Where To Fish

Welcome to the where to fish guide.

Over the next few pages you will find a guide on where to fish in the south East. There will be reviews on all of the lakes and some pictures of them! You can also write your comments and send in reviews of fisheries that haven't yet been reviewed through the feedback page.

Bury Hill Fisheries

Bury Hill fisheries is one of the country's best known day ticket fisheries offering truly superb mixed fishing from the bank and boat for the Pleasure, Club and Specialist angler. Open daily the fishery forms part of a beautiful 200 year old estate and consists of three lakes which lie in a secluded valley noted for its "outstanding natural beauty" and "abundance of wildlife". Facilities include a new boathouse complex with toilets, shop and cafe. There is ample car parking close to the fishery and good access to all swims which consist of large, purpose-built platforms providing safe, comfortable fishing. The fishery has full disabled facilities and is permanently staffed, and so is ideal for youngsters, who together with OAP's and disabled anglers benefit from a concessionary ticket (see charges). All their lakes provide easy fishing although they have resident bailiffs who are always on hand to help. Anglers who want some tuition might benefit from Bury Hill's Pro-Fish Tuition courses.

Old Bury Hill Lake

At 12.5 acres in size and with 75 fully-decked pegs, Old Bury Hill Lake is the largest of the three waters and offers everything from general mixed and match angling to specimen carp, bream, tench, pike and zander fishing.

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This is a picture taken from the back of Bury Hill lake looking out on to the boathouse.

Old Bury Hill is deepest at six to 12 feet near the Boathouse whilst for the most part is only four to six feet.

Individual bags to over 200lbs are not uncommon during Spring and Summer with Carp and Pike to 30lbs; Zander to 16lbs; bream to 10lbs, tench to 9lbs, Crucian Carp to 5lbs, and roach, rudd and perch to 3lbs being taken fairly frequently. For those looking to get away from it all and explore the more remote areas of the lake - particularly The Jungle which is otherwise inaccessible from the bank - a punt is a delightful option. Following extensive stocking over the past three years, Old Bury Hill Lake now holds some 450 doubles and more than 50 twenties, whilst at least two of the fish are known to top the 30lb mark.In addition to giving something good to go for, this stocking also makes for relatively easy fishing with all areas producing on the day. Because the carp tend to be fairly large and powerful, a minimum recommended line strength of 15lbs is advised.

Bonds Lake (Bury Hill)

Bonds Lake Situated just a few hundred yards from Old Bury Hill Lake, Bonds Lake and Milton Lake were completed in 1990 since when extensive landscaping has been carried out. Already both waters have established a solid reputation for themselves and are equally as popular with anglers as the main Old Bury Hill lake. Bonds Lake is the smaller of the two waters at two acres in size and has 20 swims. Bonds is a comfortable water to fish, being only four to five feet deep throughout whilst where there are lilies the bottom is even shallower- between 2 and 2.5 feet.

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This is a picture taken from the front of Bonds Lake it's a fairly small lake but produces nearly every time!

Because of its depth the water is predominantly a waggler or pole water, although waggler fishing is the most popular, particularly in the margins. The four-hour match record for the lake was broken twice in 1999 when a new competition record of 140lbs set early in September was sent reeling only a few weeks later with a new high of 165lbs. During this event many anglers failed to get away from the lake until well after dark because the weigh-in took so long as a result of the large number of fish caught!

Milton Lake (Bury Hill)

Bury Hill's Milton Lake has been described as: "One of the top tench and Crucian Carp waters in the country." At three acres, Milton is larger than Bonds Lake and can accommodated 30 anglers. It is noted for its huge stocks of Crucian Carp and tench as well as decent stocks of rudd, Golden Rudd, skimmers, roach, Golden Orfe and Chubb. This mix provides good year round fishing with exceptional Spring, Summer and Autumn angling when 200lb pleasure bags and 100lb match weights are regularly reported. Milton can produce big bags of tench and Crucian Carp from just about any swim. Also, with a depth of between two and five feet, although slightly deeper in the centre, it is a straight forward water to float fish on either pole or waggler.

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This a picture of Milton Lake looking right across the lake.

Fishing close in can pay dividends as there is a shelf which runs to about two metres out and fish can often be found patrolling this. Trout pellet paste also makes for a good hookbait in warmer weather. As with fishing for carp on the main Old Bury Hill Lake, prepare and alternate between two swims - one straight off the end of the platform or to the side against the lilies or reeds, the second two to three rod lengths out. Having prepared the swims, fish a size 12 or 14 hook to 2lb 8oz line. Hook your corn or meat through the corner and, as with the other Old Bury Hill waters, keep feeding little and often. Whilst sweetcorn and meat are good baits during the warmer months, in colder weather it pays to turn to smaller hookbaits such as caster or maggot fished over a bed of hemp.

How to get there!

Bury Hill Fisheries is situated just off the A25 Dorking to Guilford road and less than 1 mile from Dorking Town centre. The entrance to the fishery is clearly signposted on the right when travelling from Dorking (look out for the brown tourist sign). There are also frequent train services from London and Horsham to Dorking station which is a short bus or taxi ride from the fishery.

Rules!

1. Strictly no access to the fishery until the arrival of the bailiff.

2. Dip all nets when entering the fishery.

3. No keepnets or sacks to be brought onto the fishery (except for organised matches).

4. Barbless hooks only.

5. Particle baits are banned (with the exception of sweetcorn and hemp).

6. Boilies are banned from April 1st - September 30th (inclusive).

7. No night fishing.

8. All forms of fixed lead are banned.

9. Pike and Zander fishing is only permitted between October 1st - March 31st.

10. Anyone fishing for Carp, Pike or Zander must be in possession of a large

landing net, unhooking mat and correct unhooking equipment.