Captains Lake Carp Fishing

If your looking for somewhere to fish in Essex then there is a little known lake in Frating in North Essex which is rumoured to hold a head of decent carp, commons, mirrors and Koi. With this in mind I decided to pay a trip to the venue with a few friends, who notably hold some decent carp fishing captures over the years. One with a PB of over 55lbs and another who has had the largest carp held in one or two carp fishing waters around Essex. In all six anglers who are all capable of catching some decent carp, and should have no problem banking some of the so called lumps hidden in the depths of Captains Lake.

Captains lake is probably one of the most picturesque carp fishing lakes I have had the pleasure to fish, being a farm pond of about 2 acres. in looks it is reminds me of the famous carp fishing venue, Redmire Pool, again a farm pond that gained massive recognition as the home of carp fishing.

Captains Lake Carp Fishing

So on to Captains Lake and the carp fishing. The day eventually arrived and the six of us set off in the rain for the North Essex venue. It was a short drive of about 35 minutes and on arrival we were greeted with a fantastic view from the bank high above the lake. Along the far bank a wood shelter lay with a barb- a-que, pots and pans to cook with and approximately 4-5 swims along one side and a further swim at each end. One thing that was apparent on arrival was the lake was low with the wooden platforms standing about 4-5 feet away from the surface of the water. However the water colour in Captains Lake looked perfect. All the banks are tree lined and with the water at a higher lever there would be some excellent bank side features to cast to. Unfortunately as the water was low these would not play a part on our visit.

To make things fair on all anglers we decided to draw for the Captains Lake swims, in swim one opposite the pads was Ian, Swim two of Captains Lake was Craig, Swim three held Adam, Myself, I took Swim four, Wes took swim five and John was in the last swim at the end of the lake.

We all started with the usual leading around or using a marker to look for features………… oh dear. The average depth of Captains Lake is about 18-20 feet in the middle with the one point in front of swim four going 26 feet. With the lake at its highest level that means over 30 feet of water and there are no gravel bars or plateaus to fish to either. With this in mind, the majority of us decided to fish both the far and near banks. In addition a couple of us also decided to fish the channel in the depths just to make sure we had everything covered. I used an adjustable zig down the middle too.

At 1.5 rod lengths out we were still getting depths of 7-9 feet between swim three and swim four of captains lake. We all settled in for the weekends fishing. Well I guess you want to know what we caught. John in the end swim had one bream and a screaming run that dropped it before he could hit it. Three of us had one line bite or less, and Ian had one mirror of 10lb 14oz. Ian also had two or three other runs but all were dropped before contact could be made. Captains Lake carp are a mystery. Of the reported rumours of large carp in excess of 30lbs hidden in Captains Lake we are a little sceptical. During the 48 hours we were on the banks of Captains Lake, we did not see a single fish larger that than the one that Ian actually banked. The sun was out and warm and the carp should have been cruising around at some point during the trip. If Captains Lake does hold some large carp then maybe they had gone on holiday, as we did not see any of them. If fishing in a beautiful lake in the middle of nowhere, with a view that you may or may not turn up something special then Captains Lake is for you. Captains Lake however has been called the hardest carp lake in Essex. If the fish are not there then you know why. We saw maybe 12 different carp including 4 or 5 Koi. Nothing was seen over maybe 12lbs in weight during our carp fishing trip. The owner never appeared which we found strange and maybe at some point some of the fish have been removed either legally or illegally. we checked the owners website and did not see any of the fish on the Captains Lake website during our visit.

Captains Lake Carp Fishing Prices

If you like carp fishing, The whole of Captains lake can be booked £80 for a 24 hour session and unto 7 days for £350 which between 6 anglers which is the maximum works out at a very reasonable price. However don’t expect furious action as it won’t happen.