Grafham Water week ending 3rd December 2023

Trout:

The fairly sudden change to cold, wintery temperatures came as a bit of a surprise to most of us even though we know that it is December already. The Trout seems to have gotten a bit shy in these frosty conditions.

‘G’ mark and the Willows remain to be very popular spots as well as the jetty at Marlow. The online fishing reports stated a good mix of 2-5 pound rainbows being caught.

The advice for bank fishers remains that it is best to keep moving and to not wade too far out. The water is clear so the fish are likely to see your fly, just keep it moving.

For boat anglers the advice is also to stay close to the edges as far as is reasonable and focus on long drifts, keeping a slow pace so that more ground can be covered. The North Shore area remains one of the best spots and we have started seeing people trying their luck on the south shore.

This week’s Federation of Anglers Meeting was a fantastic event. Representatives from Anglian Water and our local fishing clubs came together to look back on our fishing season and talk about how we are going forward into the next season. Very interesting questions were raised and discussed and it was good to see the collaborative approach that everyone is taking.

Please can we encourage even more anglers to submit their catch returns online and to include more detail in the comments. We enjoy talking to you face to face when you return from the boats and when we meet you out bank fishing but when putting together the fishing report for you it is really helpful to have some detailed and tangible information in one place so we can relay it back to you.

If you have any questions about the online system please feel free to pop into the lodge. The next dedicated open day for any queries about the online system is December 15th.

Predator:

The Perch are still around the Marlow Jetty ‘G’ Mark and in front of the willows. Alternatively, the pipework on the western side if the boils near the Dam tower usually holds fish as well as the main basin.

Yesterday’s predator match returned a pike just over 1 meter long as well as some nice Zander.

Online boat booking – We are pleased to announce our online boat booking system is now live!

Please be aware, from November the 13th onwards all boats bookings at Rutland, Grafham, Pitsford and Ravensthorpe will need to be paid for at the point of booking. The easiest and best way to book a boat is online at www.anglianwaterparks.co.uk

We strongly advise creating an account on our website (you will need an email address to do this). If you register an account, this will mean:

a) It will speed up any future boat bookings,

b) you can self-amend your booking up to 2 days before your trip – so a boat booked for Saturday can be self-amended up to Midnight Thursday.

c) staff can book a boat for you in the lodge (if you wanted to pay in cash for example)

d) Season ticket holders can keep tabs on how many fish they have taken for the season

You won’t need an account if you are a ‘walk-in’ and pay on the day without having pre-booked, however please note, from November the 13th we will no longer be able to process split boat payments in the lodge for walk-ins.

If you have any questions, please email our Retail and online manager Neil at: natkins2@anglianwater.co.uk

AW fisheries team