Portland Fishing Lakes
The Portland complex lies between Grantham and Newark, situated on Longhedge Lane at Sibthorpe. Several interestingly shaped lakes include Old Wood, Canal, Four Island, Long Island, Heron, Kingfisher and Buzzard. Regular matches are held and mega hauls are common. edinfo and day ticket availability. After finding a peg, the bailiff comes round to issue a ticket. There’s a café on site by the main car park, which serves a superb breakfast. Old Wood is the original lake, re-landscaped in 2019, stocked with carp, barbel and chub. Carp are the dominant species throughout, but there are also plenty of silver fish. Day ticket rates are £7 in the summer and £6 for winter, with concessions for under 16s, over 65s and the disabled.
The snake lakes are immensely popular, ideal for tackling with CP2000 Competition or CP800 Margin poles.
Stretton
Stretton Lakes are signposted on Clipsham Road, just off the A1, near Oakham. There are several day ticket pools, while holiday makers can fish for free when staying on the site. The long Match Lake features numerous small islands dotted down its centre. Target species are carp, skimmers and roach, with chances of perch and tench. Generally, matches are dominated by carp, with chances of double figure fish, but there is a good head of other species. The carp tend to hug the margins and islands, while silver fish can be caught in open water. A good way of catching skimmers and roach is to use a pole two sections short of the islands. Small amounts of groundbait or micro pellets will get the skimmers feeding, using maggots or soft pellets on the hook. Day tickets are available on the bank costing £6, or £4 concessionary.
A great place to use the CP1000 Power Pole to full effect when targeting the carp.
Janson Fishery
Situated on Redmile Lane between Grantham and Nottingham. Long established lakes on this complex are Match Pool, Munroe’s, Donut and Tomo’s. The two largest offer canal-like fishing and are heavily stocked with carp. Staggering catches include a match record of 520lbs! Tomo’s is the original smaller pool, stocked with carp, barbel, tench, golden orfe, roach and rudd. Donut has an island feature and is situated by the tackle shop and café, offering top sport for pleasure anglers with mixed catches of carp, chub, ide and barbel. Two later additions are a large snake called Aubrey’s and an oval water with an island, designed for glamping pods, camper vans and caravans. Aubreys featured skimmers, chub, barbel and ide when I visited, along with the usual big numbers of carp. Two more small lakes have since been added.
Day tickets are £6 or £5 concessionary from the tackle shop and you must use fishery approved pellets. A bagging venue where pole fishing rules.
Fulbeck Waters
Caravan and camping site offering day ticket fishing, signposted off Brandt Road, a mile west of Fulbeck village. There’s a dozen or so well-spaced pegs on this small but interesting pool, which has manicured grassy banks, dotted with small copses of evergreen trees. It’s possible to park by most swims. I found this venue heaving with small rudd, making it impossible to get through with baits like maggots or casters. This led to giving the hemp and tare combination a go. Feeding small amounts of seed regularly with a catapult and fishing a bigger tare on the hook with waggler tackle, resulted in superb quality roach. They were a good stamp, with some close to the pound mark. This shallow water also holds carp to 25lbs, tench to 2.5lbs and perch to over 2lbs. Day tickets on the bank cost £6 for one rod or £10 for two. Keepnets are not allowed.
A waggler approach will unearth quality silvers. I would recommend 11ft or 12ft Cadence CR10 Match #1 rods with light tackle for the pristine roach.
Duck Ponds
The Duck Ponds are at North Scarle, near Collingham and provide prolific sport. This makes them popular with both club and pleasure anglers. Ye Old Lake is surrounded by mobile homes and caravans, heavily stocked with carp, bream and roach. Numerous shoals of ide are another big attraction, averaging between 12oz and 1.5lbs, helping to provide excellent catches. Bonus chub often turn up with this species too. Most pegs have islands to target, where the long pole scores well. Open water areas between the features can respond to waggler or feeder tactics. Willow is a much quieter lake in the field behind, with a large central island, shaped to offer both wide and narrow canal like options. This water is packed with carp, skimmers, roach and perch, with bonus chub and barbel also possible. Day tickets are £6 on the bank.
Most anglers pole fish, but waggler or feeder tactics can score well on wider pegs on either lake.
Bain Valley Fisheries
There are 8 lakes on a large farm at Tattershal Thorpe, just off the A153. Some are syndicate, others day ticket, all explained in the hut where you pay your money in the entrance yard. It’s possible to drive to most pegs via a network of tracks. I fished Hurricane, which is 4 acres and discovered it was packed with fish. Pole fishing in 5 feet of water, cupping in a mixture of casters, chopped worm and micro pellets, my swim was soon fizzing bubbles. Skimmer bream turned up first, followed by small roach, rudd and perch. A switch to pellets on the hook brought better sized fish, resulting in bigger skimmers and a couple of proper bream. Later, a shallow pole rig with regular loose fed casters had roach and rudd swirling on the surface. Waggler and feeder tackle are also productive with plenty of carp, bream and tench to go for.
Day tickets are £7 or £6 concessionary. Apart from the pole, method, pellet or cage feeders will find bigger fish. 11ft CR10 #2 or #3, or 12ft CR10 #2 or #3 quivertip rods are ideal.
