Only one rod per angler is allowed on the coarse pools whilst anglers fishing the carp pools can use two rods. Day tickets are transferable from coarse pool to coarse pool or carp lake to carp lake.
 Top Pool
Ideal for pleasure anglers and club matches, Top Pool is the first water you come to from the main car park at Chorley Springs and holds 19 Pegs. It has a central island which is the main feature to fish to.
Top Pool is classed as an easy water to fish and high match weights are more than achieveable.
 Ideal for fishing on either pole or waggler, Top Pool is already producing good catches whether fished close in, out in open water or up against the island. Although only relatively small, it can also be fished on the feeder.
Top Pool holds a good head and mix of fish including common, mirror, ghost and leather carp which run to 10lbs and average between 5lbs and 6lbs; tench to 6lbs and averaging 2lb 8oz, bream to 5lbs and perch to 3lbs.
 In addition there is also a large head of crucians which are expected to provide some great summer sport as well as good stocks of roach and rudd to 3lbs, golden orfe to 2lbs, chub to 1lb and even barbel. Because the pool is fully oxygenated, good fishing is virtually guaranteed all year round.
Anglers fishing maggots or sweetcorn are advised to start fishing by feeding with a handful of hook samples and then keep baiting up with about half-a-dozen samples.
However, if you are going after the bigger fish it pays to use bigger baits.
Surrounded by a shelf which runs about four feet out from the bank and is three feet deep, much of the remainder of the pool is between five and six feet deep with the shallower parts of the pool at the entrance end. However, there is a deeper hole between the track side bank and the island where up to seven feet of water can be found.
 Middle Pool
Ideal for pleasure and younger or less experienced anglers, Middle Pool has 16 Pegs and is classed as probably the easiest of the Chorley Springs waters to fish, making it a great pool for familes and newcomers to the sport.
Like Top Pool, Middle Pool can again be fished on either pole or waggler close in or in open water, or on the feeder.
 Middle Pool holds a good head and mix of fish including common, mirror, ghost and leather carp to 5lbs and averaging between 1lb 8oz and 2lbs; tench to 2lbs; bream to 3lbs; perch to 1lb 8oz; plus a large head of roach and rudd to 1lb and even the occasional goldfish!
Not as open as Top Pool with plenty of trees and shrubs around the banks, like the other coarse fish waters Middle Pool is being improved with the replacement of the former grass pegs with purpose-built block paving pegs which will ensure a firm base with good drainage in wet weather.
 Having a bowl shaped bottom, much of Middle Pool is between three and four deep around the edges before the bottom slopes gradually to a maximum of five feet in the centre.
When going for the silver fish, anglers are recommended to use maggots, worm, sweetcorn or hooker pellets on fairly stout tackle, feeding little and often with samples of hook bait. If going for the carp, maggots, bread, sweetcorn and pellets are again useful baits although it is expected decent results will also be obtained with small boilies and luncheon meat.
Bottom Pool
Another easy water to fish which is already throwing up good pleasure eights, Bottom Pool holds 20 Pegs and is again ideal for fishing either the pole close in or in open water or the waggler in the margins or open water. Again, some anglers are also producing good results on the feeder.
Like Top and Middle Pool, this water holds a good mix of fish including common, mirror, ghost and leather carp to double figures but averaging between 5lbs and 6lbs as well as some impressive tench which have already been caught to 6lbs but average 3lb 8oz.
 There are also some nice bream to 5lbs; hard-fighting perch to 3lbs; a large head of crucians; good stocks of roach and rudd to 3lbs; golden orfe to 4lbs; and chub to about 1lb. All this means that anglers never really know what they are going to catch next.
Bottom Pool has plenty of bankside cover with reeds growing in some of the margins and plenty of open water from all pegs. Being furthest away from the main car park it is also likely that Bottom Pool will be least fished of the three coarse pools, although it will be easily accessible from the Specimen Pool car park once improvement works and pathways have been completed.
 Bottom Pool is quite a bit deeper than the other two coarse pools. A shelf runs about three feet deep up to four feet out from the banks which then drop to about five feet before shelving gently towards the centre where some seven feet of water can be found. The shallowest part of the pool is again at the entrance end, but all pegs are easy to fish on waggler or pole.
As with all the other Chorley Springs waters it is still early days for the fishery, so experimentation with baits and techniques should pay off. As with Top and Middle Pool, however, it is expected that maggots, worm, sweetcorn and soft hooker pellets will produce fairly consistant results for anglers targeting the silver fish.
 Those after the carp, however, should scale up their tackle to be sure of being able to handle 10lb fish. Although there are no real snags in the water, hooks and lines should be strong enough to handle these.
When targeting the carp, 10mm pellets, luncheon meat, sweetcorn, bread and worm should give good results whilst giving anglers chance of hooking into some of the bigger tench and bream.
In warmer weather, floating bread and dog biscuits should also give some lively sport for those who enjoy surface fishing, although anglers are requested to keep free offerings to a minimum to avoid disturbing other anglers.
