Charlies Lakes — Local services in Ashford

I have given five stars for the lake. It is beautiful and we caught so much. Bailiffs seem to care about fish care which is always a plus for us.I cannot fault the lake at all, in fact we were planning on coming most weekends we loved it so much.

Unfortunately we have been banned due to a couple of misunderstandings that could easily be rectified if given the chance to.

1- My partner had the wrong rigs on. He sincerely thought he had the rights rigs, Steve advised him he didn't and we was given the chance to go and buy the correct rigs which we did.

2- We paid for my partner to fish and me as a free guest. My partner has fibromyalgia, and a ' healed' fractured spine that causes on going back issues and he is classed as disabled. As he had caught so many fish in the first 30hrs his back gave way. He was in agony! We decided to stay the next couple of hours rather than go home because we loved it there so much and was having so much fun.we went down to two rods and I had to reel in two catfish. We honestly didn't think this would be a problem and was waiting for the bailiffs to come round so we could explain, and show them my fishing licence, but they didn't come round. We called Steve today to book again and offered to pay for me 'fishing' but Steve said it was to late.

3- We only had an "asda tent" to quote Steve. He let us use our tent for the night and we came home and purchased a £250 bivvy for next time we go.

But We are now banned and are so upset. I would recommend this lake , but make sure you have the right set up ...

The lake is getting much better, in the last year there has been a total transformation, properly built swims although some of the bivvy pads are a bit small for large bivvies and the mot 1 type of substrate is not the best under the knee or for groundsheets. The lake is coming on leaps and bounds with lots of work going on all the time. It's a shame the cats are so prolific as fishing for carp is sometimes impossible with a boilie approach. There is a running water supply for those staying 24 hrs or so. There is also a toilet. If I was to find faults I would say the toilet needs to be changed or brightened up although I pay to fish not to use the toilet, the no under 18s rule at all is abit harsh as I know many under 18s who are very good anglers and often fish with their dad's etc. The one rule for tackle for carp fishing and different tackle for catfish is pointless as you can't stop a cat picking up a bait for carp. You can only prebook for sessions of 24 hrs or more and you can book actual pegs which is a good and a bad thing as the favoured pegs often get booked up weeks in advance and it makes going for just a day problematic as you could arrive at 7am to find its booked up.

I look forward to returning again to see more improvements.

Well I have returned attempted to do a 24 hour (mid morning till mid morning) and tried to charge me £45. Their website does say 7am till 7pm £15 7pm till 7am £15 24hrs (no specification to times) £30. I must say however, the improvements are vast proper car park, fences up, proper...

I’ve just spent four days at Charlie’s lakes with 3 great friends. Having never been before I didn’t know what to expect but on arrival I could clearly see the lakes were kept in fantastic condition. The bays are all clearly marked and well looked after with no litter or weeds In the way and more importantly no dog ends!!!! I was greeted by Steve who was a happy to help man who gave me plenty of advice to get the most out of the lake and is also good for a bit of banter 😂. I met Karen later who too was lovely and couldn’t be more helpful especially on the last day when I was feeling very unwell. Now to the fish. In a five day period (although I went after 4 the other guys stayed on an extra day) we had 52 catfish to a total of 993lb !!!!!! And that’s without the ones we lost. The biggest was 38lb. The toilet facilities were perfectly clean with soap and plenty of loo roll and the shower was immaculate and I mean immaculate. Food delivered to the lake is available or Tesco’s is a 2 min drive down the road I can honestly say this is the best kept lake I’ve been to and felt perfectly safe leaving my gear alone to use the toilet or shower as everyone sticks to the rules..... speaking of which, this is the reason it is kept so well. You must adhere to the rules or from my understanding there will be no second chances!!! Just obey the rules and respect the fish and it’s the best lake...