Contents

Junior Fishing
Disabled Anglers
Carp Fishing
Match Fishing
Game Fishing
Specialist Fishing
Lure Fishing
Pleasure Fishing

The club activity encourages juniors to fish the clubs’ waters, and any member can add two children under the age of 14 years for free as part of their own membership. This includes night fishing as well, so come the summer holidays you can take your children fishing with you. Of course, the junior member must always be accompanied by the adult member.

We also hold a Junior Carp Day every year where juniors get to fish for free, with club angling coaches on hand to give tuition, tips and advice along with a BBQ to keep everyone’s strength up. There are also plenty of prizes and tackle give aways provided by our generous tackle and bait sponsors. For the best venues to introduce juniors to fishing, have a look at our Pleasure Fishing section.

If you would like to know more about junior fishing at the club, please contact the CAC team through our Contact form.

Where possible, our venues have platforms suitable for disabled anglers or those with reduced mobility to use. The platforms for disabled anglers have all been selected on the basis of the best swim available nearest to the car park with a good access route. Disabled anglers are also eligible for our concessionary membership, so get a membership saving.

The following Lakes and Ponds are suitable for disabled anglers – Hucklesbrook (2x disabled swims), Wedgehill (10x disabled swims – spread between the middle lake and bottom lake), Holtwood (5x disabled swims – 3 top lake, 1 middle lake and 1 bottom lake), Wainsford (1x disabled swim), Waddock 2x disabled swims (Lake 7 – awaiting construction, Lake 8 – awaiting construction).

Whilst the rivers do not have any dedicated disabled swims, Sopley, Upper Winkton and Manor Farm have swims that are very close to, or in the car parks and are good for those unable to walk too far.

If you would like to know more about accessibility to our fisheries, please contact the CAC team through our Contact form.

The club has some excellent carp fishing available to suit all levels and abilities. Our premier big fish water is Spinnaker, a 65 acre gravel pit that has grown carp to over 50lbs. The stock comprises of the original fish which are highly prized targets and plus further stockings of 50 fish in 2021 and another 50 fish in 2024 to ensure the long term future of this fishery. Some of these fish are growing at phenomenal rates and are already over 30lbs.

The low stock density means these fish will continue to grow naturally without reliance on anglers’ baits offering a real challenge for seasoned carp anglers in a beautiful location on the edge of the New Forest. Our most popular carp fishery is Hucklesbrook, situated on the edge of the Avon Valley this lake has a higher stock density with a large number of 20lbs and 30lbs fish with the best fish hovering around the 40lb mark. Whilst there is a fairly high stock level it is by no means a runs water and you will have to work to consistently catch here.

Just around the corner from Hucklesbrook are the Ibsley Pools, 3 small intimate mixed fisheries with some beautiful wise old carp in them. Dug a very long time ago as trout pools, two of them have the river Avon flowing through them, providing great water quality year round.

If it’s traditional style carp fishing in an old estate lake setting with ‘Wildie’ like commons and the chance of a ghostie or ornamental, then Wainsford is the venue for you.  The lake has a dam at one end, a stream at the other, tree lined banks and an abundance of water lilies. Waddock Lakes are the newest addition to our waters portfolio and continue to be developed by the club. Lakes 2 and 4 have had recent carp stockings to supplement the original stock and both lakes have been joined together making a bigger lake.

The plan is that the fish will grow bigger with a larger body of water and fish location should be more of a challenge. The fish now move between the shallower weedy lake 2 to sunbathe, returning to lake 4 in the evening. The stocking is not too high so you will still have to work for your fish, be on the lookout for the original stock and some of the massive grass carp which have been caught over 40lbs. If you want more action, then head over to Lake 7, which has a higher stock density and is being developed as a match water. Lake 5 has had a very select stocking of special fish, heavily weeded in the summer and full of natural food it’s one to watch and fish when the weed clears. The rest of the lakes for the time being are going to keep publicity free, and we will let anglers find out for themselves what swims in them.

Pre- Booked Night Fishing – You must pre-book your night fishing via our Clubmate booking system. This ensures that there are always plenty of swims available for night anglers, with numbers limited to roughly 50% of the swims available on each venue. No more turning up to find there are no swims available to fish. Please observe latest arrival and earliest leaving times to minimise disturbing our neighbours and your fellow anglers.

