Spring Rock Fishery

Spring Rock Specimen Carp Lake

Spring Rock Lake offers plenty of bankside cover and has three central islands which give anglers features to fish to. Depths range from just a few feet in parts of the margins to between five and seven feet further out.

Although there are about 15 natural grass bank pegs around the lake, visitor numbers are restricted to six at any one time to prevent anglers encroaching into neighbouring swims or over casting someone else’s line.

Popular pegs

Although there are no particular hot spots, popular pegs are those along the entrance bank, along the left hand side as you approach the water and along the far bank, all of which give good access to the islands and the channels between them. The bay to the right as you come onto the fishery is slightly shallower than the remainder of the lake, although it often produces good results particularly in warmer weather.

The water around the majority of the margins is quite deep at between six and seven feet off the entrance banks to eight feet along the left hand bank and the bank opposite the entrance. The bottom then shallows up to about six feet in the main body of the lake and to about four feet in the channels between the islands.

All techniques work well

Anglers going after the commons and mirrors fish both modern and traditional carping techniques, fishing either in open water or towards the islands and the channels in between them. However, hooked fish need to be steered towards open water to prevent them bolting for sanctuary through the channels and going behind the islands where they are almost impossible to get out.

Another feature of Spring Rock is that whilst boilies are a popular bait it is essential that they are good quality or they will simply be ignored. Ten to 15mm Mainline, Cell, Nutrabaits and Trigger all produce good results with spicy baits appealing to the fish. The fish also take readily on 6mm, 8mm or 10mm light coloured carp pellets.

Anglers should note that halibut pellets and trout pellets are not allowed and that only barbless hooks can be used, with most anglers fishing a Size 8 or 10 to a 12lb line and running leads.

Spring Rock is regarded by some anglers as a challenging water with the fish reacting best to a stealthy ‘one bite at a time’ approach: a single pva bag filled with pellets and cast tight to one of the islands often produces but anglers should not ignore the margins – the Spring Rock carp are often taken down the inside.

Spring Rock Pleasure Lake

At two-and-a-half acres in size, Spring Rock’s rectangular shaped day ticket Pleasure Lake has four islands along its spine and a bottom which gradually slopes to a maximum of six feet.

Opened in 2019, it is stocked predominantly with common and mirror carp to 14lbs but averaging a healthy 5lbs to 8lbs as well as a large head of crucian carp to 2lbs 8oz and averaging about 1lb. There are also a good number of silver fish including roach and rudd.

The fishing is from grass pegs along the bank nearest the entrance track and caravan park. As there are no pegs along the reed-lined far bank anglers, will need to use ledger tactics if they want to fish these swims.

Float fishing is popular for the crucians

Float fishing is probably the most common method used on Pleasure Lake, particularly for the crucians, with anglers fishing maggots likely to catch a decent bag of mixed fish in one sitting. As owner Andrew Griffiths says: “If you can’t catch on here using maggots you can’t catch anywhere!”.

Other popular baits include sweetcorn, bread, luncheon meat and soft hooker pellets.

When fishing Pleasure Lake it pays to use fairly light tackle, particularly if you are after the crucians. Because you don’t need to cast long distances a fairly light float and Size 16 hook to 4lb line is strong enough for even the bigger carp. One tip, though, is to play the fish in open water before trying to bring them to the net. The pegs are cut into channels between the reeds and lively fish will make a bolt for cover as soon as they see the net.