The Leicestershire Wildfowlers' Association have some excellent fishing available to members on our own Priory Water nature reserve.

The fishing is carefully controlled, with the number of tickets limited, this being necessary to minimise disturbance to the birds using the reserve. A small extra fee is charged for the sought-after permits.

For the summer angler, the lake contains tench to over 8 lbs, carp to well over 25 lbs and a few huge bream that would rattle the British record, as well as roach and perch.

Kevin Wilcox at Priory Water (click to enlarge)

The favourite method at the moment seems to be swim feeder tactics with red maggot or sweetcorn as bait, though the humble worm also has its fans.

In winter, most of the anglers switch to fishing for the pike which, in past years, have been regularly caught to over 23 lbs, with still larger fish having been lost.

Spinning and lure fishing is very popular, with a few fish also being caught on the fly, but dead baits and particularly small mackerel seem to winkle out the big ones.

A limited amount of carefully monitored night fishing is allowed and kept under constant review.

Further Information
For further details, please contact Kevin Wilcox (kwilcox@leicswa.org).