Day Ticket Rules
Day tickets Adults = £5 for one rod & £7 for two rods
Day tickets for Juniors & concessions (OAP, Disabled, UB40) = £3 for one rod £5 for two rods.

The Lakes are open all year other than Christmas Day.
Opening times are 7.30am to an hour before dusk. (Closing time is as advertised on the lakes notice board). The fishery is locked outside Day Ticket times so you must leave by closing time to avoid being locked in.
Day tickets are available on the bank or from the site shop when it opens.
There are tenants on the site who entry keys. DO NOT OBSTRUCT ANY GATES OR ROADWAYS.
An adult must accompany all juniors under the age of 10.
Day ticket parking is in the Main car park only.
Registered Disabled anglers displaying a valid blue parking permit may drive to their swims, unload then park in the nearest parking bay.
No keepnets other than in authorised competitions.
Landing nets and unhooking mats must be used.
ALL NETS AND UNHOOKING MATS MUST BE DIPPED BEFORE FISHING.
No tackling up in the car park – be aware of overhead cables.
Fishing from numbered swims only.
Lake closures for competitions and coaching sessions are clearly marked on the notice board.
A maximum of two rods for seniors and one for juniors (juniors become seniors at age sixteen.
All anglers must be possession of a valid EA licence.
No Tins allowed on the bank.
No Nut baits or Bloodworm & Joker.
All hooks larger than 14 to be Barbless, hooks 14 or smaller may be micro barbed.
No litter, take your litter home.
No cooking or heating of beverages, no alcohol, no radios
No dogs allowed, unless guide dogs.
Transferring of fish from one lake to another is STRICTLY forbidden; any offenders may be prosecuted by the Environment Agency.
Please respect the fish, Waters and grounds at all times during your visit.
Godalming Angling Society reserves the right to refuse entry to the site.

Marsh Farm May 2007. (article dated Sunday 13th May 2007)

Quite rightly our Marsh Farm complex is being hailed as the No. 1 Crucian Carp venue in the country providing most anglers with 3lb+ fish and the occasional 4lb+.
People are coming from across the country to catch their personal bests and very few are disappointed by the time they leave. Hardly a week goes by without one or more of the Angling publications reporting on the superb fishing that is readily available in such wonderful surroundings.
Our Crucians always spawn very late so their top weights are held for considerably longer than usual. This means there is a very good chance of a new British record coming from here for some weeks yet, especially as the weather has cooled somewhat.
The complex has been carefully managed by a forward looking committee who would not be badgered into making Marsh Farm into an "instant" fishery. We always claimed that by taking a softly softly approach the fish stocks would settle safely, the food chain would establish itself in a viable manner and individual fish weights would rise steadily. We also stated that this approach should bring about good natural recruitment - i.e. successful spawning, and this has undoubtedly been the case. Consequently we have no qualms in saying very loudly "We told you so!"
How do we know? Match weights are steadily increasing. Crucian numbers are increasing and weights are rising. The Tench have spawned prolifically and now there are the first tiny bream showing following last summers spawning too. And the best indicator of all is that the number of visitors is steadily increasing.
To maintain this as the top Crucian fishery we have to remove any common or mirror carp that have found their way into the lakes. There are not very many but they could affect the purity of our stocks so they have to go back into Johnson's Lake next door. Occasionally we get a moan from an angler when we are seen to be doing this but most times, once we have explained why we are doing it they understand.
However, Marsh Farm is not just about our Crucians as we must not forget the stunning Tench that are present. If fishing for them you be unlucky not to land one of 5lbs+ in the day and we know they are exceeding 8lbs in Harris Lake & touching the 10lbs mark in Richardson Lake. Hill Pond also has a few 8lbs tench and a good head of Crucians to 3lbs 8oz. There is a rumoured 4lbs Crucian in there too of which there is a picture in the shop.

