- Chris Bobby beats the best to win two day Fry Feeders Match
Grafham and Rutland prove a true test for 100 top anglers
- Pick of the Pike at Pitsford (pictured)
33lb 4oz Pike for Neil Bridges
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 393 (season 38,928) Returns 170(9,297) Rod average 2.31 (4.18)
The biggest Rainbow of the week was taken by Al Owen – this 6lb 15oz specimen was caught on Wednesday. Another Rainbow of note. again fishing in the ‘Fry Bashers’ fell to Mark Hamblyn who brought a 5lb 5¼oz fish to the scales. Rainbows in the 3lb bracket are being caught to many methods from dry fly to fry patterns and tube flies.
Browns have again been on the feed with the best reported by a party of Scottish anglers with one of them returning a 7lb 8oz fish last Friday. Season ticket holder Barry Vaughn from Peterborough hooked into a 6lb 8oz fish from down the South Arm, whilst there were further fish of note with Barry Fox fishing in the Fry Bashers taking a 6lb 5oz fish, and in the same competition Dave Shore had a 6lb 4oz fish while earlier in the week season ticket holder Graham Pearson had a 6lb 4oz fish from the South Arm.
Please note that the Brown trout season finishes next Wednesday 29th October after that date all Browns caught must be returned back alive to the water.
Unsettled weather during the week restricted fishing with boats unable to go out last Monday and uncomfortable conditions on Sunday. However, despite the weather, a number of fish were caught both from the bank and from the boat from many areas of the reservoir.
Settled weather with the wind remaining in the same direction for a few days would help things tremendously, and with the weed slowly dying back there will be more and more food available close in to the shoreline as the fish feed on the plentiful supplies of fry, corixa and snails.
Competition News
Fry Feeders Match 19 October
This two day event was run by Chris Guthrie – the first day was hosted at Grafham and the second at Rutland. Anglers were faced with gusting westerly winds throughout the day making conditions difficult. Top rod at Rutland was season ticket holder Keith Jones who took seven fish for 15lb 8oz. Keith took 5th place overall.
The top ten anglers over the two days combined were
1st Chris Bobby 31lb 1oz
2nd Derek Moore 29lb 2oz
3rd Graham Steele 26lb 13oz
4th Simon Guthrie 26lb 2oz
5th Keith Jones 24lb 5oz
6th Darryl Grimasson 23lb 10oz
7th Bill Barnes 23lb 1oz
8th Derek Hasset 22lb 15oz
9th Jim Crawford 22lb 13oz
10th Wayne Jones 22lb 12oz
Best Rainbow 6lb 15oz taken by Al Owen of Cranwell.
Best Brown 7lb 8oz
Best boat areas The main basin and around the shore lines of the reservoir from New Zealand Point to the Church. Bottom of the South Arm.
Best bank areas New Zealand Point to Sailing Club. Fishing Lodge to the Dam. Finches to Armley Wood to Carrot Creek.
Best methods Bank – Fry patterns/dries.
Boat – As for bank but include mini lures and tube flies.
Mid week boat winner Roy Taylor of Oakham.
Forthcoming events
Sale – throughout November we have reductions of up to 30% on a wide range of tackle and clothing at each of our tackle shops.
Predator fishing – Lure and dead sea bait from 1 October through to 31 January (subject to boat availability)
Beginners courses: 25 October; 1 November.
Improve your bank fishing 9 and 22 November
George Moore Memorial Trophy (rudder) 25 October
Rutland Fur & Feather (bank) 7 December
Grafham Water
Fish week 1,266 (season 24,649) Returns 338 (5,751) Rod average 3.74 (4.28)
Grafham Water has fished well over the past week for both bank and boat anglers with a healthy rod average of 3.74.
Bank anglers have had a great week’s sport with plenty of limits taken – mainly from the south shore. The most successful areas for the bank anglers have been Plummer bank, south and bowl of Dam, Seat, Mander car park frontage, Pylon Point, Hill Farm and G Buoy. The most successful tactics for the bank anglers have been floating or intermediate lines with diawl bachs, GRHE, shrimp patterns, cormorants and minkies.
Season ticket holder Kevin Donovan from Shefford has had a tremendous week’s fishing. Kevin has caught and released 42 trout in seven visits by fishing Diawl Bachs on a floating line at Plummer Park.
Boat anglers have enjoyed good sport mainly by fishing the same methods as the bank anglers. The most prolific boat areas have been A,Q,L and G buoys, Marlow Bay, Bowl of Dam, Plummer Park, Sanctuary Bay and Valley Creek.
Competition news
Fry Feeders match 18 October.
100 Anglers took part in this two day match run by Chris Guthrie – the first day was hosted at Grafham and the second at Rutland. Day One at Grafham fished exceptionally well with the 100 anglers catching 417 trout for an impressive rod average of 4.17.