If you are still struggling for a bite, then have a look at some of our Pleasure Fishing venues, some of which are heavily stocked with easy to catch carp.

If you would like to know more about carp fishing at the club, please contact the CAC team through our Contact form.

The clubs match section holds weekly matches on Saturdays throughout the whole year and runs a league with prizes at the end of the year. The match venues are varied throughout the year testing the all round skills of the angler. We currently hold Lake and pond matches usually won with weights of carp, silver fish only matches and during the winter river matches. During the summer months, after match barbecues are held and the match anglers often hold work parties to improve the fisheries. Our match fishing calendar, results and rules can be found here.

If you would like to know more about match fishing at the club, please contact the match secretary through our Contact form.

Our stillwater game fishing is centred around our White Sheets Trout Fishery, situated on the edge of Holt Heath near Wimborne. Here there are 3 stocked trout lakes, with one set aside for catch and release fishing. Each lake also has a boat on it to enable you to access all areas. For rivers, we have game fishing rights on the Hampshire Avon, Dorset Stour and Frome. There is some fabulous wild brown trout fishing on the River Frome at Tincleton and Waddock Farm. The Frome also offers good sea trout and salmon fishing. If it is Salmon, you are after, then there is also our Winkton fishery on the lower Hampshire Avon.

For the more adventurous, there are other sections on the Hampshire Avon and Dorset Stour which hold wild brown trout and salmon and are open to fly fishing in season.

The game fishing section of the club holds monthly matches at White Sheets, regular work parties and each year puts on a series of fly casting tuition for members wishing to try their hand at fly fishing. There is also a clubhouse at White Sheets where you can get out of any nasty weather, take a break and make a brew (Bring your own water and tea bags). The stocking policy of the lakes is once a fortnight, but could be higher depending on the number of fish caught. The cost of our trout tickets is significantly lower

than a commercial fishery, since we only need to cover our costs, so our trout fishery offers outstanding value for money. Not only that, but a member can also take a guest who will also benefit from a lower cost guest trout ticket. Just about any method works on its day and the fish will sometimes rise freely to a dead drifted dry fly, particularly on the top sporting lake.

If you would like to know more about the game fishing at the club, please contact the Game secretary through our Contact form.

Looking for those bigger than average fish, upping your personal bests, or just prefer the challenge of setting out to target a specific species and as big as possible. Then there are some great fisheries which offer the chance of a fish of a lifetime, and quite a few Drennan cups have been won on our waters.

Barbel and Chub – The barbel stocks on the Hampshire Avon and Dorset Stour are not high, and fish move long distances on both rivers. Location is critical, and it can be here today, gone tomorrow. But if you are willing to put the time in, especially when the rivers are low and clear you will find them, and you might just have the fishing to yourself on some of our quieter venues. The chub however are doing well on both rivers and a fish of a lifetime is possible on both, with plenty of smaller fish to keep you going. Our venues on the Avon and Stour have produced bigger barbel and chub than our club records suggest to anglers who don’t want to publicise their catches, our Avon and Stour venues have produced barbel to over 18lbs and chub over 8lbs.  If it’s the Avon barbel and chub you are after then look at our Ringwood Fishery particularly early season, then as the season progresses there is Bisterne Fishery and Horseport. Less well known for barbel are Upper Winkton, Lower Winkton and  Sopley Mill Stream. All of them have a history of producing big barbel and they contain some very big chub. The Stour barbel have always been thinner on the ground, but it has a history of throwing up some really big fish. Our Manor Farm and Dudsbury fisheries have a rich history of big fish going back decades and are probably our premier barbel and chub fisheries on the Stour. This is no real secret and some of the bigger residents have been well reported and won a few Drennan cups so expect competition from some very good anglers if you fish there. Little Canford was once a mecca for big barbel and huge chub producing barbel over 17lbs and chub over 8lbs, who knows what is still there and its unlikely anyone will tell you.

Night Fishing – Many of the river venues are available to night fish and do not require pre-booking. A rivers only night fishing add on is available for members.

