Blog

Having fished Rutland for over 30 years now, I am all to aware how things can change here, in a mere 24 hours. I have been lucky enough to fish Rutland on two consecutive days this week, and what a difference 24 hours can make. Wednesday I was fishing alongside Simon, a Forest fan (good enough in itself). Simon is still learning the tricks of the trade on how to tackle large reservoirs, and today I was going to show him the pulling of a booby across the surface, as this is what the Rutland trout cannot get enough of...

Conditions looked perfect, grey skies, and a less than moderate wind, though it was blowing from the North East, veering more from the East in the afternoon. My starting set up was a floating line with 3 dry flies, size 12 ginger Midas on the point, hares ear cube in the middle, and a size 12 big red on the top dropper. Conditions looked perfect, but were they! We started our day in the basin, after hearing it had fished well the day before. It wasn't long after we had stopped out boat, that we saw fish moving in the wind...

It isn't too often we anglers get the perfect day, matched with the perfect conditions. Well my latest trip here, on Rutland Water was teetering on the edge of that perfect day. The fish are fighting fit, and if you are heading here, then I highly recommend using a strong leader line. The fish have been high in the water of late, so i'd focus on the top 2' of water, varying between dries, and the washing line tactics. Slow is key too !

As I headed out on Rutland Water Once more, surely the consistency of the last few weeks would have slowed down somewhat?  It was a bright, and a pretty warm day, with a 10mph SW wind.(Saturday) I had invited a friend along, whom had only fished Rutland twice in the past, with his best ever catch being 3. I had talked him into fishing here, as it had been fishing so well...No pressure!! We headed to the dam wall, as I was aware there was a good concentration of fish there, though they have been here for several weeks now....

Rutland Water is a huge vast area, and for many anglers, its just too big to contemplate a days fishing. I was recently speaking to a fellow angler who told me, " I have never fished Rutland, its just too big, and I just wouldn't know where to start!" " Very true, however nothing ventured nothing gained? The fish are now very well spread out, and what a great way to fish, set your drift and off you go, drift fishing for an hour at a time, picking up fish as you go. My latest visit, Wednesday 10th June, greeted...