• Gareth Jones takes Anglian Water Airflo Individual title at Grafham Water
Gareth takes Individual International title home to Wales
• Pick of the Pike at Pitsford Water and Ardleigh Reservoir
Pike fishing with flies and lures over 18cm at Pitsford
Plenty of Pike, Carp and Bream at Ardleigh
• Popular Tuesday night boat leagues now running
at Rutland Water and Grafham Water
Call lodges for details
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 930 (9,706) Returns 269 (2,488) Rod average 3.45 (3.9)
Season ticket holder Stan Jenner of Bourne had a day to remember last week when he landed a personal best Brown (the best of the week) weighing 6lb 7½oz. Stan was bank fishing off Normanton using a sink tip line and black buzzer. Stan also netted another specimen Brown of 5lb 1oz, along with three other Rainbows.
The 2011 Tuesday Night Boat League is now under way. Registration is between 5.15 and 5.45 with the match starting at 6.00pm.
Competition news
Tuesday Night Boat League
17 Anglers caught 28 fish with Empingham’s Richard Cooper winning the evening with seven fish. Most anglers headed for the main basin with fish feeding hard on daphnia. Richard Cooper took the best fish of the match a Rainbow of 3lb 0¾oz.
1st Richard Cooper 7 fish for 14lb 11¼oz
2nd Keith Jones 6 fish for 12lb 11¾oz
3rd Jeremy Ball 3 fish for 5lb 5oz
Best Rainbow 4lb 3 3/8oz taken by Leon Smith of Peterborough
Best Brown 6lb 7½oz taken by Stan Jenner of Bourne.
Best boat areas Main basin, orange blobs, sinking lines. Hickmans Spinney to Old Hall – buzzers and nymphs.
Best bank areas Whitwell Creek and Normanton bank – floating line, buzzers and nymphs.
Best methods See report.
Mid week boat winner M Powell of Nuneaton
Fish stocked 2,000
Forthcoming events: Beginners courses 28 May; 4,8,12,19 and 25 June and other dates throughout the season.
Tuesday Night boat league
Anglian Water Floating line match 11 June
Anglian Water Rudder Match leg 2, 2 July
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 1,188 (9,288) Returns 216 (1,634) Rod average 5.5(5.68)
Grafham Water is fishing exceptionally well for boat anglers. The recent westerly winds have proved difficult for bank anglers. Fish are feeding on buzzers at the western end of the reservoir, whilst at the eastern end fish are feeding generally on daphnia.
Steve Cullen (editor of Total Flyfishing) caught a lovely 8lb 8oz Rainbow on a black buzzer on a midge tip line in Savages whilst doing an article on Phil Longstaff, the new England Youth Manager. Steve took 20 plus minutes to play and land his specimen, in the time it took Phil to hook and land two fish!
Competition news
Anglian Water Airflo Individual final
Grafham Water hosted the Anglian Water Airflo Individual final on Saturday 21 May. 46 of the top rods from the 2010 team competition contested the individual title. Welsh international Gareth Jones enjoyed an outstanding day with 4 fish by 11am. Gareth fished all day at Savages with a midge tip. By 3.15 he had his 8 fish, weighing in at 21lb 13 3/8oz, including time bonus, to take the title. Brian Mackenzie took second place with 8 fish for 21lb 6¾oz and Gary Pearson was third with 8 fish for 21lb 2 5/8oz.
Peter Kempton took the best fish of the match – a lovely Rainbow of 4lb 15 5/8oz from Savages.
1st Gareth Jones 8 fish for 21lb 13 3/8oz
2nd Brian MacKenzie 8 fish for 21lb 6¾oz
3rd Gary Pearson 8 fish for 21lb 2 5/8oz
4th Tony Perrin 8 fish for 20lb 11 5/8oz
5th Rob Edmunds 8 fish for 20lb 7¼oz
6th Graham Watson 8 fish for 20lb 1½oz
7th Paul Haskey 8 fish for 19lb 13 3/8oz
8th Anthony Cartwright 8 fish for 19lb 8¼oz
9th Peter Elliott 8 fish for 19lb 7½oz
10th Iain Barr 8 fish for 19lb 6½oz
Tuesday Night Boat League
20 Anglers fished this week’s boat league, catching 45 trout giving a rod average of two. Top rod on the evening was England Youth team member Adam Worker. Adam caught 7 trout.
1st Adam Worker 7 fish
2nd Mark Searle, Dave Bures, Melvin Mayes all with 5 fish
3rd Richard Slater 4 fish
Best Rainbow 4lb 15oz taken by Peter Kempton.
Best Brown 6lb 14oz.
Best boat areas Savages Creek, Valley Creek, Sanctuary Bay, Gaynes Cove, G and D buoys, Deep Water Point.
Best bank areas Gaynes Cove, Hill Farm, Valley Creek.