Marsh Farm an early report dated 2nd August 2004.
This new project of 3 lakes has been open for about 7 weeks now to members and opens to Day Tickets from 14th August. Fishing has produced some mixed results with some anglers landing 30 tench in a session and others remaining biteless! Tench to 8lbs 8oz have been caught and reliably witnessed, plus Crucians to 3lbs 5oz.

Dave and Perry had a recent session that included not only several decent tench around 5lbs, but over 100 tiny crucians and tench of 2oz which bodes well for the future of this new complex. A consignment of bream in the 3/4 - 1.5 lbs range will be stocked 2005 into Harris Lake only.

The two main lakes are disabled friendly with over 1500 metres of bank space and the third was designed for use as a training lake and is named Hill Pond after our late Head Bailiff, Norman Hill. The two larger lakes were confirmed at this years AGM as being named "Harris Lake" & "Richardson Lake", after our Treasurer Graham Harris and our Secretary Malcolm Richardson as the two of them have borne the brunt of the work and stress of this remarkable project over the last 6 years.

Building of the 119 swims was completed during the close season and organised by Andrew Mackenzie our Still Water Fisheries Manager. His team included son Alex, John & Stephen Wilkins, Nick (flattened finger) Rhodes and greatly appreciated guest appearances by Don (I'm not a hobbitt) Clutterbuck, Gary Ford and Barrie Stephens.

23 swims have already had hard access paths laid to them ensuring wheelchair access year round. Many others are still already suitable. These 23 swims are spread around the lakes to give a fair degree of swim choice. The torential rains that fell in late April, showed up the site of a couple of springs and places where the rain water run-off went straight across certain swims. Drainage ditches, filled with 40mm shingle over 100mm drainage pipe, solved the problem.

PLANTING: Over 150 lillies have been planted, some between the swims and others along the edges of the islands. They are a mix of white, pink, red and variables (these start off bronze and change to a variety of different hues I was asured). Reeds galore and Iris have been planted around the edges of the 3 lakes by members attending work parties. Many of the Iris are now in flower. With the help of my boss (Sandra) and pal Don, I planted a couple of hundred baby sunflowers back in April/early May. These are now in flower and add a bit of colour and fun to the site. Aroung 150 have survived the drout. The lillies are not readily in evidence but a boat trip out around the islands soon will tell us if they have been eaten by the swans or are just slow on growing!

Details of how the site will be managed will be finalised over the next few weeks. A set of rules has already been established and appear in the new permit as well as being partially covered in the May Newsletter enclosed with your new permit.. We will amend these as time goes by and we gain more experience of running a Day Ticket water. (See FMC pages in due course for updates). It has to be open to the general public as a day ticket water under the terms of the National Lottery grant we received to help fund this venture. Ticket prices have been set at Seniors £5 & £7 for 1 or 2 rods, with Juniors, OAP's etc at £3 & £5 for 1 or 2 rods. The waters are of course open to all members as part of their normal membership permit.

Stocking of the lakes has already started with the first tranche of fish going in last November and December with surplus fish from Johnson's Lake next door. The fish already stocked are Tench up to a 8lbs, Crucian carp to 3 lbs, plus roach and perch to 1 lbs. Bream will be stocked later in the year as the sudden spell of hot weather in April made it unsafe to transport them. Apparently, Bream and Perch are the most likely fish to die when being transported in warm weather. We have deliberately stocked the lakes with a healthy mix of year classes to ensure as far as possible that the food chain doesn't get hit in just one section.

290lbs of good quality Roach were spread across the three lakes on Tuesday 9th March courtesy of the Environment Agency. The feeding programme ran through the close season with 25 kilos of 4mm sinking trout pellet being shared across the lakes each week and every swim was fed every time. The fish are now living on the natural food and anglers baits.

Emphasis will be placed on coaching juniors, the recently retired, women, disabled anglers and those returning to the sport after a lengthy lay off.

These lakes are available to hire for matches by visiting clubs. This can be a set number of pegs, a whole lake or both lakes. Fees are currently £4 per peg booked. Please contact Roger Howe Match Secretary for details.

In the very beginning it started with a site meeting!