All News Items

We know that lots of anglers are waiting anxiously to be able to book spaces on Lakes Pepper & Christine for 2019. Well, we're almost there and we are working very hard to make the new diary and booking system available from the 1st November. 

But before releasing the diary, we need to make everyone aware of some important changes.

Reservations can only be made through the on-line booking system and can only be made with payment of a 50% deposit (no change to the deposit). Upon completion of a booking, the system will generate an e-mail confirmation. If you do not receive an e-mail please check your junk/spam filter. If you still haven't received an e-mail, please contact us via cottingtonlakes@outlook.com and we will confirm your booking has been accepted.

Anglers are responsible for checking that the details within the confirmation e-mail are correct i.e. lake, dates and times etc.

Payment of the outstanding balance is due not less than 28 days prior to the booking and anglers are responsible for ensuring that this balance is paid in time. In the event that payment isn't received, the system will cancel your booking and make the space available for other anglers (please see our Cancellation Policy at the foot of the Bookings/Diary page.)

Lake Pepper has been separated into 2 lakes to enable half lake bookings. Old Pepper comprises of swims 1-8 and New Pepper comprises of swims 9-16. If you wish to book the whole of Lake Pepper you must book both lakes separately. Please note, you are booking a space on the lake of your choice, not a specific swim.

To enable the diary to run at an acceptable speed, it has been necessary to limit the start times. Bookings in 2019 will be limited to the following start times: 8am, 1pm and 5pm. However, you must book in with AKC one hour before your start time (see below.)

All ticket prices remain the same as for 2018. However, in order to enable the diary to function, start and end times must be different. Therefore the following changes apply:

1 Day Ticket = 23hrs fishing, 2 Day Ticket = 47hrs fishing, 3 Day ticket = 71hrs fishing ... etc. You can of course still book extra hours over and above a day ticket with additional hours charged at the hourly rate. 

Upon arrival you must still check in with AKC (on-site tackle shop), present your booking confirmation e-mail and you will be issued with a ticket. We ask everyone to check-in one hour before your start time. This is especially important if you have booked a 5pm start time as AKC close at 5pm and you must have checked in and collected your ticket before they close. This will also assist the fishery to manage the issue of bank equipment (mats, nets & weigh slings) which we will be doing in the future.

We look forward to seeing you in 2019. 

Success for the McDonnells on Lake Christine

Ben McDonnell joined his dad, Mac McDonnell, for 5 days on Lake Christine courtesy of  Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club as part of a long service award for Mac who has worked at the club for 40 years.

Mac, fishing from peg 4, and using Maple Nut, got off to a great start when he landed this 24lbs 10oz leathery Mirror, a new personal best;

It was then Ben's turn landing 3 of the Commons, which are a trademark of the lake, in succession. First up was this lovely 22lbs 11oz Common;

Next up, a night time wake up call with this 20lbs 5oz Common;

And finally, completing Ben's trilogy yet another Common, this time weighing in at 23lbs 1oz;

Ben, fishing from peg 3 was using Sticky Baits Krill and Sticky Baits 12mm Signature Squid. 

Not to be outshone by his son, it was Mac's turn to get back into the action, and what a way to do so, landing one of the lakes big Commons at 35lbs 6oz and breaking his pb for a second time during the trip.

To finish off Mac landed another Common about 40 minutes later, this time weighing in at 29lbs 6oz, this time caught using a Crab boilie.

Congratulations to both of you and especially Mac for 40 years service, which is an outstanding achievement. 

 

Fishing with (Graham) Finn

Graham has been bringing friends and family down to Cottington for a little while now, always with the intention of promoting the sport for the next generation of anglers.

 

On his most recent trip, last Thursday, Graham and Pat brought two families fishing to Cottington for the first time. Graham chose Lake Windsor for their first visit. Windsor is a great lake to learn on. There's plenty of space, a great head of fish and a good chance of catching, which is after all what it's all about!! And with a little coaching, showing them simple method feeding tactics a couple of bags of micro pellets and a couple of tins of sweet corn and learning how to handle and care for the fish, the five boys are now well on the way to doing everything for themselves. 

