• 10lb 8oz Rainbow is best fish of the season so far at Pitsford Water
Les Prickett of Northampton lands superb specimen

• Brian’s bumper Rainbow of 10lb 12oz is Ravensthorpe’s best fish of the week
Personal best for Brian Coleman

• Poignant victory for John Hood in Dave Hodgson memorial match
John’s best fish of 8lb 4oz comes from Rutland’s Manton Bay – Dave’s favourite spot

www.anglianwater.co.uk/leisure

Rutland Water 01780 686441; Grafham Water 01480 810531; 
Pitsford, Ravensthorpe & Hollowell 01604 781350,
Taverham Mills Fishery 01603 861014; Alton Water 01473 589105
Recreation Dept Anglian Water 01572 653021

Rutland Water
Fish week 1902 (10,217 season) Returns 454 (1831) Rod 4.18 average (5.5)
Rutland Water was on superb form again last week. With Rainbows to 8lb 8oz and Browns over 7lb, some lovely specimen fish were caught.

French angler Patrick Foucault has visited Rutland for the last 20 years. He hooked into the best Rainbow of the week at 8lb 8oz whilst boat fishing down the South Arm. The fish fell to a Brown jungle cock cheeked nymph. Not far in weight behind Patrick’s fish was John Hood. John brought a solid looking fish of 8lb 4oz to the scales. John also fished the South Arm and was taking part in the Dave Hodgson Memorial competition fished on Sunday. It was very fitting that John hooked the fish in Manton Bay – this was the area that used to be Dave’s most favoured spot on the reservoir.

Season ticket holder Mick Connor from Wetherby netted a cracking 7lb 3oz Rainbow from the middle of the North Arm fishing deep with a Di8 line and a booby minkie. Mick remarked that the fish had been feeding on last year’s Roach fry.

On the Brown trout front John Bond came across a 7lb 1oz fish in the Sailing Club Bay – this fell to a black buzzer fished on a sink tip line. Another notable fish was a 6lb ½oz Brown taken with a gold head damsel nymph by John Cannon-Brownlie from Ruddington, Notts.

There have been a number of over wintered fish caught again, with Rainbows between 2 and 5lb and Browns between 3 and 5½lb. There have been many areas of the reservoir that have fished well including from Normanton to Sykes Lane, middle and bottom of the North Arm while the bottom of the South Arm continues to improve and was the place to be last week. Buzzer hatches have eased for the time being, but there are good hatches of olives which always seem to activate the bigger fish in the reservoir. There are a lot of Hawthorn flies about, but none showing in the contents of fish stomachs. 28,500 fish have been stocked so far this season with a further 2,500 Rainbows being stocked this week.

Competition news
Dave Hodgson Memorial fished 4 May
24 anglers fished and recorded 132 fish – the winner being John Hood, who weighed in eight fish for 20lb 6oz. John’s bag of winning fish included a Rainbow of 8lb 4oz.

Best Rainbow 8lb 8oz taken by Patrick Foucault.

Best Brown 7lb 1½oz taken by John Bond of Goole.

Best boat areas Bottom of both arms, Sykes Lane, Church Bay,
Normanton.

Best bank areas Normanton Church Bay to the Dam, Green Bank, Old Hall Point, Yellowstone, Dickenson.

Best methods Bank – floating line with nymphs, mini lures.
Boat – as for bank but include midge tips and various sinking lines with lures.

Mid week boat winner Steve Whitby of Nottingham.

Fish stocked 2,000.

Forthcoming events
Beginners courses: 10,24 & 31 May; 5,14,11,21 and 26 June and other dates throughout the season.
Tuesday Night Boat League This year’s boat league commences on Tuesday 6 May and runs through to the 15 August – a total of 15 weeks. Anglers meet at the Fishing Lodge between 5.15 and 5.45 p.m. with the draw for boat partners taking place at approx. 5.55pm. The match starts at 6pm.

