Barnwell
Lake - Newmarket Road Cambridge
The dominant species here are
Tench and Bream. Both seem to
be doing well with the Bream being successful in breeding, as I have seen
quite a few young fish caught.
I have
not seen many Roach caught but this may be because they are going in to
spawn. I am intrigued by the
method which seems to score well here.
Basically it is to fish as close to the near bank shelf as possible
tucked in to or against a feature such as lily pads or bankside vegetation. The Tench seem to patrol this shelf. The favoured baits are caster or red sweetcorn with loose
feed little and often. You can
catch the Bream a little further out but a good tactic is to fish a triangle
swim approach. Or if you’re
just like me fish one spot and cross your legs and wait!!!
This piece about pike fishing at Barnwell was sent to me by one of our
Junior members Kieran
Pike
fishing in Barnwell has been very popular
in the last year and I myself have been many times with one double figure
pike and many jack pike ( small pike.) One of my favourite methods, on which
have caught a lot, is lure fishing especially using my favourite blue plug
(which caught me a pike in my second cast!). Dead bait has also
been very successful as my double figure pike was caught on a smelt plus the
little ones take to them to! The best place to fish for them would be in the
margins and near the lily's or wherever Roach Rudd or any small fish are
lurking
Our
local bailiff Gavin is quite an expert on this venue and enjoys chatting to
anglers, so if you come across him don’t be afraid to ask his advice.
A
quite unique fishery, not far from the centre of Cambridge city, this water
is off one of the most prominent roads in Cambridge - Newmarket Road. Sandwiched nicely
between Cambridge United Football Club - you can almost smell those bacon
sarnies - and the North railway line out off Cambridge - this fishery is a
must for all families. With several disabled platforms and ample parking on site
the fishery will be regularly bailiffed by two local officers of the Society.
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The lake has level bank all
around its perimeter. You can
find a depth of around 8 ft in the margin but it goes deeper to the middle.
The fishery has good colour throughout the year and in the summer the
margins have quite a few lilies growing adding colour and interest.
Favourite
methods are to fish the near shelf with a long pole fished over a little
groundbait, hemp and sweetcorn using maggot on the hook.
President
of CFPAS Graham Tweed said of the new venue – "I visited the lake in
February on a cold damp day and was struck by the colour in the water.
Anglers were catching small Roach just in the margins.
The lake is quite sheltered and I guess being in the heart of the
City it may benefit from a
degree or so higher temperatures than so if it were situated in the Fen..."
"Obviously
having just taking over the venue we need to assess the fish stocks.
However, we are aware that it offers a mixed species venue with a
good head of Roach, Bream, occasion Tench, Crucian and Carp.
The Carp are few but run to double figures..."
"I
am so pleased to be offering this venue on our books at no extra charge.
Access is good and you do not have to go far if you are disabled with
several purpose-built platforms situated around the lake.
The thing we have to do is to put in order the amount of litter that has
accumulated in the bins around the lake - Hopefully, if we remove the bins
this will remove the litter!
Our policy is “take litter home and please dispose of it carefully
and responsibly...”
"The
fishery will regularly be bailiffed and so I hope we get the message across.
It is down to you to help us and make this a special venue..."
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How
to get there...
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