Budworth Mere (also known as Marbury Mere) is a large mere located near Northwich, Cheshire. A number of angling clubs have fishing rights: 

 

The red circle (courtesy of Multi-map!) shows the stream flowing out towards Pickmere.  The stream I am referring to below flows into Budworth Mere and is located halfway along the bank at the bottom of the photo.

Marbury Anglers – this club controls the fishing rights in the country park and has permission to launch boats from their boat house. They have some pegs towards the stream where I believe there is a good depth (3m?) of water very close in. This is deep for Budworth Mere which is generally about 1.5m deep. I have seen some picture of fantastic catches of bream taken from boats and I have been told that they catch a lot of tench (although in all the years I have fished Budworth Mere I have never caught a tench!). I don’t know how to contact Marbury Anglers but I think that if you asked at Vale Royal Angling Center (Scotts of Northwich) they would have a good idea. 

Warrington Anglers and Northwich Anglers share the fishing rights on the bank from the A556 to the stream mentioned above. This is where I have done all my fishing on Budworth Mere. 

I think Altrincham Anglers control the fishing around the sailing club which is really convenient as you can virtually park behind your peg. I have seen people fishing from the staging and I think you are straight into about 2m of water which has to be a bonus. 

Northwich Anglers control a couple of fields on the Comberbach side of the mere where the water is shallow. Some big catches of bream have been taken from these pegs with pre-baiting. These pegs aren’t fished regularly but occasionally you see a carp angler on the last peg towards the corpse where the herons nest, but more about them later. 

Fishing 

I fish the jointly held Warrington AA / Northwich AA bank and tend to head to the far end of the section towards the stream end. It’s a long walk but you don’t need to take much gear. I normally pre-bait Budworth Mere when I tackle it and will normally put a sack of brown crumb in over the course of a couple of nights. I think this venue is one of my favourites due to the setting and due to the anticipation of arriving in the morning and not knowing whether the bream will be there or not!  

Generally the further you cast, the more you catch from the pegs towards the stream and the difference 20 meters can make is noticeable if you are out-casting the person next to you. I have heard rumours is gets as deep as 7m somewhere towards the stream but I’ve never found that much water! If you do hook a bream you should stand up and keep you rod high to bring the fish up over the shelf, which is quite steep and snaggy. 

Depending on the weather, the long weekend around easter time until the end of October / early November is the best time to fish the mere. If the bream, typically 5lbs (2.5kg) are in front of you they will normally give themselves away by rolling. In recent seasons the fish have bred well and it has been possible to catch a lot of big roach and hybrids on a waggler less than 20m out in the shallow water in the hot summer months. Without a shoal of bream a typical catch would be around 20lbs (10kg) of roach, perch, skimmers and hybrids (up to 1kg). If the bream are in front of you then 100lbs (50kg) is an almost certainly and if it all goes right you might do 200lbs (100kg). But that said, sometimes you might only catch an eel!  I have fished the mere in the middle of winter but have never caught anything! 

I’ve had a few e-mails regarding recent catches and it seems that the fishing is getting better and better. In addition to the standard bream on the feeder catches, David Fletcher has caught a few tench (up to 7lb) from the Warrington / Northwich AA bank. He caught them in a coupe of feet of water near his keep net after spotting a few swirls and he thinks they were feeding on the bits that fell out of his feeder. He also had a massive 74kg catch of roach and hybrids on a 5m WHIP to hand from the shallow end in 3.5 feet of water. This is something I’ve never tried but I certainly will!

Carp 

There are a number of carp in Budworth Mere and a number of people have targeted them. These people have kept their catches secret and I have heard various rumours. I think that the amount of time that these people put in suggests that there is a substantial prize to be caught. I’ve only heard one course angler say they have had a carp to the net and he said it was over 20lbs (10kg) but that he didn’t weigh it. I’ve only heard of one confirmed catch at 17lb. I’ve never so much as even seen one and I’ve never been smashed. The rumours that I have heard are that there is a very low head of carp (maybe 6?) and that some of this group they reach over 30lb? (15kg). I’ve seen guys tented up in the corner near the A556, on the shallow Northwich AA bank and in the woods where the herons nest.  

In the A556 corner they wade out in chest waders and cast out / position their rods whilst in the water. From the shallow bank they wade along towards the wood and place the baits somewhere near the bank of sedges. From the peg in the wood I’ve no idea where they cast to!

I do know that the carp anglers get pestered by bream up to ~12lb (~6kg). These are significantly bigger than the average shoal stamp of ~5lbs (~2.5kg) and proves there are big bream in Budworth Mere…..you just have to fish a boilie to catch them :)

If you have anything to add to this please contact me! 

Last updated 2nd September 2008