1: History
New Platt lake was formed in the 1980s when sand quarrying at the location ended and the workings were flooded and left to nature.
Trout fishing first started sometime in the 90s and has been under current ownership since 2018.
Location
The fishery is situated in the Cheshire countryside, surrounded by farmland. The entrance is about half a mile from the A50, between Knutsford to the north and Holmes Chapel to the South, on the outskirts of the village of Goostrey.
Access is off a country lane, through a locked gate, along a short, tree lined private drive to ample parking, which provides easy access to all club facilities.
The Lake
Covering approximately 37 acres and having two islands, the lake has many interesting features to explore. It has matured over the years to provide a secluded and intimate fishery, mainly surrounded by dense deciduous woodlands which skirts the water’s edge in most places.
The lake is relatively shallow. The deepest water is to the west and south of the fishery with depths down to 12 feet. The shallowest of the water is in the North East of the fishery and is only 3-4 feet deep. Much of the fishery is between 5 and 7 feet deep.
The lake is mainly fed through the water table, with a small drainage ditch entering the fishery on the east bank with a single outflow on the west bank. Being fed by the water table, the water level doesn’t vary greatly through the year with a typical variation of around 2 feet and in extreme years, 3 feet.
The lake bottom is mainly exposed sand, clay and sediment. The bottom has many small features, remaining from the old works, with ridges and hollows which can concentrate fish. The margins vary, with gentle gradients and sharp drop-offs into 3-5ft of water. This varying lake geography provides sport at different times of the year.
Being on sand and clay the lake is naturally slightly alkali in pH.
Lodge
At the end of the access drive is the parking and our lodge. Whilst not a salubrious building, it is functional.
It is used to store equipment such as oars, anchors and boat seats, together with providing basic amenities such as a WC, hand washing facilities and seating. It also provides a social space and shelter for members before and after fishing.
Fishing records are maintained in a folder at the lodge with noticeboards providing relevant information.
Fishing Access
The boat jetty is 50m from the lodge down a tree lined track. This provides easy access by foot or allows members to reverse their cars to the jetty to unload equipment as necessary, before returning their cars to the parking area.
There is a flat path that circles the lake skirting the parking area and all bank fishing areas. The path is about 1,500m around.
The path is shared with dog walkers who pay to have access to the lakeside and surrounding woodland paths. Walkers must park on Brick Bank Lane, which runs parallel to the east bank. They use personnel gates to enter and leave the woods and do not bring vehicles into the fishing environment.
Several bank fishing areas are fenced off, with priority given to anglers. There are other areas from which bank fishing can be undertaken, though care must be taken to ensure the back cast doesn’t endanger walkers. Wading is possible with care taken in areas of sharp drop-off.
Seasons
Members at New Platt can fish for 12 months of the year. As with many trout fisheries, spring and early summer provide the prime fishing at the fishery. As the days lengthen and temperatures rise, prolific hatches of flies are experienced with fish hard on the feed.
July and August can be tougher months, as water temperatures rise and dissolved oxygen levels decrease. Typically, fishing effort is lower in these months though fish continue to be caught by those that venture out, albeit in reduced numbers from peak times.
As temperatures cool and we enter autumn, the fishing picks up again, with late fly hatches and fish feeding very hard ahead of winter. This is often the time when fish feed on the roach fry that are present in good numbers.
Winter fishing at New Platt can be very productive despite low water temperatures and inclement weather. Fish often patrol the margins feeding on the shrimp, corixae, sticklebacks and fry that seek sanctuary in the submerged vegetation.
2: Fishing
Boats and Bank
The majority of fishing at New Platt is undertaken from our fleet of boats. However, bank access is available, with some members preferring to fish from the bank.
Ten boats are currently available to members. These are locked to the jetty for security reasons. The jetty has several levels to make entering and leaving the boats as easy as possible whatever the level of the lake.
Many anglers anchor to fish, primarily using the boat as a casting platform. However, drifting open water, especially when fish are feeding near the surface, can be a very productive method.
When fish are in the margins, an anchor can hold the boat at the optimum distance from the bank, though it pays to move regularly as the fish are easily spooked in the shallow water. Often a move of 15-20 yards will find the fish again.
With the margins dropping swiftly into 3-5 feet of water in many areas of the lake, bank fishing areas can be fished with a short line, concentrating on fish patrolling the margins. A few short stretches have more gently sloping banks and can be waded, though this should be done with caution.
In addition, several casting platforms have been installed, providing easy access to the water and allowing large areas of water to be covered.
Bank fishing areas are easily reached from the path that circles the lake.
Stocking
Stocking a lake for trout fishing is a balancing act, as different anglers have different views on what constitutes ‘a good day’, or indeed ‘a good season’, in terms of fish numbers, size and species caught.
Whilst catch rates vary depending on conditions, time of year, fly hatches and the typical behavioural oddities of trout, stocking at New Platt is geared towards providing consistent sport throughout the year.
The club identifies a budget at the start of each membership year. This budget determines the stocking plan for that year, with numbers, size and species flexed within the budget.
Stocking takes place with fish welfare in mind and is suspended during the summer months, when water temperatures and oxygen levels may not be conducive to the welfare of freshly introduced fish.
A spread of weights are stocked, typically between 1.25 and 2.5lb, mainly rainbows. Larger fish are introduced of up to 5 or 6lb in smaller numbers, to give members the chance of a better fish. Lower numbers of browns are also stocked, with a small number of hybrids such as blues, spartic and tigers introduced infrequently to provide variety.
Fly life and prey fish
The water hosts a myriad of food sources for the trout, ensuring plentiful food items to imitate.
Many fly types, both aquatic and terrestrial, appear through the season. Buzzers are a typical staple for most fisheries with many sizes and colours appearing at New Platt throughout the year.
