hi everyone.
i had my first visit to eyebrook on sunday just gone.
we got there early after remembering to put the clock forward and recieved a warm welcome and a cup of coffee with andy.
Andy showed us 3 places where to head for (willows, sams dyke and the point) out in a boat.
Along with my boat partner we tried floating and intermediate line 12' leader on cats whisker (white & green) dawsons olive, buzzers, diawl bachs, ptns's and hares ears. my mate took 1 fish in 5 hours on a yellow dancer which we later put down to good luck. finally we went on a drift from the island down to sams dyke which resulted in no fish taken. i have just read the fishing report on rutland gillies and now wonder if it was me or the fact that they had 3 excellent days since opening before i arrived !
i am very impressed with the place and would like to go back this coming weekend and catch a few, are there any regulars with some good advice please.
thanks charlie

Hi mate, just seen that no one has replied to this yet. I love eyebrook, but i'm by no means a regular. I was there yesterday though and bagged up, had a cracking day. I started fishing deep with a di5 and found them at about 6-8 feet down. Lost one and caught one, had a couple of pulls too. As the weather warmed up a bit the takes dried up and i went shallower, using an intermediate line, 15ft leader and a gold-head cats whisker. I started retrieving just as the line hit the water, so i'm guessing i was taking them at about 2 feet down. I got 7 in the boat between 2:30 and 4:30, brilliant sport.

It was all about finding the depth yesterday. The fish were coming up covered in buzzers and bloodworm so there must have been a good hatch going on down there. I tried the buzzers for a bit, but got bored and went back to the lures! I took all 8 from near Robbo's cabin/Three trees areas.

I'm hoping to get back next weekend

In spite of it's "top of the water" rep, I have generally found Eyebrook to be a pullers water, even when the fish are relatively shallow.

I would go with a blob on the dropper and a cat or black/green booby right now and start on a Di 5 or 7 with a view to coming up during the day.

As it warms up, you can add a nymph or two to the cast and see if they pick anything up.

Charlie

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Sonik Sports Team Pitsford Pirates

Here's a pic of yesterday's haul for you, i've spent all day today smoking them in various ways. Lovely quality of fish as always from eyebrook, out of all the reservoirs i've fished, ravensthorpe, grafham, pitsford, i've got to say these eyebrook fish fight the hardest. One of them yesterday went absolutely ballistic, spent more time in the air than in the water!

enjoy

catch looks good atlantic.
the 1 my mate took was 5 ib 11.
how far off the bank were you at robbo's cabin ? do you think that is where a lot of fish are at this time of year ?
i am also interested on your smoking tips, i tried it once on the bbq with 2 meths burners and some oak dust but i brined them overnight and was just way too salty !
thanks charlie

5lb 11 is a great fish. I've never caught a monster at Eyebrook yet, had one of 4.5 lbs last summer which gave me a cracking fight.

I was anchored about 100 yards off the bank i'd say, and just worked up and down the east bank from the 3 trees to the willows. I was contacting fish everywhere so didn't have to move too far. It seemed to be a hotspot, but a lot of others did well yesterday so i'm sure the fish were everywhere.

As for smoking, i have a dustbin type one which i put on the BBQ and hang the fillets in. Oak chippings and whiskey in the bottom. Sometimes i rub salt and pepper into them before i smoke them, gives them a really nice flavour.

Let us know how you get on at the weekend, i'm thinking of heading up again the following weekend. Try something white and green with a bit of fritzy flash, they were going mad for it