Sturgeon force Holt Hall closure Holt Hall closed its doors to anglers for the last time on 31 October after the Environment Agency said its owners had to remove sturgeon from the lakes if day-ticket angling was to continue. Over the last three years since new owners took over the lakes Holt Hall has thrown up several surprises - not least of which were some cracking catches of sturgeon from Top Specimen Pool, the biggest of which is reported to have tipped the scales at an impressive 32lbs. However, when reports of the catches started to appear regularly in the angling Press, the Environment Agency contacted the fishery to say that the venue did not have a licence for sturgeon and that they would have to be removed if the lakes were to remain open to the public. Despite having spent thousands of pounds on improvement work at Holt Hall including clearing overgrown banks, installing purpose-built pegs and developing walkways around the three waters, the owners decided to call it a day and thanked those anglers who have fished Holt Hall over the past three years for their support.

Just three years ago when new owners bought Holt Hall Farm to the north of Birmingham you could hardly get to the banks of the two main pools, which were hidden by trees, hedges and bushes on the 140-acre farm. Indeed, the lakes were so heavily overgrown that the new owner didn't even know they were there until he delved deeply into the undergrowth whilst walking around his new purchase. Today it's a completely different story. After seeking advice from the Environment Agency, leading fishery consultants and other fishery owners, the pools have been returned to their former glory. In the process the new owner has created an enchanting fishery where anglers can get away from the stresses of everyday life in the peace and quiet of the north Warwickshire country side between Coleshill and Atherstone. Because matches are not held on the waters they are exclusively reserved for pleasure angling. Research into the farm's history shows that the pools are believed to have been excavated and stocked by monks in the Middle Ages and that about 50 years ago were re-socked with trout for fly fishing. Some time later the pools were taken over by a angler who wanted to keep them to himself. He stocked the waters with mirror carp, fish which grown on and successfully bred in the bottom pool. However, after obviously spending a lot of time and trouble on the waters, the angler seems to have disappeared and the pools subsequently left to their own devices. Although the new owner was not an angler himself, he had several friends who are - and when they started to pull out carp to about 10lbs he decided the pools would make an ideal retreat for friends and family. After taking professional advice and visiting several Midlands fisheries he decided to create pegs and pathways around the pools and to open the waters for day-ticket angling. In addition to improving the banksides, he also created a new entrance and drive from the main road nearest the pools and had a car park constructed. In a bid to find out what was in the lakes the waters were professionally netted - and one of the biggest surprises was this stunning 18lbs sturgeon (left) as well as some nice carp to 30lbs - although there were no signs of bigger fish which angling friends said they has seen cruising on the surface in hot weather. To increase the variety of fishing available and to enable the waters to appeal to a wider diversity of anglers, the mirror carp in Bottom Pool were supplemented with other species whilst Top Pool has been developed as a specimen water with carp to over 30lbs the main attraction as well as silver fish including the resident sturgeon, newly introduced bream to over 4lbs and roach and rudd to around 1lb. In line with most fisheries these days anglers must use only barbless hooks. Anglers fishing Bottom Lake will also be provided with landing nets whilst those fishing Specimen Lake must use adequately sized landing nets and unhooking mats. Children under the age of 16 must be accompanied by an adult. Fixed leads or bolt rigs are not allowed and anglers should not use nuts, boilies, bloodworm or jokers. Again, as with many other venues, only the fishery's own pellets should be used. Bottom Pool The first water you come to at Holt Hall, Bottom Pool is stuffed with fish but at up to 16 feet in the centre is much deeper than it looks with the banks going down virtually straight to the bottom. At the top end beyond where the double-peg peninsula juts out into the pool the water is much shallower at between five and six feet deep. Despite its depth, Bottom Pool is easy to fish on pole, waggler, swimfeeder or floating bait. Indeed, when the water was test fished shortly after the pools were purchased by the new owner one angler had 10 fish for over 40lbs in a two-hour session and lost a further four fish. Because the water has not been fished for several years the existing stock of carp are ready to take virtually anything offered to them, although this will no doubt change once they are caught a few times and learn to become more wary. However, baits of luncheon meat, maggots, sweetcorn, bread and pellets have all taken fish both on the bottom and up in the water whilst in warmer weather when the fish are cruising on the top surface fished baits such as dog biscuits and bread crust both work well. Whilst fishing the pole or waggler is not exactly easy because of the depth of water, it is achievable and good results can be had from baiting up a maximum of a rod length out and fishing on top of a bed of feeder pellets and samples of hook bait. To fish the centre of the lake, it is perhaps easier to fish a swimfeeder or straightforward ledger tackle, although anglers should note that fixed lead and bolt rigs are not allowed. Also, because both lakes are only about an acre in size, boilies should not be used. Because