Fishing in and around Mansfield

Hello, I'm visiting friends in Mansfield next week and wondered if there is anywhere me and the kids could wet a line and catch a few fish. Preferably a venue that allows spinning and lure fishing. Any ideas? I've heard of the river Maun but not sure if this is a viable prospect. Ideally anything most local to Mansfield would be best with maybe a five mile radius to travel.

Hardwick park mate!
Its a great place to take kids and a very nice venue to fish in (its National Trust) you can even go up to the hall built by Bess of Hardwick. its easy to find from the M1 and Mansfield is about six mile away.

The great lake ( a very mature estate lake) is teeming with Perch and pike and they allow spinning too!

Search ''Hardwick hall'' on the net for more info.

I only live 3 miles from the place and have fished it man and boy...a great place

tight lines

Mark

I would avoid the River Maun as the stretches that run through Mansfield and the immediate surrounding areas are no fishing by order of the local council... you'll probably wonder too as it's very narrow and shallow for most of its length but does hold fish, there's a stretch out at Walesby Scout Camp (around 12 miles away) that's on the Notts AA book but I wouldn't be too cut up about it if you decide to give it a miss.

Field Mill Dam is right in the town centre, directly opposite the football ground... it's a shallow but nice little mill pool that holds perch and a few pike amongst other things and is free to fish. Due to it's location it can get a bit of a tip with litter but fine at the moment as I cleared the place up myself a week or two ago and it still looks ok at the moment.

Kings Mill Reservoir is another... but huge and daunting, directly opposite the hospital and fishable on a day ticket from the bailiff on the bank (if you see them).

And just beyond that you have Sutton Lawn, a park lake which holds most things including some big pike, again day ticket on the bank (I think?).

If you can live without the spinning buy a pint of maggots and give Berry Hill Park a try. It's a nice, small park pond with a couple of islands set in lawned grounds on the edge of a small wood with car park overlooking a few hundred yards away, day ticket on the bank and barely any deeper than the length of the rod handle but you'll bag up on roach, tench (even now) and some occasional chub and carp... expect the odd big goldfish and fantail too that's outgrown its bowl.

Good luck with it, hope you enjoy your visit

Edited to add: Almost forgot... Vicar Water at Clipstone (3 - 4 miles) is a lovely water set in a country park, day tickets on the bank and lots of perch (not sure about pike or whether spinning is allowed) and well worth a visit if only for a walk.

binka said:

If you can live without the spinning buy a pint of maggots and give Berry Hill Park a try. It's a nice, small park pond with a couple of islands set in lawned grounds on the edge of a small wood with car park overlooking a few hundred yards away, day ticket on the bank and barely any deeper than the length of the rod handle but you'll bag up on roach, tench (even now) and some occasional chub and carp... expect the odd big goldfish and fantail too that's outgrown its bowl.

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I had no idea you could fish here and that there were even fish in it! I thought it was just a duck pond, WOW.

Are there any day ticket areas of the river maun you can fish nowadays? I'm looking for local places for quick stints.

lookabaa said:

I had no idea you could fish here and that there were even fish in it! I thought it was just a duck pond, WOW.

Are there any day ticket areas of the river maun you can fish nowadays? I'm looking for local places for quick stints.

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Might be worth checking that Berry Hill is still day ticket, we got on a couple of years ago as soon as it was taken on by Mansfield Piscatorials but rarely ended up seeing anyone to pay a ticket to, I was up there looking the other day but haven't seen anyone fishing for a while.

The fishing was brilliant with mixed bags of roach, tench, ide and small carp that had all bred unaided in there, in fact the EA had netted and removed large quantities of fish previously but they just keep on breeding with the only known introductions being numerous goldfish and fantails that had outgrown their glass bowls.

Quite quirky really for a very shallow park lake that has no feeder or exit stream.

Endless roach easily knocking on 1 3/4 lb in mixed nets of 30lb+ are easily achievable in the warmer months...







Regards the Maun, I'm not sure about day ticket but Notts AA have a stretch of the Maun out near Walesby, very shallow and typical of the Maun with stealthy roving said to be the best approach.

Binka, is that Berry hill as in near the same named area opposite the local tech on Derby road????
Thats a cracking net of fish --- never heard of it mentioned when I was worki g there, couldwell dam oppo the byepass on the Ashfield book but that was all.

flightliner said:

Binka, is that Berry hill as in near the same named area opposite the local tech on Derby road????
Thats a cracking net of fish --- never heard of it mentioned when I was worki g there, couldwell dam oppo the byepass on the Ashfield book but that was all.

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Yeah that's the one flight, about a minutes drive from your old place.

Incidentally, have you seen the tech now it's had its facelift and new buildings?

Very impressive compared to before, I did my brick laying up there.

Thanks Binka, good looking water .Yes, have seen the facelift at Derby road site and very nice too, maybe they had to wait until I retired before they could finance the improvements
Before its facelift we -- the boys in construction-- were transferred down to the new station park site-- the all purpose facility close by.
Dear little Mansfield, loved it-- the tech by the way was in the top four colleges in the country, well deserved too.:w

I went for a walk around Berry Hill the other day. The lake was frozen and there are signs saying there is Blue Green Algae and that fishing is banned until there's a sign saying clear water in place of that sign by the Trust.

lookabaa said:

I went for a walk around Berry Hill the other day. The lake was frozen and there are signs saying there is Blue Green Algae and that fishing is banned until there's a sign saying clear water in place of that sign by the Trust.

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Might be worth checking the signs not an old one that's been forgotten about as they usually put them up around July/August time when the water can resemble pea soup and the bales of straw are put in to help break it down a bit, I wouldn't have thought it would be an issue at this time of year though.

I also popped by last week when it was frozen over, should be thawed out by now I would have thought.

I'm going back a couple of years but when I first enquired about fishing I rang MDC Parks Department who in turn gave me a phone number for the Park Trust but I can't find it, if you manage to find anything out would you post to let me know?

Thanks.

I've put this to one side for now but at some point I'll look into it and post back on this thread even if it's months from now

I've just stopped by whilst I was out and it's definitely thawed out if you don't mind a bit of snow, I took this about an hour ago...



Quite fancied it actually but then it's always the case when i'm sat in a nice warm car with the heater on and a milky coffee... With no danger of having any gear with me to call my bluff!

On second thoughts... Naah