• Steve’s stunning week at Grafham Steve Battle’s 8 fish bag exceeds 34lb and includes the best Brown at 5lb 3oz and the best Rainbow at 5lb 1oz
• Superb  5lb 4 1/8oz Rainbow is best of the week at Rutland – Martin Hearth takes the best fish
• Pitsford Water in excellent formBest Brown of the week weighs 5lb 2oz for Mr Salt

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 944 (season 31,778) Returns 206 (5,786) Rod average 4.58 (5.49)
A good week’s sport here at Rutland Water produced a rod average of 4.58 for the week. Anglers have reported some quality sport mostly over open water, with the sailing club across to Spud bay, the harbour frontage to the church and long drifts in the main basin producing. Sykes Lane along to ‘U buoy’ has also produced along with the tower in the North arm and drifting the middle of Manton Bay. The most successful tactics have revolved around FAB’s in various colours and hoppers/diawl bachs up the cast. Dropping down to size 12’s on the nymphs has definitely made a difference to results.
The fish are generally being found high up in the water with midge tips to a fast glass being the preferred choice of lines. The rudder anglers have had plenty of sport in the areas previously  mentioned  with a Di3 or even fast glass showing how well up the fish are, snakes and tubes being the go to patterns. Martin Hearth and Jim Watts ventured down the South Arm on the rudder near the sailing club and took their respective limits with a fine 5lb 4 1/8oz specimen rainbow falling to Martin on a tube.
Local angler Dan Pitcher has the knack with Rutland’s bigger rainbows.Dan enjoyed a brief session on Tuesday off the bank and managed a superb 4lb 7oz specimen, with the fish falling to a small suspender minkie. Bank anglers are picking up fish on the peninsula and the Fantasy end of Normanton bank. Fish are moving late on in the day and a subtle, patient approach with dries or floating fry is the order of the day.However, fry feeding fish are slowly but surely showing, the activity in a lot of areas is happening over the open water of the reservoir.
Rutland hosted the annual Zandermasters competition on the 19th with 56 anglers taking to the boats to target Rutland’s zander population before the start of the lure fishing season. This friendly competition utilises the increasingly popular tactic of vertical jigging, a very successful method of fishing for zander. A strong westerly wind made life difficult for competitors to achieve the desired presentation of their lures. Despite this plenty were caught with John Wheeler coming out on top, Richard Coles in 2nd and Rikki Cooper 3rd. A good competition well organised by Steve Collett and held in the right spirit saw everybody enjoy themselves.
Competition NewsTuesday Night Boat League.The last evening of the boat league was fished on 15 August.Top rod on the night was Keith Jones with six fish, best fish and boat winner was Chris Simms with a 2lb 12½oz  Rainbow.Rich Cooper repeated his 2016 victory by taking the prize for overall top rod of the league. Richard came into the final night’s match with an unassailable lead and was presented with his £50 gift vouchers before the match.

Night league this season was recorded by big fish man, Keith Jones who took a 4lb 7oz Brown on the first night of the league.
Final placings are as follows 1st Richard Cooper 98 points 2nd Keith Jones 88 points 3rd Neil Squires 57 points 4th Hilary Tomlinson 37 points 5th Sean Hillaby 29 points 6th Gary Cooper 28 points
A big thanks to all who took part this season and for the great banter afterwards as usual! Thanks also to “Sid’s Fish and Chip Shop” of Stamford for the supper; Hilary Tomlinson for supplying the cakes last week and to Neil Squires’ wife for the banana cake on the final night.
Great news for our senior anglers’Senior Tuesday’ plus ‘Senior Thursday’ for the rest of the Summer season. On these days anglers over 65 can take a 2 man boat for £19 or a single man boat for £14. Our 6 fish and c&r senior permit can be purchased 7 days a week.
Enjoy the last hours of the day from the bank or a boat this Summer!Sunset Boat £10; Sunset Permit (1 fish + c + r) £10Offer available from 4.30pm
Best Rainbow 5lb 41/8oz taken by Martin Hearth of Hambleton.
Mid week boat winner D Evans of Swansea.
Fish stocked 3,000.
Forthcoming eventsBeginners courses   27 August; 10,16 & 24 September; 8,15 (Pike), 21 & 28 October.English National 1-3 September (all boats booked)WaterAid 8 SeptemberAnglian Water Rudder match 16 SeptemberFloating line pairs 23 September

Grafham Water
Fish 301 (season 16,139) Returns 70 (2,522) Rod average 4.3(6.4)
What a difference a week makes! Anglers have experienced some great fishing at Grafham Water this week. Steve Battle claimed the best bag of the week at over 34lb – one of the best bags of 8 fish we have seen for some time. Steve accounted for both the best Rainbow of the week (5lb 1oz) and the best Brown at 5lb 3oz. Other noteworthy fish in his bag included two 4lb 10oz Rainbows, one of 4lb 6oz and two other fish of 4lb and 4lb 6oz.
It’s been one of those magical weeks in regards to larger specimens being caught. Nearly half the fish landed have been close to, if not over, the 3lb mark with many larger fish causing arm aching sport. Amongst those catching notable fish was Will Warine who caught a cracking 4lb Rainbow. Andrew Cox, a regular visitor to Grafham, often finds himself amongst the big fish, and this week he recorded a 4lb 10oz Rainbow.
Boat anglers are finding fish in open water, particularly in the middle of the day, with most achieving good results on floating lines. This week the red bodied diawl bachs and ptn’s have proved very popular amongst the anglers with good fish also coming to crunchers and hoppers on the overcast days. Shrimp activity has vastly increased in front of the visitor centre, Willows and on the bowl of the dam so it’s worth bringing a pattern or two with you for these areas. Fish are also steadily coming off the north shore, though we suggest the mouth of the bays as a much more likely spot for a fish.
Bank anglers found it a bit tougher early in the week, but conditions improved as the week went on. We have worked on re-opening access along the Willows on the north shore and also from Sludge Point to the Seat with a number of access points for wading, and in some areas back cast room too. There are fish to be caught in these locations as it’s been left alone for a good while and could be harbouring a few of our brownies, making the walk there worthwhile. The vast majority of bank anglers are using shrimp patterns to catch their bag, though it’s worth fishing fry patterns and snail too, not forgetting the nymphs and diawl bachs. Floating lines are the more common option, particularly along the dam.
Competition newsMark Haycock Grafham Pairs MatchThis was a great match and fished to a rod average of 5.6. Thank you for the continued support of the pairs matches.Congratulations to the top rods who were Mr Lehane and Mr Bizzel, with a combined total of 16 fish for 36lb 13oz. In second place were Tom Finney and Mr Cooper with 16 fish for 34lb 7oz. Third place went to Mr Beaumont and Mr Hall with 16 fish for a cracking 32lb 15oz.

