Latest from Grafham Water
Grafham Water is experiencing typical fishing conditions for the time of year; with some days of bright skies and very warm weather. So with rising water temperatures the fish swim to the deeper water away from the shore. This has resulted in some challenging bank fishing. In addition a vast quantity of water has been pumped in from the River Ouse, raising the levels far higher than usual for the time of year at Grafham. This is going to influence the behavior of the fish.
Grafham experienced fantastic sport both from the bank and from boats when we re-opened for fishing in April and continued with glowing reports from the many anglers who visited, right through to May. Many high catches were reported with comments like “30 to the boat”, “28 to the boat”, “6lb Brown trout, 8lb Rainbows”; “The best period I have known at Grafham”. It’s disappointing that we aren’t currently experiencing as many red letter days.
35,000 quality trout from three highly regarded fish farms have been stocked so far at Grafham since January. Fewer matches and last year’s Lockdown mean that the water is full of fish; it’s just a question of working out which method to use, what fly to present and with a little patience you will be handsomely rewarded. One such angler took a boat out on Wednesday. He hadn’t fished Grafham in 10 years but knew the water extremely well having fished with us frequently since the sixties. He returned with 6 quality rainbows. He didn’t have a FAB in his fly box and wasn’t even sure what one was! His success was as a result of going back to his old haunts, fishing a 20 foot leader with a ptn on a single dropper and a lightly dressed damsel on the point. “It was just like it used to be in the eighties” was his comment.
So for the time being you will probably need to hire a boat and fish the deeper water with a long leader and mix it up with your choice of fly. Look for something different in your fly box and vary your choice of pattern and fly. Maybe the trout have got wise to seeing the same fly presentations, especially if they have been caught and released a few times. Don’t be despondent, work out what needs to be done and come and have some fun. We look forward to seeing you soon.