Blickling Hall Estate Lake is a fantastic Norfolk Lake. This lake is situated in the stunning countryside village of Blickling, just north of Aylsham. It has been known for years as a top bream fishery. You’ll find bream easily over 10lbs and a lot of them as well. Within this huge lake of around 20 acres have very few known carp to over 40lbs, but very few of them. Pike will also be found here to over 20lbs as well as tench and silverfish.

Although the bream fishing wasn’t as it once was, you’ll still have some success fishing it the correct way. Speaking to the bailiff, who is an absolute gent, he says the bream fishing is slowly coming back to its best.

Before I go into how I think this place needs to be fished, this is not commercial-style water, you can’t just cast a feeder out and wait a few minutes to catch a fish. You have to put a lot of bait out and draw in the large shoals of bream.

Let’s begin. Use the largest open-end feeder you can find, the bigger, the better. I fish with any bream ground bait, and it’s all sweet, and had good sessions on every bream ground bait I’ve tried. I found it works best on its own. The magic is what you put in with the ground bait. You’ll probably go through 2kgs of ground bait, 1 kg of 2 mm micro pellets, and a large tin of hemp and if you want to add casters and maggot feel free. Worms or maggots on the hook.

To start the session, I find anywhere along the dam wall or the first wooden pegs on each side of the lake. The lake gets more shallow the further you go down the lake towards the estate.  Start by putting out ten large feeders full of everything listed above around 45/50 yards out. I use around a 20/30 cm hook link and often start with a chopped worm. Cast your bait out and wait for the fish to turn up. In the winter time, instead of ten feeder fulls go with five instead.

The bream here averages about 4/5lb. Once you get one, look out for any signs of activity over your bait, the shoals are pretty large so the likelihood of it being just one fish is unlikely. Put out another ten feeders full every three or four fish and continue the cycle. These fish are constantly feeding and moving around, I’ve had sessions where I’ve tried to feed less, and it’s resulted in me waiting a long time between bites waiting for them to come back. Keep the bait going in.

Around 5pm if you’re still out fishing, I find this is the best time of the day. Keep an eye over your bait, it’s an amazing site seeing the fizzing, bubbles and activity.  It’s by far the most satisfying fishery I’ve ever fished when you hit that shoal in the evening.

The bailiff was mentioning that there are some large tench in this lake, but he hasn’t seen one for a couple of years now. That very session I had one around 5lb, bright green, happily feasting on the mountain of particles for the offering. I did grab him a picture to show, as he was coming back around later to see how I was getting on.

I think the most important part of fishing here are the particles in your mix, that’s what keeps them in your swim long enough. Another thing about this place is the pike are very aggressive. I went through 10 hook links in a session once because of those pikes. One pike ate a roach as soon as I put it back in the water. You’ll see them around your feet the more regularly you catch.

One final thing to mention, Blickling Estate is open to the public to walk around and enjoy the beautiful estate. It can get pretty busy during the weekends. If this bothers you, try fishing one of the pegs further away from the car park. The car park is around the back of the estate, it’s a separate car park for anglers. You have to pay for parking and only accept coins. The overall fishing day is expensive for a day’s fishing but if you want a challenge and are willing to put the shift in, give it a go

This lake can be tricky, although if you spend a few sessions getting used to the style and baiting, I’m certain you’ll have a successful day. Hopefully, you see why it’s one of the best lakes around Norfolk

Lake Size: Around 20 acres
Lake Record: Carp 40lb+ 
Stock: Carp 40lb+ Bream 10lb + Tench 7lb + Roach 2lb + Rudd 1 lb+ Pike 20lb +
On-Site: Toilets (If you don’t mind a walk)
Contact:  01263 738030
Website: Here!
Address: Blickling, Norwich NR11 6NF

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