Anglian Water Rudder match 10 May
Bob Church Classic 16 May by invitation
Vision Pairs 18 May graham-pearson@hotmail.co.uk
England Qualifier ‘Odds & Sods’ 1 June www.fmfa.org.uk
Anglian Water Rudder match 7 June
Scierra Pairs 8 June www.scierrapairs.co.uk

Grafham Water
Fish week 2,582 (season 10,508) Returns 328 (1,447) Rod average 7.87 (7.26)

Anglers have enjoyed another week of excellent sport at Grafham Water with an impressive rod average of 7.87. The heaviest bag of the week was taken by Bob Wallinger from Sharnford. Bob caught six trout for 25lb 2oz on a Di 5 line with a gold and silver tube from the Sludge Bank. Grafham Water also hosted the prestigious Lexus European Individual Flyfishing Championsip and the Lexus European Team Championship – see Competition news for more.

Bank anglers have had some brilliant sport with consistent catch rates coming from areas like the North Dam, Marlow Stones, G Buoy, Deep Water Point, Church Bay, Hill Farm, Harbour and the Seat. Floating lines have been the most successful method, teamed with black and green buzzers, diawl bachs, pheasant tail nymphs and crunchers which are most successful fished almost static.

Boat anglers have also had a tremendous week – again the North shore was the best area. North Dam, Marlow Bay, G Buoy, Rectory Bay, Deep Water Point, Church Bay, Hedge End, Pig Bay and Gaynes Cove have all produced arm wrenching sport over the past week. The most successful methods for the boat anglers over the week have been to fish floating/midge tip or Di3 lines with black and olive buzzers, diawl bachs, crunchers, gold ribbed hares ear, cats whisker booby and orange blobs all fished static or very slowly.

Competition news
Lexus European Individual Flyfishing Championship 3 May
This match was fished to a 16 fish limit with only the first four fish to be taken with the other 12 to be released. The rod average on the day was a cracking 8.15 with the 26 anglers catching 212 trout. The vast majority of the field fished most points along the north shore with floating or midge tip lines with buzzers and small nymphs.
1st Dave Summers 16 fish for 42lb 9oz
2nd John Hood 16 fish for 38lb 8oz
3rd Ian Gaskell 13 fish for 36lb 10oz
4th Neil Cohen 15 fish for 34lb 15oz
5th Dave Lang 14 fish for 34lb 15oz
6th Geoff Makin 13 fish for 30lb 15oz

Best fish Ian Ritchie 3lb 11oz

Lexus European Flyfishing Championship 6 Man Team 4 May
This competition was fished to the same rules as the previous day’s match. Once again the north shore was the most prolific area on the reservoir with the same tactics as the previous day being the most successful.

1st Rio Masters 90 fish for 222lb 11oz 90 points
2nd Greenwell Persauders 81 fish for 194lb 1oz 134 points
3rd Orvis Team Rutland 77 fish for 187lb 3oz 148 points
4th Sonik Pirates 69 fish for 172lb 0oz 164 points
5th Hanningfield 73 fish for 176lb 12oz 168 points

Best individual Tim Burn 16 fish for 41lb 14oz.
Best fish Bob Holland 4lb 5oz
Total fish caught 684 for a rod average of 11.40.

Thursday Night Boat League Week 1
Not many anglers turned out for the first boat league match of the year – it was bitterly cold, wet and windy. But despite this they achieved a rod average of 4.33. First place went to Ian Donaldson who caught 11 trout and second place was taken by Tom Church who caught two fish on only his second visit to Grafham.

Best Rainbow 9lb 12oz taken by J Elston of Biggleswade.

Best Brown 5lb 8oz Caught and returned by Colin Harvey.

Best boat areas Hedge End, Deep Water Point, G Buoy, Pig Bay, Church Bay, Rectory Bay, North Dam.

Best bank areas Harbour, Gaynes Cove, Hill Farm,
Deep Water Point, G Buoy, Marlow Stones, North Dam.

Best methods See report.

Mid week boat winner Ed Foster.

