Its always a pleasure to try out a brand new fishery. That sense of the unknown just adds to the excitement you already feel when going fishing. Well that was definitely the case today. Jenny had spied a sign to Wood Lane Farm Fishery on her way back from work one day and had been suggesting we try it for some weeks now. Then funnily enough, Nigel Laughton [check his pics out in the gallery] sent Fish South East an email explaining about Wood Lane Farm and the fishing on offer there.
When we arrived, it was, as luck would have it, pouring with rain. After a brief stint sheltering in the car, the skies started to brighten and we were on !! Wood Lane farm consists of two coarse fishing lakes. The larger lake is the match lake and is probably around 3-4 acres with I'd say room for about 20-30 swims. It is pretty featureless and exposed. The smaller lake is more sheltered with swims seperated from each other by tress and bushes, giving it more of a secluded feel. I guess its around half the size of the match lake. I was "reliably" informed that 4 hour matches on the match lake have already been won with weights approaching 200lb and that the second lake holds carp to 30lb. One word of warning - because the fishery is fairly new, the owner hasn't built proper swims/pegs yet, and as some of the banks are fairly steep, care needs to be taken, especially in the wet.
So enough of this waffle - was the fishing any good you want to know, right? Well in a nutshell, yes it was good. We made a start on the match lake fishing the far bank near the three big trees and it soon became apparent that the lake was absolutely stuffed full of fish. We caught an endless stream of roach, skimmers, chublets, tench and hard fighting carp up to about 2lb. Everthing was on the small side but we had great fun on light tackle and the action was non stop. Sweetcorn, pellets and meat all seemed to gobbled up with equal relish by the hungry fish. They won't stay small for long!
Having sent a few hectic hours on the match lake, we decided to try our luck on the second lake. We chose a swim in the left hand corner of the lake where it looked like there would be some likely fish holding spots. It was pretty evident right from the off that the second lake was very well stocked too and straight away we were catching ths same fish as in the match lake although on the slightly larger size. The weather gods decided to ruin our fun shortly after that so we decided to call it day.
Wood lane Farm is located about 500 metres down Wood Lane on the left hand side as you approach form Iver. Prices are £10 per day and you must use barbless hooks, dip nets and you cannot use groundbait, boilies and nuts. Despite these restrictions, I would suggest that once the owner has made the venue a bit more access friendly [forget it at present if you are disabled], this will be a cracking venue and will become very popular. So give it a go while you can still get a swim.
Til next time, happy fishing!! Paul @ UK Fisherman
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2009-07-22 21:54:20 | michael - best baits at would lane
hey mate if you are talking about lake two then i can help i reguley match fish it there are two main tacs 1 fish the pellet wag in the mildle and keep lose feading 6mm pellets 6-8 pellets everey 20 secs and then fish a 8mm on a pellet band 2 fish the pole in the margins with pellets meat or catfood with these you will easley catch 100 ib of fish in 5 hours
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2009-02-21 05:40:28 | pj
Haven't fished Wood Lane for a while but all standard baits work pretty well - maggots and corn I would expect this time of year. You fishing the match lake or the second lake Richard? Not sure about a match this w/e. Let us know how you get on.
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2009-02-23 08:15:09 | richard
did not fish wood lane sunday match on both lakes but had a look round very clean no litter plenty of skimmers & roach coming out with afew carp as well dead maggot on the feeder for the skimmers was working well for 1 guy
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2009-03-20 13:54:04 | Freshie - Carp at Wood Lane
After a few bad sessions with no bites during the cold icy months around the new year, I was delighted to catch 7 carp on a warm day in March on the island lake. They were from 6-8lb mirrors and commons. They couldn't get enough luncheon meet on the hair. I fished at the right hand end by the reeds. I managed to repeat this the following weekend with a catch of about 25 lbs of carp (probably the same ones).
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2009-03-20 13:55:27 | Freshie - Match Lake
Last season I found that both the carp and bream loved halibut pellet paste with a little spice added.
