Lake One
At up to 14 feet deep along the far bank and seven feet along the car park side, this large six and a half acre pool is often used by 'the boilie brigade' to restore their confidence after numerous blanks.
Most flavours of boilie work well with Tutti Frutti or fish-based recipes being most favoured. Superb results are also often to be had during warmer months on floating baits, particularly bread and chum mixer. Many anglers use floating bread on the hook whilst firing loose mixers around their bait to attract the carp, which run to just over 30lbs.
Because of the size of the carp and the many broken and lost poles which have been reported in the past, strong carp poles and elastics are recommended.
Feeder and method feeder give almost guaranteed success during colder periods. Whilst the biggest bags are invariably carp, the roach and golden orfe fishing is excellent when using maggots and caster on the waggler.
When float fishing this lake, pellets, corn, meat and paste baits work well whilst bigger baits help anglers cut through the roach if they are after larger fish. Having said that, there is a good head of quality roach to be had and these generally fall to maggot or caster which are equally effective all year round.
Lake Two
Another reasonably large water with islands to fish towards, Lake Two is about four acres in size and between seven and 14 feet deep on the Wolvey village side. A variety of methods can be employed for the many species which range from 20lb carp to half-ounce gudgeon. The lake is also ideal for match practice for pole fishing and often excellent for floating baits during warmer weather.
Used for matches most weekends and for company events, Lake Two - like the remainder of Phase One - is a predominantly pleasure water and casting tight to the islands always proves popular for the bigger carp. Pole, waggler and feeder fishing in the deeper water works well and again bigger baits tend to avoid the roach and smaller fish.
In summer, floating baits using the candle rig cast well out towards the islands is very popular on this pool and this approach accounted for a number of 200lbs-plus match weights in summer 2004.
Meat, corn, pellets and paste are the traditional baits for the carp and larger fish whilst maggot and caster again work well for the roach
Lake Three
Lake Three was opened for angling in Autumn 2003 since when it has proved popular for club competitions, which are usually won on the pole fishing either full depth or in summer 18 inches below the surface whilst spraying maggots. Lake Three is also a good pleasure water mid-week with the carp and barbel being the most sought after species. Because the carp run to 10lbs and the chub to 4lbs, pole anglers are recommended to use a 12 elastic. The depth varies from six to 10 feet.
As the temperature drops the feeder becomes more effective in the deeper water with anglers casting towards the large floating island.
Lake Four
Although quite a tricky pool which ranges from seven to 12 feet, Lake Four is noted for its good average size of carp and barbel, which are serious pole crunchers. The barbel run to over 12lbs and provide such good sport that many anglers travel for miles just to fish here.
One such angler is Sheffield 'inn keeper' Tony Dipple who runs The Chequers Inn at Froggatts Edge. Tony is pictured at the top of the page with one of two 8lb barbel which he took in a sitting which also produced a much bigger specimen of 12lbs on the scales. Tony took the three fish close in to the bank float fishing luncheon meat and flavoured paste. Well worth the 110-mile journey down the M1!
When on song, catches of up to 300lbs have been taken using both waggler and feeder techniques. The barbel adore luncheon meat and the carp eat anything when hungry whilst the carp normally fall to most carp techniques with boilies, luncheon meat and paste baits being the most popular.
The lake is booked for matches most weekends.
Lake Five
Offering hundreds of 5lb to 20lb carp and a good head of barbel, Lake Five also holds good stocks of eels up to 7lbs. Meat, pellets, paste and corn all score well and sprayed maggots in combination with a waggler fished 18 inches deep often produce massive chub bags.
Lake Five is generally shallower than the other waters, at its deepest along the Wolvey Village side where up to 12 feet can be found in parts.
Fish stocks are mainly carp and a reasonable head of barbel and again a popular technique is to fish right on top of the ledge which runs around the lake using paste or meat baits.
 Download an Adobe .pdf map of
Phase One at Makin Fishery
By clicking on the map to the right you can download a .pdf file which shows in detail the layout and pegging on each of the lakes at Makin Fishery's Phase One.
The file is 143Kb in size so should not take long to download irrespective of your Internet access speeds.It will open in a new browser window so you will not be taken away from this page. Even if you are on Standard Dial-up, the end result should be worth it!
|
Serviced by a three-tier car park, Phase One was the first development at British Waterways Makin Fishery and in addition to its general mixed coarse fishing offers the opportunity to catch some great carp up to 30lbs and barbel to over 16lbs.