THAMES VALLEY

FLY DRESSERS

BRANCH OF FLY DRESSERS GUILD

Draycote 21st March 2019

An excellent day afloat on Draycote Water was had by guild members on March 21st. Two boats (John KH and son Harry, Peter W and Peter H) fished almost from boat release until chucking off time at 1815. Conditions were good for fishing, light to near zero winds from the west all day, and a cover of grey cloud in the morning gradually lifting and the sun breaking through. About 15 to 20 boats were out, and bank anglers were evident in reasonable numbers. Fly life was scarce, with only the very odd small buzzer evident on the surface or flying, and the bird life was limited to the noisy coots and even louder Canada geese. The very odd fish showed, not enough to tempt the author's boat to try a floating line

Most boats fished 50 to 70 yards off the north shore from Linn Croft Point into Toft Bay. Intermediate lines worked best for us, with fish falling to red and black epoxy buzzers and olive and orange gold head damsels. Fish took after the flies had sunk and through the retrieve, indicating that they were generally a metre or more down. That said, casting to odd rising fish in range was also effective. We had the impression that the fish were moving about in shoals, as quiet periods and busy spells alternated throughout the day. We four finished the day having landed over 100 fish to the two boats and losing quite a few more – an incredible day’s fishing, setting personal bests for at least three of us.  The quality of the fish was superb with most in the 2.5 to 3lb range and hard fighting.  A great day!