Rushcombe Lake

Rushcombe lake is named after the field in which it is located. It's 650 yards long, with each of the 52 swims having 10 yards of water to the far bank. It’s 4 feet deep, with a 2 foot feature shelf on the far bank, running the length of the lake. Access to the peninsula is via a footpath. 

This lake is best known for its large head of carp to 16lb and roach.  

Original stocking took place on Thursday 29th May 2003 when Will Glennon from the BBC local news was here to take film of us putting in our 28,000 carp. We had our two minutes of fame when Will kindly broadcast the feature on the local evening news. Some photos of the event appear in our picture gallery.

The lake was officially opened on 19th October 2003 and has gone from strength to strength. For pleasure fishing go as light as you can with small bait and you will get a fish a chuck.

Current Lake Records

Pleasure bag: Tim Hadland had an amazing 245.35lb of fish from peg 30 of Rushcombe.

Tim fished 3 ways: on a long pole (13) meters to the far bank with corn and pea-sized paste on a size 16 hook over micro-pellets in only 10 inches of water to have the biggest fish of the day at 9lb.  When it slowed down he went down the inside margin on a size 14 hook, 2 foot from the bank  with a fish here and there.  But what caught him more fish than he expected was a 15 gram method feeder casting 2 meters short of the far bank in deeper water with micro-pellets and banded pellet and corn as a change bait that worked.   He used a size 18 hook and 3lb bottom with a 6lb main line.

Tim estimates he had 170lb of small fish from 4oz to 2lb and around 75lb of larger fish between 3lb and 9lb. His bait was half a tin of sweetcorn and 1kg of micro-pellets.

A tip from Tim is never to take your eye off your rod as he had lots of bites from fish around the 1lb mark and very nearly lost his rod!

Photos are on our Facebook page and on our website gallery. 

Mark Bellringer from Weston super Mare was the previous record holder with a magnificent 216lb from peg 50. Mark was pole fishing to the far bank at 10 metres - all the fish were caught on paste.  

Before Mark the previous record was held by Andy Stones who, had a fantastic 206lb bag from peg 16 of this lake.  In a 6.5 hour session he had 87 fish in total all caught on the pole 4 metres out in open water on an 18 hook, 1.1lb bottom line and 3lb main line with sweetcorn, bread and cheese paste on the hook.  He also fed a few micro-pellets. 

Prior to that Jason Gore held the record from peg 21 with 200lb which included a personal best 11lb common (picture on our website gallery). Jason was pole fishing with a 16 elastic and 14 hook with sweetcorn on the hook and feeding 4mm pellets with the majority of the fish coming from open water.  

Largest fish: Eric Bates, retired from Barnet, caught the largest fish to date from this lake.  After a good tussle, Eric’s fish weighed in at 15lb 15oz (as much as he wanted it to weigh 16lb the scales wouldn’t tip quite that far!) and was caught with a lobworm on a size 10 hook free-lined to where he could see several large fish grubbing around.  By the end of the day he’d caught 120-130lb of fish – an excellent bag!

John Hampton from West Bromwich previously held the record for the largest fish recorded from Rushcombe Lake a nice 15lb common.  John & wife Denise were staying with us on our campsite for a week’s holiday.  John had 123lb and Denise had 82lb fishing pegs 40 & 41 respectively. Denise’s largest fish was an 11.5lber, also a common. Both fished with a rod and line, 14 hook, 6lb main line and 4lb bottom line to the far margin.

Match record: Mark Guerra followed up his second place on a Spencer Works match by coming back three weeks later to take first place and set a new match record.  Mark caught a magnificent 111lb 10oz to beat the previous record of 78lbs 6oz held by Craig Guerra.  Craig’s bag was impressive for the fact that none of his fish were over 1lb.  Mark caught in open water on the pole with paste.  The excellent back up weights should also be mentioned: S Harris took 89lb 14oz and B Jones had 73lb 11oz. 

"Feel The Rushcombe. If you are after a fish a chuck sport, give Bullock Farm a try, their Rushcombe Lake is prolific at the moment." - Angler's Mail