Valley Farm Fisheries - Hidden treasure.

I have only recently discovered and fished Valley Farm Fisheries over the past six months; it has somehow eluded me until the present time. The lake is tucked away in Walpole, Suffolk, in a very peaceful location, there are a number of nice features with deep pit areas, overhanging trees and islands.

The lake is stocked with a very nice mix of fish species including roach, rudd, bream, perch and carp (predominantly common and mirror). The owner told me that he had also stocked it with a few small Barbel but has not seen them at all. There is an otter fence erected along the lake perimeter which is reassuring and the whole venue is immaculately maintained. Landing nets and unhooking mats are provided with the use of ones own forbidden for disease control. There are signs up reminding fisherman not only of the rules and regulations but notes on fish welfare too which is refreshing to see. The owner/bailiff is full of advice and has been there every time I have fished, very useful if you need advice or tips.

The fishing has a lot to offer, I have had a great evening fishing for carp on the surface along one of the margins using bread and a surface controller where I caught ten plus fish above 6lb with the biggest being 13lb. Here are some samples from that session.

There are nice tench to be found lurking under the trees along with good perch, interestingly I caught a tench using a small tutti frutti boilie combined with a cage feeder and a hemp and sweet corn mix cast straight under a tree in only a few feet of water, I wasn’t targeting them but was happy with it nonetheless.

There are bream to be had as well all of which I have caught with red maggots, which is also the preferred bait of the resident perch. That is the most interesting thing about the lake in question there is such a well balanced mix of fish that they are all up to offer, I am quite sure red maggots would produce anything in the water with boilies targeting the carp, treacle soaked sweet corn also worked well.

Overall I recommend Valley Farm Fisheries for those of us who aren’t crazy on commercial carp fisheries and for people that truly appreciate catching good specimen fish of all species. £7.50 for an adult day ticket.