 

Setting Up

 

Bringing it to the bank

 

During a busy few hours all the boys managed to catch fish and here they are presenting their prizes;

 

Tristan

 

Richard

 

Matt

 

Chris

 

Ryan

 

The boys caught some lovely fish up to five and a half pounds, a couple of tench and a few bream as well. 

 

Graham said " We had a great day, I was very impressed with the care the boys showed the fish.  They are all now fans of Cottington Fishery and cannot wait for the next visit."

 

38lbs 8oz Common - Olly Swift

Olly Swift with his 38lbs 8oz Common, landed from peg 4 on Lake Pepper.

Congratulations Olly. An absolute stunner!!

A Session on Pepper - Angie Northcott & Mark Forrister

Angie Northcott and Mark Forrister spent 4 days on Lake Pepper, back towards the end of August. 

Mark was clearly still buzzing from the session as he sent the photos but with no other details. He just said "Great trip." So without further ado, here's a sample of their catches;

Congratulations to both of you. 

 

A New PB for Gareth Worsfold - 41lbs 12oz Linnear

A session on Lake Pepper to celebrate his sons 18th birthday, left Gareth Worsfold holding the prize rather than his son, and with a new pb in the process!!

Gareth arrived at the lake at 4pm on the 29th July and landed this gem a little over 12 hours later early on the 30th. 

 

 

Gareth was over the moon. His previous pb stood in the "20s", but this gem leap frogged him past the "30s" and straight into the 40s. Gareth landed this lovely Linnear Mirror using Sticky Baits Manilla on a basic bottom bait hair rig. 

And the weight... Gareth's new pb stands him at a very handsome 41lbs 12oz. 

Congratulations Gareth.

 

Scott Gentry - 39lbs 3oz Mirror

Scott Gentry, fishing from peg 13 on Lake Pepper on the 5th August, had a pleasant surprise when he landed this stunning Mirror;

 

Weighing in at 39lbs 3oz, Scott landed this gem at 8 am using Mainline cell boilies.

Congratulations Scott.

Fin Potter On Lake Elliot - 15lbs 7oz Mirror

Fin Potter spent a day on Lake Elliot on the 15th July and came away with a lovely 15lbs 7oz Mirror. And here he is, presenting his catch ...

 

Congratulations Fin. Great to see the next generation of anglers enjoying time on the bankside.

Introducing Chris Wiles

The face may be familiar to some as Chris Wiles is a regular on the banks on Cottington's lakes. But now you are likely to see a lot more of Chris as he is the newest member of the AKC team, the on-site tackle shop. Chris is an experienced angler, as the photos below testify.

 

The resemblance is uncanny!!

Keeping it real on Alder, with his daughter. 

A stunning Mirror caught off the top on peg 4 of Lake Christine, weighing 34lbs.

Another Lake Christine fish, this time weighing in at 28lbs.

You can find Chris in the shop on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Welcome Chris.

 

Making Use of a Christmas Gift Voucher - Dave Meredith

Dave Meredith spent the recent Bank Holiday weekend making great use of the Christmas gift voucher bought by his wife, relaxing on the banks of Lake Pepper on peg 8.

All the action came at night, but you don't mind being disturbed if there's the chance of a great fish on the end of your line. Dave certainly didn't - just look at that smile!!

First up was this lovely 32lbs 8oz Mirror. 

Dave completed his brace with this rather nice 23lbs 12oz Common.

Congratulations Dave.

A New PB for Lee Franklin - 28lbs 6oz Mirror

A 48 hour session on Lake Christine resulted in Lee Franklin landing a new pb;

Lee landed this stunning Mirror fishing from peg 4 and weighed it at 28lbs 6oz.

Congratulations on your new pb Lee. 

Not To Be Outdone - Mark Forrister & 39lbs 2oz Mirror

Having seen partner Ange land a lovely 33lbs 1oz Mirror , not to be outdone Mark Forrister landed this imposing fish on the 22nd May, ten days later;

Landed from peg 6 on Lake Pepper, this lovely Mirror weighed in at 39lbs 2oz.