Predator Fishing
It’s been a good week on the predator front with Pike, Perch and Zander all showing themselves in a multitude of locations. The north tower and the trench are probably the best areas to start your day with many reports suggesting the action is better earlier rather than later in the day. John Moore had a lovely pike this week caught on the fly, weighing in at a fantastic 20lb 8oz, so well done John a cracking fish.
Enjoy the last hours of the day from the bank or a boat this Summer!Sunset Boat £10; Sunset Permit (1 fish + c + r) £10
Offer available from 4.30pmGreat news for our senior anglers’Senior Tuesday’ plus ‘Senior Thursday’ for the rest of the Summer season. On these days anglers over 65 can take a 2 man boat for £19 or a single man boat for £14. Our 6 fish and c&r senior permit can be purchased 7 days a week.
Coming soon – A new competition – the Grafham Shrimp Masters.A winter league to be fished from the bank across five dates with your three best results submitted. The six fish limit no catch and release match will be fished between 9am and 3pm with prizes for the best bag on the day and of course the top three and best fish of the league. Further information can be obtained from Grafham Fishing Lodge with no booking necessary.Dates (all are Sundays) are as follows12 November10 December17 December14 January 201828 January
Best Rainbow 5lb 1oz taken by Steve Battle.
Best Brown 5lb 3oz taken by Steve Battle.
Best boat areas Rainbow Point, the Dam, open water drifting, particularly west side of reservoir (m buoy), Pylon Point, Deep Water Point, Hill Farm.
Best bank areas Dam, Plummers and north shore.
Mid week boat winner Michael Love of Bedford.
Fish stocked 2,000.
Forthcoming eventsBeginners courses 26 August; 17,23 & 27 September; 1 (Pike),6 (Pike), 14,  29 (Pike) October Lure anglers 1-2 SeptemberGrafham Water Championship (by invitation) 15 & 16 September

Pitsford Water
Fish 241 (season 8,458) Returns 51 (1,824) Rod average 4.7 (4.6)

Anglers have enjoyed another good week at Pitsford Water. Mr Salt had a great day boat fishing and took 6 fish including the best fish of the week.  This lovely 5lb 2oz Brown was in superb condition and was taken with a Daddy from Sailing Club Bay.
Both trout and predator anglers have enjoyed some great fishing with lots of quality fish coming to both methods.  The rod average for trout anglers is 4.7 for the week.
Both the bank and boats are fishing well with plenty of fish caught between 3-5lb. The bank continues to fish well along the Gravels, Sermans and Cliffs, while the boats are reporting fish being well spread out from the dam and main basin, the narrows and causeway. The fish are in the top three feet of water and feeding on shrimp, snail, pinfry and daphnia.
Lure anglers have had lots of success fishing around the vast weedbeds and the Pike and Perch have been obliging with good catches.
Great news for our senior anglers’Senior Tuesday’ plus ‘Senior Thursday’ for the rest of the Summer season. On these days anglers over 65 can take a 2 man boat for £19 or a single man boat for £14. Our 6 fish and c&r senior permit can be purchased 7 days a week.
Enjoy the last hours of the day from the bank or a boat this Summer!Sunset Boat £10; Sunset Permit (1 fish + c + r ) £10Offer available from 4.30pm
Best Brown 5lb 2oz taken by Mr Salt.
Mid week boat winner Colin Best of Peterborough.
Forthcoming eventsDuring July and August anglers are permitted to lure fish for trout.Beginners courses  24 August; 9,15,20 & 30 September; 7 & 22 October.

Ravensthorpe Reservoir
Anglers have enjoyed some good fishing this week with better weather conditions and a cooler water temperature.  Doug Wibley and Mr Joy started the week off with 4 fish each on cormorants and shipmans buzzers.  Mick O’Farrell had 6 fish one evening on dries. A settled period of weather will see further improvements. The bank is still fishable, but waders are a must.
An Osprey flew over the reservoir on Wednesday.
Great news for our senior anglers In addition to our popular ‘Senior Tuesday’ we are now adding a ‘Senior Thursday’ for the rest of the Summer season. On these days anglers over 65 can take a 2 man boat for £19 or a single man boat for £14. Our 6 fish and c&r senior permit can be purchased 7 days a week.
Enjoy the last hours of the day from the bank or a boat this Summer!Sunset Boat £10Sunset Permit (1 fish + c + r ) £10Offer available from 4.30pm