at this time of year and after the weather the last couple of nights the lakes may be frozen Not been fishing locally for years ( staffordshire is my neck of the woods for wetting a line) although i do walk in royden a lot, always see people catching in there even thru the winter months. not been near Bhead park since they did it up.
If you have transport tho id reccomend going up on the canal , plenty of sport to be had up there, The ellesmere port boat museum (the shops area) always fishes well during really cold weather, The bream tend to hug the boats for protection so either pole or feeder fishing will produce, fishing on the drop will get the roach moveing too
If you want to strech your horizons try the Hoylake Flyfishing Club. They meet every first Tuesday of the month at Hoylake rugby club, the meetings start at 8pm. Its £52 a year with a £10 joining fee the first year. Renewal once you're a member is only £47. You don't have to flyfish, many of the waters allow coarse fishing methods, such as Bala lake and the 5 stretches of the River Dee the club have. I have included the web link, if you are intersted you can fill in an application from the website, say you heard about it from me (Steve Rogers). I will be at the next meeting, just turn up and ask for me if you are interested. They have got loads of waters all over Wales, you get a CD when you join with all the waters on. I have been a member since 1996 and I used to be on the committee but I had to give that up because of family commitments.
as for carp i believe the biggest in there is around 17lb, the problem i have with "local" venues is the sheer amount of anglers fishing them.
No disrespect but i like to escape into the countyside where i can be at peace and fish without other anglers around.
Im lucky to be part of 2 private syndicates in staffordshire, one is a 10 man syndicate that myself and 9 mates have aquired possesion of and have stocked with 45 carp. and the other a 14 man estblished synd that has some monsters lurking about. Dont always catch em but i enjoy myself trying.
I can turn up on a friday morning and come home sunday afternoon and not see a single person in all that time away
Parkfield is heavily stocked and a joy to fish, especially as it's free during the winter months. Nail a bait to the bottom in the winter and you can pick up a few nice nice fish, but in the summer, float a crust in the margins and hang on to your rod. The lake has some cracking Roach to 2.5 lbs and some big Goldfish to at least 4 lb. It has Bream, Chub, Carp and Grass Carp too and a few other species. All in all a nice little mixed fishery. The roadside bank can get muddy during the winter, so take your wellies. Also the wooden pegs can get slippery, so take care in the wet.
