www.rwff.org.uk June 2013 Newsletter

The Lake …The Lake …The Lake … Throughout the period since the last newsletter in April, the Lake has remained at a pretty constant level. This has a huge ecologi-cal benefit in keeping the fauna within range of the fishing banks. This has been amply borne out by the vast buzzer hatches experi-enced during May. These have been arguably the best in 20 years of fish-

ing and have inevitably led to the rapid mending of the stock fish. Also available in the margins are corixa. Everything was at least a month behind with haw-thorns still on the wing and numerous daddy longlegs appearing on the surface, neither of which seemed to be of any real interest to the fish; no doubt due to the dense buzzer hatches. Some of fish are still grazing on the pink

shrimp (see the picture on page 2) which is normally available during the colder months of the season. This is a further indication of the lateness of the year with the water tempera-ture in late May still only 11° C. The water has remained beautifully clear with only an occasional bloom of algae which has not in any way interfered with the fishing. The early season 2lb stock fish are now approaching an average of 3lb in weight, silver and many with a bloom in the tail giving the appearance of overwintered fish. There’s been no lack of the latter due to the over-wintering of last year’s stock fish on the pink shrimp: a very important addition to their diet. Many of these fish are now in excess of 7lb in weight and their bright red

Chairman: John Maitland, 7 St Albans Close, Oakham, LE15 6EW. Tel: 01572 756650 Treasurer: Paul Wild, 33 Kelthorpe Close, Ketton, Stamford, Lincolnshire, PE9 3RS. Tel: 01780 720308 or e-mail: paulwild1@sky.com Minute Secretary: Roy Taylor, 4 Tolethorpe Close, Oakham, LE15 6GF. Tel: 01572 723496 or e-mail: roy_taylor_home@hotmail.com. Secretary: John Wadham, 6 Mendip Road, Oakham, LE15 6NN. Tel: 01572 771092 e-mail: john@ewadham.fsnet.co.uk

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flesh indicates what a benefit this diet is. As bank anglers we have been very lucky this year in that, due to the ex-tensive buzzer hatches (see picture Buzzer supper below), the fish have been widespread and have been caught all around the banks and not just confined to the tops of both arms in a precise depth of water. We were “lucky” in having Northeast winds for a good part of the spring as this allowed us to fish the non-working banks. On the overcast days fish have been moving freely almost within touching distance of the one’s rod mainly be-

tween the hours of 1000 and 1800: gentleman’s hours! After that they have disappeared and then reappeared at about 9 o’clock in vast quantities and proving very diffi-cult catch. The three Devon lads fishing entirely from the bank took 176 fish during their week’s holiday. Also, the Dar-lington set, as we are pleased to call them, had a similar bonanza. This vividly reminds one of the dense buzzer hatches of the golden mid 80s when driving along the Peninsula road one-hit a “fog” of insects and had to stop and clear the windscreen for safety reasons. (see Buzzer storm picture below right). In April, fish were grazing on huge quantities of blood worms and this, quite clearly at the time, suggested that they might lead to these amaz-ing buzzer hatches. The reason for this is mainly due to the lack of drawdown last summer so that at no time were the margins exposed to drought or frost. Our many coarse fishing members must be drooling at the mouth at the immense size and sheer numbers of bream this season. Brian Bonner has been catching some superb speci-mens on buzzers on a washing line if you please! Lou Carlin caught this monster Bream (see his picture above right) of about 9lb from the Green Bank. You can easily detect their wherea-bouts by the acres of discoloured water. The trout seem to avoid this and seem loath to rise in it.

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So, where is it all at? As previously mentioned the fish have been well spread out. If one had to name a few special places, then the Dam, Fantasy Island to Blue Pipes, Whitwell Creek to Stockie Bay, Green Bank, Old Hall Bay, Old Hall point, Dalton’s, Yellow-stone to Inman’s Spinney. Should you be waiting to go out in a boat and your partner is late, there are a number of good fish in the har-bour. At the time of writing the South banks are now available for fishing due to the change of wind direction. After what was arguably this best buzzer hatch in many years, the hatch of May is now slowly declining. But there are good evening rises: but quite late. So don’t give up too early. The fish are evidently moving towards bottom feeding: especially during the

daytime: the main diet being snails and the now active caddis. Maybe this is where the larger overwintered fish are at present – no doubt putting on good weight. Let’s hope the presence of caddis in their stomachs now will, as with the early season blood worms, portend some good sedge fishing.

