April 21st – 27th

169 anglers caught 824 fish of which 594 were returned.

Best Fish
10lb 4oz Roly Stanford, Finedon, black/red buzzer, boat
7lb 8oz George Brock, Corby, olive buzzer
7lb 0oz Fred Tarry, Northampton, boat
6lb 8oz Alan Bettles, Wigston, white/green lure
5lb 7oz Phil Smith, Nottingham, black shipmans
5lb 6oz Dave McEwan, Sandy, red/green buzzer
5lb 6oz Trevor Partridge, Corby, black buzzer, boat
5lb 0oz Mr Earl, Norwich, gold head damsel, boat

Best Areas
Bank – dam, boat bay, brookside, gravel bar, shallow bay
Boat – all areas holding fish but especially good at gravel bar and boat bay

Best Patterns
black or olive buzzer, red diawl bach, small black dries, grhe, small damsel, cruncher or hopper booby, orange blob, cats whisker

On windier days the fish were preoccupied with buzzers slightly deeper down although an intermediate line worked well for boat anglers with a damsel or cats whisker on the point and diawl bach and hares ear on the droppers.
When the wind dropped the fish were right on top with some spectacular rises. Today, Monday, there was a huge hatch of small black and olive buzzers along with the first sign of hawthorn fly and there were fish rising all day although not easy to catch!
Anglers using dry fly have had most success using size 14 or smaller although as the fish get used to the hawthorn they should take larger dries such as a black hopper.
Washing line has also worked well with an imitative booby on the point with small diawl bachs or buzzers on the dropper.
There is a good evening rise almost every night from around 7.30pm particularly on the dam, boat bay, gravel bar and shallow bay.
The lake is crystal clear now so anglers are advised to use fluorocarbon or a clear mono leader.

Next Stocking
April 30th, May 6th

Sunday May 11th – Tommy Wood Memorial bank competition.
Free entry, everyone welcome in this friendly match. Proceeds of the raffle to Sue Ryder Thorpe Hall Hospice. 9am – 4pm. Anglers may fish wherever they wish but may only use buzzers on a floating line.

Saturday May 24th – Elinor is pleased to be holding a heat of the Scierra Pairs boat competition. Only a couple of boats still available.
Full details/entry form at http://www.scierrapairs.co.uk

Saturday June 7th – Elinor is holding a heat of the TEFF Greys National Bank Championships with the final to be fished at Elinor on Saturday 11th April 2015 to decide the England Bank team.
Entry forms available at the lodge or http://www.te-ff.org