Latest News and Information from

Week ending 8 April 2018

• Ravensthorpe rod average a massive 8.6

• 7lb 5oz Brown for Toff Crowther at Rutland

• Match action from all of our fisheries

www.anglianwaterparks.co.uk

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 1,005 (season 2,473) Returns 162 (449) Rod average 6.2(5.5)
Rutland Water has fished well all week despite the varied conditions, with a mixture of seriously heavy showers and sunshine. Fish are being contacted from as far as Dickensons Bay, Barnsdale Creek and Whitwell on the north shore, with the Dam, then from Normanton all the way through to Gibbets Gorse in the south arm.

Multiple numbers of fish are being reported with anglers using a variety of methods from floating lines off the bank with lure/nymph combinations. Boat anglers are using medium/fast sinking lines with a mixture of large and small lures doing well at the moment.

Fly life is just starting to happen in the shape of very small buzzer hatches especially last Thursday and Friday when temperatures started to rise.

Overwintered fish are showing and Toff Crowther has again been in contact with some big browns along with his friend Graham Hayward who managed a big Brown of 7lb plus fish off the shoreline this week.

Leicester Mike Duxbury returned a Rainbow estimated around 5lb plus, while Jim Watts netted a Rainbow of 4lb 1oz and Malcolm Janik a specimen of 3lb 11oz. These were all caught off the shoreline.
With the reservoir fishing very well there are a few areas to actually avoid, with all the recent heavy rain and the reservoir being topped up there is a lot of coloured water, the bottom of the South Arm, Manton Bay for instance is very coloured at the moment, so the North Arm is a much better proposition to investigate.

Over the Easter period we welcomed father and son Simon and Elliot Guthrie back to Rutland. The duo had some great days in the boats with plenty of fish, including a number of over wintered fish with Browns up to 5lb plus in their haul.

Competition news

South East Police Region held their day last Wednesday with excellent results. 20 Anglers recorded 92 fish. Top team was Sussex A consisting of Roy Blackman, Steve Fowler, Bob Casey, Brian Bracon with 32 fish for 60lb 11½oz. Runners Up were Kent A who weighed in for 51lb 14oz.The best fish was caught by Thames Valley Police member Paddy O’Grady with a cracking 3lb 14oz overwintered Rainbow. Steve Fowler of Sussex A had the best bag at 17lb 3oz.

Army Spring match
The AAAF(G) Spring Match is an open and friendly event fished at Rutland 4-6 April. Open to any serving or retired member of the British Army (including reservists) and designed to accommodate anglers of all abilities and to encourage participation in the sport. Competitors were faced with two totally different days of competition and were rewarded with some good sport.
Individual Serving Champion (over 2 days) was Capt Jamie Thomas, with a consistent performance that earned him the top spot. He weighed in 20lb 11oz on Day 1 and 29lb 5oz on Day 2 to give him a combined weight of 50lb, a great display of angling over the two days. Second place and top Associate Champion was Jock Kettles who enjoyed a late flurry on day one to put himself in contention, an opportunity he capitalised on. Jock recorded 29lb 1oz on day one and 15lb 14oz on day two giving him 44lb 15oz, just edging Ben Worley and Derek Gibson into joint third place with combined weights of 44lb 11oz.

Best Rainbow 4lb 1oz taken by Jim Watts of Ryhall.
Best Brown 7lb 5oz taken by Toff Crowther, Oakham.
Mid week boat winner John Lee of Bourne.

Don’t forget Senior anglers can take advantage of discounted boats on Tuesdays – £20 per boat; Single man £14.

Forthcoming events
AWAI Northern heat 16 April
EFFA (by invitation) 17 April
England Eliminator 29 April
Tuesday Evening boat league commences in May
Anglian Water Rudder match 12 May
Airflo invitation match 17 – 20 May
Anglian Water Floating Line competition 26 May
Bob Church Classic 3 June
Anglian Water Over 50’s Match 23 June
Beginners courses 14,21 & 27 April; 6,18 & 25 May; 2,13,17 and 30 June and other dates throughout the season.
Boat handling courses 30 April; 15 & 31 May; 7 & 25 June and other dates throughout the season.

Grafham Water
Fish 340(season 1,229) Returns 54(280) Rod average 6.2(4.4)
Another fantastic week of fishing at Grafham, with the vast majority of methods working, sees the rod average holding at 6.2. The tail end of the week has seen a huge increase in captures, with plenty of over wintered fish and huge bag numbers to boot!

The fish of the week fell to Mr O’Connor, a whopping rainbow of 4lb 7oz landed in open water on the drift, proving that the fish are well spread across the reservoir. The biggest brownie this week was landed by Mr Bharucias, a lovely fish weighing in at 3lb 8oz.

Anglers are reporting fish on the move throughout the day, with many catching on lures in the depths and plenty achieving great results on floating lines and others fishing midge tips and long leaders. The fish are still feeding heavily on the daphnia, though black and green buzzer is also a common food item and not to forget the shrimp, particularly in front of the Willows and Marlow stones.

As previously mentioned, plenty of over wintered fish are showing again, with 3lb and 4lb fish appearing regularly from most areas along the north shore line and out into the bowl and the deep water in front of the dam.
Again boat fishing seems to be the best way of catching your bag with many fishing di3s to di5s with the lure, accompanied by cats whiskers, cat boobies, blobs and Fabs.

