Gold Valley Lakes

Details

With a reputation built up over the last twenty years, whether you are a regular matchman, or a pleasure angler Gold Valley has something to offer you! Gold Valley is one of the premier day ticket fisheries in the UK today.

Gold Lake
An original natural lake that was extended in the early 1930s’. Depths now vary between 3ft and 8ft with forty-five well-spaced swims around the six-acre lake.

Peg 10 holds the current record of 174 lbs for the Angling Times Winter League.

Peg 15 holds the U.K. 4 ½ hour match record of 308 lbs-13oz.

100 lb plus match weights have been recorded from every peg on Gold Lake, the best non Carp winning weight being 98 lbs of Bream from peg 6, a magnificent catch taken by Dave Schofield.

All pegs can produce on the waggler whether fished as wag & mag up in the water or fished at a fuller depth over groundbait or loose feed. One of the most popular methods on Gold lake is a float rod of 13ft to 20ft, fished close in with luncheon meat or worm. Some big pleasure catches (60 or 70 fish a day) have been taken on this reasonably easy way to fish, the favourite pegs for this method are on the canal bank (pegs 1 – 23).

Fishing at a distance, either with a feeder or big waggler is another style that produces big catches. Feedered maggots in the winter and feedered groundbait in the summer being the general rule of thumb.

The pole fishing on Gold is unsurpassed, with double figure weights of prime roach from most pegs, add to these some bream, perch, tench, crucians and a few common or mirror carp and 40 lb or 50 lb is on the cards.

Gold lake is favoured by the majority of night or long stay anglers who target the big Carp, double rod fishing in conjunction with boilies or meat resulting in many personal bests being achieved.

Middle Lake
Covering 3 ½ acres with just thirty-seven swims. Middle lake was designed for bagging up on various methods and styles from pole to feeder or waggler. Carp and Tench with back ups including Bream, Roach, Perch and Crucians being the target fish, the middle of this lake is shallow (2ft or so) with 3 ½ ft plus, as you come back towards the bank creating the situation of feeding fish moving in and out allowing easy fishing and big weights, the largest all bream match catch on middle being over 130 lbs.

Carp match weights of 100 lbs have also been taken from every peg on middle with 152-14oz lb being the best from peg 77. The largest recorded carp from middle being 17 lb - 10oz.

One of the favourite styles on Middle is to fish a waggler up in the water and change to a straight lead as fish start to shy off, but remember to keep feeding, not large amounts of maggots but try to have 6 or 10 maggots dropping through the water all the time, the best pegs for this style being the 50s, or early 60s, or any where in the seventies, all other styles work well on Middle lake with corner pegs 46, 67, and 68 being favourite for bigger fish either on the pole or long rod. The areas around the island are unpredictable and a softly softly approach is advised, pole and maggot against the islands have produced some prolific weights of Carp for both match and day ticket anglers.

Syndicate Lake
Similar in size to Gold lake (6 acres) average depths of 5ft, again with shallow areas in the middle. Syndicate holds a very large head of fish with Carp again being the dominant species.

Fish can be caught easily on most styles from feeder to pole, all types of fishing have accounted for some memorable days, pegs 93 to 106 are favoured by the feeder anglers, pegs 83 to 92 can produce fish on the close in line, 107 to 115 can respond to a wide variety ranging across pole, feeder or long rod, 116 to 124 are good pegs for fishing close in, all the suggested close in pegs should be fed a second line in order to widen the chance of a day to remember.

The roach fishing on Syndicate has developed well with 83 to 90 and 116 to 124 being the recognised areas; Syndicate also holds a large head of Crucians, Tench, Bream and Perch with many approaching the specimen bracket.

Bat Lake
Bat lake is one of the most popular small lakes in the Hampshire / Surrey area with just eighteen swims and just under one acre, depths vary from 12" to 4 ft plus.

The lake was formed around the "Bat Cave" a specially constructed building erected for the conservation of bats.

Bat Lake holds Tench, Carp, Roach, Perch, Bream, Crucians and Rudd. The Carp go to around the 9 lb mark and on the odd occasion that competitions have been held on Bat lake weights have run up to just short of 120 lb. Pole with float being the best method, with meat and hemp or maggots being the baits to use.

Bungalow Lake
A one-acre lake in the old style contains twenty-three swims with depths to 6 ft. Some small islands, old willows, rushes and pipe reeds add to the day to make Bungalow Lake a must for either the experienced angler or the beginner.

The heaviest five-hour match weight from bungalow being 126 lb taken in the month of December – need we say more!