Bank Fishing
Draycote has a perimeter road with anglers' car parks at all the main bank fishing spots. Note that bank fishing is no longer allowed from the dams and the site is limited to 30 cars maximum at any one time. Anglers therefore need to contact the lodge to book a bank car pass in advance.
In 2023 the perimeter road was closed at Hensborough due to works on a new overflow. This work continues into the start of the 2024 season. Therefore the only access is via the barrier at the Draycote dam and anglers have to drive anti-clockwise around to the fishing spots and back again to the lodge. Hensborough and the Overflow are out-of-bounds at the moment but will hopefully reopen some time in 2024.
Draycote has many notable bank fishing spots we have listed.
1 The Swan's Nest
2 Toft
3 The Willow Tree
4. Gray's Barn
5 Lower Cornfield
6 Upper Cornfield
7 Dougie's Gap
8 Lincroft
9 Lincroft point
10 Biggin Bay
11 The Old Pipe
12 Upper Biggin
13 Dunn's bay
14 Tower Bank
15 Tower Corner
16 Rainbow Corner
17 The Overflow
18 Hensborough
1 The Swan's Nest
This is the first bank spot you drive past if you start to drive round in an anti-clockwise manner. Park at Car park 1A – which is where DFFA meets for bank competitions. Walk towards the dam (Toft Bank). Most anglers start at the far end, as far away from the car park as they can reach. In early season when the water is high you will only be able to go as far as the “stones” that mark the start of Toft bay. This spot is where the water starts to get deeper, with shallower water to your left. Once the water lowers towards its summer level you can walk up much further towards the dam. When this occurs you'll be able to wade out quite a bit, giving you good back casting room to avoid hitting the willows behind you.
The spot fishes well when there is a south-westerly or westerly wind and the top end stays clearer in high winds at a time when much of the rest of Toft bay would become coloured.
This is a great place to swing buzzers on a washing line in early season and also fish fry patterns above the weed beds later in the year.
2 Toft Bay
Toft Bay is a great area for early season buzzer fishing and in early summer there can also be some good sedge hatches. It fishes well in southerly and south westerly winds, especially in places that still have a ripple. In front of car park 1A there are two trees near the water's edge. Either side of these trees is a good place to start, but the whole bank can fish well.
The middle of Toft can be challenging in a westerly as you will be casting straight into the wind. When the westerly wind picks up the water clouds up quickly and soon becomes unfishable.
3 The Willow Tree
There is a large willow tree that marks the end of the bank fishing just as the nature reserve area starts. Park at car park 1B and walk straight down to the water from there. Recently the buoys that mark the nature reserve have been moved out a bit, limiting the fishing in front of the willow. In late 2023 the tree partly collapsed (not shown in the photo) and we are waiting to see if this is cleared. This now restricts access to the right of where the tree lies.
This area can fish very well in the right conditions. It is more sheltered in the tricky easterly wind conditions and also has a ripple in southerly winds when the Swan’s nest is in a flat calm.
4 Gray's Barn
Car park 2 is on the other side of the Toft nature reserve and the bank spot there is often called Gray’s Barn. This area is not fished as regularly as the rest of Toft but is sheltered in northerly or easterly winds.
The bank nearest the nature reserve probably fishes best. As you go towards the woods and picnic spot the water is shallow. If there is boat traffic in the area it disturbs the fish and can clear of fish quickly.
5 Lower Cornfield.
Car Park 3 is situated at the start of the Cornfield (so named as this was in the farmer’s field when the reservoir first filled up).
The first section of bank to the angler’s left is shallow, but can be a good spot at higher water levels. Further around this is a good spot for fishing buzzers and sedge.
The section is most easily fished in winds with a northerly component but if you can manage the casting it does fish well in westerly and south westerly winds.
6 Upper Cornfield
Park at car park 4 for the top end of the Cornfield. This can be one of the best spots on the reservoir. You can start by walking straight down to the water from the car park and fish there. It is fairly shallow there but you have a copse of trees to your right that keep it sheltered. If you get no luck in 30 minutes move about 40 metres to your left where the water appears to have a bit of a drop-off.
This area offers some fantastic buzzer fishing and sedge fishing. At the end of the season the demon shrimp get blown towards this spot in westerly or south westerly winds. The fish can be in 2ft of water feeding on these in the right conditions.
