall which has had no impact on reservoir, water quality remains clear.

A Sink7 & at times a Sink5 with booby patterns such as a tequila booby, damsel booby, red booby, cats whisker booby, orange booby has taken fish either fished on the back drift or from an anchored boat. If your fishing these sinking lines from an anchored boat you need to be able to cast a full fly line, then wait a good minute, possibly longer to ensure the lines and booby patterns are on the bottom. The fish were spooning are feeding on daphnia, bloodworm & small buzzers.

Another method has been to fish a floating line from an anchored boat, 20ft to 25ft+ leader, point fly #12 epoxy buzzer, weighted bloodworm pattern, fist dropper 2 to 3ft from point fly, second dropper 2 to 3ft from first dropper, overall, all 3 flies are on the lower 5 or 6ft of the leader. Fish it static under an indicator if not watch the end of the floating line, on occasion slow retrieve a few feet then let it settle. Last few mornings all anglers who caught fish reported plenty of missed takes and follows.

Wednesday, first time in weeks we have a south westerly breeze. All the rods fished the cooler part of the day, the morning session. Stuart Thompson fished up to 1pm catching 2 on a booby but missing a few other takes. Tom Hutchinson took our advice fished a floating line 20ft leader bloodworm pattern on the point, a small diawl bach on the first dropper & small buzzer on the top dropper, all flies in the lower 6ft. He landed 4 and missed other takes for his mornings fishing. Water clarity remains good.

Thursday and a hot daytime temperature. Anglers followed the advice and concentrated their fishing over the deeper water. Sink 7 and Sink5 lines worked best with small snakes and various booby patterns, humungus booby, damsel booby, cats whisker booby. Paul Martindale caught 6 on a sink5 12ft leader and single damsel booby, when that stopped working a single small snake.

Friday, overcast day with a north westerly morning breeze. A few fish moving first thing, but as the water temperature is 21c they rise once before dropping back to cooler conditions. Water clarity is excellent. Anglers followed the advice, got out as early as possible and fished the morning session. Steve Fairgrieve and K Cowen fished a sink3 15ft leader and single tequila booby catching 12 trout by midday. Colin Chambers fished a sink 7 catching 4 on a booby pattern with C Bond catching his 5 trout on bloodworm and damsel booby patterns.

Saturday, bright humid start to the day, cloud moved in from 9am. Anglers followed our advice, taking advantage of the boats going out before 8am and fishing the morning session up to 3pm due to the warm conditions. Anglers fished the deeper water with a variety of methods from a 6ft tip with a 20ft leader, sink3 with a 15ft leader, snk5 with a 12ft leader & sink7 with a 6 to 8ft leader. Patterns were varied from #16 #14 buzzers on the dropper or #10 or #8 buzzer on the point to ensure the 20ft+ leader gets to the required depth, #14 diawl bach, #10 or #12 bloodworm, small snakes, damsel nymph, tequila booby, damsel booby, orange booby, red booby. Mark Hunt, Dave Hussey & Keith Cowen all caught double figures. An excellent days fishing with a 7.1 rod average.

Sunday and probably the hottest day of the week. All rods followed our advice and fished the morning session.  Rods generally fished deep with fast sinking lines and booby patterns. P Hunt & J Thomson caught 9 on booby patterns. Thornton fly fishers fished their blind pairs competition with P Birdsall and M Vernon winning that morning session you can view their report and activities on their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/troutfishingclub

We also hosted Kirby Fly Fishers the winner of their event was Russ Jackson who caught 5 on a booby basher and 4ft leader.

This coming week its forecast to be cooler, we expect the cooler morning session which fishes up to 3pm to be the best, we will try every day to get our boats out earlier than 8.30am, they will be available as soon as we have finished cleaning the pontoon & boats, probably any time after 7.45am

Water clarity is good.

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Draycote Fishery Weekly Report – 01788 812018

Email:  draycote@flyfishstore.co.uk

2023 Stocking Policy Details of our stocking policy for Draycote is explained on our website www.flyfishdraycote.co.uk/about-us-2/stocking-policy/

2023 Permits & Pre Payment for Boat Bookings Details of our Day Permits, Package Breaks & our Boat bookings pre-payment policy visit our website.

https://www.flyfishdraycote.co.uk/about-us-2/day-permits/

Exclusion Zone  Due to the work being carried out on the Hensborough Bank there is an exclusion zone in place, clearly marked with yellow buoys. Under no circumstances are anglers to enter this area as there are divers in the water.

Week Ending:     25^th June 2023      Rod Av: 2.4 Water Temperature:  20-21°C

Overcast conditions Monday, with a very light breeze. With the sun making an appearance for the later part of the day. As a result of the conditions several anglers opted to use dry flies. Draycote members Ian Richardson & Bob Smith fished Crippled Midge and Yellow Owl CDC to good effect. Drifting from Rainbow Corner to A Buoy landing 9 fish, as the fishery has the first Southwest winds in weeks. Another boat finding success with dries was that of Bryan Brown & Ed Greenwood who used CDCs drifting from Rainbow Corner to A Buoy also landing 9 fish. Ken Perris & B Prior fished on a morning boat landing 10 fish but didn’t leave any comments as to how. Fellow morning boat Peter Evans fished down in Toft using a sink 6 line with a cormorant to land 4 fish on the morning.

