Spring Heath Log Cabins & Fishery - Lakes (2)

This is one of those places that I wonder if I should publish to the world about or just keep it to myself! However its customers that keep businesses open and the new owners, Richard, Sam and their family deserve to do well from such a well run holiday location.

 

There are 2 lakes (a general coarse lake and a specimen lake) with just 5 fully serviced hard-standing pitches and a coupe of log cabins on site. All set in beautiful countryside with a backdrop of one of the radio telescopes which forms part of the Jodrell bank array. Pitches are very reasonably priced at £20 per night and campers receive a discount on the price of day tickets as well which were priced at £5 per day - all in all very reasonable.

 

Plenty of information exists on their website about the 2 lakes and rules etc but I will give you a brief outline of my visit which was in October 2017.

We arrived late on Friday and my intention was to fish on Saturday and Sunday afternoon with the possibility of a couple of hours on either morning before going out with the family on both days - the weather was horrendous gale force winds with showers but the odd sunny spell and the temperature had dropped significantly in the last few days from what was a mild autumn to actual autumnal temperatures - I wasn't expecting the fishing of any kind to be easy!

 

I opted to bait up several areas on the specimen lake on Saturday morning and to fish these in the afternoon going into the evening - other than a few liners no runs or fish prevailed and I left the bank at dark a little despondent.  The weather did not improve and my wife decided that we would not be going for our bike ride along the canal on Sunday as she didn't want to get blown in - so time to hatch a plan to fish all day!

 

I decided to fish in the baited areas until 10am and then move to the more sheltered spot behind the first island, I also decided to only fish with 2 rods for the Carp and to try and target the big perch (using small jigs and dropshot) that were in the lake too, as I felt that the Carp may have gone off the feed with the sudden drop in temperature. By 1pm in the sheltered area I was loosing the faith but had observed fish breaking the surface at the far end of the lake, both carp and small fish presumably being chased by perch/chub. I decided to make the final move where I baited 2 areas where the carp had been showing and made a concerted effort to target the Parch in the areas I had seen small fish showing.

 

After an hour of swapping from dropshot to jig and visa versa and changing the size, colour and shape I finally had a take on a small 5g jig with a 5cm offwhite paddle tail rubber shad. I know it was a big perch instantly and after a short battle it was in the net, a very nice 3lb Perch.

 

Whilst I hadn't bagged up as such with the weather as it was and the water temperatures dropping like it did I was extremely pleased to have caught a nice specimen perch. No further action followed but it was just a great pleasure to fish on the lake.

 

I spoke with a fellow angler who was staying in one of the lodges who had fished the general coarse fishing lake and he had caught plenty of Roach and Bream and had had a good days fishing on the Pole - he was also complimentary about the lodges which looked very nice inside.

 

The long term prospects of this fishery are excellent, Richard has already moved many of the smaller coarse fish (Roach/Bream/Tench/Crusians) from the specimen lake to the general lake, he has plans to stock the specimen lake with more Carp this year including 15 mid doubles and has built an otter fence around the lake to protect the future of the fishery.

 

I cant wait to get back!

 

#Onsitefishing, #fishingfun, #fishing, #camping