A bit late to ask this now, I'm going there tomorrow morning.

I've never fished this water before, anybody got any idea what it's like?

I spoke to the fishery manager today and it seems too good to be true ..... and we all know what that usually means!

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

Gav

__________________
Knowledge is knowing tomatoes are fruits ........
Intelligence is not putting them in a fruit-salad!

Had a quick search for this fishery before I visited there this morning and was unable to find any information so I thought it may be useful to provide an update for anyone else considering the venue.

I will start by saying that the staff were very friendly indeed helpful. I only had a couple of hours and had no plans to eat any of the fish I was hoping to catch so I went for the smaller of the two lakes on catch and release, twenty pounds.

I walked straight past the water as I thought it was a feeder stream into the main lake. It was very small indeed. There is a tributary at the top end of the lake and an out flow at the bottom, the water is therefore moving. There was a lot of weed growing through the surface making a lot of the water not possible.

I could see lots of fish sitting facing up stream. Hundreds of them. 10 yards saw you to the far bank which is where I started my drift with a small black dry. I had a take, missed it, then a second and again missed it. Next cast I foul hooked a fish drawing back for the cast. This then happened a second time on my next cast, luckily the fish went back fine. There seemed to be far too many fish in too smaller space, the number of fish meant lifting for the cast would almost certainly hook something. I decided that was enough. I was not impressed, in summary, too many fish, too small and too much weed.

I will add that the main lake looked pretty good, no weed, clear water and apparently had maintained a low temperature despite the hot weather. The guys I did see fishing looked to be catching some decent fish.

Great facilities (free coffee, tea etc), friendly staff, main lake looked good but certainly not worth going for the catch and release pool.

Do you know the price to fish the main lake please.?Thanks luke

The wonders of Google.
http://manningfordtroutfishery.co.uk/default.aspx

Thanks,i was being lazy

I fished it back in April and would agree particularly with the C&R comments. As stated, the C&R lake is nothing more than a narrow link between the fish farm at the top end and the main lake. Top end of the C&R is a little wider but get a couple of people on there and its crowded.

The main lake is much better, plenty of fish but if anything too easy (at least on my visit. I had my 4 fish limit quite quickly with a heaviest fish of 7lb+.

Neil

I have fished there many times and do enjoy it. When it is fishing well it is easy to catch on the main lake and a great place for new starters, also very child friendly.

However, the top of the water sport is good and I quite happily spend a day there fishing dry even if I do not catch at the rate of other methods. The fish quality and the company are usually good and midweek there are only a few people about. I would recommend late evenings now, try pulling a sedge across the top, there are some scary bow waves.

I have not fished the C&R, it used to be good when it was brown only and was challenging. I also have not had a look at the rivre section that has recently opened.

regards

Vince

I just got back from a couple of hours at Manningford. Fished the main lake and caught my 2 relatively quickly. First was 2lb on a hare's ear and the second at 5lb on a bloodworm. I missed a couple of takes in between as well but was also getting a lot of follows, particularly on the bloodworm.

Very friendly staff. I really enjoyed it I have to say. Bearing in mind I'm still a relative novice, I thought it was a great experience. Beautiful surroundings, peace and quiet, just great.

In my limited experience I think it's a nice place with good sport. Even the smaller of the 2 fish really gave a good account of itself. For £20 (I fished Avington last Monday on a 2 fish ticket which cost me the best part of £41, although I appreciate you generally get bigger fish at Avington) I thought it was good value. I'll definitely be back.

Thumbs up from me!

Totally agree. On the day we visited, there were several kids (well behaved and supervised!) and to see them hook and land hard fighting fish was entertaining and very pleasing. It's a good set up plus there's a decent pub (The Woodbridge) within walking distance from the fishery, which on our day, meant we had a very relaxing lunch!

I will also happily return to Manningford.

"Good Value" ... There's a topic for another Thread!

Avington is expensive but I think it's good value (although it's just a short drive for me). Some much cheaper venues have not been good value in my book!