Fishing Reports 3rd April 06

Rutland Water Kept its reputation for quality fish as anglers landed 3lb plus fish from all around the reservoir. Mike Netherclift of Oakham won the Independence Day Trophy and a £100 in vouchers to use in the superb new tackle shop at the fishing lodge. Mike took the biggest fish on opening day with a cracking 9lb 10¾ brown. Borrowing a friend’s rod near Fantasy Island, Mike used a short tip line with a black and green tadpole, it was the biggest fish he has caught at Rutland. Just a few ounces behind Mike, with another huge brown, was Bill Black of Deeping St James. Bill took his fish on a floating line with black and green tadpole from Whitwell Creek.

Leon Smith of Peterborough and boat partner Keith Jones of Glinton, Peterborough took 16 fish while boat fishing between East Creek and the Fishing Lodge. Several fish were over the 3lb mark. Leon took 16 fish for 45lb plus.

David Alliston and 16 year old Daniel Vickers from Worksop had a great day from the bank near Fantasy Island. David took 8 fish for 20lb 3oz but Daniel took the best a 4lb rainbow. Most of the fish came on goldheads and black lures fished across the wind.

The Bob Church Open, the first match of the season, was held on Sunday. Victory went to Luke Shevlin of Empingham with 8 fish for 33lb 4oz. Luke will fish for England in the Youth World Championships in Portugal this Summer. Luke is one of four local young anglers fishing for England this year and being sponsored by Anglian Water. With 8 fish for 21lb 4oz in under 2 hours, Luke qualified for a time bonus total weight of 33lb 4oz, beating Paul Tapping into second place. Local angler Graham Pearson was a couple of ounces behind Paul, taking third. Seven anglers caught their limit. The top 20 anglers all weighed in over 10lb of fish, despite the stormy conditions, which left some of the anglers struggling.

Best areas avoiding the coloured water. Good bays of Sailing Club, Normanton and Barnsdale Best methods black lures, black and green tadpole

Grafham Water The best rainbow of the season so far was caught this week by season ticket holder Gerry Bailey of Knebworth. Gerry caught this fish on a di 7 line with a minkie booby whilst boat fishing off the seat. Bank anglers have been successful fishing on floating lines with black and green lures or small nymphs. Gaynes Cove/ Plummer Park, the Seat and the Lodge Bank have all produced some cracking sport on mainly Montana's, cats, GRHE and damsel nymphs on floating or sinking lines.



Grafham Water has fished very well this week considering that the wind has been a strong south westerly. From Saturday 1 April restrictions off the west end of the reservoir have been lifted, opening up a large area of the reservoir for both bank and boat anglers, this will aid anglers, especially if the south westerly winds persist. Best rainbow 4lb 14oz taken by Gerry Bailey of Knebworth, boat fishing off the seat with a minkie booby Best boat areas Gaynes Cove, Plummer Park, Seat, Sludge Bank, Valley Creek, West bank Best bank areas Gaynes Cove, Plummer Park, Lodge bank Best methods floating lines - GRHE, damsel nymphs, Montana's, cats whiskers and buzzers Sinkers – cats whiskers, Montana's, vivas, boobies, GRHE and damsel nymphs

Pitsford Water A ten pound rainbow for season permit holder Tom Connor on Saturday was the highlight this weekend at

Pitsford. Tom only began trout fishing two years ago when he
attended one of Anglian Water’s beginners courses. Tom said he was delighted with his catch and had great fun catching it.

Senior warden Nathan Clayton weighed it for Tom and showed it to the beginners on the course he was running on the day to demonstrate what could be caught. Tom boat fished despite blustery westerly winds and managed to boat fish on the corner of North Farm Bay, using a floating line and black buzzer. Steve King from Southam also caught a good fish – an 8lb rainbow from the bank last week.

Despite a windy week bank anglers have been catching well from Stone Barn up to the Holly Tree and the Gorse bank. Fish are feeding on a diet of daphnia as buzzer hatches hatches have been sparse due to cold wintry weather, let’s hope for some warm weather. Top methods are floating or slow sink lines with small black and green or orange weighted lures. Mid Northants Trout Fishers found it difficult on Sunday for their spring bank match and winner this year was Alan Harding, who also had the largest trout in his bag, a rainbow of 3lb 8oz.Best boat areas Stone Barn Bay, Gorse Best bank areas Stone Barn Bay, Stilton Point

Ravensthorpe Reservoir Another huge pike was taken on a zonker last Friday by John Sturge who was on a three day holiday package from Margate. The fish took the 40lb scales down with a thump, beating the record set last November, even if the true weight will remain a mystery. John also took rainbows of 10lb and 13lb among a 16 fish catch with the pike totalling over 100lbs.Ravensthorpe is producing some outstanding fishing with big high quality fish. Mark Salt of High Cross was seeing double with twelve fish, including rainbows of 10lb 8oz and 10lb 12oz. Jim Parker of London enjoyed a terrific visit to Ravensthorpe, with 11 rainbows, the heaviest weighing over 10lb. Andy Milner of Leics took 14 fish, including a 10lb plus rainbow. Best rainbow a number of rainbows over 10lb were taken this week, including Mark Salt of High Cross with a rainbow of 10lb 12oz Best bank areas most areas, except for the dam, depending on wind direction Best boat areas all areas with 6-10 feet of water under the boat. Best methods Some fish coming to lures, but buzzers, GRHE and diawls are now taking over. The best areas are around 6-10 feet deep. Floating lines are best or very slow sinking line with nymphs fished slowly. Good numbers of over wintered fish are showing for both boat and bank anglers.

Barnsfold Water Chipping Despite the wet and windy weather last
week the fishing was steady. best fish 8lb 10oz rainbow taken on small damsel by John Burgess. Quite a lot of limit bags taken on small

lures. Some good fish being taken on emergers and G.R.H.E A slight
rise in water temp would work wonders and give us the buzzer hatch which Barnsfold is famous for Ticket prices for new season are Full day £20 4 fish limit, half day £14 2 fish limit. Full day sport ticket £15 half day sport £10 evening (3hrs) £8 1 fish limit Tel 0995-61583

Rivers Ribble, Calder, Hodder and Aire With all the welcome rain over the past week, the river have been high and flowing fast. No fly fishing really possible. Several cormorants have been seen on the Ribble Hodder and the Aire. Its quite rare to see one of these birds on the river Aire. A lot of mink have been trapped over the past week on both the Ribble and Aire. The more that are trapped at this time of the year the better it will be for ground nesting and song birds.

Coarse fishing Ardleigh The recent warm weather has resulted in some excellent catches of bream and tench. Ian Taylor, fishing at Wick Lane, had two tench to 7½lb along with six bream. Fishing the same stretch Chris Dale also had several brown to 6½lb . Clive Baldwin was also amongst the tench with two fish and Clive also had a good mixed bag of roach and rudd from the Wick Lane Lakes.

Leeds and Liverpool Canal Anglers fishing the Cross Keys length near Skipton over the past week have caught some nice bream despite the coloured water. Float fishing red worm and caster on a 14 hook was the successful method.