Congratulations Mark.

33lbs 1oz Mirror For Angela Northcott

Ange Northcott was woken at 1.50am on the 12th May to the sound of alarms screaming. A short while later and she had landed this cracking Mirror;

Landed from peg 9 on Lake Pepper, this stunner weighed in at 33lbs 1oz.

Congratulations Ange, and great to see you out on the bank.

A New Lake Record for Alder - Chris Duncombe

Chris Duncombe never imagined that he would come away with a Lake record during his session on Alder on the 5th May, but that's exactly what he did...

Chris landed this beautiful Mirror using Strawberry Crush boilies. And the weight... 29lbs 12oz. Congratulations Chris!!

A "30" surely can't be too far away!!

 

Ben McDonnell on Pepper - 32lbs 14oz Mirror

Ben McDonnell recently spent 48 hours on Lake Pepper and was rewarded with this brute of a Mirror;

 

Ben landed his prize, which weighed in at 32lbs 14oz, using Sticky Baits i there I recently done 48 hours on pepper and was rewarded with this brute of a mirror at 32lb 14oz caught using sticky baits Manilla

Proud to Support Fishing For Schools

Cottington Lakes is proud to support Fishing for Schools, playing host to an event on Windsor for five students on Wednesday 2nd May.

The programme consists of six four hour sessions during which the participants can achieve certification at various levels of a formally recognised ASDAN qualification, based on the Angling Trusts Cast Awards.

On the day all of the students caught fish with carp to 8lbs, bream to 3lbs and roach. All of the students got something from the experience and fullfilled the criteria for the Angling Trusts CAST awards Starter Level. 

We look forward to welcoming them back on the 9th May for their next event.

"What is fishing for Schools?

Fishing for Schools was started in 2008 and offers young people the opportunity to discover the joy of fishing, whilst learning new skills in a fun and proactive way.

It is delivered by the Countryside Alliance Foundation and world famous angler Charles Jardine, and to date over 2,000 students have benefited from Fishing 4 Schools.

The charity helps pupils re-engage with education, building their confidence and self-esteem, while at the same time assisting with new qualifications and skills."

If you want to know more about Fishing for Schools, check out their website;

http://www.countryside-alliance.org/the-foundation/fishingforschools/

 

The One That Almost Never Was - 32lbs Common for Jim Malyn

A story that is common to many anglers, but Jim Malyn found it hard going a couple of weeks ago on Lake Christine. He had fished the lake from Wednesday (18th April) night into Thursday and only had a 17lbs common in the morning, then nothing all day so he decided to pack up and head home early as he didn't fancy packing away at 6 o'clock on Friday morning. As he was packing away he had a screamer on his right hand rod and ended up landing this stunning 32lbs mirror:

What a cracking fish and a great way to end a session, on a high!!

A Brace for Jamie Cox

Jamie Cox spent a few days on Lake Christine last month and came away with a brace of fish:

The pick of the pair was this stunning Mirror which weighed 31lbs 10oz; 

But this Common is none to shabby either...

Jamie landed this lovely pair using maggot bombs.

30lbs 2oz Mirror - Gary Lock on Lake Pepper

Gary Lock landed this stunning lump on Friday 9th March. It was the only fish he saw, but what a fish...

 

Gary was fishing from peg 7 on "Old Pepper" when he landed it, tipping the scales at 30lbs 2oz.

Congratulations Gary

Jason White on Lake Christine

Jason White braved the weather conditions to travel down and fish Lake Christine and was rewarded with this lovely little leathery mirror:

Well done Jason.

Half Day on Heron - Alan & Denise Lee

I brought a couple of novice anglers over today (15th March) for a few hours in the afternoon, Alan Lee From Dover and his daughter Denise, a complete beginner. I wanted a lake that would give them the best opportunity to catch and decided upon Lake Heron. Now the electricity pylons have been removed, you can fish from anywhere around the lake. And its a great little water that punches well above its weight with the variety of species it  has to offer, the numbers and the weights. It was a little overcast, but warm. We had a great time. Alan used a small cage feeder to catch several good sized Bream and an out of season small tench:

 

 

Daughter Denise caught her first ever roach, in fact she went on to catch couple dozen decent sized roach using simple rod and reel waggler tactics:

 

 

After getting them settled I managed to fish for a couple of hours as well, again using a simple rod and reel waggler, and had about 20lb of really good roach and skimmers , no more than a rod length out and using just a pint of maggots. Great fishing for very little cost and big rewards and still in the winter months.

