When Richard Walker wrote his book ‘Stillwater Angling’ he made it clear that he thought stillwaters would be the way forward. I wonder if he had any ideato what scale we would see carp angling develop?
The youngsters (under 40s!) nowadays take the multitude of stillwaters that are available to us for granted as just another angling venue. That’s understandable, they have grown up with them. They have also grown up with a massive upsurge in interest in carp and carp fishing so the majority of these stillwaters are of course run as carp fisheries, but to anyone who has the vision to look beyond the carp there is a treasure trove of big fish waiting to be caught, enough to last many lifetimes.
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The last two or three seasons have seen me looking more and more atcarp waters as a genuine and accessible source of locating big fish ofspecies other than carp and my own results so far are very pleasing. Coupledwith discussions with other anglers and reports in the angling press it isobvious that these waters do indeed have a lot to offer anyone withpioneering tendencies. By that I mean an angler who is prepared to trysomething different, for like all pioneering the rewards can be very high (orlow!) but usually involve a little graft one way or another.
The types of waters that are available to us are varied, to say theleast! Old pits, new pits, estate lakes, reservoirs, the list goes on. Thefishing itself can also vary from the ridiculously easy to the ratherchallenging. It’s fair to say, as a general rule though, that the bigger thetarget the more challenging it becomes. I have fished a couple of waterswhere, for instance, roach of 1lb-plus are very easy and great as a confidencebooster when times are hard, and there are waters I know that hold 3lb-plus roach but getting them out – well that’s another matter! But whatever your fancy there is a carp water out there that just may tickle it!
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My favourite, if I think about it, is a nice mature gravel pit. Big ones have a certain mystique. But that’s today! Tomorrow I may be in a different mood, but one thing’s for sure, the choice is there.
One thing we are not always able to choose in a particular water isthe species of fish that reach a larger than average size. I am not (and arenot going to pretend that I am) a scientific angler, so I won’t delve into thereasons why. But different waters turn up different specimens, one carp watermay turn up big roach, while another may turn up big bream, yet another tench, etc. And some special waters may turn up the lot> Decisions, decisions! No one said it was going to be that easy, but whatever you fancy you can be assured it’s out there in some carp water somewhere!
If you find yourself a water that is carp-biased and you fancy adabble at something else in there the chances are you are going to have topay for it – and how!
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Some are going to be available on day tickets, others you are going to have to join syndicates. Whichever way it ain’t going to be a £ 1 day ticket or £ 20 season ticket! Now you have to decide what you are prepared to pay for a species of fish that may not exactly be the height of angling fashion…yet! My own attitude? How healthy is the bank balance and how much do I want that 15lb bream! Oh yeah, and can I clear it with her! Seriously, only you can decide the answer, but always respect the fact that you have got onto a water, and treat the owner and the water with the same respect, otherwise the rest of us lose out.
Some of the bigger waters don’t usually pose a problem as far as bank space is concerned, so these may be the best waters to concentrate on, especially for warm-weather species like bream and tench. I know of a few smallish waters that hold big roach and during the summer these banks can get a bit crowded, so winter may well be the best time to try these waters. In fact you can get some of them all to yourself during the colder months.
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Nowadays it is inevitable that the majority of waters are going to bebiased towards carp and carp anglers. Like it or not, it’s a fact, butbelieve me if big fish are your ‘thing’ you can’t afford to ignore them.Specimens of all species are out there waiting to be caught and mostly theyare ignored or treated as unimportant by a breed of angler who, in somecases, have only known carp. Lucky us! Let them have the carp! I’ll take theothers.
The last two or three years I have been lucky enough to take bigtench, bream, roach and perch, plus my first cat from these waters. I intendto take a lot more, all I need is another hundred years or so to do a bit ofexploring!
See you out there? I hope so!
