Is this going to be Rutland's best ever season??

I have fished Rutland now for 37 years and I cannot remember fishing like this. Opening day, yes you can fill the boat, however 7 weeks in and it is still delivering fantastic catches, and its showing no sign yet, in slowing !  

I have fished Rutland 3 times this week, and my personal average has been 20 fish, and our boat average 33. I never normally mention numbers, however chose to this time round, as I really wanted to get across the fishing that is on offer at the Midland's premier water at this current moment.

My first day out was with Luton regular partner, Gary. My boat knows only one direction at Rutland at the moment, and that is North ! We parked up in Barnsdale Bay armed with a midge tip line, and a floating line, and it wasn’t long until the fish told us they were there, as Gary locked into one, followed very quickly by myself..

Gary had set up on the indicator, with buzzers, whilst I used a midge tip, Candy fab and buzzers.

Having taken 12 fish from Barnsdale, we moved onto the tree in the water at the Transformer.(opposite Dickinson's Bay) Within in a instant we were into fish here, sitting 70 yards out off the tree. The Easterly wind blew us at an angle into the shore, allowing us to cast into the bank where the fish have been for weeks, picking up the abundance of buzzers.

Like previous weeks we headed along the shore line, up towards Tim Appleton’s(bottom of the Arm). The fish have been up there for weeks, and they are still there, in their hundreds !! We had yet more success here, fishing the washing line, however a cooling wind certainly took the edge off the productivity pretty quickly as the rising fish numbers diminished.

Gary was keen to head back to Barnsdale, as we felt the fish there were more willing to take. There was a noticeable temperature drop, and this reflected in what was a lack of fish movement. After 10 minutes I sensed the fish must have dropped in the water, as there was no way the numbers of fish there in the morning had just disappeared! I switched to a di-5, and decided to give an Olive Snake fly a go – a fly I will always use when fish finding, trust me, if they are there, they won’t ignore this, and they didn’t as Gary and I boated around 16 fish in an hour !

There is no guessing where I headed the next day, this time accompanied by Mark.  Like the day before we started in Barnsdale, and this time the fish were in the mood for feeding. My Set up, no surprise, was the 3’ midge tip, Candy fab, this time followed by a Mosaic cruncher, Chew Favourite diawl bach, and crisp packet buzzer. It was fish crazy, as we landed up to 15 trout in just over an hour, including 3 double hook ups!

Deciding to look for some more resident fish, we made our way, yes, to the tree in the water! Well, I was hit here by a bullet as I hooked a 4.5lb rainbow in just 3’ of water, 3’ from the bank. Drogue was brought in, engine on, as we trekked the fish 30 yards, now behind the boat. Candy struck again !

The quality fish continued as we went on to catch in excess of 20 fish from the Transformer to Tim Appleton’s.

Mark caught some cracking fish, as he witnessed the devastation the Candy Fab and Olive snake can cause, as well as numerous fish on the nymphs. The fish were high in the water, so a combination of floating and midge tip lines were all that was needed to land plenty of fish.

Day 3, and it was the same stop offs, this time with Martyn whom enjoyed his day out so much just two weeks earlier, he wanted some more Rutland action, and again, it didn’t disappoint.

The line, the flies, the areas remained the same as per the 2 days prior, though today Martyn and I ventured right up to the buoy line at “Timmies” and we rewarded with some stunning fish up to 3.5lbs. 

This beauty fell to a Flash Attack Chew Favourite Diawl Bach, where Martyn nailed his beauty on the Flash Attack Olive snake.

There was very little wind at times today, and this gave us the opportunity to see the actual numbers of fish around us as they were moving everywhere, from 5yds off the bank, to 500yds off the bank. We switched to the slow glass in the flat calm, as not to spook the fish with our lines, and tweaked the trusted olive snake through the surface. Like the previous days, it just kept on catching for us.

As time ticked on, we decided to drop into Barnsdale on the way back. Greeted with a flat calm, we both reached for the slow glass, and olive snake flies. The fish were holding tight to the trees, so we cast our flies horizontal to the trees. As like the two previous evenings, our  lines were pulled tight numerous times, and this rounded off yet another superb trio of visits on Rutland.

Rod used, Wychwood RS 7# Fly line, Wychwood Rocket Floater, and Rio Midge Tip, Flurocarbon Whychwood Ghost Mode

Wychwood products now available at www.flashattackflies.com( Rods, reels, lines all arriving this week. Want to know about the rods, reels or lines, then feel free to drop me an email, and I will give you my true opinions)

If you would like a Rutland guided experience with Craig, then email Craig at craig@flashattackflies.com for details

If you would like the 3 days main "Rutland catchers" Chew Favourite DB x 3, Olive Snake x 3, and Candy Fab x 3, then please message Craig at craig@flashattackflies.com (Each set £10.50 inc post - these flies are all barbless)

Follow the links to see these flies on our website.....

https://flashattackflies.com/products/fasna-hook-chew-favourite?_pos=1&_sid=51ded6ff2&_ss=r

https://flashattackflies.com/products/barbless-olive-snake-code-sn11?_pos=1&_sid=720ce1dd4&_ss=r

https://flashattackflies.com/products/kandy-split-fab-code-a156-s10?_pos=2&_sid=289e71923&_ss=r

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