Jon ends 2005 on a Hopsford High Note!Stratford-upon-Avon angler Jon Payne ended 2005 on a personal high note when he took this 19lb 10oz fish from Hopsford Hall Specimen Lake at the end of October. Fishing a 10mm Halibut boily, this was the best of five doubles he took on the day whilst his colleague Steve Wells had six fish on dead maggot, four of them doubles. Jon's UK personal best was a 28lb 11oz mirror caught near Sausage Island on the River Avon below Stratford. At the time Jon was fishing for roach using bread flake on a Size 16 hook! A Hopsford Hall regular for about five years, Jon is also a keen barbel angler and a River Avon regular who took two 11lb-plus fish in 2005 plus several bream to 6lbs.

And with with mirrors taken to 25lbs, commons to over 20lbs, ghosties to 18lbs and leathers to 8lbs, there is plenty to go at - although the dam is not the only area where you can expect to catch big fish. In 2003 the biggest fish to come out of Hopsford was a Common which weighed in at just under 30lbs whilst last year the biggest was a 28lb common.

In addition to the carp, Hopsford also holds a good head of tench, the majority of which are between two-and-a-half and 5lbs with some specimens to 8lbs are takenplus bream to 6lbs; perch, roach and rudd.

Whilst many of the carp anglers use flavoured boilies, more conventional baits seem to work best with luncheon meat and floating crust particularly effective for the carp in the summer months. Floating baits work well in the shallower parts of the lake when fished close to the marginal weeds.

It is really only in the winter that boilies come more into their own. Generally effective throughout the year are sweetcorn, trout pellet paste, dog-food mixers, maggots and worms.

Most popular methods for fishing the lake are float fishing on rod or pole around the edges and legering in the deeper water.

Interestingly, it is worth taking the time to get to know this lake because the different species tend to occupy specific territories. The bream, for example, generally stay in the swims in the far right hand corner from the bridge, where the depth is around 10 or 11 feet, whilst the carp are usually caught in the deeper water by the dam and along the bank between the overflow and the island. They are also regularly taken from the shallower end by the entrance.

Although the roach can generally be caught anywhere, they are more regularly taken in the shallower water as you come onto the fishery and the tench congregate in the shallow bays down the right hand side of the pool.

The bay down the right hand side as you come onto the water is said to be good for the tench, although there are one of two underwater snags where which anglers need to be aware of.

The Duckery

This old half-acre pool, reinstated in 1990, is popular with some anglers who prefer its wooded seclusion to the main lake.

Deeper than it looks, The Duckery is about six feet at the point where you enter the fishery whilst the narrow arm behind the island to the left is only five feet on average. However, the main body of the lake to the right shelves steadily to 11ft at its deepest before coming back up to eight feet and then seven feet as it goes behind the island.

Well-stocked with carp, roach and rudd, The Duckery is perhaps most famous for its stock of indigenous Wild Carp which, although weighing only up to 8lbs, give better account of themselves when hooked than the Mirror Carp or Common Carp which run to 8lbs and 12lbs respectively.

The water is also good for Crucian Carp which run to a respectable 4lbs and also give a good scrap once hooked.

With roach and rudd to 2lbs, it is easy to see why this little pool is so popular with anglers. However, because the water is heavily reeded along its fringes there are plenty of escape routes for any hooked fish and many a good one has found freedom in the reeds.

When fishing The Duckery it is worth noting that boilies are not allowed. However, float or leger fished luncheon meat, maggots, sweetcorn and bread usually do the trick.

Go back to Fisheries homepage