Sedges are abundant during the summer months with alder appearing at the surface slightly earlier in the year. Sedges can produce large rises of fish as they slash at these skittering insects.
Upwings such as olives, while less numerous than buzzers, are another food source the trout exploit. Most years also sees a patchy hatch of small dark Mayfly (ephemera vulgata). While these are a sizable morsel, they don’t produce large or prolonged rises of fish.
Come summer, large numbers of electric blue damsels take to the air. While the adults don’t get taken often, damsel nymph patterns are very effective at this time and can produce savage takes.
The water also hosts stickleback and roach. The fry of the latter are often targeted by trout in late summer and autumn.
Other crustaceans such as shrimp, corixa and snails are also abundant, attracting trout to the margins, especially in the winter months when other food sources are in short supply.
All in all, the water at New Platt provides a veritable smorgasbord for the trout.
Stocked fish quickly ‘naturalise’ at New Platt and within days of being stocked will be feasting on a variety of flies, crustacea and small fish.
Methods
Most fishing methods will produce fish at New Platt, though the effectiveness of each method may vary through the season.
Lures, attractors. wet-flies, nymphs and dries will all have their day.
Pulled lures, blobs, egg flies, boobies and other attractors will all take fish through the season. Imitative and suggestive patterns also take fish through most of the year, though are particularly effective when fish are taking naturals.
Some members may fish just one method almost exclusively out of preference. However, an angler who can vary their methods and patterns through the season will reap the greatest rewards.
Being a shallow lake, a full floating or intermediate line will cover most eventualities. Poly-leaders of varying lengths and densities add to flexibility with a sunk line providing an option in the deepest part of the lake, though rarely needed.
Spring and early summer provides the cream of the fishing with many insects in and on the water. At this time, buzzers fished in a variety of ways can give superb sport, with the best of the dry-fly fishing also coming at this time.
Buzzer and sedge time can see the lake dimpled with rising fish from bank to bank. However, these fish often become preoccupied and can be difficult to tempt.
A damsel pattern tweaked back just subsurface can be an effective method when electric blue flashes are seen darting above the water.
The high summer months can prove more challenging for New Platt anglers, though fish can still be taken on many methods.
Autumn will see an upturn in rising fish as the water cools. Most methods will again take fish, though fry patterns often come to the fore.
With the arrival of winter, finding fish can be the difficult part. Fishing slow and deep is often the way, though small, weighted flies fished in a jerky fashion can entice fish seeking the shrimp and corixa that inhabit the margins.
Whatever method is employed, it pays to stay mobile as takes can quickly dry up in one spot even when fish have been found.
3: Recent improvements
In an effort to maximise the enjoyment of members time at the fishery, the facilities and fishing undergo maintenance and improvement on a regular basis, either ad hoc or planned.
The schedule of planned activities is derived from suggestions by members.
While budgets may constrain activities in any particular season, a list of improvements is maintained and prioritised. These improvements are implemented by the membership during working parties, with specialist expertise and equipment bought in as necessary.
Fishing Lodge
During 2020, solar panels and power storage were added to the lodge to power internal and external lights at the lodge which are sensor and timer controlled.
In 2022, the lodge was extended to include a WC and washing facilities.
The lodge was also refurbished in 2022, with new storage for oars, boat seats, etc together with it being repainted.
Boats
Our fleet of eleven boats receive ongoing maintenance annually, which may include minor repairs, repainting etc. One is always out of the water on rotation for maintenance. An overhaul of some boats will be undertaken in 2024, with a strip down and re-fibre glassing as necessary. Other work, such as thole pins and oar replacement was completed in 2023.
Jetty
The jetty was re-built in 2022 to better accommodate the club’s boats. The aim was to improve the housing of the boats in a secure fashion to prevent damage, and to aid access. To that end, all boats are numbered to match mooring points on the jetty.
To accommodate fluctuating water levels, the jetty is tiered so that entering and exiting boats can be comfortably accommodated without any big steps into boats, whatever the water level.
Slip-way
In 2023, a spur was created at the end of the track to the jetty. The access was widened and levelled, with railway sleepers partially buried in the bank, in order to create a slipway. The objective was to improve the track surface to the jetty, to provide a firm and level surface from which to remove and launch boats and to provide easy, safe access for the stocking vehicles.
The water immediately in front of the slipway was deepened at this time. This was again to ease boat removal and launching, while ensuring an acceptable depth of water close in, for stocking to take place even in low water conditions.
4: Wildlife
The fishery is a haven for wildlife, around, on and in the water.
Besides the insects that interests the angler and influences the fishing, much flora and fauna is present which enhances the experience of being at New Platt Fishery.
Many species of birds occupy the surrounding woods. Besides the usual songbirds, the species of note is the jay which has an unusually large population in quite a small area.
Kingfisher are often seen in overhanging branches and for a number of years, Oystercatcher have nested on one of the islands, their spectacular, if raucous, aerial displays are quite a sight.
Geese and ducks nest in the margins and on the islands, with spring seeing a flotilla of young on the water. More recently, swans have been seen in small numbers.
Buzzards are regularly seen overhead with the occasional flash of a sparrow hawk hunting the tree line.
In summer, large numbers of swallows and swifts will be encountered, sharing the abundant fly life with the fish.
In the water, swan mussels can often be spotted on the lakebed, especially from the jetty.
The deciduous woods around the fishery provide a changing backdrop. While a little stark in winter, the soft green buds of spring thicken and darken into the summer months, then providing a riot of colour in autumn as the leaves turn.
Rhododendrons are numerous along the shaded footpath and provide much colour in early summer.
Though all these attributes are not the primary purpose for anglers being at New Platt, they all contribute to the pleasure of fishing our exclusive venue.
