Badshot Lea Small Pond, Hampshire

Address

Sandown Crescent, Aldershot, GU11 3RD, Hants, United Kingdom

Fishery Information

Like the Badshot Lea Big Pond, the Badshot Lea Small Pond is owned and overseen by the Farnham Angling Society.

This is four acres of fishing fun, with waters ranging up to eight feet deep. It is a mature gravel pit site.

The plan all along for the Small Pond was to use it as a match pool. It has more than lived up to that intent, with a lot of matches taking place on these waters over the years. The well-stocked place makes setting up stimulating competition a real treat.

Carp and bream are the leading fish in this particular pond, but impressive shoals of roach, tench, and crucians are also in business. It’s not uncommon to focus on carp and tench in the summer, while the sport shifts to roach, carp, bream, and hybrids as the weather cools down.

What size do the fish go to?

Carp range up to 10 pounds at the Small Pond. Bream clocks in up to four pounds.

In terms of match sport, the biggest carp to turn up at this spot was a dozen pounds.

What tactics work well?

Variety is not only the spice of life, it’s the technique of choice at the Small Pond. Plenty of methods produce big fish hauls, but the pole, feeder, or waggler are on tap for producing 50-pound bags on a pleasure trip.

The biggest match catch was picked up with a pole and worm as the setup. Sometimes simple is best.