Word has it that Martin’s Farm Lake at Woodlands (near Verwood) is no longer a day ticket water and has been acquired by Ringwood DAA. This would kind of make sense cos Bill who used to sell the tickets from his porch, is not in the best of health and moved back to Devon to be near his daughter a year or two back.

It is a season or two since I’ve fished Woodlands, but it is a surprisingly deep lake, especially at the far end. The far bank can be a bit gloomy and I favoured the near bank swims opposite the Island. Reasonably reliable for high singles or low doubles; my Verwood fishing pal, Percy Pope, has had some good days there on ledgered bacon grill and sweetcorn and, unusually for a deeper water, surface fishing is well worth a try. Tench are present but elusive; I’ve only ever caught one although another of my friends, Billy Bitterling, once caught two in a session when he was down from London. That is about as good as we've known it for tench there!  There is good roach and rudd sport with loose fed maggot on the drop and I’ve seen fish to a pound caught on carp tactics. I had always meant to try one of the deeper swims in winter for perch. I’ve no proof but suspect some large stripeys lurk in the depths.

Gary