Day Ticket Lake
Available for both pleasure fishing and matches, the Day Ticket Lake is the first water you come to on entering Beckford Fisheries.
Despite being three acres in size, it has only 17 pegs with a further three more to be created along the tree-lined bank next to the access drive. With fairly open banks dotted with trees and shrubs, there is plenty of space for anglers.
Rectangular in shape, Day Ticket Lake has fairly even banks which drop quickly into six feet of water. Whilst this is typical of the depth which can be found around much of the edges of the lake, there are spots in the centre which are known to go as deep as 20 feet. This is expected to make them ideal for fishing on the feeder or on modern and traditional carping gear.
Although the water has been little fished, it is known to be well stocked and early result so far have been impressive with common and mirror carp having been taken to 20lbs with the mirrors on average being slightly heavier than the commons.
The first match to have been held on the water was won with 44lbs whilst more recently pleasure angler Nigel Groom from Cropthorne fished Swimstim pellets on the pole for a mainly carp catch which weighed in at 150lbs.
Another angler who now regularly fishes the water is Mick 'Ruddy' Gould from Pershore who caught a distinctive roach which he weighed at 2lb 13oz. The fish had only one eye and was caught again by Mick just a few weeks later when it topped the scales at 3lbs exactly.
In addition to the carp - the average size of which is now though to be between 3lbs and 6lbs - and the roach, Day Ticket Lake is also said to be well stocked with rudd, tench and eels, although as yet no perch have been reported to have been caught. However, little is really known about the stocks of silver fish.
The majority of anglers who have so far fished Day Ticket Lake have fished either the pole or stick float fairly close into the margins and have found that it pays to gradually build up a swim with pellets, groundbait and hook samples with the most popular baits so far having been 6mm expander pellets or 10mm to 15mm boilies fished over a bed of 4mm Dynamite Mainline feeder pellets.
Other baits which seem popular are maggots, yellow and coloured sweetcorn, casters and 6mm cubes of luncheon meat.
Syndicate Lake
At seven acres in size, Syndicate Lake at Beckford Fisheries has three distinct areas, a smaller rectangular area shaded by the surrounding trees near the car park (left) which opens into a larger bay (below right) which in turn is linked through a narrow channel to the main body of the lake (below left).
With membership of the syndicate restricted to 25 anglers in the first year, names are now being taken for the waiting list.
As with Day Ticket Lake, not a lot is yet known about the fish stocks in Syndicate Lake, although anglers who have fished it since the start of Spring 2009 have reported taking both common and mirror carp to over 20lbs.
The biggest fish to have come out so far has been a 26lbs mirror, although five serious carp anglers who fish with quality tackle have reported being broken by fish which they believe to be bigger.
Again there are though to be some big roach in the water as well as some decent sized perch and even eels which have so far been caught to 5lbs. As yet it is not known if there are any tench or bream in the water.
One of the features of Syndicate Lake, as with Day Ticket Lake, is the quality of the fish, which anglers have reported as being in mint condition.
Because all the anglers who have fished Syndicate Lake have targeted the carp the most popular baits have tended to be 10mm pop-up boilies to 20mm normal boilies. Other baits which have accounted for fish have included the new Mainline Cell boilies, Fusion boilies, Active 8 boilies and Grange CSL boilies.
When it comes to flavours it seems that anything goes with popular flavours so far having been Dynamite tuna and sweet chilli, red fish and chocolate malt.
Anglers interested in having their names added to the waiting list for Syndicate Lake should telephone George Ford on 07762 438769.
How to get there...
Beckford Fisheries can be found just off the main A46 Evesham to Tewkesbury road about seven miles south of Evesham. It is easily reached from Junction 9 of the M5 motorway to the east of Tewkesbury.
If travelling on the M5, on leaving the motorway follow the signs for the A46 to Evesham. At the first major roundabout bear left, staying on the A46 and at the second turning left for Beckford head into the village along Station Road and look out for the Beckford Silk Mill brown tourist signs. Turn right into the road for the silk mill and you will see the signs for Beckford Fisheries on the right a short way after the silk mill.
If travelling south on the A46 from Evesham, stay on the main road following the signs for Cheltenham until you see the first sign for Beckford. Turn right across the A46 into Station Road and near the centre of Beckford village you will see s brown tourist sign for Beckford Silk Mill. Turn right into the road for the silk mill and you will see the signs for Beckford Fisheries on the right a short way after the silk mill.
Please note that the Beckford Fisheries lakes are just to the right of the red circle on the Multimap link between.
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Beckford Fisheries
Until the beginning of 2009, Beckford had been a closed shop to the public, being used only by its owner and guests. As a result, little is known of what fish have been caught in the past whilst exact details of what the waters holds is still largely a mystery.
Management of the two lakes was taken over in Spring 2009 by Dave Biddle and his friend George Ford who runs Fordy's Gear Fishing Tackle in High Street, Pershore.
Whilst syndicate members can night fish the Specimen Lake, day-ticket anglers are only allowed to night fish the day ticket Lake and this must be booked in advance.
Although there are few rules at Beckford, anglers are not allowed to use nut baits on either of the waters and must go equipped with an unhooking mat. Fixed leads are not allowed but keepnets can be used, although the fishery says that anything over 4lbs must be returned to the water immediately and that keepnets and landing nets must be dipped before use. There is a maximum of two rods per angler.
