Ok I need some inside help - we have 24/25/26 off next week to fish either Rutland, Grafham, Pitsford, Eyebrook, Ravensthrope or at a push Draycote.

The advantage of the first 5 is they are close enough to allow us the opportunity to hop from one to another if we chose our B&B with care. I know the Rutland ghillies site provide some info on each but their is anyone out there who has any hands on info and wheres fishing and whats catching, our preference is nymphing, we do fish sinkers but once it goes past di3s our attention drifts off to the pub Thanks in advance Paul

Hi, I've been fishing both Pitsford and Ravo with success, on nymphs,I was last out at Ravo on the 15th and the fish were stuffed with buzzer, though few were actually hatching.The small half at Pitsford the same, both being fairly shallow warm up fairly quickly and enjoy good buzzer hatches early.Enjoy your break and good luck.

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Behold the fisherman
He riseth up early and disturbeth the whole household.
MIGHTY ARE HIS PREPARATIONS!
He goeth forth full of hope and when the day is far spent he returneth
Smelling of strong drink, and the truth is not in him

much appreciated, I love Rutland but if its not fishing, 3,000 acres is a lot of water to search where as Ravensthorpe you can drift the whole water in less time than it takes to motor from the north arm to the south arm of Rutland, strangley I've never clicked with Pitsford.

I would avoid Rutland , the Fulling Mill heat is taking place on Saturday , probably busy .

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its not how you tie your flies , its how you tease your flies

Is that Sat the 26th if it is I could do without being stuck in the middle of a load comp anglers, nothing against them, I just prefer the place with fewer boats out. Err me thinks I need a plan B and maybe a plan C

id vote for draycote everytime - its fishing well and imho is the one palce which doesnt turn hot one day and cold the next fishing wise - all methods work well - its a nice size big but not too big and with the typical depth being 20-25 ft deep in most parts you have a very good chance of quickly finding the fish

Is that Sat the 26th if it is I could do without being stuck in the middle of a load comp anglers, nothing against them, I just prefer the place with fewer boats out. Err me thinks I need a plan B and maybe a plan

Yes , its the F Mill on Sat 26th , I should know i am fishing in it. lol.

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its not how you tie your flies , its how you tease your flies

Yes , its the F Mill on Sat 26th , I should know i am fishing in it. lol.[/QUOTE]

well I wish you all the best, at the least the weather forecast is improving.

I have had enough of freezing my nuts so far this season. Are you fishing the Friday as a practice ?

yes , fishing Friday as a practice day , dont know how many boats are booked out.

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its not how you tie your flies , its how you tease your flies

Well in footie parlance they save the good and bad luck evens out over a season, its seem this might be true for our fishing, we originally choose Rutland for day 1, Eyebrook for day 2 and Carsington for day 3 as Rutland was booked solid Friday and Saturday for the Fulling Mill comp.

Normally we would start by 9 and after a bit of advice with the wardens head off to some where down the south arm. This time our journey took over 2.5 hours, and obligatory FEB was eaten slowly as we chatted to local, bank anglers over a mug of tea, this was the first of our lucky breaks because by the time we went to get our tickets the shop was empty and DD(aka Curley) was able to spend 10-15 mins giving us some valuable advice and he got us a canceled boat for the Friday.

We finally got on the water about 11.30 and first drift down the towards fantasy island, my mate had a nice brownie and I had a proper over wintered bow with a huge tail that took an age to get in, we were bursting with optimism but as the wind speed increased presentation became hard.

Without another take we went across to the mound and barnsdale area , nothing, ditto dickenson. All of sudden it 4.30 and the early good vibe had gone. We motored across to the finches and along that bank looking for clues and as we chatted I said to my mate, do you remember that day years ago we went every where, caught next to nothing and then some guy on the jetty says "you should have fished carrots, its stuffed" so we popped into carrots simply because we were passing.

First cast fish, second cast fish, then the temp improves a little and buzzers start to show, slow glass rod is rested, floater goes out, result we both limit in less than a hour and even we are C&R we call it quits at 8 a piece and head off for a well earned beer.

Friday, even with a hangover we are in carrots bright and breezy and its one fish after another, so we took the opportunity to endlessly experiment, it was a great session, we learned loads and caught plenty of good fish before moving off as we did not want to over do our good fortune.

Saturday we were dead on our feet, the pub we stayed in at Stamford forgot to tell us when we booked that they have a disco on until 2am and the disco was under our rooms To add insult to injury after finally getting to sleep around 2.20am the buggers woke me up at 5.30am crashing around making bacon butties.

We arrived at Carsington late and totally knacked and fished like numpties until about 2ish when a combination of better weather and the lucozade gave enough energy to it give a proper go, thankfully the fishy gods smiled on us and we started to net one fish after another including a couple over 4lb. We drove the 1.5 hours home very tired but happy.

That was our best 3 dayer in nearly 20 years of fishing the big ressy's and for once everything clicked and I feel lucky to have enjoyed such a good three days.

Rutland is fishing its head off and Carsington is not far behind.