Fishing

Rudyard is famous within the angling fraternity for pleasure and match angling, and for its specimen pike.  Regular contests are held and anglers come from all over the country to fish the Lake.

Fishing is by day ticket only with the exception of members of the Stoke-on-Trent Angling Society who are allowed to fish by special arrangement with Rudyard Lake Ltd.  Strict rules are in place to ban anyone found fishing without the correct equipment and NRA rod licences are required.

Fishing is predominately available on the Eastern shore line where we have some 142 marked pegs with the numbering starting at the Rushton Spencer end of the Lake. From time to time matches are held & notices advise the reserved pegs.

There are limited pegs on the western shore at the Dam End when water conditions allow.

Fishing is not permitted from the shore in front of any of the private properties.
Peg fees are collected by the Ranger or his volunteers.

We do not have a close season at Rudyard. Angling is permitted from dawn until dusk and night fishing is only allowed by prior arrangement with the Ranger.

The North Staffordshire Railway, always looking towards increasing passenger traffic, saw the potential for offering fishing at Rudyard Lake and first introduced a stock of fish in the 1860’s.  Day fishing permits were advertised as being obtainable from all station masters en route for the princely sum of one shilling. In 1905, the NSR were then also advertising the lake as ‘the rendezvous of all anglers’ as they had restocked it with a further 30,000 fish.

During the war years angling naturally declined but some long established clubs such as the Hotel Rudyard Angling Society and Ye Olde Central Angling Society maintained a presence at the lake, the latter having a small cabin and rented fishing rights at the north east corner adjacent to the Cliffe Park Halt station.

During the 1950’s and 60’s, Rudyard became the Mecca for angling matches in the north west with over a hundred anglers regularly attending competitions each weekend in the summer months.

Nowadays, with the newfound popularity of commercial fisheries, angler attendance has fallen but the future looks brighter! Anglers are slowly turning their backs on these commercial fisheries where often little ability is required to catch large weights of fish. They are now returning to enjoy the delights of testing their skill and knowledge to catch fish in Rudyard Lake.

An ‘open match’ every Saturday has been revived starting usually in June/July each year with many top anglers participating; good weights of bream are being caught. The Lake is famous for its specimen fish, in particular pike, carp and perch, with many specialist anglers attending in the hope of achieving their personal best.