Did Pitsford Or Rutland Come Out On Top This Week?

The long awaited sunshine and heat has finally arrived, though not an anglers favourite! However it hasn't yet dampened the fishing at Anglian Waters.

I spent the day on Tuesday with local angler Kevin, who is a regular to Pitsford Reservoir. The sun was blazing, and the temperatures sored to dizzy heights, yet did the fish still want to play? - yes they did !

We started fishing in what is known as the Narrows. A light Easterly wind, combined with early warmth, allowed for a steady hatch of buzzers. This dictated our set up, as we both went for the washing line technique, a team of buzzers and a fab.

It wasn't long until my line pulled tight, and the fish fish was in the net! A nice one at that too.

Kevin soon joined in on the action, as the fish were certainly feeding early on.

The fishing was steady throughout the morning, as fish continued to come to our washing line technique. Kevin was keen to have a go at pulling on a sinking line, so we switched tactics, however just two fish later, you really sensed in the light winds, and the steady hatch of buzzers, the trout were just not interested in chasing anything, so soon switched back to the washing line tactics.

We headed to the shallows by the dam wall to see if we could pick up a big brownie, a known hot spot for them. Despite the bright sun, the fish were still moving, helped by the constant supply of buzzers laying on the surface.

We fished in just 6' of water and all of a sudden my line ripped tight, and after a gallant scrap, I landed a lovely brownie of around 6lb. It fancied the Candy Fab, fished alongside 3 buzzers, presented on a 4' midge tip.

Kevin once again soon got in on the action, landing a lovely brown of about 4.5lb (unfortunately the photo didn't quite turn out this time!!), however this rainbow did.

.

This corner end of the dam is renowned for its quality fish, especially at this time of year with the potential buzzer hatches about. The fish are more than happy to cruise in just 3' of water, however remember a more stealthily approach is needed in a boat, or you'll soon spook them !

The quality fish continued as we picked up several rainbow around the 3lb mark. We managed 20+ fish to the boat, on a day you may well have thought would be difficult. If there is food, there will be fish, and the buzzers provided the menu for the trout to feed throughout the day.

The following day, I was at my local water, Rutland, sharing a boat with Shaun Jones.

We were again greeted with bright skies, but this time a little warmer, with temperatures reaching 26 degrees, and a light to moderate Easterly wind. 

We headed straight to the Green Bank, where upon arrival, fish were topping - a nice site !

As with the day before I had set up with my midge tip, 3 buzzers, supported by a fab on the point, as did Shaun. We also both set up with an indicator, planning to fish this in deeper water, especially Hideaway Bay.

Shaun soon hooked up pretty quickly at the green bank, and this was followed by several more between us. The arrival of several more boats, soon slowed this down, therefore we decided on a move to Hideaway Bay.

Hideaway Bay is still housing some seriously big fish, so we decided we would spend the remainder of our day in this area trying to lure that big one !

Hideaway Bay has very good buzzer hatches at times, along with some great hatches of Olives. A giveaway for this is seeing the gulls stooping low and picking them up off the surface - this was going on for most of the day !

The hotter weather was certainly putting the brakes on the fish numbers, though the fish we were getting were typical Hideaway quality.

( A cracking 3lb rainbow - This fish lead shaun a real merry dance, going behind the boat twice, so the drogue was bought back into the boat - this led us drifting 30m off the wall before the fish was netted !!)

As the day progressed, the temperatures rose, and the rising fish all but disappeared, so we switched tactics to fishing the indicator, with our point fly set at 12'.

Patience is sometimes the name of the game with this method, and combined with the hot weather, this made the wait all the more prominent.

Shaun however was once again rewarded with another lovely Hideaway rainbow, again knocking on the door of 3lb

We covered the whole bay, resting the drifts, as not to spook that hopeful big brownie. Unfortunately the big one did not arrive, however we continued to catch across the bay.

As the day wore on, and the sun began to drop in the sky, the fish started to move, and in the final last hour of our day(7.00pm) we landed 5 more fish, with most of them taking a brown foamed daddy, fished on a floating line. This took our days total catch to 14 fish. With the surface temperature slowly now rising, I am sure it wont be too long now until we can spend the whole day on dries !

The "Rutland Hottie" buzzer was the best performing buzzer for both Pitsford and Rutland. (Follow the link to view the fly)

https://flashattackflies.com/products/the-rutland-hottie-code-c120-s-10?_pos=1&_sid=35829a289&_ss=r

The barbless daddy used to net 5 fish on Rutland. (follow the link to see the fly)

https://flashattackflies.com/products/fasna-hook-brown-foam-daddy-code-bd22?_pos=1&_sid=2cbd8fe93&_ss=r

If you would like a guided day with Craig then message craig @ craig@flashattackflies.com  

If you are confused with the array of flies available, and are not sure what to use and when, then why not allow Craig to make a fish catching fly selection for you.  A selection can be made to any budget - You are guaranteed to get the finest fly choices that will catch you plenty of fish. Barbed hooks or barbless, we have it all covered at Flash Attack Flies.

Now stocking Wychwood tackle, rods, reels, fly lines, boat seats and fluro carbon. If you would like Craig's opinion on any of the above named products, or would like to purchase them, then feel free to drop an email to craig@flashattackflies.com and he will give his honest opinion on it all.

www.flashattackflies.com These are not just any flies, these are Flash Attack Flies