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Grafham Report - 16th January 2022

2K views 8 replies 5 participants last post by  Jalex 
#1 · (Edited)
A couple of people asked me for an update on Grafham, and as my wife and I ventured out this morning I thought I'd post and share our experiences.

Wind 5 - 9mph Westerly

Temperature 3c - 8c

Water Clarity - Very Clear, 8 to 10ft visability

60% cloud with intermittent sunny spells

As its been pretty cold this last week we were in no rush to arrive early as we thought any overnight frost may knock the fish off initially.

09.30am arrival and started 50m left of the lodge ( basically in front on the car park)

Screenshot_20220116-141255_Photos.jpg


I set up a floater, 16ft leader of 10lb flurocarbon with a Olive snake on the point, followed by a red holo cruncher and a Diawl Bach top dropper ( both size 12's)

Long cast, a count of between 12 and 20 seconds to get everything settled and down about 12ft deep then a slow figure of 8 back. During the first hour, I picked up 2 nice rainbows about 3 lbs and the wife 1 - all like peas in a pod, well mended and silvered up.

Our set up was 8ft to top dropper ( diawl), a further 4 ft to the cruncher, and another 4ft to the olive snake on the point.

20220116_124140.jpg


We plugged away for no further action so moved at about 10.45am and dropped on The Seat sticking with the same method and flies.

I immediately picked up a cracking 4lb 4oz rainbow on the snake at distance, only to be upstaged by the good lady who managed a cracker of exactly 6lb again on the snake.

20220116_111140~3.jpg


With it now around 12.30 we decided on a spot of lunch and a change of methods ......so it was a short break before heading over to the North Shore and into the nasty cold wind.

13.30hrs we arrived at Hedge End, armed with a Di3 - 7ft leader of 10lb flurocarbon and a single brown booby snake with 7mm eyes. It was just a case of punching the line out as far as possible, counting to 30 and a slow figure of 8 back

20220116_124236.jpg


It was much colder and casting was a right pain, I knew we weren't going to last long at all.........after 20 - 30 minutes I had picked up another 2 fish one around 3lb, the other just over 4lb before our fingers became numb and we decided to head home at around 14.00hrs.

Considering we fished half a day in a variety of spots, the sport was truely excellent. Some great fish in magnificent condition.

5 of our 7 fish came to snake patterns fished very slowly and in the bottom 1/3 of the water column, the other 2 fish came to the red holo cruncher ( which was the deepest nymph)

Grafham is definately worth a trip out, providing you pick a day with favourable conditions and are prepared to move once you have picked up a fish or two.

I'm told there are good numbers of fish on G Buoy and at the Willows ( G buoy side of the Dam) but we didn't even try there.

Cheers Rob
 
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#2 ·
A couple of people asked me for an update on Grafham, and as my wife and I ventured out this morning I thought I'd post our experiences.

Wind 5 - 9mph Westerly

Temperature 3c - 8c

60% cloud with intermittent sunny spells

As its been pretty cold this last week we were in no rush to arrive early as we thought the overnight frost may knock the fish off initially.

09.30am arrived and initially started 50m left of the lodge ( basically in front on the car park)

View attachment 47829

I set up a floater, 16ft leader with a Olive snake on the point, followed by a red holo cruncher and a Diawl Bach top dropper ( both size 12's)

Long cast, a count of between 12 and 20 seconds to get everything settled and down about 12ft deep then a slow figure of 8 back. During the first hour, I picked up 2 nice rainbows about 3 lbs and the wife 1 - all like peas in a pod, well mended and silvered up.

Our set up was 8ft to top dropper ( diawl), a further 4 ft to the cruncher, and another 4ft to the olive snake on the point.

View attachment 47830

We then moved at about 10.45am and dropped on The Seat sticking with the same method and flies.

I immediately picked up a cracking 4lb 4oz rainbow on the snake at distance, only to be upstaged by the good lady who managed a cracker of 6lb again on the snake.

View attachment 47831

With it now around 12.30 we decided on a spot of lunch and a change of methods ......so it was a short break before heading for the North Shore and into the nasty cold wind.

13.30hrs we arrived at Hedge End, armed with a Di3 - 7ft leader and a single brown booby snake with 7mm eyes. It was just a case of punching the line out as far as possible, counting to 30 and a slow figure of 8 back

View attachment 47832

It was much colder and casting was a pain, I knew we weren't going to last long at all.........after 20 - 30 minutes I had picked up another 2 fish one around 3lb, the other over 4lb before our fingers became numb and we decided to head home around 14.00hrs.

Considering we fished half a day in a variety of spots, the sport was excellent. Some great fish in magnificent condition.

5 of our 7 fish came to snake patterns fished very slowly and in the bottom 1/3 of the water column, the other 2 fish came to the red holo cruncher ( which was the deepest nymph)

Cheers Rob
Thanks for the report Rob AW should put you on the books.Can you tell me please how you store snakes flies mine always end in a mess.
 
#3 ·
Snakes are a pain in the @rise to store, tye and maintain........ I leave the front hook on so the fly can be hooked securely in the box with both hooks.......just snip the front hook off if the 2 hook version tangles too much.

Any fur pattern, Minkies, Snakes, Suspender Minkies etc hold a lot of water in the fur's skin, this means even the best hooks* ( if not looked after well) will rust under the actual dressing, you'll only know when a big fish snaps the hook.

After each trip take any snakes you have used and put them on Kitchen Roll and squeeze any water out of them......then lie them perfectly straight on the kitchen roll and leave them overnight ( preferably in a warm place) ....don't put them away unless your sure they are dry.

* you can use saltwater hooks for increased strength and rust resistance but they are more expensive and it's not actually necessary if you look after your fly.
 
#7 ·
Great report Rob . And many thanks for the help "offline" recently with some fishing issues I had, very much appreciated.
One quick question, pardon my naivety I would have thought you would fish a "snake" on a sinking line , but you mention a floater in your report. Is a floater normal for a snake fly, are you just allowing the leader to sink ? Cheers
 
#8 · (Edited)
Yes a snake on a Floater is perfectly normal.

I basically have 3 versions of the same fly, weighted, unweighted and booby

A weighted snake is my go to pattern, the weighted head makes the fly duck & dive when retrieved - fish it on any line from floater to Di-8 at any speed from a figure of 8 to fast roly poly or strip.

This time of year you get a lot of fish deep and slow so I fished the weighted snake on a floater and counted it down , a slow figure of 8 means the fly will rise a touch in the water but not much ( it's a bit trial and error) it's an ideal lure to fish on the point with a nymph on the dropper as it works so well slow.

The unweighted snakes are best when fished ultra ultra slow, as you still get a lot of movement in them.

When you go Grafham this week, keep it slow, they don't want to chase.

I also think the fish are deep so a booby snake on a 7ft leader fished on a sinking line and a medium figure of 8 retrieve is a better "fish catching" option although not as nice as fishing a floater.

Remember when fishing a booby on a sinker the faster you retrieve the fly the more it will get pulled towards the bottom....the total opposite of a weighted fly on a floating line which will be pulled up in the water the faster you retrieve)
 
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