 Specimen Pool
Reached by driving along the entrance track and through the first field car park, the tree-lined Specimen Pool is completely different in character from the three smaller coarse pools, being much larger and having a more irregular shape, two islands but again with plenty of features and bankside cover.
This pool is equipped with spacious golden gravel pegs, some of them doubles, which offer a choice of swims to fish to and is served by its own car park.
 During early 2010, 10 different carp over 20lbs were introduced into the water, four of them commons. The largest fish on the complex is a mirror of 27lbs. The recent stock fish are expected to grow rapidly.
Chorley Springs' stocking policy for the water will be ongoing with selected carp introduced regularly. Indeed, it is estimated that the current carp stock levels are close to 100 fish with the smallest stocked fish being just over 12lbs.
 The double first peg down the steps near the entrance to the pool offers several different swim to fish including down the channels to the left and right, towards the island or out in open water in front of the peg.
By contrast, the large double peg at the far end of the pool gives access to a wide expanse of open water and the choice of fishing in front of the peg, to the island or in the bays to the left and right.
 It is expected Specimen Pool will react well to all types of fishing with both modern and traditional techniques both providing good sport.
Line strengths of 10lbs and over are recommended and all anglers must have a decent sized landing net and suitable unhooking mat.
When it comes to baits, boilies, pellets and meats of various guises are all expected to work well with floating baits including dog biscuits and bread expected to take their fair share of fish in warmer weather.
Whilst Specimen Poll has an average depth of five to six feet it does have an undulating bottom and there is a sandbar which runs out from the far island towards the far bank. Here the water shallows to about three feet.
The New Runs Water
Expected to be opened in 2011, the large head of carp this water contains is expected to produce some good early results.
The majority of the fish to have been introduced have been in double figures and these will be supplemented over the coming year with an increasing number of high doubles to provide a popular runs water.
 The biggest known carp so far recorded stands at over 20lb whilst several fish over 17lbs have so far been taken in test fishing.
It is hoped that by the time the water opens for angling the majority of the 200-plus fish will be over 20lbs with very few fish under 10lbs.
Runs Water has two islands and banks which shelve at 45 degrees to a 10-foot bottom. As with Specimen Pool, the pegs will be finished with golden gravel.
Chorley Springs is in the process of developing the fishery's own website. Already on line the site is being added to all the time. You can keep up to date with the latest news from the fishery by paying the site a visit at www.chorleysprings.co.uk. |
How to get there...
 From Lichfield: Follow the A51 towards Rugeley, turning left onto Borough Lane at the Longdon Village junction signposted Burntwood and Chorley. At the T-junction turn left follwing the lane up the hill. At the second left junction take a left turn onto Tithebarn Lane signposted 'Chorley 1 mile'. Chorley Springs Fishery is 70 Yards on the left.
From Rugley: Follow the A51 towards Lichfield, turning right onto Borough Lane at the Longdon Village junction signposted Burntwood and Chorley. At the T-junction turn left follwing the lane up the hill. At the second left junction take a left turn onto Tithebarn Lane signposted 'Chorley 1 mile'. Chorley Springs Fishery is 70 Yards on the left.
From Burntwood (Swan/Burntwood island): Head towards Chorley and the Malt Shovel pub. At the Malt Shovel junction head toward Gentleshaw and Longdon (signposted). Keep going straight down the lane until you reach a triange junction, bear to the right and Chorley Springs Fishery is 50 Yards on the Right.
From Burntwood (Sankey's Corner): Follow Rugeley Road towards Cannock Wood, turn right towards Gentleshaw at the Redmoor Pub. Follow the lane to the T-junction and turn left towards Longdon. Turn right at the second right junction onto Tithebarn Lane and Chorley Springs is 70yards on the left.
Sat Nav users: Use the Postcode WS15 4LR
Please Note that Chorley Springs is clearly signposted off Tithebarn Lane and is not located at Tithebarn Farm.
Click on the map above for more detail.
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Chorley Springs Fishery
About five minutes drive from Lichfield, Burntwood and Rugeley but set in the heart of Staffordshire countryside on the fringes of Cannock Chase, Chorley Springs Fisheries has been given a new lease of life following the arrival of new managers who have spent months restoring four existing spring-fed waters and developing a fifth which should open in 2011.
However, after much hard work by a couple of keen carp anglers the pools re-opened for angling early in June 2010.
Although the three coarse pools are only small, holding between 16 and 20 pegs each, they are attractive and very natural looking. They also hold a nice mix of fish from roach, bream, perch, crucians and tench to common, mirror, koi and leather carp into double figures.
Chorley Springs is serviced by a grass field car park for the three coarse pools and separate grass parking for the carp pools.
Whilst the fishery only re-opened in June 2010, the good head of existing fish, which have been supplemented by new stocks, has led to some good pleasure catches with several anglers already reporting they have taken over 100lbs of fish at a sitting.