My three days off work had blissfully come around once more and the anticipation of fishing St Ives that had filled my head all week was soon to be realised. This was only my second session on there so I was eager to get going, the kit was piled into the back of the motor and by 9am sharp I was on the road. The early start was so I could spend the whole day walking around the complex looking for fish and discovering more about this wild and maze like anglers playground. My fishing on the complex back in the eighties was concentrated in only a few areas as I went infrequently over those years. Often on my own, I mostly fished the south bank of Reach Lake the adjacent north bank of Big Fjords or for a change I would venture over to Meadow lake and fish the first few swims along the south bank of Little Fjords. I have some great memories of my fishing there back then and did quite well too landing a personal best Pike, Tench and Bream one season. So my intention this year was to get into and around the entire complex and learn as much as I could. I say intention because things never quite work out as you expected do they? Before I could point the motor in the direction of St Ives I had a few chores to do and one of them was to go pay a bill. Simple enough really, park up the motor in car-park provided, pop in, pay the bill and offski! But no, minutes later when I returned to my motor I found that it would not start and what’s more the hazard warning lights kept coming on. After a short while I decided to ring my mechanic to come out and help me. They arrived an hour later and informed me after close examination that the motor had in fact had been immobilised by a shunt from the rear. Someone had reversed into my motor leaving a small dent yet the force of the shunt had tripped the car immobiliser and then they buggered off! My mechanic lifted the bonnet and pressed the red immobiliser reset button and the motor started! Relieved I gave them a drink, booked the motor in for further examination later in the week and set off for St Ives.
So it was some hours later than I hoped when I finally arrived at the complex and it wasn’t helped by the thought of the repair bill to come that had replaced the feeling of excited anticipation. However once I was finally onto the A14 and heading towards St Ives I decided to put these thoughts aside and concentrate on looking for fish and choosing an area to set up in. When I got there I drove straight to Little Fjords on Meadow lane and parked up the motor, opening the tailgate I sat on the back of the motor and started to pull my waders on when Bing! In my haste I had forgotten the barrow! I shook my head in disgust and began to wonder what else could go wrong. I took a deep breath, settled with the thought that “Hey! This was only your second session, so you are bound to forget kit” and got ready. Anyway I thought (consoling myself once more); I knew where I could borrow one from if needed... So I made my way to the first swim and stood there for a good ten minutes looking for signs and letting the feel of the place envelope me once more. It had been a stressful morning and knew I had to let go if I was to fish effectively. Last time out in this first swim on Little Fjords I had been stuck in the bivvy because of the atrocious weather and had in my own judgement not got around enough, so I decided that this time I would have a good look around first.
I moved down the south bank of Little Fjords to the swims further down standing in each one for a good ten minutes scanning the water by eye and through my binoculars in the hope of getting a glimpse of the elusive carp that live in this tangled mix of lakes. By the time I had got around to the east bank I had already decided that I would move on to Big Fjords for a look see and not fish Little Fjords. I kept in mind that it was important for me to get around as much as possible in my first few sessions and not let myself sit tight in one area. It was obvious to me from the start that the carp were going to be moving around a lot in the Fjords given that they could nip in and out of Meadow Lake and then into Big Fjords and the Stake pit via the gaps on the spits separating these lakes. So sitting in one place and hoping they would turn up really was not an option at this early stage not without more knowledge of the place.
Once again I found anglers set up and so moved on towards the Stake pit. When I got to the junction between Shallow, Big fjords and the Stake pit I caught sight of a carp turning over towards the north east corner of shallow. The Stake pit looked empty and so I moved on along the north bank of shallow where I had seen the carp turn. The swim that I wanted near the turning fish was also occupied and I began to think that perhaps this place wasn’t such a wilderness of anglers after all but then Shallow is the most popular lake on the complex and I had heard a few were being caught. So I continued to make my way back to the motor doing a full circuit of Shallow Lake on route. When I got back on Little Fjords I sat and pondered the situation. It was now mid-afternoon and I knew that I needed to decide on where to fish as time was now not on my side. I did not want to fish Little Fjords again and the swims this side of big fjords were taken. The Stake pit looked empty and the only fish I had seen was on Shallow. Also previously that week I had nipped down after work for a reccy and had spotted carp rolling on Shallow in that very same area. So my mind was made up, Shallow Lake it would be, I had not fished it before and knew little about it but it was the only place I had seen carp moving in three hours or more of walking. I decided to head for the north east corner of Shallow as it was away from all the pressure along the southern sides of the lake and near enough to where I had spotted carp.
My first job as always was to get a rod out and start leading around to quickly find out what was in front of me in the form of weed, depths and chod. All of the swims I wanted were taken but there was still a choice if I went and got the barrow I could borrow. My thoughts were simple, fish were showing nearby, I was on the back of a cold wind and if the sun came out I was in with a chance. Fish will often migrate to areas such as these and sit in the warmer layers. After half an hour of leading around with a one ounce lead I had a fairly good idea of what was out in front of me and to confirm this I used the marker rod. The margin in this corner of the lake dropped off to eight feet in front of me coming back up further out creating a wide gully that ran in front of the swim. Around 50 yards out I found a clear area that had a light covering of silk weed and on pulling this in I found it to be crawling with freshwater shrimp and the like. So there was obviously plenty of natural food available. The weed had not yet come up and was still quite short so would not cause a problem with slack line presentation and so I opted to put two rods on that area and one up along the margin to my right into the gully.
