August 2010 Qualification

The path to taking part in this years Troutmasters Final 2011 at Grafham Water for me has been an interesting experience littered with catching a series of very large rainbow trout along the way.

It started in the "dog days" of mid August 2010 catching a superb 5lb 5oz 'bow off the top on a dry Daddy Long Legs in just two feet of water. This was witnessed by an attendant audience of an angler who had just arrived on the bank. This was at Tim Appletons at the top of the North Arm of Rutland Water. The visiting bank angler said that seeing this over wintered fish with its huge shovel like tail caught and landed had made his day :) It got a little testing bringing the fish to the net once I realised how large this bright, silver grown on quality fish really was to say the least. The fuller story for this individual catch can be found elsewhere on this Blog here: Rutland 5lb 5oz Personal Best Rainbow Trout

Deciding to register this fish for the RWFF biggest rainbow of the year trophy via the Rutland wardens it turned out there were no RWFF application forms available and only Troutmasters applications. So Nigel Savage, Rutland Warden, completed and submitted this for me to both RWFF and Troutmasters. This is the first time I had ever entered the Troutmasters competition. Though I got a mention in the October 2010 RWFF Newsletter for this fish along several more anglers for their own individual large fish it fell well short of Peter de Kremers massive 6lb+ beauty. This huge fish was also caught in the North Arm and won the RWFF Trout and Salmon Shield for the largest rainbow of the 2010 season.

Rutland Water Fish Off 16th April 2011

Having qualified for the Rutland fish off against other big fish captors on Saturday 16th April, three other anglers arrived with myself at the Rutland Lodge to a very bright day with little cloud cover and even less of a gentle South Westerly breeze that tended towards going totally flat. Fortunately local angler and fellow RWFF member, Dave Porter, took it upon himself to act as my guide for the day and he suggested that I follow him to his preferred spots on the bank. I am glad that I took him up on his kind offer as it turned out that the conditions on the day made it tough going with very few fish showing in the crystal clear water.

After a briefing from Rutland Head Warden John Seaton to clarify the rules that revolved around bank fishing to an 8 x fish limit with no time bonus between 9:30am - 4:30am we then dispersed, me closely following Dave Porter through Edith Weston village towards the Sailing Club.

My preferred tactics of floating line and buzzers/nymphs failed to get a response through out the day despite long casts on a 40 Plus Expert Floating Line. So it became a day of trying changing tactics to find what they would take.

After a couple of hours at New Zealand point I had 5 x pulls but only one fish. They just did not seem to want to stick. Dave Porter was doing even less well and had decided to go on the long walk up through Berry Butts towards Gibbets Gorse. I decided to stay for a short while before following him. Despite trying all along this section of bank nothing was forthcoming so I followed him after 30 x minutes or so.

The move had brought no new luck for Dave so I tried a spot in the calm water some 60 yards or so back along the bank heading back towards Berry Butts. Almost immediately after casting out I had a solid pull that resulted in a spirited fight with a bright silver fish that turned out to be 3lb 5oz in weight. I guestimated this fish to be 2lb 8oz. Seems I under estimate the size of these super, quality fish.

I decided to shuffle down the bank a few yards for the next cast back out. Once again I had a very solid take. This time the fish was even bigger it and turned out to weigh 5lb 10oz. It was very fraught bringing both these fish to the net. So I had two very silver, grown on over wintered 'bows in two casts, which was very nice thank you! The biggest of which was heavier than the fish I had caught the previous year to qualify. Things were looking good. A pod of fish moved through showing on the surface and I was lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time it seemed. Apart from a fish or fishes showing in the same spot some 60 yards out, well out of reach, it now seemed very quiet. After a chat with Dave who still had no pulls I decided to return to New Zealand Point to retry the now rested water so I did the long walk back.

First cast I had a follow so I decided to change my tactics to fish higher in the water. This was a wise choice as I started getting pulls again that this time they stuck as opposed to coming away in the first session earlier in the morning at this spot.

By now Dave had also decided to return and with just 10 x minutes before the end of the competition he managed to land a 2lb+ fish, which unfortunately turned out to be his only fish of the day.

I managed to get a further 3 x standard stockie size 'bows to give me a total of 6 x fish. These totalled 16lb 9oz in weight. This was enough to win by a substantial margin as the second place angler, Graham Pearson another well known RWFF angler, had just 3 x fish, Dave Porter came third with his single fish and the fourth angler blanked.

There is a mention of the day on Anglian Waters site: Rutland Water News 24th April 2011

Troutmasters Final 2011 - Grafham May 9th 2011

The following is based upon my email report on the Troutmasters Final sent that day to a few angler friends and also sent to Trout Fisherman who used some of that email in the June issue of Trout Fisherman, along with a photo Peter Gathercole took.

Marlow Stones Jetty and Hall Farm Jetty off limits.
8 x Fish limit in both sessions.
130 x anglers approximately in attendance.
10 of us were not in the initial setup - this was due to lost paperwork. Other than this it was extremely well organized. There were lots of marshals in attendance also. One chap in chest waders who waded in next to me way to deep was told off by a marshal for this, he also blanked, I don't think he could cast the necessary distance to reach the fish that were holding in the slightly deeper water where they were browsing on the big buzzers out of the bright sun.

I fished with the 40 Plus Expert Floating Line this whole session and I had 8 x bows for 19lb+ from Gaynes Cove in the morning. After banking the seventh fish a Scottish supporter of the angler two along from me quizzed me about the line I was using as I was casting it out an awful long way. He urged me to try my luck again and with just 10 x minutes to go - I gently waded back out yet again and connected with the 4lb 15oz lump in the photo below. Sadly this turned out to be a "pellet pig" and not a mended grown on fish. Even so it was a bit fraught getting it in to say the least. A self tied size 8 black buzzer variant did the trick. A proper full tailed fish a few ounces smaller was caught off a boat and photos were taken of that fish at the same time as I had mine taken. There was lots of conversation about that being the best fish and with its big shovel tail it patently was. However my lump was the heaviest...

I believe I easily won the morning bank session as the eventual winner came second in this session with just 4 x fish. Ian Barr blanked in the same morning session - he went on to win the afternoon boat session with 8 x fish from Savages Creek.

Peter Gathercole took photos of me and lump in front of the lodge. Also later again at the presentations as it won me a cheque for £100:00 as the biggest fish :) The Scottish guy who was two along from me had 2 x huge bream and 2 x trout in Gaynes, once that shoal of bream settled in front of him it ended his chances with the trout.

Everyone was shocked that I had 8 x from the bank, including John Mees at the weigh in, who was literally speechless when I announced I had 8 x fish :)

For the afternoon session I followed the herd and went up to Savages Creek in the boats. There was many reports of easy fishing up there in the morning. I only managed to convert 4 x pulls into lost 2 x fish and netted just 1 x 'bow, this was drifting it in a freshening wind. There were far too many boats up there to let me feel comfortable. So basically I flunked it as I really should have walked it as 8 x fish at anchor fishing buzzers in the calmer water should have done it. If I had ignored the herd and gone round the corner to Sailing Club Bay I am sure I would have had 8 x 'bows but I did not find that out till the end after a conversation with a chap from Hartlepool. Evening picnic, beers and good conversations with Robbie Winram, Peter Gathercole and John Wadham who turned up from Rutland so it was a fantastic day in the end :)