Tench and Bream – It’s probably no surprise that our premier big carp water Spinnaker is also our premier big tench water, having produced many double figure tench rumoured to over 13lbs. It’s even got a chapter in Terry Lampard’s book First Cast. Not that it is all about big tench, we have recently seen a lot of new smaller tench appearing in anglers catches which are home grown and bred, so the future of tench here looks promising. Hucklesbrook lake has a good head of tench in it, with some 200 caught in 2023 whilst netting the carp on the lake. The majority of fish are in the 3-6lbs bracket, but the lake has produced fish to 11lb in the past. Ibsley pools have always held good Tench, with Crowe and Edwards holding the most. Finally, there are Waddock Lakes, which remain a bit of a mystery but so far big tench of 8lbs plus and big bream well into double figures have been caught from a number of lakes. If you want to do a bit of pioneering, then head to these unspoilt lakes and unravel their secrets.

Pre- Booked Night Fishing – You must pre-book your night fishing via our Clubmate booking system. This ensures that there are always plenty of swims available for night anglers, with numbers limited to roughly 50% of the swims available on each venue. No more turning up to find there are no swims available to fish. Please observe latest arrival and earliest leaving times to minimise disturbing our neighbours and your fellow anglers.

Pike – We have excellent pike fishing on our lakes and rivers with pike to over 32lbs landed in recent times. If you are looking to lakes for your pike fishing, head to Spinnaker, Ibsley Pools or Waddock. If it’s river piking you prefer, all our venues on the Hampshire Avon and Dorset Stour can provide great pike fishing depending on the conditions. We all know that pike are a vulnerable species and don’t have the resilience of recapture and longevity like carp, so that’s all we are going to say about our pike fishing venues, it’s up to you now.

Roach – For these, most elusive of big fish, Upper Winkton is the jewel in our crown when it comes to big roach with many 3lbs roach being caught in recent years and 2lb fish being relatively common. Horseport is also a productive roach fishery, and anywhere on the Hampshire Avon is capable of producing fish of a lifetime, worth a look is the Ringwood Fishery, especially the King’s Stream section. The Dorset Stour also has a rich history of big roach and all our fisheries have a track record of 2lb plus fish. Whilst the shoals are nomadic, Canford Bridge and the Lower end of Manor Farm could be a good starting point.

If you would like to know more about specialist fishing at the club, please contact the CAC team through our Contact form.

The popularity of lure fishing in recent years has risen immensely and several of our lake and river venues offer good lure fishing opportunities for pike, perch, chub and trout. On waters where braid is normally banned, we allow lure anglers to use braid.

If you would like to know more about lure fishing at the club, please contact the CAC team through our Contact form.

The club has some fantastic pleasure fisheries where you can expect to catch fish in most conditions. Our most popular pleasure fishery is probably Wedgehill Ponds, the bottom lake has a large number of roach and rudd, perch and tench, the middle lake is very well stocked with carp from singles up to mid doubles and the top lake which has just been extended has a growing stock of young carp up to high doubles.

Our Holtwood Ponds are set in a beautiful valley, the top pond Shambles has a high stock of small tench and crucian carp along with rudd and roach. The middle pond Bascombes is well stocked with Carp, Orfe, bream roach and rudd and the lower pond has a good head of tench to 5lbs with some crucians. If you prefer a bigger water for your pleasure fishing then Hucklesbrook has lots of roach which can be caught close in on the float and there’s also a chance you will hook up on one of the many tench that reside here. Its not uncommon to be pestered by nuisance carp when trying to catch the quality roach and tench so don’t fish too light.

At Waddock, lake 6 is a dedicated tench water where over 100 small tench were stocked in 2022 to supplement the existing stock, there is also good pleasure fishing to be had in lake 7 with plenty of carp to double figures and good numbers of tench. All the lakes at Waddock are full of rudd up to a 1lb or more. Nea Meadows lake is stuffed with carp as well as skimmer bream, so well worth a visit. Finally, we must mention Wainsford lake which is stuffed full of roach and rudd with the chance of carp, tench, bream and specimen perch.

If you would like to know more about pleasure fishing at the club, please contact the CAC team through our Contact form.