Whenever I get to a new swim I take a pragmatic view to fishing it. Whilst at university I was taught that ‘You don’t know what you don’t know’ and I find these two things most helpful in my decision making. So once I have found spots or areas that interest me, that exhibit characteristics conducive to the caching of carp, I allow myself to become single minded. I want to know what is out there, to build a picture in my mind as it were. Often my first proper casts to spots will only be left for an hour or so before I recast. On lifting the rig out you get more of an idea of how it sits and what it sits in. Fishing PVA bags is a great method of giving you a perfect trap and upon lifting a bagged rig out you will often notice how clean it feels on the initial pull. Later on in the year these would become more used as the weed came up but for now I had just put out three choddys. My choddys are I guess similar to many anglers in that they are naked, i.e.; no lead core just pierced rubber beads up the line with a chod rig sliding between. Nice and simple but it does have one issue that’s been bothering me for some time, the mainline can flick off scales on the fish whilst you play them. So to overcome this I have been using ready-made leaders. The thicker leader protects the fish much better but I realised that it has an issue too, it’s likely to be unbreakable which is not good if the mainline parts leaving the fish tethered (which is the reason I don’t use leadcore) and St Ives is to be honest, all snags. I use tubing on my pendulum, inline and helicopter setups so I am now experimenting using the same with choddys. It’s basically the same as the helicopter rig really only I allow the tubing and rig to slide up and down the mainline.
Once the rigs were out and in the exact positions I wanted them I played chase the boilie with the seagulls whilst baiting up my swim. The method is simple enough; one boilie fired up the lake would send them off in the wrong direction giving me enough time to get a few onto the spots. However they were persistent so since it was early evening I decided to have some food and put the rest of the bait in once they had disappeared for their evening roost. The next morning I woke early and lay in my bivvy taking in the sounds of dawn, this for me is the best time of day and I can never understand why some anglers sleep through it. Not only are you welcomed by the cacophony of birdsong but the carp also give themselves away at this time too and so it’s the best time to spot movement on the lake. I put on the kettle for a hot strong coffee and went and sat by the rods. By seven am I had spotted at least two shows in the same area of the lake I had seen them turn on the previous day. They were still out of range of me and in any case were covered by the angler in the swim half way up the north bank to the right of me. But, I was hoping for good weather, sunshine in fact as it had been cold and wet of late and I knew a bit of sun would get the carp moving around and that perhaps it would invite them to the back of the wind where I was sitting.
I almost always recast at dawn or just after and this is to ensure that my rigs are placed right for the morning period. On St Ives this is of paramount importance because of the Eel’s which come in all sizes and will steal your hookbait’s without so much as a bleep. On retrieving my rigs this morning though I noticed the algal bloom that had accumulated on the line overnight. My friend Steve in the next swim down had warned me about it the previous day and it’s almost always a bad sign for good fishing. Algal blooms are the result of excess nutrients in the water and are made up of microscopic organisms that can cloud it up. The negative side effect of this is that it collects on your mainline leaving it looking like a tow-rope running through the swim. Looking down into the margin beyond the end of my rod tips I could clearly see this effect and so set about remedying the situation as best I could. A small piece of cloth inserted into the tip ring helps wipe the line on retrieve and removes much of this but I’ll often hold the line below the but ring in a towel to make sure it’s cleaned properly. I decided that to further prevent the line from becoming covered in algae once the rigs were out was to make sure that my line was completely sunk. Since most of the algal blooms happen in the upper layers of the water this strategy would I hoped help towards solving the issue. The great thing about using chods is you can give your line a really good tugging to get it right down. This also I feel helps shake off any particles that have collected on the line when you set your rigs.
I cooked up some egg and bacon rolls, made more coffee and sat back to ponder my situation. Chod rigs are something I often cast out at the beginning of sessions but if I can I always prefer to put out a pendulum or inline lead setup. The sun came out and the temperature climbed giving me hope so I sat in the shade of a tree and made up some nine inch fluorocarbon rigs with size 6 hooks. I fished the session and stayed put, something I have done many times before and no doubt will do again. I fished on thorough to the end of the session and absorbed as much as I could whilst trying to relax and not think about the car, which I am glad to say for the most part I didn’t. I have to be honest and say though that at the back of my mind at all times throughout that session was the thought that I was in the wrong place and that I should have setup elsewhere. However to counter this I simply decided to make this a learning session and make it a bit of a social too.
I got to know a few anglers and renew old acquaintances and I learned much about Shallow Lake and all the other lakes as well just by chatting and sharing a brew. One angler approached me and asked if I had a light, I said yes and produced a lighter. He then said, “You’re going to think I am really cheeky but can I keep this lighter as I forgot mine”. I told him to keep it as I had a spare, we sat and chatted for a while and shared that enthusiasm we all have for fishing and revelled in it too. St Ives lakes as my good friend Martin Lawrence said is ‘a step up’ but you’re not alone and you can learn so much more by fishing there. There are some really good anglers on those lakes, both young and old. Spending time in their company as I have I can say hand on heart that my angling is so much better and so much more rewarding. It’s tangible, my attitude and concentration; my single minded focus on what needs to be done will be done has all improved and the time that I am there is ever more precious.
Isn’t that what it’s all about?
Steve Whitby