Rod average - 5.0
Current Boat in time: Back on the pontoon for 1730hrs until Saturday 26th October.
It’s been an interesting week here at Grafham Water. The bank fishing has remained consistently, exceptional, whereas the boat fishing, has been challenging some days & the prolific on others.
The fish are still feeding predominately on Fry & Shrimp as you would expect for this time of year & are generally found in areas where you would expect to find. The Shrimp feeders are being found round the margins, where the bank anglers are really benefitting & some excellent returns have been recorded daily. Washing Lined or Straight-Lined Hares Ears & Shrimp Patterns are still producing some excellent returns, as are Fry patterns, namely Olive, White & Black Snakes, fished on slow sinking intermediate lines. Another Fry pattern that has become prominent this last week has been the Popper Fry where it has proven on days, to be very effective from boat the boats & the banks.
With the fish being predominately closer in, the boat anglers have, on occasions, struggled to get into the right areas to catch consistently due to the busy banks. However, those boats anglers who have been more successful have been those who have not followed the crowd & gone to find fish elsewhere in some of the less busy areas. As previously mentioned, the water temperature has now dropped everywhere around the water & subsequently the Shrimp can be found more widespread. Another tactic proven to productive for some boat anglers is to target the fry feeders in, over & around the many weed beds further out from the banks with Minkies, Humungus & Snakes. There has been great fish caught doing this with Rainbows to 6-7lb & even the Browns have started to show with plenty in the 4-5lb bracket & some even larger being caught. Please observe the rules with regards to Browns, that all Browns are to be returned.
The most productive boat areas have been Pig Bay to the Willows, the Dam & the Seat out to E Buoy. Whereas the bank anglers have caught well from Hedge End to the Willows & also along the dam. Obviously, both boat & bank anglers have, on occasions, come into proximity to each other & we would like to take this opportunity to remind all anglers about etiquette & conduct when fishing Grafham Water. Please be respectful to other water users. The current rule that applies to boat & bank anglers with regards to distance is Boats are not to encroach 50yds on bank anglers. Any conflict of interests, please call the rangers at the time of incident so relevant action can be taken, when it is pertinent.
There has been a noticeable change this week in the fish’s feeding behavior, with some great returns recorded from Fry patterns, so please remember to ring the changes with regards to fly choices, methods & areas until you find what & where works work on the day.