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2009-04-01 17:45:50 | Freshie - April 1 - Island Lake
Fished all day, 7lb mirror carp at about 10am, small half pound bream at 11am, long wait with a few missed runs, 12 and a half pound common carp at 4pm. All on luncheon meat.
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2009-07-22 21:59:46 | michael - FLOAT
next time you fish that place you should try the pole or the wagler rod because a lot of people down there dont fish the float and if they are they are fishing it wrong if you can fish it with the float propley you will catch a lot more fish than the rest on the lake
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2009-07-23 20:24:08 | Freshie - Cheese
I fished the back lake a few weeks ago and for some reason the carp wouldn't take luncheon meat, so I tried cubes of gouda cheese and they went frantic for it. I landed about 10 in 6 hours, up to 8lbs.
They also like big pellets and I have even caught a few on white maltesers.
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2009-08-24 11:46:52 | freshie - Summer Carp
I was at Wood Lane from 7am - 6pm this Sunday (23rd). I managed to catch 10 carp and 1 bream. Most of them on pellet but I caught 2 on Hula Hoops stuffed with edam cheese and hair rigged. They were going a bit mad on Sunday, I saw 2 other bods pulling carp out all day on corn from what I could see.
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2009-08-24 11:52:39 | freshie - Other waters
It may look like I only fish at Wood Lane, but I also fish Royal Berkshire Fishery, Pondwood and sometimes Finch Farm and New Farm Fisheries along Drift Road. I even went on a carp weekend 3 dayer at Wild Moor Waters in the Cotswolds. Even after being given tips by the owner at this venue, which boasts 35-40 lumps, I didn't get a proper bite in 3 days. I just find Wood Lane a nice, quiet and friendly venue and I always catch something there.
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2009-08-24 12:01:07 | freshie - Big Ones
One thing...... I have fished Wood Lane for the last 2 years and have caught a lot of carp, but I've never caught any over 12lbs, so if anyone else has, could they let me know. I suspect the fish up to 30lbs, which the owners say are there, don't exist.
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2009-08-28 19:13:20 | michael - big fish
the bigest ive had out of that lake is 21ib fish and that was also when i was in a match
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2009-09-14 19:41:52 | Freshie - Big Fish
OK Michael, I'll keep trying then. I had an 18lb carp at Royal Berkshire on Sunday, along with a 14.5, an 8lb, a 10lb and a 9.5lb, this was a really good days fishing. I caught them in lake one on the near corner, by the cafe. Two went for pellet and rubber sweetcorn, the rest on 1 inch cube of spam with red glug on them.
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2009-12-31 10:53:07 | royal oak angling club - up-to date results
after reading various pages on woodlane fishery especially the match side of things it's a pity that this page isn't kept up to date with the match results, it's obvious that that fishery has great potential and i'm sure that the owners would benefit more by getting clubs to post there results as a matter of coursity , this would also help other clubs and anglers when logging on, giving the best tactics & methods that are working around the time that they will be fishing the venue and not info that could be 6 months+old
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2010-02-14 18:43:11 | Anonymous
lads dont be put of bye the cold wether woodlane is still fishing prety decent for winter standes with single red maggot working well with a size 16 18 hook
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2011-04-12 22:51:28 | d - good but not all the time for me.
fished it a few times, all in the spring when the rivers are shut, first trip on back lake 2 years ago, i caught 101 carp, all around 5lb, maybe the odd one bigger.
never fail to catch there on either lake, there are so many in there, it's like a goldfish bowl.
biggest carp for me so far was a 15lb common on the back lake.
it's OK in small doses.
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2011-04-12 22:52:52 | d - re: good but not all the time for me. WOOD LANE IVd wrote: fished it a few times, all in the spring when the rivers are shut, first trip on back lake 2 years ago, i caught 101 carp, all around 5lb, maybe the odd one bigger.
never fail to catch there on either lake, there are so many in there, it's like a goldfish bowl.
biggest carp for me so far was a 15lb common on the back lake.
it's OK in small doses.
going there sunday is there a match on? what baits work