Rutland Water 14th May
Following 2 days of strong cool westerly winds with little in the way of insect life hatching match day was bright and still with only the slightest of southerly and easterly breezes at times through the day. At the start some boats headed towards the blue pipes where good fish had been seen moving to shrimps and snails and a bank angler had caught an early limit.
Other boats headed in the direction of the south arm, stopping off at Yellowstone, old hall bay, daltons point and Hideaway bay. Most people were fishing various tip lines coupled with buzzers, muskins and a variety of nymphs. Despite the bright conditions most people seemed to get into fish. As the day progressed boats moved around at one point most of the Grafham team were in Hideaway Bay , Mark Brinkman and Chris Bobby catching well. Some boats tried Barnsdale and Dickensons although these areas had been fished hard in recent weeks.
The Soldier Palmer team won the event convincingly by ignoring the buzzer feeders and targeting the recently introduced fish which were holding deeper and were willing to pull the blob / fab presented on a Di 5 line. They had 3 12 fish limits and the top individual Safique Ahmed who included 3 3-8 rainbows in his bag . I believe they were caught in the bay beyond Old Hall. The biggest fish weighed was 4-13 caught by Chris Evans of RWFF on a hares ear near the blue pipes in the basin although my partner Chris Bobby returned a rainbow estimated at 8lb in Hideaway bay.
Fortunately there was only 1 blank although a few anglers struggled in the calm conditions, as usual at this time of year the fish like their buzzers static . The water was exceptionally clear and it was possible to see trout swimming around in front of the boats. No brown trout were killed in the competition to preserve the stocks for which Rutland is renowned.
After the event 18 anglers had a pulled pork burger, fries coleslaw salad etc in the Lodge restaurant which was well received . I was disappointed that only Rwff, Tunbridge, Soldier Palmers and 2 Bewl anglers stopped for the meal.
Paul Wild