Best methods Float/sink tip, buzzers (black or olive), crunchers, damsel nymphs, diawl bachs, CDC’s, sedge patterns.
Grafham Water continued
Fish stocked 2,000
Forthcoming events
Tuesday Night boat league Registration is between 5.15 and 5.45 with the match starting at 6.00pm.
Beginners courses: 26 May; 5,11, 23 and 26 June and throughout the season.
EYFA Youth National 29 & 30 May
Pitsford Water
Fish week 530 (5,727) Returns 135 (1,705) Rod average 3.9(3.3)
Pike fishing with flies and lures started this week with some good results. Monday was the first official day but with all of the boats booked out for a charity match, Tuesday was the first day. Pike anglers were not restricted to 5 per day (as previously) and 12 boats were booked for the first day. Most anglers fished in the Small Half catching up to 20 fish per boat. James Woodruff and his pal fished for two days catching over a dozen fish with a 21lb 8oz Pike for James. It was reported that there were a few Pike caught that hadn’t yet spawned and the prospects are good for a 30 pounder. More pike anglers fished this weekend with another 20lb Pike recorded.
Arnold Haddon hosted his annual charity match on Monday – this was very well supported with all boats booked. An average of one fish per rod was caught in windy weather and quite a few of the rods were not regular anglers. Two 6lb fish were caught. James Arrowsmith caught one of them and Peter Dobbs the other from the Small Half (a true grown on fish). The stars of the show were boat partners Mike Philpot and Ashley Cooper who managed two fish each by lunch time and won the match. A meal at the pub in Walgrave followed and it was announced that £1,400 was raised for charity. The proceeds will go to a cancer treatment ward at Northampton General Hospital where Arnold was once a patient. The event was supported by Anglian Water with reduced prices on permits.
Holiday package anglers from Scotland have been enjoying good sport this week with good numbers of fish being taken. Tim Hard of Fife took a Rainbow of 5lb 2oz.
Best Rainbow 4lb 2oz
Best boat areas Hell Bay, Ash Tree Bay, Small Half.
Best bank areas Hell Bay, Ash Tree Bay.
Best methods Floating lines, buzzers and diawl bachs.
Mid week boat winner A Stevenson of West Haddon.
Fish stocked 1,260
Forthcoming events
Beginners courses: 8,11 and 21 May; 3,18 and 22 June and dates throughout the season.
Ravensthorpe Reservoir
Fish week 518 (6,532) Returns 107 (1,204) Rod average 4.8(5.4)
Ravensthorpe continues to fish really well. The boat anglers are having the best of the sport, buzzers under the bung on the washing line are catching the majority of the fish. The best fish of the week fell to Mr Jones on a holiday package from Scotland. The 9lb 8oz Rainbow was taken on a floating line and buzzers next to the aerator. Mick Saunders also had a good fish of 7lb 4oz, again with buzzers.
Best Rainbow 9lb 8oz taken by Mr Jones of Scotland.
Best boat areas The aerators, Coton car park.
Best bank areas Platforms 1-12.
Best methods Buzzers under the bung, washing line.
Mid week boat winner Kevin Daykin of Hollowell.
Fish stocked 500
Competition news
Anglers braved strong winds on Sunday to fish Ravensthorpe’s floating line competition. Despite the difficult conditions restricting boats to the sheltered Ravensthorpe shore all anglers caught fish and enjoyed an excellent day with most fish coming to static buzzer teams or slowly fished diawls and crunchers. Mitch Brown was top rod with his four fish limit weighing 9lb. Anglers started the day with bacon and sausage butties and concluded with steak and kidney pudding at the Chequers Inn.
1st Mitch Brown 9lb
2nd Alec Ferguson 8lb 8oz
3rd Pat Flynn 8lb 5oz
Coarse fishing
Ardleigh Reservoir
The Pike anglers have managed to find some excellent sport in spite of the recent poor weather conditions recently including strong winds. Colin Smith has been a regular visitor since the start of the season and he is averaging about six pike per visit from his boat sessions. Neil Pacey has also been fishing from a boat and from the bank on a regular basis and always seems to pick up a couple of fish on each trip. Craig Accott and Terry Stiles fished from the bank at Pine Point last weekend, Craig netted one of 8lb and Terry had a nice 16lb fish. A group of lads from a Pike fishing forum also fished here last weekend and seemed very happy with their two days. The largest two Pike caught were 16lb and one of just over 20lb.
There have been some really good bags of bream caught over the last few weeks with several specimen bream around the 9lb mark being reported. Ian Symington netted 14 bream at Noahs Ark bank, while Ian Cummins had a similar bag, with several bream weighing in at 9lb each from Lodge Bank North.
On the Carp front Jason Butterfield netted 5 fish from his session with the largest being a 31lb Mirror. Garry Caunter landed the largest Carp of the week – a lovely 37lb 8oz Mirror.