Fish stocked 2,000

Forthcoming events
Beginners courses:18,25 & 29 May; 7,19,22 & 28 June and other dates throughout the season.
Anglian Water Airflo International Individual final 10 May by qualification
GWFFA Inter Club Floating Line 11 May by invitation
Evening boat league starts Thursday 13 May

EYFA Youth National 25 May www.eyfa.co.uk
European Masters 14 & 15 June www.europeanmasters.co.uk
Anglian Water Airflo International – Midland Heat 21 June 01780 686441
England Qualifier ‘Odds & Sods’ www.fmffa.org.uk

Pitsford Water
Fish week 414 (season 3,954) Returns 62 (911) Rod average 6.6(4.3)
A fantastic week at Pitsford with the rod average an impressive 6.6 and the best fish of the season so far. Topping all others was season ticket holder Les Prickett of Northampton. Les only took up fly fishing last year after attending an Anglian Water Beginners course with Peter Hartley. Last Wednesday evening Les was fishing along Sermans Bank, with a size 12 buzzer on a floating line. Les had already enjoyed a good evening when he struck into the fish of a lifetime. The Rainbow made several good runs before eventually coming to the net. On the scales the fish was 10lb 8oz and is the best fish of the season so far.

Ray Buckland fished in Pitsford Creek on Sunday while fishing buzzers and weighed in three fish for 12lb, missing several others. 

Competition news
Last Sunday the East Midlands Fly Fishers held a boat match. 18 anglers had 81 fish for a rod average of 4.5. The best boat pair was Neil Young and Lloyd Chantrelle who had 16 fish for 32lb 4oz, with the best at 3lb 9oz. John Sears and Mick White were a close second with 15 fish for 31lb 13oz.

Bill Knight had the best fish of the match with a Rainbow of 3lb 10oz.

All areas of the water are producing fish with the best methods still floating or midge tip lines and teams of buzzers, nymphs such as Diawl Bach or cruncher and damsel nymph being best. 

Don’t forget the Pitsford Tuesday Night Boat League starts on 13 May, all are welcome, fishing from 6pm to 9pm. The boat draw will be at 5.45pm.

Best Rainbow 10½lb taken by Les Prickett.

Best methods See report.

Fish stocked 1,250.

Don’t forget that there will be a boat league at Pitsford on Tuesday evenings starting on 13 May.

Tuesday 13 May sees the start of the Tuesday Night Boat League at Pitsford Water. Fishing will be from 6pm with a weekly prize for a free boat and the overall winner of the league receiving tackle vouchers.

Forthcoming events
Beginners courses: 8,11,17 & 30 May; 8 and 20 June and other dates throughout the season.
Anglian Water Rudder Match 24 May 01604 781350
Anglian Water Airflo International Midland Heat 01780 686441

Ravensthorpe Reservoir
Fish week 631 (season 6,172) Returns 82 (709) Rod average 7.6(8.7)
Ravensthorpe Water goes from strength to strength with anglers enjoying some fantastic buzzer action and hatches of pond olives. With a rod average of 7.6 for the week there have been some very impressive catches on static buzzer tactics.

Brian Coleman started the week well when he boated a lovely Rainbow of 10lb 12oz – a personal best. Brian lured the hefty fish on an intermediate line and Pitsford Pea. Pat Flynn had a good day fishing with Pete Webb boating more than 50 fish. Pat used a Di3 line with an orange blob and buzzers.

The weekend fished exceptionally well with Mick Griffin and Graham Smith on form. Mick fished buzzers on a 25 foot leader boating 40 fish. Graham opted for washing line tactics with a F.A.B. on the point and buzzers on the droppers. A simple olive or black buzzer has proved most effective.

It was great to see Mr Graham fishing with his son, enjoying some great sport bringing 25 fish to the boat including several over the 4lb mark.

The bank is fishing well but on bright days fish tend to be further out because the water is very clear. Buzzers, diawl bachs and damsel nymphs on a floating line are well worth a try. Platforms 4-6 are fishing well as is the Dam with Jim Ferguson taking some lovely fish.

Best Rainbow 10lb 12oz taken by Brian Coleman.

Best boat areas Island to Catwalk, Coton End, Tall Willows.

Best bank areas Platforms 4-8 and the Dam.

Best methods See report.

Mid week boat winner E leeson of Norwich.