Foremark Reservoir

Foremark is big-water fishing territory: one reservoir of approximately 230 acres near Milton and Ticknall in Derbyshire. That’s the headline here, rather than a collection of little pools with a peg for every mood. Severn Trent owns the reservoir, with the National Trust helping care for the site. For anglers eyeing up a reservoir session, though, the first thing to sort isn’t the tackle bag. It’s permission to fish.

• 1 lake: Foremark Reservoir
• Fish: trout, pike, perch
• Tickets from: Public parking — up to four hours; fishing not included — £3.50
• Find it: Melbourne · DE65 6EG

Based on how each lake is set up — not a ranking.

Foremark is big-water fishing territory: one reservoir of approximately 230 acres near Milton and Ticknall in Derbyshire. That’s the headline here, rather than a collection of little pools with a peg for every mood. Severn Trent owns the reservoir, with the National Trust helping care for the site. For anglers eyeing up a reservoir session, though, the first thing to sort isn’t the tackle bag. It’s permission to fish.

Current fishing access is advertised through Burton Mutual Angling Association, usually shortened to BMAA. A club membership on its own does not give you permission to fish Foremark. You need separate approval, and the club website says the reservoir’s allocated places are full. BMAA membership is also closed for 2026 and scheduled to reopen on 1 January 2027. That reopening date isn’t a promise of a Foremark place, so don’t muddle the two.

The application route is straightforward enough: email secretary@burtonmutual.co.uk with your name, membership number and vehicle registration. Approved anglers receive a car pass. With places currently full, the sensible move is to ask the club about the position before making plans around a session. Buying membership when it becomes available again shouldn’t be treated as a shortcut onto the bank. Foremark has its own approval step, and that’s the bit that matters.

On the fishing side, an older PAAS venue sheet lists rainbow, brown and blue trout, plus pike and perch. That gives a useful picture of the reservoir’s fishing background, but it doesn’t settle which species, methods or tickets are available now. The same sheet describes a trout season running from the first week of March through November. Before getting clipped up or sorting a fly box, ask BMAA what the current Foremark arrangements actually allow.

There are older trout-ticket adverts floating about too, with retained-fish allowances and catch-and-release limits. Don’t build a budget around them: current fishing-ticket prices haven’t been confirmed, and those advertised deals shouldn’t be assumed available. The older fishing hours and trout rules need the same caution. In particular, the public site’s opening hours are not fishing hours. A café opening time won’t tell you when you can wet a line, either.

For the practical stuff, the public site has toilets, a café, car parks and a playground — handy if there’s a family outing in the mix. Public parking is charged separately from fishing, while National Trust members park free after checking in. There’s also an older description of an anglers’ entrance off the B5008, signed for Burton Sailing Club and anglers. Confirm the approved route with BMAA rather than blindly following a reservoir pin: the supplied coordinates identify the water, not its entrance.

Good background reading. Most of it is a few years old, so treat it as a starting point and ask on the day.

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• Our read

  Checked Sept '26 — “Foremark is a proper big reservoir at approximately 230 acres, with a trout-fishing background and public facilities on site. Fishing now needs separate BMAA approval, though the club says its Foremark places are full — so this isn’t a turn-up-and-buy-a-ticket job.”

This is our own summary of recurring public feedback and the venue details we checked, not a copied customer review or a promise you’ll catch. Feedback changes, so we keep it separate from the Tackle Index score.