The majority of the angling on the Great Lake is from boats because the banks in front of the hotel are too steep for comfort, the stretch along the golf course could leave anglers prey to stray balls and the far bank has trees down to the water's edge for most of its length.

This leaves waterside fishing either from the bank or jetties on the stretch between the hotel and the far side of Lodge Bay when viewed from The Fishing Lodge.

Despite being just over a mile-and-a-quarter in length, Great Lake is broken down broadly into just three main sections - 'The Shallows' at the furthest end of the lake from the Fishing Lodge, 'The Deeps' which run down the centre of the lake from the Fishing Lodge to the wooden bridge down the left hand side used by the golfers, and 'The Boats' where competition coarse anglers are taken in punts to fish half-way down the far side of the lake.

Fishing on Great Lake is predominantly for trout and for those new to the water the best way to start is either to ask staff at The Fishing Lodge where the fish are showing or simply to hire a boat and cruise round the lake looking for activity.

All the Fishing Lodge staff at Patshull Park are keen anglers themselves and have an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the fishery.

Whilst staff will tell you how recent fish have been caught, the types of line and flies used, it is always best to go prepared.

Generally speaking, fishing from a boat using a slow sinking line and wet fly is best with the most popular colour patterns being olives, black, white, orange and yellow with the type of fly and colour depending on the time of year and the prevailing conditions.

As a rule, a bright yellow Fritz, Olives and black flies generally work well although anglers can be catching fish within 50 yards of each other on different flies and lures.

Finding the right depth and angle are also obviously important, so it is again it is worth asking at The Fishing Lodge or experimenting until you find fish on the take.

As with most other stillwater game fisheries, the best time of the year for the trout is early season, between March and mid - July when you will get as good sport as you will anywhere.

As the weather gets hotter in late summer, daytime sport generally slows before picking up again towards the end of the season when the temperature drops.

Having said that, whatever time of year you visit Patshull Park there is no excuse for going home empty handed.

In the unlikely event that you do blank, you can always buy a nice sized trout from The Fishing Lodge for just £2.

40 - saving the need to make embarrassing excuses when you arrive home!For coarse anglers, The Boats(left) and The Shallows fish very well at the begining of the coarse season until about mid-August when The Deeps come into their own.

With Open Matches generally held on Sundays, coarse anglers can enjoy the delightful fishing to be had on Great Lake although they should telephone in advance to check dates and times.

However, it is probably as a pike and carp fishery that Patshull Park is best known in coarse angling circles, and with specimens running to over 30lbs there are some big fish to be had.

Indeed, the biggest pike to be taken in the last couple of years came in at 32lbs 8oz and fell to Richard Bradley who fished a small live trout in Lodge Bay.

Richard is pictured with his fish at the top of the page.

Most popular methods for taking the pike are to fish either a live or dead bait, but anglers should note that live baits must be purchased from The Fishing Lodge.

Dead bait must be dead sea bait.

This is to prevent the risk of spreading infection to the fishery from other waters.

Patshull Park supplies small trout about four inches in length as bait.

Lake Rules