Snowberry Lakes Ltd
Snowberry Lakes comprise in fact of three lakes. The first is Snowberry Lake which was built early in the nineteenth century and has a considerable reputation of being one of Englands most treasured carp lakes. Set in a uniquely private countryside setting, the 2.5 acre lake is certainly one of the most beautiful fisheries in the southern counties. The lake has been managed by a number of keen enthusiasts over the years, the most famous of which was the Carp Catchers alias Richard Walker, Fred J Taylor and friends. More recently, Fourways Fisheries developed the lake along more commercial lines, up until 1992 when the present management team took over.
This team further developed the site by building two adjacent lakes, known as Willow Lake (approx 1 acre) and Stock Lake. The Stock Lake as it name suggests is not in fact a fishery, but a stock pond used to raise new fish stocks for both lakes. But Willow, while only about 1 acre, is a viable fishery in its own right and provides great sport from smaller fish when you need to prove that your fishing tackle really DOES work!
Snowberry Lake has been developed over the last ten years by the addition of entirely new fish stocks so almost all of the fish are relatively young and are still growing. Nonetheless, there is an abundance of very healthy twenty pound plus mirror carp, with a number of thirties. There are many more doubles and a handful of single figure fish that are growing fast. A number of original catfish survived a major fish kill that took place in 1997 and one of these fish was caught at over 55 pounds in 2019. There are a number of others that top twenty and thirty pounds and other single and double figure fish. While there are a few specimen Tench, Perch and Roach, these are uncommon and not stocked in any numbers. Additionally, small silver fish no longer abound in Snowberry. Although fish can often been seen basking on the surface of the lake, most fish are caught from the bottom. And although this is not the most difficult of fisheries known, there is certainly no guarantee of success and fishing can often be quite challenging. The Snowberry Lakes mission includes to preserve the history of the lake and therefore a traditional closed season is maintained.
Willow Lake was built in 1995 to offer an easier alternative to Snowberry and to provide more of a mixed general fishery to some of our original members. The lake was stocked from Snowberry and there are most species present in the lake which thrive very well. Although swims are limited, most are very attractive and offer a good chance of catching. Members that fish here are often caught off-guard by a decent Carp making a surprise visit. There is no closed-season on Willow Lake.
As mentioned earlier, Stock Lake is purely used to raise fish for re-stocking purposes and fishing of course is not allowed.
Please feel free to browse our website and learn a little more about our non-profit company, established only to preserve the tradition and history of this wonderful fishery. We welcome your feedback and have a waiting list application form for anyone interested in joining our community.
Carp World Article