So I was out on magnificent Rutland on Saturday. Conditions were not perfect as it was wall to wall sun and very little breeze. I had been given prior info that it had been fishing quite tough but that there were three or four spots where there was a good concentration of fish. So I headed to the nearest and to my surprise, it was free of boat traffic. So I anchored up in Yellowstone bay which was tree lined and very calm. I was immediately encouraged by fish moving on the surface. The water was unbelievably clear. I plumbed the depth and it was just over 12 feet deep. To give you an idea of the clarity this is an image of my anchor rope
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You can clearly see the anchor on the bottom in over 12 feet of water. This clarity was all over the reservoir and I have never seen it quite as good as this.
I was set up on 4 straight line buzzers and second cast in I hooked a fish on the second buzzer down which must have been about 2 feet deep. Although I subsequently lost the fish, I concluded the fish must be relatively high in the water so changed from straightlining to a washing line set up. That was done simply by replacing my point buzzer with my favourite FAB which would keep the three buzzers behind it in the top 4 feet.
This proved to be a good ploy and over the course of the morning I picked up fish regularly including three Brownies. Some on the Fab and others on the buzzers. The water was so clear it was like fishing in an aquarium - you could clearly see pods of fish moving past the boat. I had decided the afternoon would be for moving about and trying to find one of the big resident fish (Rainbows and Browns up to 8lb are not uncommon) So up to the top of the South Arm where my target was to fish a little spot called Hideaway Bay. Unfortunately there were 4 or 5 boats already operating in there so i did a slow drift for 45 minutes across the top of the south arm pulling a single humungus on a Di5 sweep line trying to get a big brownie to chase. Nothing doing unfortunately but I did get to see one boat playing a fish for at least 20 minutes. Turned out to be a big pike.
Back down the water (it takes 30 minutes to get from the top of the South Arm back down to the main basin and another 30 minutes from there to the top of the North arm such is the size of the place). I stopped in another three or four places but there was nothing like the concentration of fish I had had at Yellowstone. Despite that picked up a couple and retired on a dozen fish in all.
What a beautiful place this is. Stunning. On Thursday we went down to the Lyndon reserve to spend a couple of hours with the ospreys and their three day old chicks. That was good enough but I was lucky enough to see my first Hobby (a small raptor that favours swallows, sand martins and dragon flies as its main prey). A walk from Barnsdale to Whitwell amongst the woods and bluebells followed. Difficult to believe all this just 40 minutes from Leicester.
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Please note the City trim on my fishing jacket (courtesy Halkon Hunt).