 

I can't wait for my next go when I will be targeting the bream that I've heard about. For those that don't know, the specimen lakes where netted to remove the silver fish and amongst them were some specimen sized bream, which were moved principally to Heron and Black Lake. 

 

Graham Finn

 

32lbs 8oz Common - Ross Minter on Pepper

After a slow start, Ross Minter landed this stunning Common, from peg 13 on Lake Pepper:

Weighed on the bank at 32lbs 8oz.

She may be on the bank, but she still has plenty of fight. But Ross has a safe pair of hands.

And back she goes.

Well done Ross. A lovely fish and some cracking photos to capture the memory.

Peg 14 on Pepper - John Horton

No details on weight, but here are a couple of images sent in by John Horton of a lovely Mirror he landed from peg 14 on Lake Pepper;

John landed his prize from just off the left hand side of the island in front of the swim.

Congratulations John.

27lbs Mirror for Ryan - Lake Alder

Taking advantage of clear skies and warmer weather paid off for Ryan who landed this lovely 27lbs Mirror out of Alder;

Well done Ryan!!

A 37lbs 5oz Common for Stefan Redfern - Lake Pepper

Stefan Redfern has just sent in these pics in from a session back on the 15th January, and what an absolute gem;

Stefan was fishing from peg 12 on Lake Pepper when he landed this stunning fish, which tipped the scales at 37lbs 5oz. 

Congratulations Stefan!!

35lbs 6oz Mirror for Luke - Lake Pepper

Luke sent in this photo of a cracking Mirror that tipped the scales at 35lbs 6oz;

 

Luke landed his prize from peg 6 on "Old" Pepper using Urban Baits Nutcracker boilies.

Congratulations Luke!!

Eddie Lucia Wets the Appetite for the Year Ahead - 42lbs 0oz Mirror

A great session at the beginning of the week, saw Eddie Lucia land this stunning Mirror from the banks of Lake Pepper.

Weighing 42lbs 0oz on the bank, this stunner was last reported to us in 2016 and she's put a bit of weight on since.

This was Eddie's second visit and over the course of his two trips he's had 10 fish out. Here's a selection of the best of the rest;

What a great way to start the year!!

Steve Harris Opens His 2018 Account - 38lbs 2oz Mirror

Steve Harris opened his account for 2018 with this lovely 38lbs 2oz Mirror:

Landed from mid-water on peg 16 of Lake Pepper, a great way to kick off the New Year!!

Anthony Tuttle Joins "50" Club

Anthony Tuttle is the latest angler to join Cottington's "50" club having landed the "Big Girl" on the 4th October, from peg 13. 

She had dropped a bit of weight, to sub 50lbs earlier in the year, but looks as though she's been packing it on with a vengeance through the autumn and now weighs a whopping 53lbs 4oz (a new lake and fishery record).

And if that wasn't enough, during the same session Anthony landed one of the big Commons too, this little stunner weighing 40lbs on the nose!!

And the magic that Anthony used to land these 2 beauties... a bed of bonoffe twist with a cell hook bait and a yellow pot shot tipper.

A Hat-Trick for Pete Lingham

Sometimes 12 hours is enough. And so it proved a couple of weeks ago when Pete and Craig Lingham  spent a few hours on Lake Christine. In just 12 short hours Pete managed to land a hat-trick of fish. And without further ado, here is Pete with his prizes;

19lbs Mirror

26lbs 8oz Mirror

27lbs Mirror

Craig said "All 3 are lovely carp".

