Offering a number of Stillwater opportunities, this county includes the stately home waters centred on the famous houses: Clumber, Thoresby and Welbeck Abbey. At only one of these, however, is ticket fishing available. There are few Stillwater trout fisheries open to the general angler in this county.
BEESTON
Attenborough Gravel Pits (5) This complex of pits controlled by the Leisure Sport group is a much used coarse fishery for Nottingham area anglers. It contains some big fish, with bream, roach and tench the main quarry. The biggest roach went a superb 3 lbC DT:KorATS(Derby)STWA
BESTHORPE
Besthorpe Fleet IL C Free fishingSTWA CLIPSTONE Vicar’s PondC DT: BISTWA CLUMBER PARK
Clumber Park Lake Now adminis-tered by the National Trust, the fishery here, though not consis- tent, has yielded some surprises in the shape of catches including specimen roach to 2 lb and big bream. Large pike have also been caught. The problem at Clumber is the silting up of much of the lake. Work is already under way which could lead to a dramatic improvement in the fishingC DT:BorAK(NationalTrustArea Office, Clumber Park, near Worksop) STWA COLWICK
Colwick Fishery (GP) (3) This is a comparatively new development by the STWA offering trout fishing in two pits with coarse fishing on a third and on a loop of the River Trent. It is widely believed that the British record roach – the 4 lb 1 oz fish caught in 1975 – came from one of these pits before it was reserved for trout. It is still very early days for this trout fishery where, so far, fish have averaged less than 1 lbC (3 pits)T (2 pits) ? (Trout pits)
DT: ATS (E. Kirk, Carlton Road, Nottingham; Netherfield Petsand Gardens, Netherfield, Nottingham)STWA Colwick Ponds P (9)C DT:BSTWAe
CROMWELL
Cromwell Lake Once a coarse fishery controlled by Doncaster AA, the association decided a few years ago to convert this water near Newark into a put-and-takefly fishery. It is now an extremely popular water with anglers in an area not well blessed for this kind of fishing. Cromwell’s browns and rainbows average just over 1 lb. The water’s best: brown (3 lb 1 oz); rainbow (5 lb 12 oz)T?-DT: ATS (F. G. Gale, 26, Copley Road, Doncaster)G (Carlton Service Station, Cromwell)-Mar 18-Nov15STWAe
DUNHAM BRIDGE
Dunham Lakes (2)C
DT: AK (G. Beaumont, The Green,
Dunham)G (Bridge Garage,
Dunham)STWAe
FARNDON Farndon Ponds {2)C DT:BSTWA HOLME PIERREPONT National Water Sports Centre Two waters are available here, Winfield Lagoon and the 2000m rowing course. The Lagoon is managed by F W Woolworth and Co Ltd and offers mixed coarse fishing. The rowing course first hit the headlines when it was the setting for the disastrous 1976 Gladding Masters Tournament when some of the best match anglers in Britain were reduced to scratching for pike! The water has now been opened on an experimental basis as a winter fishery and, to no-one’s surprise, some excellent results have been achieved with pike. A section of the River Trent is also available. 2000M Rowing CourseC DT: TO (National Water Sports Centre)Mar15-Sept30STWAe
Winfield Lagoon PC
DT (not Mon): (L 20)AK (Rangers’
Post, Country Park, Holme Pier- repont)STWAe
HOVERINGHAM
Coneygre LalcejC
DT: AF (C F Lee, Coneygre
Farm)STWA
LANGOLD
Langold LakejC
DT: BSTWA
MAPPERLEY
Mapperley ReservoirC
DT: BSTWA
NOTTINGHAM
Bui well Hall PondC
DT: BSTWA
Martin’s Pond C DT:BSTWA
Wollaton ParkLC DT: BTOSTWA
OLLERTON
Thoresby Hall The family seat of the Manvers, Thoresby has a beautiful lake which used to offer some of the finest roach fishing anywhere in Britain with fish under 1 lb a rarity. Without warning, fishing declined and while it is now definitely on the upturn a real cause of earlier problems has never been uncovered. Thisfishing is available on season ticket only by applying to the Estate Office, Thoresby Hall, Ollerton, near Newark, Notts. Time spent on a waiting list is likely. Wellow PondC DT:BSTWA SUTTON IN ASHFIELD King’s Mill ReservoirC DT: BSTWA Lawn DamC DT: BSTWA WARSOP Spion KopL (3) C DT:BSTWA WINTHORPE Winthorpe LakeGPC DT: AK (Mrs I. Potter, Winthorpe Railway Crossing)STWA WORKSOP Sandhills LakeC DT: BSTWA
Welbeck Abbey The family seat of the Portlands, the Abbey is now an officer training college. On the estate are five lakes, the Swan, the Shrubbery, the Great Lake, the Middle Lake and Carburton Dam. They contain a superb head of coarse fish, especially quality roach, tench, and specimen pike. No fishing of any kind is permitted in the Swan or Shrubbery Lakes. The other three are managed for the estate by the Welbeck Lakes Angling and Welfare Committee, a group formed from representatives of clubs in the area. Only members of these clubs may fish Welbeck regularly and even then on strict rota. Anglers are warned that severe action is invariably taken against anyone fishing on these waters without the right credentials. The opportunities for visitors to fish are on the few open days organised by the Committee during the season. On these occasions, one water, usually the Great Lake, is reserved for pleasure anglers with a match on the others. The dates are regularly reported in the national angling press.
Top 50 Bream
A list of the top fifty Bream caught in English Still-waters is on 266.
