Woodland Lakes Fishery

It is one of the bigger coarse fisheries in the north of England, and it is six minutes from Thirsk market square. Around forty five acres of water, eleven lakes by the fishery's own current count, holding mirror and common carp, tench, bream, roach, rudd, perch, barbel and golden orfe, with a separate lake for catfish.

You can tell how seriously it is taken by who books it. Fish North ran open qualifiers here in March, June and August 2026. Tees Valley Angling Association has club matches booked for May, August, September and October 2026. Those are clubs travelling in from outside the area, paying to fish, and they keep coming back.

The shop and the lakes are run by Craig Kent and his father Jimmy. In 2024 they bought Middy, one of the oldest tackle brands in the country, which is not a normal thing for a fishery to do and tells you something about the operation.

From 87 Market Place, head west out of Thirsk on the A61 through Carlton Miniott, then turn south down Coney Garth Lane. Two and a half miles, about six minutes. The postcode is YO7 4NJ.

Thirsk railway station is actually in Carlton Miniott rather than Thirsk, which makes it closer to the lakes than the town is. From the station it is a mile and a quarter, roughly twenty five minutes on foot. Walking from the town centre is a different matter: three quarters of an hour along a busy A road, which we would not recommend with tackle.

One thing to know before you set off. Several businesses share this postcode and this lane, and directory sites routinely list the holiday park's number as the fishery's. The tackle shop is 01845 526110.

Sign in at the tackle shop first, because that is the rule and because it is where you find out which lakes are fishing well. The shop sells bait and tackle, and the people behind the counter own the water.

For a day session you get two rods, 7am until 9pm or dusk. If you want a specimen water, those carry their own rules: barbless hooks, a minimum 42 inch landing net, an unhooking mat on every peg, no floating baits, and bait bought from the fishery rather than brought with you.

Night fishing is booked online, one peg at a time, and it comes with two kilos of pellets. Bivvies are allowed, tents are not. There is a key deposit and you are off the peg by ten in the morning.

If you are not fishing, there is a bar and grill, a sports bar and a cafe on site, and they will run food out to the bank.

The scale of it. Eleven lakes over forty five acres means you can fish here a dozen times and not fish the same water twice, and the match lakes have peg counts in the twenties and thirties rather than the single figures a small pond gives you.

The specimen fishing is the draw for anyone chasing a personal best. There is a dedicated catfish lake, and the fishery asks anglers to report anything over 25 pounds with photographs, which tells you what sort of fish are in there.

The tackle shop matters more than it sounds. A fishery with a proper shop on site means a forgotten hooklength or the wrong pellet is a two-minute problem rather than a ruined day.

Ring the tackle shop on 01845 526110 before you travel, and treat that as the important one. The day-ticket prices printed on the fishery's website appear not to have changed in something like a decade, and the night fishing price went up by ten pounds a peg between April and August this year while the homepage still advertised different lakes. The water is well run. The website is not kept up.

Buy your rod licence from gov.uk before you leave home, not at the bank. It is free for 13 to 16 year olds but they still need to hold one, and under-16s have to be with an adult.

The published rules on the site are headed as specimen lake rules, so do not assume barbless-only and the 42 inch net apply to every water without asking. Same for keepnets, which the fishery does not mention at all.

If you want somewhere smaller and simpler, Morndyke at Busby Stoop is about a mile away: one lake, twenty seven pegs, turn up and pay on the bank, no booking. Different proposition entirely, and better for a couple of quiet hours with a child.