Location in South East:
Sandwich Road, Sholden, Deal, Kent, England, CT14 0AR .

Contact:
01304 380691

Day Tickets:
Day tickets cost from £7.

Facilities:
Accommodation is available with five static holiday caravans on site as well as facilities for touring caravans and camping. There is a well stocked tackle shop, a cafe serving hot meals, snacks and hot and cold drinks. Toilet and showers, disabled facilities and night fishing also available.

Best Baits:
Not available.

Getting There:
On the A258 Deal to Sandwich road.

5 existing coarse fishing lakes make up Cottington Lakes, offering a variety of angling with a new lake due to be opened early 2005 - two mixed coarse lakes, two specimen carp lakes and a 93-peg match lake. Main species include carp, bream, tench, roach, rudd, perch and chub.

* No bans in force.

Reader Review: April 2007
"Having heard many bad comments about Cottington lakes in Deal, Kent I decided to fish the place which has 5 lakes for a period of months to gather my own thoughts about the comments being made by many anglers both young and old alike such as, bad management, bad value for money, bad fishing conditions regarding banks and mud and generally bad running and looking after of the place as well as many personal problems from anglers who have visited Cottington Lakes."

"Now Having fished the variety of lakes all bar the specimen lakes (2, both of which I refuse to pay the amount being asked after the stories i've heard) now for several months, I can confirm that it is as I have heard from so many people before fishing to get my review. It's very poorly managed in the way of attitude, general feeling of being welcomed, value, bank and water condition and a few other things. The reason I set out to fish Cottington lakes in Deal, Kent for a few months pretty much solid was to determine the truth or facts you could call them about what was being suggested and said about the place. Comments ranged from its badly managed and maintained right down to the attitude of the staff (this is one point I will not agree with in regards to the cafe, however the actual bailiff? its hard to tell which bloke that is, and the other blokes attitudes are not anything to feel happy about) .. the running of the place is a little tatty and yep I did feel it was badly managed and the general feel of things in my eyes was poor."

"Here is one example - imagine pre baiting your swim for several hours on either a specimen lake or just a normal lake trying your hardest to tempt a bite on a hard day (many days at Cottington seem to be hard, and i'm a good fisherman!, however that's a different matter).. anyway back to baiting your swim for a few hours, you've done that .. then the fish begin to bite etc etc, when all of a sudden a bloody quad bike comes speeding up skids to a holt right next to you and a guys on it asking (shouting over his engine) if you have a ticket or telling you something or other (usually pointless and usually whilst revving his stupid engine for no reason) .... thus scaring any fish within a mile. Then speeds off without even a care in the world to the damage to your confidence in your peg and the fishing!"

"That's what happens at Cottington to me every day I visited which was just over 36 times, also to everyone i've spoke to just to confirm it wasn't just to me! . I mean does he need to speed a quad bike around trees and right to your side, just to talk about a ticket or something?.. Also the guys attitude stinks. I can rant and rave all day about the bad time i've had with Cottington lakes in Deal but id like to leave the story open to anyone else who may of had the same feelings etc. I will not be fishing there any more and have completed my full conclusion mission."

"If you want to catch alot of fish do not fish Cottington Lakes. If you want to feel welcomed and respected whilst you fish? Do not fish Cottington Lakes. If you want value for money, do not fish Cottington Lakes. My score out of 10 is a 3. The reason for the 3 is because alot of guys seem to invite their girl friends along (alot more at cottington than ive ever seen anywhere!!!) and some are cute :o) Otherwise my score for the place would be about 2 out of ten. The place looks nice in some areas but these are very very few and far between, the value for money just isn't there as far as im concerned. It's not as far as walking to swims is silly in regard to the mud/water logged grass. Some will argue that's fishing, get wellies but until you've seen the place you will not understand what i mean. Overall my feelings are the same as others, i will add that the match lake did live up to its name as being a semi easy place to fish but still isn't top marks. Anyway anyone want to add or argue to these comments feel free. This is my thoughts and the general reason for this was due to it being so many others thoughts as well."
Paul

Reader Review: September 2007
Your reviewer Paul gives a low assessment of his visit to Cottington Lakes. Whilst I do not doubt that he reflects his own experience, mine is somewhat different. I have visited Cottington on three occasions this year with my young son and friends to camp and fish. We have been treated courteously and in a friendly and helpful matter. There was no problem with distractions from other anglers, indeed we engaged in several pleasant conversations with others using the lakes, most of whom were more than happy to volunteer information gained from their experiences. We caught a variety of species as well as larger Tench and Carp.
John

Reader Review: October 2007
Just browsing and come across the review from Paul who fished Cottington lakes in Deal. Can not believe his assessment. I heard about the lakes last November, pretty scaly fish and a pleasant setting, so I visited the complex and fished Pepper Lake on a total of 4 nights between Christmas and the end of January. A mate of mine Ted fished on 2 nights and we caught a total of 10 fish with 8 of these between 21 to 26lb - stunning looking fish (as good as anything in Horseshoe).

The one thing we learnt very quickly was that every body else was fishing boilie over pellet - try something different. We caught all our fish on very small baits. The other thing was everybody fished within inches of the bank ... news flash people, its cold and everybodies doing the same thing, mix it up and it will bring fish, not just here but anywhere.

As to Paul's other comments, I found the staff helpful and pleasant, the cafe and bar is of a good standard, the water logged areas... get a life you are fishing, deal with it. The standard of fishing on offer seems fine, photographed a 31 plus on the next lake. Maybe it is your style of at fishing in question. Just because you failed does not mean the fishing is crap. The joy of fishing is surely fishing new waters and putting the pieces of the jigsaw together and become successful on a venue. And finally the quad bike, yes it is not ideal, but the fish see it every day so it is not a handicap as you probably imagine.
Peter Moxey

NB. The views expressed in these reviews are not necessarily endorsed by Fish South East