Rutland Has Certainly Had Its Injection.........Of Fish !!!

The excitement was unpalpable as I waited for opening day to arrive. Three days in a row awaited and I was hoping for a fish bonanza, and she delivered !

I shared my first day with Simon Robinson, hoping to surpass his Rutland's best catch of 5....did he do it?

We started our first drift of the day just before the Old Hall Flats point, K Buoy., a normal early season fish holding spot. Well, it was not long until the rod arched over. (The drift at K Buoy) A quick four or five fished followed, coming to a Tequila blob fished on a di-7 line

We headed out of the wind and into Old Hall Bay, another usual early season hot spot. This however this time, was not the case, we never moved a fish, though bank anglers on the point were catching. Knowing fish had been stocked there, and given the wind direction,(N-N-E) and historical similar situations, the fish had to be somewhere, so I looked across the reservoir, to the South Shore. They must be across there, and they were !!

New Zealand point was our destination, and the fish were certainly there alright. Starting our drift parallel to C buoy, the wind took us into the shore - perfect !

The fish went right the way down to the gold course, near to Gibbets Gorse. Simon got into the thick of the action too.

Once we found the fish, we started to fine tune the flies, and by far the most consistent was a Flash Attack barbless Fusion Tequila Blob, barbless Cat booby, Mosaic Cormorant & Mosaic Booby, all fished on  DI-7 line. Flash Attacks new Yellow Squirrel snake also got into the action late on.

Simon was over the moon, as he easily surpassed his Rutland's best catch of 5, by landing 15 fish, as well as losing several more in play. Overall, the fishing was fantastic, however you had to move about until you found the fish. It won't take you long to work out if you have found them, as they will be on your flies in seconds !!

My second & third day, I had the pleasure of sharing the boat with Luton based Gary Humphrey. Gary had his first guided day with me last season, and just when we thought our last day on Grafham Water in December would take some beating, Gary tells me day his 2nd day on Rutland this week was his best day ever, and will take some beating....Here's why ?

Having filled the boat the day before at New Zealand Point, I decided to head there first to get Gary into some early action. Well, where did they all go - the fish had gone !! Several drifts, one fish later, I didn't need telling the fish had obviously moved from the day before, so the hunt began.

Social media was full of reports of fish being caught at the North Arm, so this was where we decided to go. We started our drift at Armley Wood, and bounced our way along the shore. This yielded 5 fish from one end to another, however we noticed a head of boats what appeared to be the Transformer. In true hunting style, we headed straight there. 

Well, it didn't take long to start hitting fish, and plenty of them. Noticeably, these fish were not all hard on the shoreline, as you may expect. As you see on this image, many were also a good 80 or so yards out. A di-7 was still the favoured line, however they were taking quite quickly, so i'd imagine a di-5 or 3 would have been as productive.

We went on to boat plenty of fish here, but I still couldn't get it out of my head how the fish from New Zealand point from the day before had disappeared! So, you've guessed it we headed back there at 4.00pm.

Well, my gut feeling was right, as the fish were 'back on' when we arrived. I could only think, that this particular morning we had had a frost the night before, where as the night before opening day, when I fished with Simon, it was mild, so maybe the very cold start had ruffled their feathers a little !

We enjoyed some very quick fire sport, before we retired for the day, ahead of another day the next day ahead of us. Gary was certainly picking out the bigger fish of the day, ending the day with a rainbow approximately 4.5lb

Day 2 with Gary, I had to say got even better. We headed back to the Transformer at the North Arm, this time however determined to fish the buzzers. We got side tracked on our way there, by dropping into Barnsdale Bay, having seen several boats in there the day before. It was fair to say there were plenty of fish there, but we wanted to look for some better quality fish on day 2.

We headed further up the North Arm this time, some 200m passed the Transformer. As like the day before, we started far out from the shore, this time 100m, just to see how far out the fish actually went.

The wind was a little lighter today, and we soon noticed buzzers on the water, and more noticeably, seagulls sitting on the water, pecking away furiously off the surface ! The rest was history !!

The quality of fish on the feed was there for all to see, as a real feeding bonanza was underway. Everyone around was catching, with floating line becoming more and more predominant as I looked around.

A quality rainbow I took on the buzzer...

Boats were enjoying this feeding frenzy....

The afternoon just got better, as bigger fish began to show. Gary landed a double up of 3lb rainbows, as the fish were coming pretty regularly.

I was now fishing my Wychwood Rocket Floater line with a team of buzzers(no fab or booby on the point), and the fish were coming very regularly. I took this lovely "brownie" in just 4' of water on a buzzer, highlighting the quality of fish on the feed.

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Gary stole the show on day one with an "injury time" winner at New Zealand Point, well he did it once more at the Transformer, landing another cracking rainbow of a similar size, on a Flash Attack buzzer.

The fishing was fantastic, so if you are out over the next few days, keep on the move if you are not catching, fish the shores where the wind is blowing in, and at the warmest part of the day, give the buzzers a swim.

My two clients landed in excess of 40 fish, between them. If you would like a day afloat with me, or just want some general advice of where to fish, or how best to approach Rutland, then feel free to contact me at craig@flashattackflies.com Always happy to oblige. 

The buzzer I used to land over 20 trout. (cut & paste the link) and the best performing blob over the 3 days..

https://flashattackflies.com/products/fasna-fusion-coral-sunbusrt-blob

https://flashattackflies.com/products/red-butt-quill-black-buzzer

Tight lines to you all

Craig

www.flashattackflies.com