This is the original coarse fishing lake at Willinghurst. It's quite an old lake, with a reasonable depth close in on many pegs.There is a long narrow island close to one bank, with a narrow strip of water behind it, and that's where we'll start our tour. There is a very good peg by the nearest point of the island.

You can catch carp over against the island, but they are very near to rushes and trees, so you are likely to lose quite a few. It's very shallow in this area, but there is a slight depression about halfway to the island and slightly to the right of where you are sitting, and this is the real hotspot. Keep feeding pellet and the fish will move in and feed there. It's a potential match winner.

The remainder of the island is not normally pegged, although it is possible to catch a few fish along there when pleasure fishing. We now come to the back bank. There are some good looking pegs, with bushes along the waters edge, and these are all capable of producing a winning weight on the right day. As on so many carp lakes, wind direction makes all the difference, if the wind is blowing into that bank then the fishing will be good. If it's blowing straight in to either corner then that is a potential winning peg, you've just got to do it right !.

The next bank is the deepest on the lake, and although most of the pegs are capable of producing a good weight, the outstanding swim is the little bridge over the connecting strip between the two lakes. The fish swim backwards and forwards through this bridge, and I've seen huge bags of fish taken only inches from the bank in this peg. The next peg leading in to the corner is a real feast or famine peg. I've won an open from there when the wind blew into it, but when the water's flat calm it can be a real grueller. We're now on the front bank, with the 'portaloo' behind us, and there are a couple of decent swims amongst the rushes before we reach the point sticking out into the lake.

It can get very crowded on here on match days, with pole sections and landing nets everywhere, we often have four pegs on here for our club matches !. I've fished dozens of matches on the Willinghurst lakes, and I've never drawn the actual point, one day perhaps?. They are all good, match winning swims on the point, and fish can be caught on a variety of methods. There are just two more pegs on the lake, between the point and the island.
I've seen some very big fish caught from them, but they're not easy fishing, with lots of reeds for the fish to charge into. It's hook, hold and pray fishing. All in all a very fair match lake, with a high proportion of match winning swims, and lots of scope for the pleasure angler.