Fish 434 (Season 27,429) Returns 186 (5,994) Rod average 2.33 (4.57)
After the challenging fishing of the last couple of weeks here at Rutland the sleeping giant is now waking up! The week started with practice sessions for the inter services match, with the RAF, Army and Navy taking part. Information from the practice was that the fishing was improving every day, this culminated in match day fishing a rod average of 3.1 for the match.
Pods of fish were found in open water from Old Hall to Normanton Church. On match day most of the fleet went into the south arm and the Army boats seemed to be catching at a steady rate. Little did they know that an RAF angler was further down wind bagging up; ultimately this made the difference.
he RAF pipped the Army by a 10lb margin, with the Navy in third. (RAF 103lb, Army 93lb, RN 68lb) Top rod on the day was Dave Eames (RAF) with 12 fish, a superb display of angling. Dave fished a Di3 with FAB’s and cormorants in the middle, concentrating his efforts from Half Moon Spinney across the water from the lodge to Normanton Church in open water. Well done Dave Eames and the RAF Fish Hawks, good angling!
Both bank and boat anglers are catching more consistently over the past week with fry certainly on the menu for both rainbows and browns. Rutland’s famous browns are once again starting to show with a number in the 5-7lb class reported and released. A floating fry, minkie/minkie booby or suspender minkie have all taken fry feeding fish this week from bank and boat. A top tip is if you see a flock of seagulls ‘bombing’ into the water, get over there and fish fry patterns for some explosive but often short lived sport.
There are also quality rainbows falling to these tactics with many over 3lb. Mick Connor took a superbly conditioned 4lb 12oz rainbow along with a quality brown and other rainbows during a session on the boat on Friday. Mick set his stall out to the edges of various weed beds in the South arm with minkies and commented that he had some form of interest in most of the areas he tried.
Large pods of fish are also sitting in open water, particularly in the middle of the South arm and in front of the lodge to Normanton Church. A fast glass or Di3 is a good starting point here, with the fish in the top 3 feet of water. The buoys themselves seem to be concentrating fish in a lot of cases, worth remembering when setting drifts to get close to them. Z buoy and 18-19 buoy (in front of the sailing club) are also holding fish but these are holding deeper with a Di5 or 7 a better option.
Bank anglers have reported sport from Old Hall, Barnhill Creek and Blue pipes down the Normanton bank with fry patterns being a favourite choice.
A further 2,000 rainbows were stocked last week, with 8,500 stocked in the last 4 weeks. Prospects look good for the week ahead with light winds forecast, a great time to target those quality fish round the weed beds!
Please book boats in advance as demand is high throughout September.
Lure fishing for pike, zander and perch only at Rutland commenced on 1 September (continues to 30 September).
Fishing Stats
Best Rainbow: 4lb 12oz taken by Mick Connor.
Mid week boat winner: John Miller of Edinburgh.
Fish stocked: 2,000.
Forthcoming events
WaterAid competition 19 September
Anglian Water Airflo International Final 7-9 October
Anglian Water Autumn Pairs Rudder & non rudder 12 October
Fry Feeders Match 20 October.
George Moore Memorial Trophy (rudder) 26 October
Anglian Water Rudder Match 16 November
Anglian Water Fur & Feather (bank) 1 December
Beginners courses: 22 & 24 September; 4,13,18 & 26 October;2 & 10 November; 8 December; 4 January 2020.
Boat handling courses: 16,21 & 30 October; 4 November.