Angling Club
The Wimbledon Park Angling Club
The Wimbledon Park Angling Club (WPAC) was founded in 1948. Strictly limited to 150 members, the Club is a private non-for-profit organization, run by a committee of volunteers elected annually by the membership. The Club is entirely self-funding and has no direct links with any public or commercial body.
At this time and because of a very large waiting list, membership to the Angling Club is closed, and the group is not equipped to handle general enquires from the public.
Rights to fishing the Lake were originally written into the Wimbledon Corporation Act, 1914, when the land was bought by Wimbledon Corporation, now the London Borough of Merton. Fishing rights, as per a recent Land Registry entry, were then owned by Wimbledon Park Golf Club and licensed to Wimbledon Park Angling Club but since the Golf Club was bought out by the All England Lawn Tennis Club in 2018 the fishing rights have passed onto the All England. WPAC will continue to fish the Lake until October 2021 when the current license runs out, but are hopeful of obtaining a new 3 or 5 year extension to this license in the next few months.
The Angling Club acknowledges its ecological commitments and responsibilities and acts strictly in accordance with the demands and requirements of the Environmental Agency. Members are typically the first to spot and report pollution or fish kills. In the longer term, the Club would like to restore the Lake back to its heyday in the 1950’s, if not back to the time of Capability Brown. Currently the state of the Lake is not good, as noted by English Heritage.
The WPAC ensures regular maintenance of banks, vegetation and fishing platforms. We report all fish kills or other ecological issues to the Environment Agency. We did re-stock the Lake with suitable, EA approved, native fish at our own expense in 2012 and 2014, but this right was withdrawn by the London Borough of Merton in 2017.
The Club liaise with Swan Sanctuary if any swans are in distress or tangled up with fishing tackle. We deter poachers, an increasing nuisance and threat as well as any unauthorized intruders onto the Lake.
The Club's approach to fishing is to operate a catch and return policy, no fish are removed from site. We discourage the use of keep nets except during fishing matches. We encourage the use of barbless hooks to minimize damage to fish. Large fish such as bream or carp are typically placed on padded un-hooking mats after landing to minimize injury. Plants and shrubs by the Lakeside remain undisturbed over the year except for some necessary minimum trimming during the spring maintenance season. Overall, our approach is one of “treading lightly” on the environment.
Within the Wimbledon Park Lake may be found a number of large carp, over 20lb in weight. The Lake also holds some bream, up to 8lb in weight. Smaller fish include perch and roach, although the latter have declined markedly in number because of pollution. There are a small but increasing number of pike, up to 10lb in weight, and a small number of tench, up to 4lb in weight.
Species that used to be in abundance but have now greatly reduced include roach, eels and rudd. Overall, fish numbers have fallen noticeably over the past 10 years.
Pollution of the lake has occurred several times over 2016/2017 and again in 2020. This has killed roach, small bream, eels, and tench. These issues are being addressed by Thames Water, but the withdrawal of Merton's current fish-stocking suspension would be most welcome.
LB Merton have been instructed by the Environment Agency to make safe the dam, that is the bank on the public side of the Lake, by January 2021. Merton are also planning to dredge parts of the Lake, although this has no bearing on the safety issue, but have not yet explained how they will manage the hundreds of cubic metres of potentially polluted silt that will need to be moved or disposed of.
Written by Tony Borkowski, Former Chairman of the Wimbledon Park Angling Club.
At this time and because of a very large waiting list, membership to the Angling Club is closed, and the group is not equipped to handle general enquires from the public.
Rights to fishing the Lake were originally written into the Wimbledon Corporation Act, 1914, when the land was bought by Wimbledon Corporation, now the London Borough of Merton. Fishing rights, as per a recent Land Registry entry, were then owned by Wimbledon Park Golf Club and licensed to Wimbledon Park Angling Club but since the Golf Club was bought out by the All England Lawn Tennis Club in 2018 the fishing rights have passed onto the All England. WPAC will continue to fish the Lake until October 2021 when the current license runs out, but are hopeful of obtaining a new 3 or 5 year extension to this license in the next few months.
The Angling Club acknowledges its ecological commitments and responsibilities and acts strictly in accordance with the demands and requirements of the Environmental Agency. Members are typically the first to spot and report pollution or fish kills. In the longer term, the Club would like to restore the Lake back to its heyday in the 1950’s, if not back to the time of Capability Brown. Currently the state of the Lake is not good, as noted by English Heritage.
The WPAC ensures regular maintenance of banks, vegetation and fishing platforms. We report all fish kills or other ecological issues to the Environment Agency. We did re-stock the Lake with suitable, EA approved, native fish at our own expense in 2012 and 2014, but this right was withdrawn by the London Borough of Merton in 2017.
The Club liaise with Swan Sanctuary if any swans are in distress or tangled up with fishing tackle. We deter poachers, an increasing nuisance and threat as well as any unauthorized intruders onto the Lake.
The Club's approach to fishing is to operate a catch and return policy, no fish are removed from site. We discourage the use of keep nets except during fishing matches. We encourage the use of barbless hooks to minimize damage to fish. Large fish such as bream or carp are typically placed on padded un-hooking mats after landing to minimize injury. Plants and shrubs by the Lakeside remain undisturbed over the year except for some necessary minimum trimming during the spring maintenance season. Overall, our approach is one of “treading lightly” on the environment.
Within the Wimbledon Park Lake may be found a number of large carp, over 20lb in weight. The Lake also holds some bream, up to 8lb in weight. Smaller fish include perch and roach, although the latter have declined markedly in number because of pollution. There are a small but increasing number of pike, up to 10lb in weight, and a small number of tench, up to 4lb in weight.
Species that used to be in abundance but have now greatly reduced include roach, eels and rudd. Overall, fish numbers have fallen noticeably over the past 10 years.
Pollution of the lake has occurred several times over 2016/2017 and again in 2020. This has killed roach, small bream, eels, and tench. These issues are being addressed by Thames Water, but the withdrawal of Merton's current fish-stocking suspension would be most welcome.
LB Merton have been instructed by the Environment Agency to make safe the dam, that is the bank on the public side of the Lake, by January 2021. Merton are also planning to dredge parts of the Lake, although this has no bearing on the safety issue, but have not yet explained how they will manage the hundreds of cubic metres of potentially polluted silt that will need to be moved or disposed of.
Written by Tony Borkowski, Former Chairman of the Wimbledon Park Angling Club.