Week ending 3 July 2011
• Season’s best Rainbow and Brown at Rutland Water
David Moore nets the best Rainbow of the season to date at
6lb 4¾oz
Mick Harby of Leicester lands season’s best Brown of 6lb 7oz
• Czech challenge at Pitsford Water
Anglers from across Europe head to Pitsford Water in a bid to qualify for the Lexus European Championships
Rutland Water
Fish week 1,312 (15,440) Returns 282 (4,276) Rod average 4.65(3.61)
Rutland Water is in fantastic form with both the best Rainbow and the best Brown of the season being taken this week. David Moore, of Tansor, Oundle, netted a superb 6lb 4¾oz specimen last Thursday whilst fishing for EFFA against the RAF. David’s fish fought for ten minutes before coming to the net, beating the previous season’s best by 3¾oz. Prior to the hot,still weather last weekend lots of quality Rainbows were coming to the net with many limits. A good number of Rainbows have been over 3lb.
The best Brown of the season was taken by Mick Harby. Mick, of Leicester, took the trouble to venture down the South Arm and into Manton Bay. Mick was rewarded with an excellent 6lb 7oz specimen which fell to a black buzzer on a floating line.
Boat anglers continue to catch fish in the main basin, fishing lodge frontage and from Yellowstone through to Spud Bay in the South Arm.
Bank fishing has been good on overcast days, however, the Normanton/Sykes Lane banks have seen a lot of moving fish late in the evening with dry fly taking a good proportion of fish.
Competition news
Tuesday Night Boat league
Once again anglers enjoyed an excellent evening with some impressive fish – ten over 3lb. The best weighed 4lb 5½oz and was taken by Keith Jones the run away leader of the league. Keith’s 8 fish bag weighed 21lb 9oz. Close behind Keith, in second place by only 10oz, was Richard Cooper with eight fish for 20lb 15oz.
1st Keith Jones 8 fish for 21lb 9oz
2nd Richard Cooper 8 fish for 20lb 15oz
3rd Paul Kirkup 5 fish for 14lb 6oz
Keith has amassed a total of 75 points with his nearest rival Richard Cooper on 48 points.
1st Keith Jones 75 points
2nd Richard Cooper 48 points
3rd Chris Evans 18 points
4th Mick Bennett 17 points
5th Paul Kirkup 12 points
6th T Crowther 11 points
Anglian Water Rudder match (second leg of three)
With virtually no wind and high temperatures conditions were challenging for anglers.
1st Lee Henfrey and Nigel Keeber 14 fish for 31lb 11oz
2nd Graham Pearson and Gareth Pearson 11 fish for 30lb
3rd Al Owen and Tony Beresford 8 fish for 21lb 1oz
4th Jim Watts and Martin Hearth 4 fish for 11lb
Best Rainbow Martin Hearth 4lb 8oz.
Best Brown Graham Pearson 2lb.
Rutland Water continued
EFFA versus RAF
EFFA won this match with 53 fish for 126lb 10oz.
The RAF took 41 fish for 95lb 1 1/8oz.
Top rod was John Gamon of EFFA with 8 fish for 19lb 3¾oz. David Moore, fishing for EFFA, took the best fish at 6lb 4¾oz (this is the best Rainbow of the season to date). The RAF top rod was Si Morris with 6 fish for 12lb 7oz.
Anglian Water Airflo International Midland Heat 29 June.
This was an excellent match with a very close finish. The seven teams were fishing for a top four finish and a place in the Midland final on 18 July at Grafham Water. Most anglers made for the Normanton shoreline, but fish were also caught from the East Creek area of the Sailing Club.
1st Greenwell Persauders A 35 fish for 82lb 9¾oz
2nd Airflo Team Cormorants 31 fish for 80lb 6¼oz
3rd Rio Masters 32 fish for 74lb 10 7/8oz
4th Defenders 30 fish for 68lb 6¼oz
5th Orvis Team Rutland 26 fish for 61lb 12½oz
6th Hanningfield 25 fish for 52lb 4½oz
7th Greenwell Persauders 2 14 fish for 33lb
Best Rainbow 6lb 4¾oz taken by David Moore of Tansor, Oundle.
Best boat areas The main basin, fishing lodge frontage, East Creek, middle of the South Arm.
Best bank areas Normanton, Sykes Lane, East Creek, New Zealand Point.
Best methods Bank – Nymphs and dries.
Boat – Nymphs, mini lures and tube flies.
Mid week boat winner Ian Howland of Elgin.
Fish stocked 2,000
Forthcoming events:
Beginners courses 10,17,24 & 31 July; 6,17 &21 August and other dates throughout the season.
Tuesday Night boat league
EDFF 6 July
Anglian Water Over 50’s match 24 July
Anglian Water Help the Heroes pairs match 13 August
At this time of year the fishery is very popular so please call the fishing lodge on 01780 686441 to check for boat availability before making your journey.
Please note on Monday and Wednesday from May until September boats to be returned by 8pm.
