Fishing and sailing both take place on the reservoir all the year around.
We thought it useful to those fishing if we explained a bit about our activities.
The sailing club was formed in 1949 and has a formal agreement with Canal & River Trust (the owners of the reservoir) to use the entire water for sailing 7 days a week.
The main activity of the club is racing which normally takes place on Sundays from March until Mid December. There are other times less frequently for training courses etc.
The race course is determined by the wind direction and will involve some or all of the marker buoys. The course taken from one buoy to another will not necessarily be a straight line as this will also be determined by the wind direction.
Race duration is approximately 40/50 minutes with a starting procedure of about 5 minutes. A circuit or lap is between 10 and 15 minutes, so activity around a buoy is 4 or 5 times per race.
There are up to 4 races per day.
We are, where possible, mindful of anglers fishing but we cannot always see fishing lines and floats. We understand that the use of back-leading is recommended to reduce the chance of sailors catching your lines or for any surface fishing lines should be drawn in to allow boats pass without catching lines. This is obviously something we do not do intentionally as dragging lines and spods around will impede the boats movement, so in both parties interest to avoid.
The pegs 1 – 3(36a, b and c) on the headbank are not in use on a Sunday for the health and safety of all on the lake. Fishing from peg 3 across in front of the pontoon and on to the boat births is not permitted. This is for the safety of people ashore, on the pontoon and those using the slipway.
There is no fishing allowed at any time from the pontoon, from the boat berths or from in front of the club house.
This is a shared water and boaters and anglers need to be able to enjoy the reservoir safely.
For more information on fishing at Drayton Reservoir follow this link. http://www.fisheries.co.uk/drayton/