Good Day all, we are fishing Draycote from the boat on Thursday this week, now I have read the report from Rutland Ghillies etc,and while they are good, they do not go into much detail, so I would like to know depths, lines, areas etc that have been productive so far from any one who has fished it recently please, along with retrieves, flies and colours please!! Not much to ask is it
Many thanks Gents and Ladies of course!

Haven't fished it myself for a while, but have got a boat booked Saturday with my pal from around there, who's a regular. Its been fishing well, and all methods will work to be honest, so it just depends what you fancy. Buzzers and nymphs will get you plenty of stockies, traditional wets and lures too, but we'll probably be targeting the bigger over wintered fish with big, deep fished lures, which is what tends to work best for them (and what my pal fishes pretty much all the time nowadays). Area-wise, Toft, the shoals, Hensborough, the aerators if they're on, ie the usual spots, but just keep moving til you see fish or find them, hence fishing the drift being very effective. For bang up to date info give Keith the manager a call, he's very helpful and knowledgeable. Sorry I can't be more specific, but let us know how you get on and I'll ponce your findings for Saturday!

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Will do Jeff, we are fishing at the drift any way, (international rules etc)
This also limits our Fly Size too, so fishing deep with lures for "biggies" is an issue.
Tight Lines on Saturday, I shall post for you on Friday!!
Cheers

Hope its gone well (by the time you read this). Somehow I don't think my mate's "Draycote Buzzer" will qualify under international rules! (about 4" long comprising tinsels + tube)

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Is it usual to catch when using those tube flies Jeff or do you have to suffer a few blanks along the way?

TF

Hi chaps, we had a hard day on Thursday, the wind being a crucial factor!! however, there were fish all around the boils and middle shoals, as far down as D Bouy, drifting from the West. Most fish fell to Diawl Bach's, on a fast or slow glass about 3 ft down, with a steady retrieve. Odd few fell to the Booby on the washing line.
Hope this helps you all, fish average was 2.8 per rod, with an avg weight of 2.08 lb. 2 fish over 4lb were boated also, and all in good nick, broad across the back and fully finned, I do like Draycote!!
Cheers

TF there are many rudder men who will fish with "flies" of up to 6-7" trust me including Bob Walinger who has some of the meanest looking flies in the biz - when you look at them u do tend to think no way will they catch a brownie maybe a marlin or sailfish but they do work on their day - just look at his fantastic record for heaviest bags and record breakers year in year out - they work but he fishes draycote near enough every week provided there is a fair wind and knows Draycote inside and out

Must admit I do like the fishery but my boat partner would sooner die than use a sinking line! So it's teams of buzzers/DBs for me.....at least for the timebeing.

TF

T/F - yes, it can be a bit sh*t or bust, but big lures were certainly doing best yesterday, albeit fished shallower. Fished yesterday (8 til 4) with my pal John, whose a regular. Saying, that, for the first time in ages I out-fished him! I finished with 17 (and lost another half dozen), John had about 10 I think, no monsters but all excellent silvered up fish between 2-3.5lb who fought well above their weight. Fished a free (fast) drift off Draycote dam and repeated it all day, starting at B Buoy and end up drifting over boils from Valve Tower. John started on Di7 and big tube, I started on Di4 and big black and green fritz, which worked straight away - had had my limit by about 10.30. Stuck with the Di4/fritz most of the day but picked up a couple later on the Di7 and big sparkler (an experimental pattern I was trying - basically same tinsel materials as the tube but tied on a longshank size 6 instead). Basically, the fish were on the Daphnia and were following the clouds of those around in open water in the middle of the ressie, but in the top 3-4' of water, not deep. Great day. There were a few hardy souls persevering with floating lines, but looking at the stats when we came, I think we probably caught most.

Like Bob Wallinger and a lot of the other locals, John almost exclusively targets the bigger overwintered 'bows and browns now, after years of catching the standard stock fish (not that there's anything wrong with those, they are top quality, its just a different challenge thats all). Saying that, the wind was too fast yesterday to get really deep, so we were catching stockies, but early season silvered-up fish which had put on a bit of muscle, rather than fresh stockies.

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Hi Jeff, well done, were you using a rudder?

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