East Sussex trout water

[Cranfield]

I had a successful afternoon at Decoy Lake trout fishery today, with two nice rainbows, one at 2lbs and the other just over 3lbs.

Both on pheasant tail nymph, fished on 16ft leaders (seriously clear water).

 

I can certainly recommend this fishery and would be pleased to hear of others in this general area.

http://www.decoylake.co.uk/

[Adz]

Looks a nice place Cranfield. I'm not too far away, Rochester in Kent.

 

Favourite places for me nearby are Woodchurch, Stowting, Bewl and Tenterden.

 

Where else do you fish?

[Cranfield]

I occassionally fish Bewl, but admit that I don't like very big trout waters (no problem when I am coarse fishing ).

 

Tenterden , Iden Wood and Stowting are on my list to try.

 

Prior to moving down here, I fished at Higham/Cliffe, Mousehole (before it closed), Chequertree, Chalybeate, plus a few forays down to Dever Springs and Rockbourne.

[Adz]

That one at Higham - was it called Oakleigh Farm?

 

If it's the one I'm thinking of it's got a couple of 40,000 volt power lines running directly over the fishery! Didn't make for a very relaxing time casting.

 

Cheers,

[Cranfield]

Adz, thats the one.

 

I had a few great evenings there on dry fly..... catching rudd to a pound and a half.

My impression was that the Owner sometimes forgot to put the trout in, but that could just have been my suspicious nature.

[chuby]

Cranfield.

My mate went to Roger Daltrey's old place in the week,lakedown i think.It has reopened.

Said it was the nicest complex he has fished.Had browns and rainbows.

[Tony U]

Re Oakleigh I had a few big Rudd to 2Lbs at the original lake at a chalk pit in Cliffe, which you could only fish by boat, he had some stonking Rainbows in there as well.

I believed the fish were killed by tippping the waste soil and scalpings from what is now the new housing on Saint Mary's Isalnd in the Dockyard.

Nice to know Lakedown is open again will have to give it a try, Also worth a mention is Spring Hill near Pembury, which has reopened and is fishing well.

Anyone know if Rob Spiller is again involved?

[Andrew Boyd]

Hi Tony.

 

Nice to see you back.

 

Lakedown is a smashing fishery, can be easy some days and very hard on others. Set in a wonderful valley it's just good being there. Even had a moderate Mayfly hatch. Nice, small but wild, Brownies from the top lake on small dry's.

Spring Hill is OK, it's saving grace is it's fly life, without that it would be just any old hole in the ground. Hope the lower slope has stabelised, it was looking like it was starting to move a few years ago.

[Andrew Boyd]

Just a thought . .Yew Tree near Marks Cross ( South of Tunbridge Wells, just past Frant ) is worth a visit. The Trout are not huge but react to small Nymphs fished slow on long leaders ( 18 - 25 feet ). Best when there has not been too much rain to colour the top ponds.

If you hit a still hot day the Trout will still respond in the deeper water by the dam on the lowest lake.