Peacock Waters
Peacock Waters at Timberland is an old clay pit holding carp to over 30lbs, perch to 3lbs, chub reportedly as big as 7lbs and rudd have been recorded to 3lbs. There are also prolific bream and skimmer shoals, along with tench and crucians. I caught plenty of quality roach here too, but it was the cracking hybrids that kept me wanting to go back. This is a touring caravan site with electric hook ups, toilets and a heated shower block. A converted barn overlooking the lake offers 3 bedrooms and accommodation for 6 people. Day tickets cost £6 for one rod and £8 for two, while for juniors under 12 it’s £3. It can get busy here with carp anglers in good weather and at weekends, but generally its quieter on weekdays and as the weather get cooler. Big shoals of bream show within pole distance in some pegs, but feeder tactics further out are a safer bet.
Open from 1st March to 24th December, offering 25 swims. 12ft CR10 #1 or #2 quivertip rods are perfect for targeting the deep-water bream with feeder tackle.
Welton Manor
A three-acre fishing lake next to the 18-hole golf course at Welton Manor, which is on Hackthorn Road on the outskirts of Lincoln. There’s ample parking and day tickets are available from the golf club reception next door, costing £8 or £7 concessionary (both two rods). There’s plenty of roach, perch and rudd to be caught within pole range, plus bream and skimmers further out on the feeder. There are some big roach to over 2lbs, plus tench, perch and carp. This isn’t a deep water so waggler tactics work well too, working through a mixture of maggots, casters and pellets to find what the fish respond to best. Keep feeders on the small side if you want to avoid the big carp. Compact pellet designs filled with micros work well for the skimmers. A margin pole is worth a go close in to the reedy bank for bigger perch and bonus tench.
CR10 13ft Match #1 or #2 rods will let you cover lots of water on the waggler.
Donington Brick Pit
This old rectangular shaped brick pit is tucked away behind houses in Town Dam Lane on the outskirts of Donington. The small lake has decent depth, holding good stocks of carp, bream, tench, chub, rudd, crucians and eels. Due to the compact nature, only float fishing is allowed to avoid clashing with anglers fishing opposite, with well-spaced pegs down both sides. You don’t need to go out too far anyway to enjoy a good day’s sport. The pole or waggler work best, with maggots, casters or worms finding plenty of silver fish, while sweetcorn or pellets will sort out the bigger carp. It’s a relatively sheltered spot, almost guaranteed to provide plenty of bites, with a mystery factor as to what species will turn up next. The noticeboard at the entrance to the fishery notifies if any matches are scheduled and gives details of day ticket costs.
It cost a fiver when I last visited. Worth a go in warm weather with an 11ft CR10 Match #3 rod and pellet waggler for the carp.
Bainside House Coarse Fishery
This lake is a short trip past Sleaford, at Kirkby on Bain, next to the small river there. It’s a long water with a big overgrown island down the middle, having plenty of feature swims to explore, with depths of 3 to 5 feet. A yacht is moored at the top end, which adds to the pleasant atmosphere, making the lake resemble a river as it winds around the central island. There is flowing water to explore here too, as the Bain flows past on the far side, offering the potential to catch big chub. Casting a light waggler a few feet off the island, where tree cover made the area look like a good holding spot, revealed the place was heaving with fish. Caster produced best, mainly hand-sized silver bream, skimmers, roach and rudd. Pellets find the carp and F1s. Small chub and even humble gudgeon can turn up, along with tench, big bream and grass carp.
A CP1000 Power Pole might be needed to handle the weighty carp. My choice would be a 12ft CR10 #2 Match Rod for the waggler over towards the island.
Woodland Waters
Woodland Waters at Ancaster offers several mature lakes, with waterside lodges, touring pitches, bar and restaurant, plus a well-stocked tackle shop. The fishing is diverse, including a 14-acre Specimen Lake, a 7-acre Match Lake, along with smaller pools. The Specimen option is a “runs water” for carp, also highly rated for bream, capable of producing mega weights around the island area. Silver fish sport is normally excellent, with big roach providing a regular winter feature to look forward to. The Match Lake was brilliant for its skimmer fishing, but sadly cormorants have affected that. The bigger bream, carp and tench are still there. The smaller lakes are fun places, dominated by carp catches in the summer, coming to life with quality silver fish throughout the winter months. A pleasant place to take your family along.
Ticket prices at the gate are £7 one rod or £5.50 concessionary, with further options for carp fishing. A top YouTube video shows James Robbins bagging roach on the Specimen Lake.
White House Farm
Day ticket fishery tucked away off the A153 at North Kyme, featuring three lakes and caravan parking for those who like longer stays. A snakelike lake can be found a short way down from the second entrance. This sheltered spot offers varied sport with tench, perch, crucians, skimmers, carp and chub. It’s a winding, feature-packed water suiting pole fishing, with most swims only 9 to 10 metres wide. Pellets are popular, but natural baits like casters or maggots score equally well. Carp run into double figures, while the crucian carp and skimmers are plentiful, along with bonus good sized chub that tend to hug the far bank. The first turning off the A153 at the farm leads you to the Match Lake car park. On this larger water, club events are often won with much bigger weights of carp, although there are plenty of other species to target as well.
Day tickets are £6 one rod £8 for two. A third lake has recently been added. The snake suits CP1000 Power or CP800 Margin Pole tactics. The photo was me with a club match catch.
