Carr Mill bids to rival UK top silvers waters

A legendary fishery is to undergo a huge makeover in a bid to turn it into a competition fishing venue capable of producing 200lb nets of bream.
Officials at St Helens Angling Association have drawn up ambitious plans to turn Merseyside’s, Carr Mill Dam into a venue which will rival some of the best silverfish waters in the land.
The club has earmarked tens of thousands of pounds for the project, which will see the stocking of £20,000 worth of fish and dozens of new platforms built on the 55-acre fishery in a bid to attract match anglers from all over the UK.
With the popularity of natural venues back on the rise, club committee member Andy Burrows believes now is the right time to breathe new life into the venue.
“We want to improve sport on the lake to get it back to the glory days, when we had 100 anglers in every match catching three-figure nets of bream on the feeder,” said Andy.
“Anglers travel down to places like Ferry Meadows in Cambridgeshire, but we have this fantastic venue on our doorstep which we believe has the potential to hold some big events and even international competitions.
“Natural venues are becoming more and more popular again, especially with the rise of outfits like the England International feeder team.
“We want to emulate that, and so by improving Carr Mill we are giving them exactly what they want,” he added.
The project will be kick started next month with the stocking of £20,000 worth of bream, and officials are already organising festivals to be held on the lake this coming summer to run alongside a round of the UK Feeder Championship, which is taking place at the venue later in the year.
England International joint team manager Mark Addy, a regular at Carr Mill, is made up by the prospect.
“The project is great for anglers like myself who fish the venue quite often, and hopefully it will also attract more pleasure anglers back,” he told Angling Times.
“There’s a growing number of people returning to natural venues, which is great for the sport and the future of the England team, and projects like this will only encourage it further.”