Others have truly got stuck into the buzzer fishing, fishing midge tips and floating lines with long leaders. The fish have been up and down throughout the day with many starting deep and coming up as the day continues, with last light the fish have been right up in the surface layers. The south shore has been producing fish, though more steady than the north, though the quality and size is better. The best areas though have been the mouth of Savages, Sanctuary Bay, the Stumps, Pig Bay and Church Bay.

The banks are certainly improving with many catching fish throughout the day on a mixture of methods. Most are fishing the lure on intermediate and di3s with the sport better earlier or later in the day. The south end of the dam has been producing good fish along with the Bowl and the Willows, whilst others are doing well along the stumps and into Pig Bay. The Harbour Arms and Marlow arm are producing fish as well, due to having that little bit of extra reach on the cast.

Competition news
Anglian Water Rudder Match 7 April
Teams performed well with some great captures and some large specimens coming to the scales. All this in spite of windy conditions which made it a very tough day. 16 anglers caught 89 fish for over 199lb for a very respectable rod average of 5.56. The top three rods were as follows
1st Mr Lehanne and Mr Castledine 16 fish for 37lb 10oz
2nd Mr O’Connor and Mr Bonnor 16 fish for 36lb 8oz
3rd Mr Bartram and Mr Bradshaw 16 fish for 35lb 14oz
Mr O’Connor weighed in the heaviest fish at 4lb 7oz.

Best Rainbow 4lb 7oz taken by Mr O’Connor.

Best Brown 3lb 12oz taken by Mr G Bharucias.

Best boat areas North shore bays, the bowl, Willows, Pig Bay, Hill Farm, Church Bay, Rainbow Point and Savages.

Best bank areas North shore, pylon, Deep Water Point, Hill Farm, Pig Bay, South dam and the Willows.

Best methods See report.

Mid week boat winner Calum Murray of Banham.

Forthcoming events
Snowbee Floating Line 14 April
Floating Line (by invitation) 5 May
Scierra Pairs 12 May
Invicta Pilgrimage (invitation) 25 & 25 May
EFFA ProAm 14 June
Beginners courses 12,22 & 25 April;5,20 & 26 May; 3,9,16 & 24 June and other dates throughout the season
Boat handling 1,14 & 28 May; 5 & 12 June and other dates throughout the season.

Pitsford Water
Fish 174 (season 938) Returns 40 (214) Rod average 4.35 (4.4)
Pitsford Water hosted a match for Invicta last week with 12 boats fishing and achieving a rod average of 3.9 for the match. Tony Smith won with 21 fish. Tony caught his fish on a Di5 line, cats whisker or blobs at Stone Barn. Second place went to Chris McLeod who took 16 fish at Bog Bay.

Last week’s weather has been challenging. Buzzers are still hatching and fish are starting to feed. With the fish out a bit boat anglers have caught on slow intermediate and fast glass lines in Brixworth Bay, Bog Bay and north shore areas.

Bank anglers are seeing results along the Cliffs, Duffers Reach and Stilton Point.

Fish have been feeding on daphnia. Fly patterns catching have been blobs, black and green, bloodworm and lures. The rod average has been a respectable 4.35

Best Rainbow 4lb 3oz taken by Mr Gillespie.

Mid week boat winner Mr S Tilley.

Forthcoming events
Beginners courses 20 April; 3,16 & 19 May; 10,23 & 29 June and other dates throughout the season.
Boat handling courses 2, 17 & 29 May and other dates throughout the season
Anglian Water Rudder Match 5 May
AWAI Midland heat (by invitation) 26 May

Ravensthorpe Reservoir
Fish 642 (season 1,368) Returns 74 (191)Rod average 8.6(7.1)
The reservoir really switched on to buzzer fishing on Saturday with many anglers catching. Relative newcomer James Punch returned 18 and 13 fish on separate sessions. David Nash returned a lovely Brownie estimated at 5lb plus and Alan Duffin caught and released Rainbows up to 4½lb.

Competition News
Mid Northants Trout Fishing Association held their President’s Cup floating line match on Sunday 8 April. Despite persistent rain the match achieved a fabulous result with anglers mainly fishing on the buzzer.
Sunday’s results show the exceptional buzzer fishing Ravensthorpe can produce. Some chunky, quality Rainbows were caught during the match, including the heaviest fish for Fraser Duffy Jnr who winkled out a 4lb 2oz specimen. Charlie Watts was in second place with two fish for 5lb 8ozSeveral other competitors caught in the 3-4lb bracket. Fraser Duffy junior won the match with two fish for 5lb 8oz and in joint third place was Pete Webb and match organiser Terry Bayes with two fish each for 5lb 2oz.

Most fish were caught on static buzzer tactics on floating lines mainly along the west bank from Mongers to the Domes. The club finished the day off with a welcome meal at the Chequers in Ravensthorpe village.

Boat fishing is still the best bet with fish holding around 40 yards from the shore, but with the warmer weather forecast more fly life will emerge and bank sport should pick up.

Best Rainbow 4lb 8oz landed by Alan Duffin.

Best Brown 5lb plus landed by David Nash.

Best boat areas Tall Willow Bay and Mongers.

Best bank areas Platforms 4-8.

Mid week boat winner Tim Haynes.