The carp have grown extremely quickly, reaching an average of 8lbs by September 2007. In the 2000 season Engine Pool gained the UK Five-hour match record with a impressive 414lbs 14ozs.

Indeed, catches were becoming so big that British Waterways felt it had to alter the rules in 2001 to provide extra protection for the fish. This has reduced match weights to "sensible" levels... although some are still being won with more than 200lbs. Despite the rule changes, it is common for weights to come in between 80lbs and 120lbs.

Pleasure anglers regularly catch over 200lbs and the fishery has been widely recognised as the finest of its type in the Midlands and one of the leading fisheries in the UK.

The most popular pegs are between 5 and 25 near the new car park, which is only a short walk from the bankside, and between 60 and 80 behind the council houses.

In early summer, Method feeder and pellet is the favoured technique whilst later in the year, as water levels fall, fishing the waggler comes into its own and a greater variety of baits become successful.

It also pays to take a variety of baits as what is favoured by the fish one month can be ignored the next. Meat, pellets, maggots, casters, sweetcorn, paste and worm should cover most eventualities.

Anglers should note that the Method feeder used in conjunction with a pole is not allowed and that, in common with most other fisheries these days, all hooks must be barbless.

Naturally, all fish must be landed using a landing net and anglers are advised to take an unhooking mat for the bigger carp.

The car parks can be accessed from Malthouse Lane and Wood Lane.

There is a sailing club on this pool and when water levels fall, anglers should take care to sink there lines if they are fishing a feeder at beyond 20 metres. In particular, it is recommended that they should avoid braided lines which float high in the water.

Bream are the main quarry in Windmill Pool and the most successful method is to use an open ended feeder loaded with brown crumb and either red maggots or worm - or both - on the hook. There is also a large head of specimen carp which have outgrown Engine Lake and have been moved to Windmill.

Cage feeders are not reccommended because there is often a strong tow in the water and a cage feeder releases the ground bait too early as it falls through the water. Obviously the same applies to the Method Feeder, although this problem can usually be overcome by making the Method Mix a little firmer and slightly larger than you normally would to ensure it reaches the bottom quicker and stays together better.

Roach and perch are abundant and good weights can be caught with the pole. Favourite pegs are the 30's and 40's on "The Tins" or along the dam if water levels allow.

As would be expected, the waggler also can produce good results although it pays to take a selection including some weighted floats as the fish can sometimes be a fair way out and these should be shotted near the hook length to overcome the tow.

There is not so much of a problem when fishing closer in along the west bank, wher many anglers prefer to fish the open space between the weed beds rather than close in against them as they say the weeds are home to many pike and the silver fish prefer the safety of open water where they can see what's going on!

The manager of the Reservoir public house usually does not object to anglers parking in his car park provided that they purchase refreshments at the end of the fishing session!

Fishing is available by season permit only and there is a close season between 15th March and 15th June inclusive.

Retained as an unmanaged natural fishery, Terry's Pool contains good stocks of bream, roach and perch as well as tench, pike and some large carp.

Indeed, many of the season permit holders see the carp as their main quarry, although a few also go after the bigger tench which are said to run to over 8lbs but which tend to populate the far end of the lake which cannot be fished.

Again, the Method Feeder seems to be one of the most popular techniques, although for the more traditional angler, this is a delightful water to float fish with a range of baits including bread, worm, maggot, paste, meat and sweetcorn.

Download .pdf maps of the Earlswood's Engine and Windmill Lakes By clicking on the map to the right or below you can download an Adobe .pdf file which shows in detail the layout and pegging on Earlswood Lakes' Windmill and Engine Lakes. Both maps open in a new window so you won't be navigated away from this page. The file for Windmill Lake (left) is 248Mb in size, so should not take long to download irrespective of your Internet access speeds. Even if you have only Standard Dial-up Internet access, the end result should be worth it! Alternatively, if you are interested in fishing Engine Lake, click on the image to the right. This will open up the .pdf file showing the layout and pegging for Engine Lake. This file is smaller than that for Windmill Lake at just 170Mb in size, so should take even less time to download. Once again, the map opens in a new window in your browser and even if you have only Standard Dial-up the end result should be worth it!

How to get there... Earlswood Lakes is the biggest thing in the village of Earlswood and its reservoirs, roadways and causeways cannot be missed. From the motorways it can be reached by leaving the M42 at Junction 4 and heading on the A34 towards Birmingham and Shirley. At the first traffic light crossroads take the B4102 left towards Dickens Heath and Earlswood staying on the main road until you reach Earlswood. From the M42 Junction 3 take the A435 south towards Alster and Studley and at the second major roundabout (Branson's Cross) take the left turn onto the B4101 for Wood End, Terry's Green and Earlswood. Stay on the B4101 to Earlswood. Click here to visit the British Waterways website Go back to Fisheries homepage