At the end of Day One the results of the Grafham leg were
1st Wayne Jones 8 fish for 20lb 11oz
2nd Derek Moore 8 fish for 20lb 8oz
3rd Graham Steele 8 fish for 20lb 6oz
4th Simon Guthrie 8 fish for 19lb 11oz
The top ten anglers over the two days combined were
1st Chris Bobby 31lb 1oz
2nd Derek Moore 29lb 2oz
3rd Graham Steele 26lb 13oz
4th Simon Guthrie 26lb 2oz
5th Keith Jones 24lb 5oz
6th Darryl Grimasson 23lb 10oz
7th Bill Barnes 23lb 1oz
8th Derek Hasset 22lb 15oz
9th Jim Crawford 22lb 13oz
10th Wayne Jones 22lb 12oz
Best Rainbow 5lb 5oz taken by Mike Netherclift
Best Brown 4lb 14oz taken by Kenny Miller.
Best boat areas Valley Creek, A,G,L and Q buoys, Gaynes Cove, Sanctuary Bay.
Best bank areas Plummer bank, South and Bowl of Dam, Valley Creek, G Buoy, Hill Farm, Pylon Point, Seat.
Best methods See report.
Mid week boat winner B Taylor.
Forthcoming events
Sale – throughout November we have reductions of up to 30% on a wide range of tackle and clothing at each of our tackle shops.
Predator fishing – Lure and dead sea bait from 1 October through to 31 January (subject to boat availability)
Improve your bank fishing 8 and 23 November.
Grafham Water Fur and Feather (bank) 30 November.
Pitsford Water
Fish week 50 (season 11,259) Returns 30 (2,863) Rod average 1.6 (3.9)
The changeable weather conditions have again played their part and the fishing has been difficult at Pitsford.
The Anglian Water versus Environment Agency match on Tuesday was won by Anglian Water with Darren Smith as top rod – Darren was the only angler to catch his limit. Jon Marshall was second with six fish and Andy Ainscough took third with five fish. The match fished to a healthy rod average of 2.8.
Best methods on the day were either fast sink lines with fry patterns or slow glass and boobies pulled across the top.
Best areas are the Causeway or Brixworth Bay. Bank anglers are reporting improving sport now that the weed beds are starting to die back. Fish are being taken right in the margins on Daddies and dries. Sailing Club bank has been producing a few fish on this method.
Lots of good Browns have been reported – the best, a lovely fish of 6lb, taken by Dave Wood. Predator anglers have continued to report lots of sport from both Pike and Perch.
Neil Bridges has enjoyed some fantastic predator fishing recently but nothing has beaten the 33lb 4oz Pike he caught on a whole herring at Pitsford.
Best Rainbow 4lb taken by J Juckes.
Best Brown 4lb 7oz taken by Ben Farnsworth.
Best boat areas Main Bowl, Brixworth Bay, Narrows, margins, edge of weedbeds.
Best bank areas Margins and Sailing Club bank.
Best methods See report.
Forthcoming events
Sale – throughout November we have reductions of up to 30% on a wide range of tackle and clothing at each of our tackle shops.
Predator fishing – Lure and dead sea bait from 1 October (subject to boat availability)
Beginners course: 26 October.
Lure fishing for predators, boat only, to 31 January (subject to boat availability)
Pitsford Fur & Feather (boat) 9 November
Ravensthorpe Reservoir
Fish week 103 (season 12,382) Returns 51 (2,073) Rod average 2.0 (5.9)
The early part of the week at Ravensthorpe was challenging with very poor visibility in the water. However, on Sunday there was a vast improvement with some impressive catches.
Earlier in the week anglers also managed numbers of fish with Mr Watterson bringing ten to the boat on various lures.
The fish appear to be concentrated around the reservoir’s margins particularly between Monger Bank and Tall Willows and also between the Island and the Catwalk. The fish are not feeding hard. There are numerous Roach and Perch fry in the margins and some trout have been observed crashing through these shoals at times.
Mick Griffin held his Fur and Feather match on Sunday – this was a well subscribed friendly, match. Winners were Simon Farmer, an AW warden and Graham Bayes. Between them the pair netted 8 fish for 17lb 11oz, taking their fish anchored between the Island and Catwalk, about 40 yards from shore. Second place went to Stuart Payne and Mike Osgood with 6 fish for 16lb 2oz. Stuart also had a lovely 4lb 6oz fish in his bag. A well deserved third place went to Dave and Denise Davis who fished various pink fritz lures and cormorants to take 8 fish for 15lb 7oz. The big fish trophy went to another member of the warden team – Mitch Brown took a lovely 5lb 1oz fish on a Pitsford Pea. Mick and Sandra Griffin did a fantastic job on the prize hampers and everyone enjoyed a steak and kidney pudding at the Chequers pub afterwards.
Some bank sport has been had along Monger Bank and fish are showing close in. A roving approach with floating fry or suspender minkie on the point and diawl bachs on the droppers is well worth a try.
Don’t miss out on Anglian Water’s popular Fur and Feather at Ravensthorpe on 2 November. Please call the Fishing Lodge on 01604 770875 to reserve a place.
Best boat areas Mongers, Island to Catwalk.
Best bank areas Mongers, Dam.
Best methods See report.
Mid week boat winner Kevin Daykin.
Forthcoming events
Predator fishing – Lure and dead sea bait from 1 October through to 30 November (subject to boat availability)
Ravensthorpe Fur and Feather (boat) 2 November.