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Going Fishing Afloat by Al OwenGoing Fishing Afloat by Al OwenGoing Fishing Afloat by Al Owen After being asked by JW to do some-thing about 'boat fishing' I came to the conclusion that this was by far, too lengthy a subject to cover in one go. So, having pondered how to cover the subject, I came to the conclusion that the best place to start was with the basics - here goes. There are two ways in which one can put 'more fish' in the boat other than mastering the various fishing tech-niques involved and they are: Water-craft and Boat Etiquette. Let's talk about the latter to start with. Fly fishing is supposed to be a 'gentlemanly' sport, so why do so many exhibit what can only be de-scribed as ungentle manly conduct when they are in a boat out on the water? All too often we see boats encroaching on a 'bank anglers' peg, anchoring in another boat’s drift. Some even start motoring up another boat’s drifts, fishing far too close to another boat and in general, making what should be a pleasant fishing day for those around them, a day they would rather forget. Whilst all that I have so far men-tioned, is part and parcel of the AW boat rules, it's amazing just how many ignore them. I'm not for one minute suggesting that RWFF members are guilty, but would strongly recommend that we set a high standard when we ourselves are out on the water and perhaps have a 'friendly' word with those that seem oblivious.

Moving on, good watercraft can cer-tainly put those few extra fish in the boat on the most difficult of days. Never, motor up a drift in which you intend to fish. Try giving the area a wide berth, ap-proach the drift with the engine on idle and ensure you stop the boat before the drogue is deployed. The same rule applies if putting out the anchor. Lower the anchor away from the side of the boat, there is nothing worse than hearing that awful 'grating' sound as the anchor chain slide's over the side - just imagine what that sounds like amplified to the fish! Always remember that the throttle has more than one setting, you don't have to have it on at full blast all the time. Good organisation of gear within the confines of the boat always helps, it is good to have everything at hand yet still have sufficient space to fish and have access to the drogue and/or anchor. There is also a safety aspect in this, poor organisation within the boat can lead to trips and falls and maybe a soaking so always set your gear out before you leave the pontoon and it will make for a far better day afloat. Last but not least, try not to make any loud sounds on the bottom of the boat by dropping things. These sounds are hugely amplified through the water and do spook the fish. Always try and consider what the fish will hear by, not only your approach to a location but also by the way you

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taking flies in a certain way of their choosing. Usually a Bob’s Bits or CDC will catch fish without trouble in the margins, but not this year. I went through all my usual flies in different sizes from a size10 to a size16 but without con-sistent success. Yes the odd fish would take but many times the flies would be completely ignored – not even a swirl – very unu-sual for the time of year. It was not until the last week of May that I started to use a GRHE suspender buzzer (the suspender part made from trimmed down booby material) and

move around the boat and carry out tasks such as dispatching your quarry. Its unreal how many anglers hit the fish on the head on the bottom of the boat, holding the fish in fresh air alle-viates that problem? To conclude, before returning to the jetty, have some sympathy for the fellow that has to prepare the boat for the following day. They should not have to clear the boat of unwanted leaders, rubbish, mud and weed. Try and return the boat in the same state as it was when you got in. It all goes a long way in the end. Hope this has been of some help, the next in-stalment will cover some of the fish-ing techniques employed whilst afloat. Thanks for reading. On the Dries by Peter de KremerOn the Dries by Peter de KremerOn the Dries by Peter de Kremer Dry fly fishing for Rutland trout has been exceptional this year with re-ports of fish being caught off the sur-face right from the first few days of the season – although I did not catch on dries until the last week in April. Since then, 90% of my trout have been taken on dry flies and almost exclusively from the bank as many fish have been feeding within 15 yards of the shoreline. The fact that fish are willing to come into only a few feet of water for their food makes surface fishing much easi-er, as they are by definition nearer the surface anyway. But there have been many times when these fish have proven all but impossible to catch, being locked into

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although not fooling lots of fish it did at least provoke more takes and swirls. Eventually it seemed to work best late in the day – often the most difficult time in very heavy hatches when loads of fish were rising but proving uncooperative, if not impossible – and was most effective when moved in very small jerky twitches. The best result was one of the first fish I took on this method with a size 14 GRHE suspender when fishing from the dam. After 3 hours casting to lots of fish with no result on other flies, I switched to the suspender and caught a rainbow of about 7lb as shown on the previous page (p5) which was taken by Nigel Savage). The fish was weighed in the net and returned as I did not have the heart to kill such a lovely fish which put up an amazing fight taking 50-metres of backing at times. Since then this fly has been much more effective than anything else alt-hough in the last few days – 12th June – my usual Bob’s Bits has begun to work much better again possibly due to a change in the type of buzzer hatching off. My set-up has been a Bob’s Bits in various sizes and colours on the top dropper with one or sometimes two GRHE suspenders in different sizes as the other two flies. Tie the fly with 3 or 4 turns of copper wire to ensure that it sits vertically and use fluorocarbon to ensure the