"Last Knockings" Pays Dividends for Andy Collins

"Last knockings" paid dividends for Andy Collins on Lake Alder. As the session was drawing to a close Andy landed this stunning 26lbs Mirror using bait supplied by Camo's Carp Cabin.

An absolute stunner. Congratulations Andy.

Lakes Pepper & Christine Diary Bookings - Postponed

We've been working hard to introduce an on-line diary so that anglers can check availability in advance of booking. The diary is now live and can be viewed by selecting the "Diary & Bookings" tab in the right hand column.

However, We apologise to everyone who was hoping to place their bookings, on Lakes Pepper & Christine for 2018, today. Although the diary is live, we have had to delay accepting bookings for 48 hours to enable management tasks, competitions etc to be added to it in advance of accepting bookings. We will now start accepting bookings for 2018 on Wednesday 20th September.

 

 

Lakes Pepper & Christine 2018 Bookings

We are pleased to announce that we will start accepting bookings on Lakes Pepper and Christine from 18th September 2017.

Announcing Cottington Lakes "Fifty Club"

Announcing Cottington Lakes "Fifty Club" - open to everyone who has caught a carp at Cottington Lakes weighing 50lbs and over;

To join, all you need to do is e-mail your details (name, date caught, weight, swim etc.) and a photo of yourself with the fish to cottingtonlakes@outlook.com and we'll add you to our gallery.

Be the envy of your mates, send in your shirt size as well and we'll send you a members only polo shirt.

The Big Girl Comes Out!! - Michael Ashenden

Michael Ashenden, a Cottington Lakes regular, could only dream of landing Cottington's "Big Girl" up until a session last weekend (18th - 20th August) which saw him actually landing his prize;

Weighing in at 47lbs 12oz, she's dropped a little weight, which is only to be expected post spawning and during the long hot summer, but she's still just as stunning for all that!! Caught from the new section of Lake Pepper on peg 11, using A2 Baits Banoffee boilies, she's clearly looking to make up for lost time and put a little of that weight back on!!

Congratulations Michael!!

 

 

Keep it Clean & Dry - Enhanced BioSecurity Measures

KEEP IT CLEAN & DRY

Many will be aware that sadly KHV has been confirmed in waters in near Canterbury. KHV  (Koi Herpes Virus) is a notifiable disease of fish which, whilst it has no implications for human health, is highly infectious amongst fish and can result in up to 100{340fbc4567e7038043a32d8ec5201da99e0c15731aca33f338993b4f37000627} mortality (source CEFAS.) We hope that all anglers will join in supporting us to help limit the spread of KHV which puts your, and ours, enjoyment of angling at risk.

As a consequence of these recent disease outbreaks we will be introducing a number of measures to try and prevent the further spread of disease. Included within this, we will be carrying out checks to ensure that equipment is clean and dry before being used.

We kindly request that all anglers assist with these measures by checking their equipment to make sure that it is clean and dry before being used in / around the water, to ensure that the health and welfare of not only our stock, but the stock in all waters, is kept healthy for all to enjoy. Unfortunately, if it is not, you will NOT be permitted to fish. We respect & understand that some may not wish their equipment to be checked. However, if you prefer that your equipment is not checked then we expect that you will respect our decision to not let you fish.

Its a FIFTY!!! - Karl Eastley & New Lake Record

Christmas came early for Karl Eastley on Saturday (20th May), when he landed Cottington's Big Girl and with it the new Lake Pepper record; 

Karl landed his prize from close to the reeds on peg 1 using the new Mainline blackcurrant liquorice wafters.

And the weight - 52lbs 10oz.

Congratulations Karl - very well deserved.

Jack Thompson on Lake Alder

Jack Thompson landed this rather lovely Common, weighing 20lbs 3oz, during a session on Lake Alder;

Landed from peg 1 using a safety rig with a scattering of hemp and a Cottington Red boilie.

Congratulations Jack!!

Andy Collins on Lake Alder

Fishing from peg 12 on Lake Alder, Cottington regular, Andy Collins, landed this lovely Mirror weighing 19lbs; 

He added to his catch with this 8lbs 2oz Koi.

Both were landed using Camo's Carp Cabin bait.