Grafham Water
Fish week 415 (14,219) Returns 117 (3,061) Rod average 3.54 (4.64)
Grafham Water is fishing well. The best fish of the week was a 6lb 5oz Rainbow caught by England Youth member Kieran Bonas. Kieran, of Bedford, caught this superb conditioned Rainbow on a Di3 line with an orange blob whilst fishing in the Invicta Tuesday Night Boat League. The Tuesday Night League matches are decided by the number of fish caught and six anglers shared first place this week, all catching their 8 fish limits.
Bank anglers have enjoyed some great sport, mainly by fishing floating lines with damsel nymphs, black and green tadpoles, diawl bachs, gold ribbed hares ears and pheasant tail nymphs. The best area for bank fishing has been the South Dam, the Willows, Perry Point and the Seat. Boat anglers have had success fishing intermediate or Di3 lines with damsel nymphs, diawl bachs, black and green tadpoles, orange blobs and damsel booby nymphs. The most productive boat areas have been G, D and L buoys, the Seat, Gaynes Cove, the Willows and Deep Water Point.
Competition news
Invicta Tuesday Night Boat League
13 Anglers took part in the eighth match of this popular series, catching 72 trout for a rod average of 5.53. The majority of the boat league anglers fished the G buoy area with intermediate or Di 3 lines with orange blobs and cats whisker boobies. It was a six way tie for top place on the evening with all six anglers catching 8 trout each.
First equal
Adam Worker, Kieran Bonas, Mick Facey, Paul Stevens, Pat Sweeney and Malcolm Reece.
Best Rainbow 6lb 5oz taken by Kieran Bonas of Bedford.
Best Brown Two at 3lb 8oz.
Best boat areas Gaynes Cove, the Seat, G,D and L buoys, Willows, Deep Water Point.
Best bank areas Seat, Gaynes Cove, South Dam, the Willows.
Best methods See report.
Mid week boat winner Michael Jones of Royston.
Forthcoming events
Beginners courses: 22,27 & 31 July; 7,14 & 28 August and other dates throughout the season.
Beginners course for Pike 16 July
Pitsford Water
Fish week 699 (9,459) Returns 193 (2,628) Rod average 3.6 (3.5)
A busy competition week at Pitsford Water – on Thursday Pitsford hosted the Alex Booth fly fishers annual charity match. 47 anglers took part, catching 87 fish on what proved to be a tricky day to catch fish, if you did not have the method. First place went to Kevin Cook of Leicester who took 8 fish with a slow intermediate line with the washing line method. Kevin’s boat partner, Gordon Bramwell, took second place with 8 fish. Third place went to Andy Taylor. The fish on the day were preoccupied with feeding on damsels and large buzzers which made the fishing more challenging. £1,000 was raised for the MacMillan Cancer Care Trust. A meal was enjoyed at Overstone Manor. Rob Dobson said “The match was a great success and we look forward to coming back to Pitsford next year”.
On Saturday Pitsford Water hosted the Lexus heat of the European Fly Fishing Championships. 20 of Europe’s top anglers fished with 10 of them travelling from the Czech Republic. Fishing was again challenging but not hard for some anglers as the fish were feeding on the large hatch of damsels, so you had to find a way of distracting them at the level they were feeding at – right at the top!
1st Tomas Adam 13 fish for 27lb 6oz
2nd Pavel Chyba 9 fish for 21lb 7oz
3rd Laurence Foster 10 fish for 20lb 6oz
4th Lubos Roza 9 fish for 19lb 4oz
5th Antonin Pesek 9 fish for 18lb 3oz
6th Tomas Starychfojtu 8 fish for 18lb 2oz
7th Richard Slater 8 fish for 17lb 1oz
8th Roman Heimlich 7 fish for 15lb 14oz
Bank fishing is still productive with good rises seen throughout the day now on a diet of mainly damsels and large buzzers. Top spots are the Gravels, Sermans, North Farm Bay, Stilton Point. Boat anglers are catching at the Causeway area up to the Gorse bank. Top method is washing line and green nymphs or large dries.
Best Rainbow 5lb taken by A Standridge of Watford.
Best Brown 4lb taken by Keith Hickman of Brixworth.
Best boat areas Stone Barn, North Farm Bay, Bog Bay.
Best bank areas Bog Bay, Stilton Point.
Best methods See report.
Mid week boat winner David Hardick of Stretham, Cambs.
Forthcoming events
Beginners courses 13,23 and 30 July; 3,13 & 27 August and other dates throughout the season.
Ravensthorpe Reservoir
Fish week 192(8,241) Returns 46 (1,668) Rod average 4.1(4.9)
Excellent dry fly fishing has provided good sport for the boat anglers at Ravensthorpe. The most successful methods have been hoppers and buzzers on small hooks (14’s).
Messrs Phipps and Shaw, made the most of their trip to Ravensthorpe from Kent with almost 40 fish between them (all returned). Brian Calvert had a 9lb Rainbow in the bag of 15 fish he shared with his boat partner. On the same day Bob Day returned a superb Rainbow of over 11lb. Bank anglers are finding early morning and evening are the most productive times to fish.
Best Rainbow 12lb plus – returned to the water.
Best boat areas Coton car park and causeway, open water.
Best bank areas Dam
Best methods Floating lines and dries.
Mid week boat winner John Stanley of Stratford on Avon.