leader sinks and is thus invisible to the fish. The suspender part of the fly if ginked-up will ensure that the fly will not sink but sits vertically with the suspender part easily visible to the angler. Specimen Fish Specimen Fish Specimen Fish Since Al Owen took his fine 10lb 5 oz rainbow which leads the field for the trophy for the best rainbow trout of the season taken by club member. Some fine rainbows and browns have also been netted by club members this season. Not only have there been large fish but large catches as well. Recently, Peter De Kremer caught an astonish-ing six fish limit from the dam on suspender GRHE weighing 25lb. Two days previously to that he caught a 7 pound rainbow by a simi-lar method. 4lb fish are in abundance and may be encountered anywhere around the lake. Beware of the “double or even triple hook up”. In the presence of so many stock fish in the margins fishing with more than one fly on a leader can be quite dangerous. There have been many instances of anglers having double or triple hook ups. A friend of mine had this experi-ence and left a size 8 Minkie in a rainbow estimated to be 4 pounds in weight. Three days later JW caught the fish weighing 3lbs 14 oz and return the fly to its rightful owner! (see Al’s picture

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above) Hedge End has already re-trieved 5 flies from fish. These were no doubt the casualties of this. Generally speaking fishing light-er – e.g. #5 weight gear will allow some give on the double take. RWFFRWFFRWFF———John Wadham Trophy Re-John Wadham Trophy Re-John Wadham Trophy Re-sults Friday May 17th 2013sults Friday May 17th 2013sults Friday May 17th 2013 The match was fished on a dull cold evening with a light northerly wind. Numbers were down as it unfortu-nately coincided with the “Bob Church Classic”. Congratulations to junior member Graham Hayward (picture on right) whose winning limit came from the dam on buzzers fished under the “bung”.

Steve Crowder caught his limit from Yellowstone on an orange Booby on a slow sinking line. Graham also took the prize for the best fish of the

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match: a nice chunky but fit rainbow of 3lb 14oz. Fish were also caught from Whitwell and East Creek. The evening finished with fish and chips eaten in a cold and icy blast! Cutting TrophyCutting TrophyCutting Trophy———June 8thJune 8thJune 8th The match is a members only even-ing bank match and was fished on a fine clear evening with a chilly North Easterly wind. Congratulations to Dave Porter (see Dave’s picture above right) who ran out an easy winner with his catch taken on dry hoppers. He pipped Rob

Teasdale by one ounce to take the prize for the best fish. Dave’s fish were caught mainly on hoppers and had been feeding main-ly on pink shrimp. This was quite a good result considering the condi-tions. Members were casting to many ap-parently “impossible” rising fish. Rutland Water Bank Side Erosion Protection Project Work is now in progress on the Yel-lowstone to Inman’s spinney shore-line. This is, as you might guess, is a sub-stantial part of the project. Next on the agenda will be the right hand (South) point of Barnhill Creek. Then, they will be working from Car-

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rot Creek to Armley Wood. The two woods Armley & Hambleton will be done when the water level drops. Access to the bank between the Finch-es and Armley Wood is available via a gangway just east of the main lower Finches car park. Also, immediately downhill from the upper Finches car park on the left-hand side of the hedge line. The accesses are through the guard rails. It is very important, in order to ensure that sheep don’t stray into the working area, to close these “gates” before and after leaving. Fishery staffs are aware of our access problems and are in discussions with the contractors Carillion with regard to finding ways of improving access for bank anglers. Harrowing and seeding of the existing spoil has already been carried out in some areas. Rutland Youth fly Fishing Day Rutland Youth fly Fishing Day Rutland Youth fly Fishing Day ––– Sunday 14th July 2013Sunday 14th July 2013Sunday 14th July 2013 So far we have upwards of 70 appli-cants. More importantly is the need for boatmen to ensure that they can all get out on the water for the day. So, if you can help out please contact the organisers. Malcolm March on 01780 722466 / Chris Evans / John Wadham / Matt Gregory or any other committee member as soon as you possibly can. Plans are well underway … again there has been fantastic support from EA again this year, together with the ATrust and Anglian Water, Sains-bury’s, Sonic and 'The Fly Tying Shop'.

70 entrants with a week to closing date. 42 boatmen signed up but still need a few more sign up via www.rutlandwaterflyfishers.co.uk. Anglian WaterAnglian WaterAnglian Water———Water Aid Fly Water Aid Fly Water Aid Fly Fishing ChallengeFishing ChallengeFishing Challenge———Rutland Wa-Rutland Wa-Rutland Wa-ter 5th & 6th SEPTEMBER 2013ter 5th & 6th SEPTEMBER 2013ter 5th & 6th SEPTEMBER 2013 R.W.F.F. Itinerary Thursday September 5th 1000hrs M a k e u p

goodie bags, Rods Etc. 2 hours

1700 – 1900 hrs Cas t -ing clinic for novices Ad lib

Friday September 6th 0800hrs Assemble at the

Fishing Lodge for group photo. 0830hrs Casting tuition

after registration - if time al-lows

0930hrs Safety briefing and rules by AWS staff.

