Draycote Water sets to re-open in March

Severn Trent has confirmed it is in ongoing legal discussions with a new operator for the trout fishery at Draycote Water. The closure of the Rugby-based fishery was announced in February, following the death of Ifor Jones, and the subsequent voluntary liquidation of his company, Fishery Management UK.

Midlands fly anglers will welcome the news, as Fishery Management UK also ran Eyebrook in Northamptonshire, and Thornton in Leicestershire, both of which also closed.

Sue McIntosh, Visitor Experience Lead at Severn Trent, said: “Following a tender process, we have identified a preferred supplier for the Draycote fishery and we are currently aiming to have them in place and the fishery reopened ready for the start of the new season in March next year.”

Draycote Water Fly Fishers stated on its Facebook page that it looked “forward to working constructively with Severn-Trent and the new leaseholder to ensure the fishing successfully resumes in 2025.”

The reservoir is a popular top-of-the-water and buzzer fishing venue, and attracted anglers from all over UK, due to the quality of the fly fishing it provided. Veteran fly-fishing author and editor, Brian Harris, used to travel 150 miles from his home in Kent to visit the water on a regular basis, and wrote in FF&FT that he and his friends believed it to be “the best quality stillwater trout fly fishing, mainly on or just sub-surface, available in England today”.

The fates of Eyebrook and Thornton as trout fisheries are, as yet, undecided.