Venue Profile; Boothsmere, Knutsford

Mar 09,2006 00:00 by Phil

Boothsmere is a typical shallow, silty, weedy Cheshire mere set in the tranquil grounds of Booths hall in Knutsford. It is situated just outside Knutsford on the A537 to Chelford. Fishing is controlled by Altringham and District Anglers with membership costing just £45 with a night permit a further £10. Parking is very secure as all members need to sign in through security to access and egress the venue. The lake has no public access.

The lake itself is approx 12 acres and averages 4ft deep. It has a small island on the left as you approach the lake and a sunken, overgrown island 150yards out tight to the far bank. It is lined with sets of mature reeds and beds of lily pads in some of the swims. It has approximately 9 pegs along the main bank, 7 platforms situated out into a very large reed-bed at the far end and then another 3 pegs on the far bank. The limited number of pegs allows the venue to be busy but never crowded, giving all anglers plenty of water to fish into.

The first few pegs are excellent spring/summer areas as many of the fish congregate up in the shallower areas. A long cast can put baits out towards the old sunken island where many of the fish frequent during the middle of the day. Past the initial reed-beds is a deep marginal area, often under-fished by many anglers, but a great place for an early morning pick up from the resident carp. The far end of this bank has a small shallow bay that is edged by the large reed-beds, occasionally some of the larger residents are to be found basking in here, and can often be tempted with surface baits in this bay.

Work was undertaken 2 years ago by members of the club to replace all the original rotting platforms in the reed-beds with new Tanalised decking, making these platforms very sturdy, comfortable and suitable for anglers using minimal equipment such as umbrellas. Around the far bank are a few regular swims, these are very comfortable and quite well protected from the weather. They offer great undisturbed fishing as most anglers do not bother with the long walk to them.

Many of the swims during summer, at the far end of the lake, get quite weedy. Between the rafts of Canadian pond weed, and Hornwort can be found around harder areas of clay. The specimen carp and tench love to feed on these and with a little effort they can be easily found. Species present include Specimen Carp to 28lb , Tench to 8lb, Bream to 9lb and Pike to over 20lb and also some good heads of large Perch, Roach and Rudd. The carp, tench and bream can all be caught with either ledgering or float fishing techniques, whereas the silver fish are often caught with pole and or waggler float tactics.