The lake was dug in the early 80s as an irrigation reservoir and was never stocked or fished until we started building it as a fishery in early 2017. The lake is 7 acres in size, with depths of around 38’ in the middle and beautiful lily, reed fringed weedy margins, with 12 swims which gives everyone plenty of room.

Our first stocking of the lake was in March and April 2017 with around 80 young fish and just three 20lb+ fish (the first and only time that we’ve stocked a 20lb fish), the biggest being a 23lb 8oz Common. We then stocked around a further 50 fish the following Winter. Our plan was then to “dribble” a few fish in each Winter until we were happy with the stock levels with a view to opening in the Spring of 2019. Our fish were from 5 suppliers and are all English born and bred and always will be! We are also extremely passionate about growing fish on so we never stock a fish above a c5 class, as we believe that small fish settle better and adjust to change easier than bigger, older fish. 

Since we started it’s fair to say we’ve had our ups and downs and we’ve quickly learnt on the job, thankfully the highs have far outweighed the lows! As we write this (Summer 2023), the fish are just recovering from spawning and are well on the feed, with the stock still growing and thriving in the rich natural environment that Fen provides for them.

We currently have around 120 Carp in the lake, with at least 24 of them being over 30lb and the lake record being an impressive 42lb 8oz, which came out in August not long after we reopened after spawning. We track the weights of our fish very closely and this fish was 34lb+ last Summer after spawning and then came out in late September at 39lb 14oz, so with that in mind it could well be 45lb+ this Autumn/Winter!!! Pretty impressive considering it was stocked at just 16lb in November 2017. We must stress though that this is forever changing as with a young stock they’re all still growing, with fish uncaught for several years constantly giving us a nice surprise.

We still continue to stock a very small amount most Winters at present, with fish from 2 suppliers to mix things up a little and to keep things interesting for our members.