1000hrs Fishing 1700 hrs Weigh in 1800 hrs Dinner 1830 hrs Raffle Draw 1930 hrs Prize giving 2000 hrs Close On Thursday 6th the casting clinics will be supervised by John Wadham and Malcolm March and held in the field west of the lodge below the Normanton car park. Style access is near the west end of the harbour wall. For safety reasons the area will be cordoned off from the public. It would be ideal if one boatman could pick up a pair of beginners at

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After the match, there will be a meal and presentation to which we are invited. There will be a briefing by the Anglian Water duty warden just before the off. If you are unable to attend please let one of us know in good time. Malcolm March: 01780 722466

or mobile 07906 350748 John Wadham: 01572 771092

or mobile 07873 214116 Catmose College TeachCatmose College TeachCatmose College Teach---InInIn Thanks to our committee members this has proved very popular and it is intended to repeat it next year. A big thank you to all the committee members and to Rob Waddington (see the picture below) for giving up their time and to Chris Evans for set-ting it all up – especially the risk as-sessment document.

registration or at the casting evening and stay with them for the duration, ushering them around. Please get to the fishing lodge on time on 6th as a photographer will be present so that we get some press coverage - it would help if we had a spare camera on hand – just in case! It might be a good idea to educate your protégés in boat handling in-cluding how to use the motor. That way you can sit in the middle, direct operations and duck as appropriate! Life jackets will be available and must be worn on the day. There will be sufficient fishing kits for all novices, who must wear hat & glasses, be in possession of rod li-cences and be aware of the fishery regulations and safety code. For identification purposes we hope to be supplied with hi-viz AWS vests.

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From the Chairman From the Chairman From the Chairman ——— with a crack-ing 4lb Rainbow! It is still almost 6 months until the next AGM, but at that time, I will be relinquishing the position of chairman, though I am prepared to continue on your committee as either a full or co-opted member. At the same time, Roy Taylor will re-sign from the committee after a long term as minutes/membership secre-tary. While John Wadham intends to relin-quish some of the many duties which he has picked up over the years. While it seems likely that other com-mittee members will take on Roy’s duties, these changes mean that we are looking for one or two members to join the committee. If any member has an interest in do-ing this, could he please give John Maitland a ring. The main requirements are a willing-ness to get stuck into jobs which will benefit our club and to attend up to 6 committee meetings a year. Some IT skills would be a great advantage. ShorelinkShorelinkShorelink This new bus service appears to do a round trip of the reservoir and could be very useful for visitors and local anglers and does a route which visits Egleton, Hambleton turn, Barnsdale, Whitwell, Empingham, Normanton, Edith Weston, Lyndon, Manton, Pres-ton and Uppingham. For full details of this service visit: rutland.gov.uk/shorelink or telephone (01572) 722577

R e c e i p t o f N e w s l e t t e r sR e c e i p t o f N e w s l e t t e r sR e c e i p t o f N e w s l e t t e r s At present, newsletters are sent out to members either electronically by e/g-mail or by post as a hard printed copy. This is based on the member electing for which of the option they would prefer, and completing the necessary section of the application form. As members sometimes neglect to complete this section, or alternatively simply pay by cash at one of the club winter meetings, it is difficult to know exactly what their preference is and as a result the newsletter is sent out by post. This incurs significant printing and postage costs that might be avoided if the newsletter was sent out electroni-cally and so we are asking members to either consider/re-consider how

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they receive their newsletters, and if they wish to change to electronic they should contact either Roy Taylor or Paul Wild. Details can be found on the front of this newsletter, and let either of them know your preference. Burghley Show 2013Burghley Show 2013Burghley Show 2013 Rutland Water Fly Fishers members helped out on the Salmon & Trout As-sociation stand at the Burghley Show over the Spring bank holiday. The weather was perfect compared with last year when we were setting up the stands in 3" of standing water! The photograph below shows Chris Evans son, Noah having some instruc-tion and doing remarkably well in the

casting accuracy stakes - with a little help from Dad! Over the two days we were also able to recruit some juniors for the Youth Fly Fishing Day on July 14th. The RWFF secretary had some very valuable spey & single spey casting from AAGPAI casting instructor Brian Towers from North Yorkshire: prior to going on his first salmon fishing expe-dition - to the Thurso. A great day out. Baffled or Bemused by the new Baffled or Bemused by the new Baffled or Bemused by the new Car Parking barriers at Rutland?Car Parking barriers at Rutland?Car Parking barriers at Rutland? For guidance and help please visit: http://www.angl ianwater.co.uk/_assets/media/Barrier_Leaflet.pdf

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