Tickets must be booked in advance by telephoning 01295 711587
between 8.30am and 12.30pm
Juniors under the age of 12 must be accompanied by an adult
Thenford Fishing Lake
At its deepest in the centre out from the dam wall to about half way along the lake where an average of 12 feet of water can be found, Thenford Fishing Lake is shallower off the grass bank side where there is about eight feet of water.
Swims are deeper off the woodland bank where the bottom shelves quickly to about 10 feet.
From half way along the lake towards the inlet stream where the water narrows, the lake shallows to a little over a foot in depth. It is planned this will be de-silted early in 2009 to make it slightly deeper. This will give anglers a greater area to fish whilst still providing a warm water area, especially for the carp, during the summer months.
There are currently no formal pegs at Thenford, but work is to start shortly on the creation of three or four modern pegs in the woodland area, whilst the grass banks on the opposite side of the lake enable anglers to fish where they want without the need for formal pegs.
Although Thenford has been little fished, regulars says that 50lb to 100lb nets are fairly common with both pole and waggler techniques being the most popular.
Because the banks tend to shelve quite steeply to the bottom, most anglers tend to fish within a rod length or two to the side with few anglers bothering to fish the deeper water in the centre, which cries out for a feeder to be fished on the tip for the silver fish and trout or with traditional or modern ledger techniques for the carp.
Spinning is also effective for the perch and trout, although anglers have even reported catching rudd on small spinners - so anything goes!
Most popular baits to date have tended to be those aimed at the silver fish with maggots, caster, worm, bread, small cubes of luncheon meat and plain yellow sweetcorn being those most extensively used.
Whilst there are not a large number of carp, those that there are tend to be of a good size and can often be seen cruising around the edge or up in the water in the warmer months.
Despite this, hardly anyone bothers to fish for them, although those who do say they have been most succesful ledgering larger pieces of luncheon meat than they would use for the silver fish on a Size 10, 12 or 14s hook and 8lb to 10lb line. Bread and sweetcorn are also worth trying whilst floating baits such as bread or dog biscuits should provide results when fish can be seen on the surface.
However, it is the quality roach, rudd and perch which attract most anglers to Thenford, as well as the good head of roach/rudd hybrids which can range in colour from bright silver through to deep bronze.
When going for the silver fish and trout the pole tends to be the most popular method with waggler and ledger techniques also working well.
Here the secret tends to be to fish light, attracting the fish with small but regular helpings of free hook samples such as maggots, casters, pellets and small pieces of meat. Groundbait is not really needed and should only be used in small amounts if the fish are proving difficult to attract.
Anglers going for the perch or trout have found that fishing maggots or worm on ledger tackle in open water is generally very effective, although any trout caught on coarse fishing tackle should be returned to the water.
The most popular pegs at Thenford currently tend to be those along the grass bank side about half way along the lake where there is a shallow shelf about three meters wide which shelves gradually to the bottom at about four feet.
How to get there...
From the M40 travelling north or south, leave the motorway at Junction 11 and take the A422 signed Brackley. Go up hill to roundabout and continue along the A422 for about half a mile. Take the sign to the left to Middleton Cheyney and opposite the New Inn turn right (signed Thenford Road). Follow this for about three quarters of a mile and park on the wide roadside verge on the right near the footpath sign or the gate signed Thenford Fishing. The fishery is about five minutes from the motorway.
The lake is the lake to the left of Thenford as marked on the Multimap reference.
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Thenford Fishing
These fish were later supplemented with the addition of common, mirror and ghost carp that, although little fished for, are now touching the 20lb mark whilst a further 100 fish between 7lbs and 14lbs were added recently and are expected to grow on quickly.
It is also ideally located being only five minutes from the M40 motorway, half an hour from the M1 and 50 minutes from the M4.
The tranquility, wildlife and surroundings - together with the fact that anglers need to book in advance before fishing - means the water is never overcrowded and provides an opportunity to get away from from the hurly-burly of life and unwind by the waterside in delightful countryside.
