Stockbridge Lake
August 2025
This venue was selected as it holds tench and crucian carp and the pictures on the website suggested it would be a quiet and peaceful spot to fish.
It certainly fits the tench lake image (pre gravel pit era) with good bankside vegetation and lily pads. I selected a swim towards the dam end of the lake to fish the deeper water after speaking to a fellow angler. I have found the FAS waters generally friendly especially if you do not ask direct questions about spots and baits. Thoughts based on what you have read about the venue or mentioning how you are going to tackle the water will often gain a better response.
I had maggots, small worms, and pellets as main baits, with some corn and flavoured meat as backup plus 'pre mixed' groundbait. I have a number of groundbaits plus pulverised breadcrumb that I keep in a plastic container at home. I will mix some of these to try to match the potential quarry or lake I am due to fish. I used a carp and tench mix with some crushed hemp thrown in.
I set up my 13 foot Fox specimen and fixed spool to start. I hoped the swim would be 6 foot deep from the club description but it was about four to five foot deep. I put some bait out and then started with double maggot. I was getting a lot of twitches and dips but not definitive bites. A couple of times I flt resistance but not typical small fish. Then I landed one of the culprits - a crayfish. I am happy to eat these but not a great lover of them in my swim. Shortly after I started to catch a couple of small perch and roach. Switching to worm tipped with maggot soon got me a couple of better fish as I landed a couple of tench. The fishing seemed a bit intermittent and bites came in spells. I caught a small gudgeon, a real blast from the past as I think my last one was probably back in the seventies from the Bristol Avon or Upper Thames.
My apologies for the poor picture of the tench, I do tend to take a quick picture to remind myself I did catch something. Fish are generally unhooked and returned as quickly as possible. I had four tench in total but no crucians. I felt I could have made more effort, maybe a move but it was a nice day to be sitting and relaxing and I had enough bites to keep me hoping so overall a good day.
I did see a couple more anglers fish the lake but a lot of swims from the carpark side seem to be quite secluded which makes the fishing nice and restful.
On leaving the lake you drive up a lane towards the main road. There is parking there as a lot of people go walking in the area and there is a golf course near the lake. Despite this the lake seemed very quiet and is definitely a place to go for a quiet session on the float. I shall go again but maybe try the deeper areas by the dam.
