Just over an acre in size, Top Lake can cater for about 22 anglers and holds a good head of common carp to 18lbs, mirrors to 17lbs, leathers to 8lbs and a few ghosties to 12lbs.

The average size of the carp is between 7lbs and 8lbs.

In addition, there are large numbers of roach, rudd and skimmer bream to just under 1lb, perch to 2lbs, crucian carp to 1lb 8oz.

There are also bream to between 2lbs and 3lbs as well as chub to a similar size which tend to stay between the island and the boat.

Despite the range and size of fish in Top Lake, the best technique for fishing the water is to use a single red maggot on a size 16s or 18s hook fished in the margins or about a yard out from the bank.

In 2013 shrimp and dog biscuits also proved effective when fished in the margins.

However, although this is effective, anglers should not fish too light as the big carp are equally likely to be caught on a single red maggot as the small perch and roach! Whatever species you are after, it pays to feed a few maggots or samples of hookbait regularly taking care not to overfeed as this seems to put the fish off.

The water drops off quickly at the bankside to about seven feet and whilst much of the lake is this depth about seven metres out from Peg 11 there is a deep hole which goes down to some 15 feet.

Anglers fishing this peg should beware, however.

The regular sprays of bubbles which break the surface at this point are not always fish but gas being given off from the bottom.

This hole is part of an original pond which existed on the site and can be a good spot to fish, particularly in winter and cold weather.

As one would expect with a well established lake, the abundance of natural food - particularly bloodworm in the silt on the bottom and the vast amount of bugs which drop off the surrounding trees - means there is no real foolproof way of fishing the water.

Although the single red maggot method works well most of the time, anglers should be prepared to experiment with other techniques.

The unfortunate, but not to be unexpected drawback of fishing single red maggot is that anglers have to persevere with catching small fish until the bigger fish arrive and push the smallfry out of the swim.

More recently, as the water has become more popular, small pieces of luncheon meat and expander pellets have also been found to work well whilst those going specifically for the carp should also consider the Method feeder.

An unusual feature on Top Lake is the sight of Clive the Cormorant Man - a dummy fishing from a boat which keeps the water clear of cormorants.

Although Clive makes a somewhat unusual feature, like the lily beds and central island he is worth fishing to.

A popular technique here is to again use a single red maggot about a foot deep fished under a float.

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