Going to Rutland on Monday

[shootinfishin]

Any of you guys fished Rutland lately? If so any hints on areas and flies and depth of takes would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)]

Are you boat or bank fishing?

 

[shootinfishin]

Bank, it's a league match (RAF)!

 

[Shrek]

This site might be of help to you:

Rutland Gillies

It's updated fairly regularly.

 

[shootinfishin]

Cheers Adrian that site is excellent!

 

[Colin Brett]

You can also check out the reports for all the AW reservoirs on the following websites [urlwww.gwffa-grafham.co.uk and www.invictaffc.org.uk

Colin

 

[Colin Brett]

Rutland doesn't open until Sunday 1st April!

Depending on wind direction!!

Normanton from the Dam to East creek always has fish, as does Sykes Lane, Stockie bay and Whitwell.

Black buzzers, PT nymphs and Diawl Bachs.
Black and Green lures will also work.

The North arm didn't fish well last year whereas the South arm was quite brilliant at times.

Fishing Daddy long legs in August and September was amazing, some of the best fishing for trout I have ever experienced

Good luck, perhaps see you there?

Colin

 

[shootinfishin]

Thanks very much Colin, I'll be the fat lad trying to eat all the food in the cafe!

 

[Colin Brett]

If the fish are down use a floating line with a long leader with a heavy buzzer to get it down. Fish just one dropper [another BBuzzer] and let it go round on the wind. If you can't help yourself and have to retrieve, do it slowly.

Sometimes an Intermediate fished with a single Black and Green minkie will do the business. It sometimes helps to "Roly Poly" [heaven forbid] at high speed to get takes?????????

Don't be frightened to chop and change.

Colin

 

[shootinfishin]

Excellent, I've got some heavy gauge flash attack buzzers that sink like a stone!

Think I fished just west of Stockie bay last time, only caught one though! Hoping to do better this year.

 

[Colin Brett]

Stockie bay is one of the deepest bank fishing spots on Rutland and provides the classic drop off scenario. A good long cast [30yds?] will put your point fly over 20 feet of water. As you move west the water shallows around the point into the Whitwell shallows. These shallows hold masses of fish when the water starts to warm in May. Problem catching them sometimes as the flys coming off are generally extremely small.
Whitwell is deep as well just be careful wading out to far as it again shelves steeply but on soft mud. Stockie bay is all rocks and gravel!
Whitwell fishes well with a West or North west wind, it pays to fish into the wind from the east bank. Uncomfortable but productive.
As on all reservoirs with a muddy bottom, wading anglers are a pain in the bottom, especially if they keep going in and out.
Try to wade as little as possible especially if it's going to mess up someone else's fishing.

Colin

 

[shootinfishin]

Thanks very much Colin, extremely helpful and will let you know how it goes!
Grant

 

[Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)]

If I was going to Rutland early season to fish from the shore, I would take a medium sinking shooting head weight 8 or even 9 to get out some distance easily, epecially if you are going to fight the wind.

If you are in a competition, catching as many fish as you can becomes the priority rather than going for the over-wintered fish so its on with a fly like a minky or a Viva. Count it down to when you get a take, and then you hopefully have found them. Oh and yes, the roly poly retrieve is perhaps the most deadly.

Fish a different colour fly such as a Cat's Whisker on the dropper.

To fish a shooting head effectively from the shore you will need a line tray.

 

[shootinfishin]

Cheers Ron! is the roly poly, the hand over hand stripping of lures variety?

 

[Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)]

Yes.

You stick the rod under your elbow and retrieve the line hand over hand. The idea is to get a smooth jerkfree fairly fast retrieve.

Another way of getting this sort of retrieve is to push the rod forward at the same time as you strip in line with your right hand. Then you bring the rod backwards at the end of the strip. With a bit of practice you can get a smooth fast jerk free retrieve.

If there is room, you can cast, and then take two or three steps sideways before starting your retrieve. This will cause your fly to "go around the bend" as it were. It's very deadly indeed.

 

[Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)]

Oh and by the way, beware of the smash take with these sorts of retrieves. A mono shooting head backing has a bit of stretch to it.

And use a fairly strong leader - 8lbs fluoro minimum.

 

[shootinfishin]

Great stuff I'll give that a go, if it isn't too rammed where I'm fishing!

I've been using 8lb diamond flouro and Riverge 6lb, looks like I'll be sticking with the 8lb.

 

[Colin Brett]

So how did it go??

I was up there yesterday but shied away from the usual spots because of the crowds of anglers [in your match no doubt?]

I managed 3 nice rainbows [all returned] and a few pulls. Not to bad for a few hours on a really nice day in beautiful surroundings.

Colin

 

[shootinfishin]

Hello Colin, I've been on leave for a week.

I had 5 and my mate had 2.

My fish were 2x 3lbs and 3x 2lbs, mostly on Orange blob type pattern with brass heads.

Most were catching on Orange on the Monday.

Stockie bay was rammed as expected!

 

[Colin Brett]

"Stockie bay was rammed as expected"

Not just Stockie bay but Sykes Lane to Whitwell was elbow to elbow.

I went again last Thursday and struggled to get a pull. There were a few caught but very few. Amazing how the trout can just switch off.

Well done on the 5 you caught.

Colin