www.twaps.co.uk Kent Fishing Club

REPTON'S PONDS AT COBHAM HALL

The Lakes at Cobham Hall... were originally created by Sir Humphrey Repton over two hundred years ago for Lord Darnley.

The Society was offered the opportunity to reclaim the large silted up ponds during 1992, and following site visits and meetings with the estate management, work commenced mid 1992.

Work by a small but very dedicated team took over 18 months to remove the massive amount of large fallen and growing trees that were embedded in the silt, before removal of the silt started which then revealed a clay bottom to all three ponds. All the removed soil and timber was used within the surrounding land for landscaping.

The Society purchased its own tractor and bowser to do the work and the initial work was finished during 1994. The ponds filled with water very quickly and were planted with aquatic vegetation and were left to rest. However during this time calls from the Environment Agency asking if the ponds were ready to accept fish stocks, which were being rescued from other fisheries due to the hot weather. This resulted in thousands of mixed species being delivered. It was impossible to count this stocking due to the urgency of the situation, but carp, roach, rudd, perch, tench, and as was found later, two bream, have been caught over the years since.

No further stocking has taken place as breeding is prolific to such an extent that during late 2007 the Environment Agency were called in to remove thousands of small fish as their survey showed that the fishery was severely overstocked.

Repton Ponds is comprised of three lakes, known as Top, Middle and Bottom. The top and Bottom lakes have depths ranging from 0.3m (1ft) to 2.7m (9ft), while the Middle lake is pretty consistent at around 1.2m (4ft). There are various features on all lakes, such as reeds and lily pads. The lakes contain Perch to 4lbs, Carp to 20lbs, as well as a good head of quality Roach, Rudd and Tench.

Night fishing is allowed - single night duration only - CONSECUTIVE NIGHTS ARE NOT PERMITTED