Holmedale Lake

Holmedale Lake sits at Sherwood Forest Fishery, off Peafield Lane near Edwinstowe and Mansfield. It’s one of five lakes on the complex, which has around 185 pegs across roughly 20 acres and runs alongside the River Maun.

• 1 lake: Holmedale Lake
• Fish: carp, roach, bream
• Tickets from: Adults — one rod — £7
• Find it: Retford · NG21 9HL

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

Holmedale Lake sits at Sherwood Forest Fishery, off Peafield Lane near Edwinstowe and Mansfield. It’s one of five lakes on the complex, which has around 185 pegs across roughly 20 acres and runs alongside the River Maun.

The lake itself has approximately 56 pegs and an irregular shape, so there should be plenty to look at before settling in. Islands and numerous marginal features give you obvious lines to investigate, whether that’s tight to cover, across to an island or down the edge.

Depths are reported at roughly 2ft to 5ft. That’s a decent setup for a proper day-ticket session, with shallow water and features likely to reward accurate plumbing and neat bait placement rather than just lobbing it into the middle.

Carp go to about 12lb, with roach, bream and skimmers also present. There’s a large head of silver fish too, which can provide sport on the harder days. Handy, really, as you’re not relying on the carp being on the munch from the off.

All methods are reported to catch on Holmedale. That gives you room to fish to your strengths, whether you fancy working the margins, targeting an island or keeping a silver-fish line ticking over. On a tricky day, having a second option can save the session.

The venue has recorded several 200lb-plus match weights, while the current fishery website lists a venue record of 279lb 12oz. That gives the place a bit of match pedigree, although the published information doesn’t break down which lake produced those weights.

It’s a day-ticket venue, with bank or on-site tickets available, and membership is also offered. Fishing is listed from 7:00am until the time shown on the farm-park gate, normally dusk, while the official contact page currently lists Monday to Sunday opening hours as 7:30am to 4:00pm. No night fishing is allowed, so it’s firmly a daylight job.

There’s a tidy set of rules to clock before packing the bait bag. No boilies, nuts, beans, peas or meat-based pet foods are allowed, floating baits may not be fed, and only carp pellets are permitted. Hooks must be barbless, braid is prohibited, and you’ll need a landing net and disgorger. All nets must be dipped before fishing, so don’t leave that faff until you’re on the bank.

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

Videos linked by the fishery

• Our read

  Checked Sept '26 — “Holmedale Lake is a busy day-ticket carp and silver-fish lake at Sherwood Forest Fishery, with roughly 56 pegs, islands, margins and carp to around 12lb. It looks a proper all-rounder, with plenty of ways to nick a few bites when the carp go quiet.”

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.