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Grafham Water is certainly the reservoir in form at the minute, though not for everyone it seems. Following a great 4 hours on the bank yesterday, landing 8 fish, I was super excited to be returning today, this time from a boat. I have found the fish to be very tight to the banks, and this has certainly been the case for the last few years at this time of year. Same place, same depth of water and same flies. We started fishing off the seat, armed with midge tip lines, and a single olive snake. (We fished single flies...

A back to back visit to Rutland, as so many times it can, showed once more how you can have a serious love hate relationship with the place - Like it or Loathe it, its sheer size brings the best out of "fishing" and puts you the angler, to the test ! On Friday I shared a boat with a Phil Calvert, and our mission was to locate, and catch a Rutland "biggie" hopefully a brown. At this time of year, with so much fry in the water, the bigger fish certainly become more active, thus more vulnerable to capture....

Fishing our large reservoirs can be world beating at times, yet other times you can be left scratching your head doubting everything! In the space of 24 hours I experienced the extreme highs of why we love fishing, and the lows of frustration with fishing. As Martin and I headed towards Rutland's South Arm (26/10) we were faced with an increasing S/S/W wind, and bright skies, not the most perfect of conditions. We were targeting the reservoirs bigger fish, so set up accordingly with fast sinking lines, and Flash Attack perch fry lures, and Black Humungous lures. Two hours in...

Most anglers when fishing Rutland, probably want that "special" brown or rainbow trout that grace the depths of the "Mecca". I am about to reveal all you will need to know, to increase your chances to do just that. It has been said many times, that there must be browns in Rutland exceeding 20lb's. Though I haven't seen one this size, I have seen them in excess of what I have thought to be 15lb !! As the nights start to draw in, the trout sense winter is just around the corner, and instinctively know it is time to pack...

Having fished Rutland Water now for over 38 years, I sure know how moody the place can be, and how the slightest change in wind direction, cloud cover, and temperature change, can have you in heaven one minute, then what feels like hell the next !  On Wednesday, conditions were perfect, overcast, 21 degrees, and an 8mph wind, and as the book tells us, the fish were on song too, and plenty of them. We started our drift, just down from X Buoy, with our set ups being pretty similar. I was using a Flash Attack Tequila booby, and Tequila Fab(both...