Tuesday started with some heavy cloud cover and showers which had filled the boats overnight. There were several fish caught on dries through the early part of the day with other methods such as sinking lines and snakes producing good catches as well. Martin Blakeston and Lindsay Bates put half a dozen fish in the boat using CDC’s , the best of which was 4lbs. Kevin Rees also boated half a dozen fish on dries such as the crippled midge. Leading up to the competition on Thursday other anglers are playing their cards very close to their chest, but it was good to see that Mr M Hock had a brace off the Tower Bank on snakes through the afternoon.

A warm day Wednesday, sunny with cloud arriving later in the day with the wind from the Southwest. All water member Graham Davies fishing with brother Roger, the pair landed 10 fish to the boat using a Di 3 sinking line and an olive snake, utilising the rudder. The best area being a drift from B Buoy out across the lake towards Y Buoy. Draycote member Jim Hall also found snakes to be a successful pattern landing 8 fish on snakes. E Bannister & P Bannister landed 10 fish using a Di 5 sinking line with a black and gold humungus.  Draycote members Martin Foster & John Vyse landed 11 fish to their boat fishing around C Buoy. Gary How fishing with Chris McCloud also landed 11 fish with Gary taking most of them on Diawl Bach’s. Mark Seale & David Moore landed 7 fish to the boat, but landed 2 cracking fish over 5lb which can be seen on here www.facebook.com/flyfishstore

There was hardly a breath of air through Thursday, as the 36^th annual Alex Booth Charity match took to the water here at Draycote. It was a great turn out with 58 anglers taking part, unfortunately under very challenging conditions. The day was won by Mr Pete Millward with a total of 7 fish to the boat. Pete caught his fish on a DI7 line and boobies, around T, X and Y buoy. A big well done to all those who braved the conditions to support this very worthwhile charity competition.

Thursday was overcast through the early part of the morning and started to brighten up about 11 o’clock or so. Some anglers caught on dries in the first couple of hours, but things quickly moved on to sinking lines over the deeper parts of the reservoir, using snakes, boobies or humungus. Jim Dempsey and Rod Wilson has 25 fish to the boat using lures on DI7 lines through A and B buoy, as well near the Valve Tower and over Middle Shoal . Season permit holder Andy Lilley had 8 fish to the boat during a morning session using black and gold humungus on a DI7 near C buoy. Young Bob Smith had a total of 5 fish, one on a cdc, two on a damsel booby, one on a humungus and one on a snake on a DI7. Peter Allen and Tony Broadway used DI3’s and snakes to net 16 fish between them, once again over the deeper water at the western end of the reservoir.  Tom Gay used “Hueys” to deadly effect near C buoy on a DI7 to net half a dozen fish during a morning session.

Once again it was an overcast start on Saturday morning, and whilst there was high cloud cover for most of the day, it became very muggy and warm from 11 o’clock onwards. With the competition looming on the Sunday, a lot of the anglers were reluctant to give anything away about how or were they caught their fish. Draycote regular Will Hunt had a dozen to the boat on snakes on a DI7 sinking line fishing in the deeper water at the western end of the reservoir. Debbie and Sean Gilbert had a very successful morning session using cormorants and black and gold humungus. The pair used DI7 lines to net half a dozen fish out in front of the overflow.

Sunday was another warm day thankfully with a nice Southerly breeze which helped to give a slightly cooler feel for the anglers out on the water. With the Angling Trust Loch Style Team Championships being cancelled. Draycote put on the FlyFishStore Loch Style match for the teams who had already entered. Which saw 5 teams competing in a winner takes all £700 catch and release competition. With the warmer weather, the match was fished on a timed basis. With the time of the fish being recorded in the case of a draw on fish numbers. The lowest aggregate team time would win. Overall the 30 anglers caught 104 fish for a rod average of 3.6, however due to a couple of late boats we had to not count 17 of the fish towards the results. Winning the day was Team Elinor who used Di 7 and Booby Basher fishing deep around A, B, & C Buoy with a mix of boobies and cormorants with black being the best colour. Which is often the way when fishing deep. Top individual on the day was Tom Davis with a fantastic bag landing 11 fish using a Di 7 sinking line with cormorants and a small booby drifting from B to C Buoy. To see the full results please visit www.facebook.com/flyfishstore Outside of the competition Howard Lambert & Mr D Robson landed 8 fish to the boat using a Sink 6 sinking line with Cormorants and Humungus on the lines. Draycote member Richard Walker fished for a morning around the Outlet to land 4 fish deep on black and green snakes. Fishing for the afternoon was Mark Kayne a fly-fishing newcomer. Mark, after some pointers from fishery ranger/guide, Jim Sheehan. On how to effectively back drift landed his first ever trout followed by another 3 including a 5lb rainbow. All taken on a sink 6 and a olive snake booby.