The lake is well & truly awake. A couple of magnificent carp were landed today and a there was this wonderful sight earlier in boggy corner. A good 20 odd large carp grouped up tighter than an all black front 8

Coming along nicely. The Old Brambles peg has undergone a bit more renovation work today with a new timber front installed. It’s a way off completion yet but you can see the idea here & we’re hoping it’ll be ready sometime in April. There’s no better place on Earth that I know of to sit & watch the sun go down...

The carp have very much woken from their winter slumber & are on the feed here at Allestree. Congratulations to Ryan here on banking this 20lber as well as another of 8lb on his very first visit to the lake! Well done that man 👍

Recent news around the lake includes this recently deceased pond fish & more animal excrement woes. Oh & a mystery carp landed 2 days ago...

I’ve been after a copy of this for a while. I think Markeaton & Allestree Lake enthusiasts might find it particularly interesting. Written of a time when food was scare & local vagabonds prowled the lakes at night searching for something to eat! For some reason it seems to fetch up to £150 on eBay these days so I was particularly happy to pick this up 👍

Another 2 tonnes of chalk were applied on this rather cold day. That’s the whole lake treated but we’ve saved a tonne in reserve to top up the particularly silty areas next weekend. We also seem to have made 2 new friends!

This rather elegant linear scaled mirror carp decided to make a welcome appearance today. It was landed at the historic (caution: parental advisory) ‘Bullshits’ peg in near freezing temperatures! Although generally considered a summer peg several of these majestic fish have been showing in the area recently. The area was heavily chalked a fortnight ago due to the heavy silt in the area. We aim to finish the rest of the application tomorrow so we’ll be keeping a close ear on the shipping forecast tonight! 🌊⚓️🌊

We have another team out from 8am on Sunday applying chalk to the areas marked in red. It’s a huge job with 3 tonnes to distribute so we’ll be working with 2 boats this time. The lake remains open to fishing as usual but there will be some disruption around the red area. We anticipate this will have a huge effect on the the lakes ecology but apologies for any inconvenience in the short term. Thank you

We’re getting a few communications about this so I thought it’d be a good idea to put a few reassurances out. We are happy to say we have no reason at all to believe this will have any effect on our future at Allestree Lake. We’ve known about this for a couple of years & the 300 acres of parkland around the hall & lake are being retained by the council for public use. It’s the hall & surrounding buildings that are currently being presented to market. We continue to enjoy a very strong relationship with Derby City Council & look forward to our continued improvements at the lake for many years to come. In this regard we are currently planning a splendid small festival to celebrate the lakes bicentenary in 2025. We have a lot of work to do between now & then & that starts with another 4 tonnes of chalk being applied by our team in boats this Sunday 👍

Another timber return has been added to the peg front at Pump House this morning. The next step will involve a little drainage channel behind this area before backfilling it all with rubble. After that we’ll create a raised bivvy area for Bob your proverbial uncle & Fanny your comical aunt. Summer is coming...

No rest for the wicked. Another 2 tonnes of chalk have been distributed into Allestree Lake today & we’re only just approaching the half way point! It’s a big operation but we’re confident it’ll lead to a huge boost in the ecosystem over the summer. We look forward to watching the lake develop over the next few months & hope you do too

Just a quick reminder that we have a work party at Allestree Lake tomorrow & we’ll applying chalk by boat throughout the course of the day. The Lake will remain open to fishing as usual but apologies for any inconvenience caused