Rod average - 8.0
The recent cooler, longer nights & strong winds has seen a noticeable reduction in the water temperature here at Grafham. Subsequently the water has fished very well from both the boat & bank, yielding a rod average of 8, which is excellent for this time of year. With changeable weather conditions, fish have behaved as you would very much expect & have been caught at a variety of depths. During periods of cloud cover, they have been caught very high in the water column & dropper deeper when the skies are bright & clear, often fluctuating in accordance with the conditions by the hour. The many deeper drop offs along the north shore have proven to be very productive during the week.
From the boats effective methods include straight lining a team of nymphs; Diawl Bachs & Hare’s Ears, the washing line with colour on the point & small nymphs on the droppers & pulling snakes, humungous and other fry imitation patterns at a variety of depths.
From the banks, anglers have successfully caught in the mornings and evenings, with the brighter intervals during the day proving to be more challenging as the fish move out to deeper water. The percentage method from the bank has been the washing line with foam back shrimp, fabs and boobies on the point & hairs ears and Daiwl Bachs on the droppers, allowing them to swing around on the wind. Other productive methods include Dries when the conditions are right & Pulling when the fish are actively feeding. Recently, there have been a few fish also caught on Foam Daddies with the prevailing northerly wind blowing terrestrials onto the water along the north shore.
Sunday saw us host the 2024 England Ladies national final which saw 10 anglers take to the water & between them they caught an impressive 99 fish, producing a competition rod average of 9.9, which is excellent given the changeable conditions. Congratulations to all competitors & very well done to Sam Edmunds, who was crowned the 2024 England Ladies National Champion with an exceptional bag of 19 fish, the successful method was the Washing Line with a Booby on the point.
The forecast indicates that next week we will see more reduction in the water temperature which bodes very well for the forthcoming week where Grafhams excellent recent form looks set to continue.