Hillview

Hillview is stuffed full of fish, large Carp to 20lb, big F1’s around 3-4lb plus lots of Barbel, Chub, Tench, Perch, Roach and Skimmers. An on site Tackle shop and Cafe will cater for your needs. Regular Weekend and mid week matches where the weights can be massive! You can even book a Lodge to stay the week.

Hillview – Heron pool
Hillview – The Canals

Two main match pools and 4 canal pools

There are two main 20 peg match pools at Hillview, Moorhen and Heron with depths from 4 to 6 foot plus 4 canalised pools ranging from 3-5 foot in the middle of the track and with shallow shelf’s near and far as on a normal canal.

One drawback is that you will need your trolley to transport your tackle to your peg, especially if you are fishing the canals, The pathway between the two main pools leads the way to the canals but this is narrow and if anglers are fishing here, it’s difficult to pass. Alternatively there are grassy pathways on the opposite sides of these pools leading to the canals but it’s heavy going in the winter months as the ground can get muddy. But don’t let this put you off the fishing more than makes up for this hardship. In the depths of winter the canals fish unbelievably good week in and week out and 100lb nets of fish in December are the norm!

In the spring, summer and autumn months hard pellets or casters shallow produce massive weights of F1’s and carp from the canals. The short pole line fished on the bottom can prove to be brilliant for later in the match with either pellets or maggots and it can be a bite every put in for the last half of the match. The average stamp of carp from the canals are 2-3lb but they go up to 8lb and the ghostie’s fight hard. The main pools are good in the margins for big carp hoovering up beds of micro pellet and 4mm pellets or corn and there are plenty of double figure carp to fish for. Or you can target the F1’s on a long pole shallow with caster/pellet or on the bottom of a short pole line with pellets. Really all baits work at Hillview, paste, pellets, maggots, corn, meat and methods such as pellet waggler, pole, Bomb, maggot feeder etc all produce.

A fair match venue

Winning match weights in the Summer can be massive over 300lb+ but more importantly to me, are the backup weights and that the match can be won off any peg. There is no out and out flyer and It’s not unusual for every angler in a section to record over 100lb during a match and for me that’s why a go to Hillview. Even in the depths of winter when it’s really hard you can catch all day, have a great match and still throw back 100lb and come nowhere in the match. The fishing at Hillview is that good.

100lb match weights, even in the winter!

Come the winter months the canals often out fish the main pools, but not always. Maggots tend to outperform pellets but sometimes you will need plenty as carp are the dominate species in these canals. I find the short pole line with maggots best or dobbing bread over to the far side. On the mains pools, bomb and bread can produce and maggots fished long on the pole or via a feeder can be good. The fish tend to be out into the middle of the pool and waggler tactics can be good. The Moorhen pool has a small island to throw to if you’re on the right peg and so does the Heron pool however this is a sunken one. The margins can still produce in the depths of winter but really fishing long is better.

Stay at Hillview Lakes Cabins

Hillview Lakes has 9 well-equipped and spacious Scandanavian-style log cabins along with six B & B rooms. All cabins are fully furnished and come with electricity and central heating. All bed linen, quilts and pillows are provided with the accomodation. Each cabin comes with TV and Sky Freeview, full cooker and fridge with freezer compartment, microwave, toaster, kettle and ironing board and iron. There is plenty of parking and each cabin comes with an adjoining tackle shed to store your fishing gear.

Interest in learning more about Hillview? Then read some of my blog posts from the venue

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