A few days fishing at Kingslake

Location: From Exeter take the A30 to Okehampton. In the centre of Okehampton turn right at the lights on to the A386 to Hatherleigh. At Hatherleigh turn left on to the A3072 Holsworthy/Bude road. Travel for 7 miles then turn left at the sign “Chilla 2 miles”. Kingslake is 3/4 of a mile along this road on the left. It is clearly signposted.Address: Kingslake Holiday Cottages Chilla Highampton Devon EX21 5SJ Phone: 01409 231401 www.kingslakes.co.ukAccommodation: There is a choice of cottages ranging from one to four bedrooms. All accommodation is of a very high standard with colour T.V., fully equipped kitchen, shower or bath with beds made up for your arrival.We stayed in a cottage and were very impressed. The view over the golf course and the front lake in front of a wood was outstanding. There was a built in barbecue and garden furniture in our garden area. In the cottage there was everything that we required and we were very happy with it.Down the hill in the trees and to the side of a terrace of lakes are the lodges. These are well thought out, new wooden structures, fitted out to the highest standard. The two story lodges were built with the living accommodation on top. There is a balcony fitted to all the lodges that gave good views over the lakes.The Gardens: These are a great feature. The water gardens between the cottages have got to be seen to be believed. The are a great testimony to the creativity of Gordon King.The surrounding area: Kingslake is central to many places with something to suit all tastes. It is certainly a venue to take the wife and she will not be disappointed. I particularly enjoyed Lydford Gorge with its famous White Lady Waterfalls and Bude. There are also stately homes, farm parks, zoos, museums, craft centres, pixie centre, shire horse centre, vineyards, castles, wildlife parks and other attractions.The lakes: There are four lakes at Kingslake. I estimate that each lake is between one and two acres. They are all well established mature lakes that fit in well with the countryside.The front lake. This is a well stocked lake situated in front of the cottages with a small lawn separating it from the surrounding woods. It has a small island and is the most attractive lake that this writer has ever seen. The stock is mainly carp with a few ghost carp up to about sixteen pounds.The carp lake. This is the bottom lake of a terrace of three lakes. Having described the three lakes as terraced visitors would be surprised to find that each lake has been so well landscaped that it is impossible to see the other lakes when fishing on a particular lake. On the carp lake you feel that you are on a separate lake and cannot really see the bank of the lake above. It appears that you are surrounded by trees and a wood. This lake is exceptionally well stocked with carp that run to over twenty pounds.Mixed lake. This is the middle lake in the terrace and possibly the largest lake on site. It is stocked with roach, bream, tench, carp and a few rudd. The roach can run big but they tend to be at their best in late October. When I fished it in Summer my best roach was 14oz whilst I had bream up to 41b 12oz. However I was convinced that I could have done much better with these species later in the year.Tench lake. This is another very attractive lake that is stocked with both the normal green tench and the rarer golden tench. When I fished it I had plenty of green tench to 21b 2oz with one golden tench. I only fished it for an hour as the fish appeared to have just finished from spawning for a second time. In that time I did catch 25 tench! There are no doubt much bigger tench present in the water but when I arrived they were at their lowest weight having just spawned.

A few days fishing at Kingslake

We arrived Saturday afternoon and unloaded. As there were two hours of light left, Virginia and I decided to fish the front lake for a couple of hours. I set up my 12ft four piece carp travel rod with a centre pin loaded with 101b b.s. line. The terminal tackle was a small Preston Innovations “Tyson” pole float with a size 6 hook tied direct. I introduced a mixture of trout pellets mixed with Richworth hemp pellets down the edge in three foot of water. Within ten minutes, I could see the water being disturbed by carp. I baited up with trout pellet paste that had corn steeped liqueur added. My first cast produced a nice common carp of just over 51b. Sport was hectic until dark with ten carp to 81b 6oz coming to my landing net. Not bad for just under two hours fishing! Virginia had made a similar catch. We were both impressed with the results of this short session.The following day, I got up early to fish the carp lake. I used the same tactics and it was not long before I started to bag up. The first three casts produced three carp averaging about seven pounds. Then I hit a much heavier fish that turned out to be a nice mirror carp of 141b 2oz. I fished on until noon and left my tackle in the swim to join Virginia for a pub lunch in the “Junction” at Halwill Junction. The food was good and I felt great, having taken over ten fish to 141b 2oz.On returning I continued to catch carp of all sizes ranging from a pound up. I ended the day with an estimated 1201b plus bag. Virginia who started much later than me as she was tired from the long journey, ended up with ten carp to 91b 2oz.The following day, Virginia was up earlier than me and returned to the carp lake. She went on to catch over 1201b of carp including the same 141b 2oz that I had caught from the other end of the lake.The following day too we both exceeded the hundred pound mark and decided to fish other lakes. The front lake also proved good for a hundred pound plus bag. The Tench lake was also prolific. On the mixed lake anglers were doing well for mixed bags of tench, carp, bream and a few roach. As I said earlier, this water fishes better for roach and bream later in the year.

Conclusion: This is an excellent holiday venue with good accommodation and fishing. It is more of a bag-up venue rather than a specialist carp fishery but there are some good specimens on site