both Bottom Lake and Specimen Lake have hardly been fished except by a few friends of the owner it will obviously pay to experiment, although because the fishing can be regarded as easy there is no need to employ fancy techniques and sophisticated rigs. However, if fishing for the roach, rudd, bream and tench anglers should avoid going too light as they are just as likely to hook into a carp, and as the majority of these have never been hooked before even the small 3lb to 4lb fish give the fight of their lives and are likely to smash anything lighter than 4lb line. However, because the fish have not been caught before they tend not to be hook shy, which means anglers after the carp can use a Size 10 or 12 hook even for the smaller fish although for the silvers they obviously need to scale down to more traditional sizes of hook appropriate to the size of their baits. It will be interesting to see how this water develops as it becomes more popular. However, it has to be said that although it has been developed by a non-angler, no expense has been spared and a great deal of work has been carried out to transform this once overgrown water into an open, attractive and productive fishery. It is hard to remember that only 12 months ago you had to fight your way through brambles and bushes to get to the waterside - and then had to contend with overhanging branches which made the fishing difficult. 2011 Ticket costs - Bottom Pool Adult Day Tickets (dawn 'till dusk) Adult Half-day (after 2.00pm) Concessionary Day Tickets Concessionary Half-day £6.00 (one rod) £7.00 (two rods) £5.00 (one rod) £6.00 (two rods) £5.00 (one rod) £6.00 (two rods) £4.00 (one rod) £5.00 (two rods) Top Specimen Pool The furthest water from the new car park and entrance drive, Top Specimen Pool is a long slender lake with an island three quarters of the way along. Deepest at the dam end where up to 16 feet of water can be found along the spine of the lake, Top Specimen Lake shallows gradually as it narrows towards the far end with the widest and most open pegs being at the entrance end. Stocked with carp to over 30lbs, some resident sturgeon known to run to just under 20lbs, recently introduced bream to over 4lbs and roach and rudd to about 1lb, this is the Holt Hall water for those looking for the bigger fish. Although hardly fished apart from by a few friends of the new owner, Top Specimen Pool has already produced carp to around 20lbs with one angler reporting that he has caught and photographed one of 40lbs. Most anglers are expected to fish two rods and it is likely that one cast into open water and the other fished along the margin should give anglers the best chance of hooking into a decent fish. Whilst only frozen boilies are allowed, anglers who have fished the water so far have had results on almost every bait tried with sweetcorn, maggots, hair-rigged luncheon and pellets all having taken fish. Pleasure anglers looking to fish for the smaller carp, bream and roach are recommended to use maggots, sweetcorn or pellets but it is such early days yet that almost anything should be worth trying. However, once again the depth of the water is likely to cause a few problems for anglers looking to fish the waggler except for at the top end or close in to the margins. Like Bottom Pool, the banks shelve steeply down to the deep water. This is again expected to lead to swimfeeder and ledgering being the most popular techniques for the carp with fairly stout tackle and hook sizes a must because of the number of double figure fish in the water. Anglers fishing anywhere except for the dam end should also be careful to steer hooked fish away from the island as once a good carp gets round the back of it there is little or no hope of landing the fish.Again, another water to look out for. 2011 Ticket costs - Top Specimen Pool Dawn until Dusk 24-hour ticket (8.00am until 8.00am) £15.00 (one rod) - £20.00 (two rods) £25.00 (one rod) - £30.00 (two rods) Middle Pool In less than two years an insignificant and totally overgrown pond which lay between Bottom and Top Pool at Holt Hall has been completely transformed into an attractive timber-clad pool stuffed full of silver fish and the occasional bigger carp which, because of its size, has been developed specifically as a novice/practice pool where you can't help but catch plenty of fish. The transformation is typical of the hard work which has been put into making Holt Hall the fishery it is today and is a credit to the new owners. As with Bottom Pool, this water has a bark chip pathway all around the water whilst the banks have been lined with timbers to add to its attractiveness. At just five to six feet deep with a bowl shaped bottom, it is an ideal pole or waggler water crammed with roach, rudd and small carp to 1lb as well as bream to 4lbs and the occassional bigger carp to double figures which add to the excitement. If you want to be sure of catching, just head for this water with a pint of maggots, light tackle and you will be in for some fun! 2011 Ticket costs - Middle Pool Adult Day Tickets (dawn 'till dusk) Adult Half-day (after 2.00pm) Concessionary Day Tickets Concessionary Half-day £6.00 (one rod) £7.00 (two rods) £5.00 (one rod) £6.00 (two rods) £5.00 (one rod) £6.00 (two rods) £4.00 (one rod) £5.00 (two rods) How to get there... Travelling north or south on the M6, leave the motorway at Junction 4 and head for Coleshill on the A446. A short while after leaving the motorway you will see the sign for Coleshill and need to cross over the A446 and head through the village. After about a mile and a half there is a cross roads with a sign for the B4116 for Shustoke and Over Whitacre. Take this road and follow it through the countryside heading towards Furnace End where you come to another cross roads. Go straight across and the entrance to Holt Hall Fisheries is about two miles along here on the right. Go back to Fisheries homepage