Just a quick post to comment on how well Rutland has fished over the last month. Despite persistent east and north east winds for much of the time if you were in the right place with the right flies there was excellent sport to be had. Looking at my returns for the last month I have averaged over 6 and this has included some windy days. The quality of the fish has been suberb this year and some of the overwintered specimens from Manton have taken some stopping - in fact some didn't stop ! I don't do much lure stripping these days and almost all of the fish were caught on the drift with a floating line or at anchor on the windy days in mid may.

Just recently the dry fly fishing has been superb and seems to sort out the better fish from late May onwards, a claret Shipmans with a gold rib has worked well for me. Now that the buzzer hatches are over and the water warms I expect some of the fish to disperse to the more open water to feed on daphnia although there are plenty of snails, corixa and sedge pupa in the trout at the moment and these may keep the better fish occupied in the shallow water at the ends of the arms. I have analysed some of my returns below. I should emphasis that every year at Rutland is different although May 20 - June 10th is usually the best of the buzzer fishing with the best chance of an overwintered fish. Of course living 5 minutes away and being in touch with the water is a big plus.Hope this is of interest of you.

Date . Boat / Bank . Area . Fish . Fly .
09-May Boat . Basin . 4 Cruncher / blob
10-May Boat . Whit / Normanton . 6 Black buzzers
15-May Bank . Normanton . 8 Black Ph Tails
19-May Boat eve . Normanton . 8 Crunchers
20-May Boat . Manton . 8 Black Ph Tails
22-May Boat pm . Manton . 4 Black Buzzers
26-May Boat am . Manton . 8 Black Ph Tails
30-May Boat am . Manton . 8 Crunchers
02-Jun Boat eve . Manton . 4 Claret Shipmans
05-Jun Bank . Normanton . 8 Claret Shipmans
06-Jun Boat pm . Basin - windy . 1 Claret Shipmans
09-Jun Boat eve . Norm'ton / Manton. 8 Claret Shipmans
. . TOTAL 75

Great report Rutlandtrouter you sound like you've had a great start to the season. I'm also a regular on Rutland and I couldn't agree more with you, it real has fished it's socks off so far this year and long may it continue. One of the most encouraging things I think is how well the north arm has fished this year and unlike other years it actually appears to be holding fish for longer periods before they all disappear into the main basin.

Keep the reports coming chap, it's always nice to hear how others are getting on!! I've been fishing Grafham a lot more as well so far this season and that has been on top form also.

Ah, from the information supplied (particularly the recent fixation with claret shipmans ) I believe I know the identity of rutlandtrouter. Is there a prize up for grabs?

Yes, you can clean his fish for the rest of the season....

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http://www.rutlandwaterflyfishers.co.uk/

I'd best move in at the lodge then.

Have to agree, I was on Rutland a couple of weeks ago and managed 22 fish on a catch and release ticket. All the fish were on drys and nymphs on a floater. Fish moving on the surface, taking drys and nymphs and no fish caught more than a foot deep, it was like Rutland of old. Have to say I enjoyed the day alot and the power in those fish was great. Look foward to getting another day like that.
Tight Lines
Trout Hunter

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Trout,great to hunt,greater to release.

As has been said the sport just now at Rutland is in top form and long may that continue!
The winning pattern for me so far in June is a single amber nymph with the leader greased up on a floater and fished slowly with some fast tweaks and it has been deadly so far!
It has to be said that this year the trout are in excellent condition and are putting up some great battles,at times that 2lb'er feels like at least a 5lb'er!!!

Rutland sounding really good, its been a few years since I have had a bumper session at Rutland. I am coming up on Friday. The wind is forecast to be westerly on Thursday / Friday. So it will be blowing down both arm, with that in mind would Normanton & the Basin be a good fishing holding area.

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Work is for People, who don't know how to Fish !

A lot depends on what type of fishing you want, should be ok for sunk line fishing but if the wind is as strong as the BBC forecast suggests it is then the main basin might be too lumpy for anything else.

That being the case you would be better off getting down one of the arms and getting in to quieter water, we are going on there Thu/Fri/Sat. Its been a month since we were on there so we will almost be starting from scratch info wise.

Well after some brilliant sessions Rutland coloured up and turned tough for our three day jolly.

I only managed one on Thursday and three on Friday ( I somehow managed to lose 6 ) and my boat partner blanked for the first time in many many years on Friday.

We tried every where and I do mean every where and no where could we get more than the odd fish, we tried all sorts of lines and retrieves, black flies in the top three foot of water proving to be best combo. By the time Saturday came around we had enough and switched to Pitsford which whilst its was not fishing well was better and we end the day with 12 fish.

Finally big congrats Andy and his mate for winning their two day comp, also big thanks to a certain person for his wise advice before the trip and to Nige and Nathen at Rutland and Pitsford respectively.

We will be back and and so will the fishing