Carp Venues Revealed: The Real Stanwick Lakes – An Insiders View
Carp Venues Revealed: The Introduction
The Carp Venues Revealed section is Fishable‘s way of harnessing the knowledge of locals and bringing that information to the masses online. We all know how frustrating it is when looking for a new venue, patrolling a potential syndicate site or just chatting to the locals without actually finding anything out.
Everyone and anyone looks online for information about a lake, river section or canal that they are thinking of hitting for the carp but all you find is the same old thing “Carp to 40lb plus, such and such boilies work, peg x is good”. How much does that information really help? I mean what the hell is 40lb plus anyway? Is it 40lb or is it 41lb, it’s not that difficult and is quicker to type.
“Just give us the bloody information that will help” Is the whole idea of the CVR manuals on Fishable. Whether you take the information or not isn’t the point, it’s knowing what does and doesn’t work and giving you the option. Most people like myself do almost the exact opposite of what someone tells me so I wouldn’t expect anything less from you but fail to prepare and prepare to fail, all information is useful, just pick out the bits that you need and store the rest for when needed.
A bit of clearing up before we start, the manuals within the section are from REAL people who know the venues featured like the back of their hand and in most cases have fished them for many years with great success, they are written by them so will be written in the first person and “I” does not mean Fishable, it’s them! Also please do not ask who wrote the articles, we won’t tell you! For the same reason the pictures contained will not show their identities and may be very generic pictures of catches from the lakes.
Let’s get started with the first location…
Stanwick Lakes Fishery: An Introduction
Most of us, especially those within the Nene Valley area know of Stanwick Lakes Fishery, within the complex of 6 lakes is Elsons, one of the areas most historic fishing locations and because of that, the fish contained across the lakes and the publicity the lakes have had for several years the complex is buzzing, during the summer months you need to turn up early to avoid the disappointment of not getting a peg on any of the lakes.
The 6 lakes include: Car park, Coot, Swan, Mallard, Elsons and Roman. For those who want to catch all varieties of course fish the Car Park and Coot lakes are the ones for you, those who want some runs and catch single figure carp like its going out of fashion then Swan is the one, Mallard is a very nice looking lake with lots of features, lots of doubles, a collection of 20′s and a few hitting the 30 barrier in 2010-11. Elson’s (my personal favourite and the one I will focus on with this piece) is a stunning lake, overhanging trees, gravel bars, thick weed and elusive coves to hide wary carp and then there is Roman.
The Roman lake is a syndicate with a long waiting list, largely because it is packed full of potential, a few carp approaching the 40 barrier currently and plenty of 20′s and 30′s to go at mean that members only rarely give up their ticket. The word on the street with Roman is that it’s more about who you know and what you do/catch that get you a ticket rather than being top of the waiting list. Doing your time on Elsons, being polite and friendly and catching the residents will stand you in good stead for a Roman ticket.
Though there are a few negatives about the place that I think so fondly of and to be honest everywhere has its negatives so don’t let these put you off, form your own opinions, these are just mine! Firstly the locals can be very frustrating and lie through their skin about the place until they see you hauling the fish out and want to know everything about you. There is a couple in particular who grace the bank there very regularly who are decent people, pretty good fisherman but have evidently never fished anywhere more difficult than Elsons or Roman and think the suns shines out there behind, spending more time trying to get information from you when you show them up rather than fishing themselves. The third issue is a horrid one and one that effects many day tickets, they do have a problem with people not using the onsite facilities for number 2′s, which without doubt happens everywhere but for me why have a rule that says ‘do not leave your rods unattended’ and expect people to walk 6 acres to the one porta-loo on the complex. Anyway rant over, now on to the positives because there are hundreds!
Do I need to be Terry Hearn to catch at Stanwick Lakes?
The complex’s lakes vary largely in ability and skill level required to catch, I will assume that most of us wouldn’t bother with Car Park, Coot and probably Swan and drill down in to the other lakes.
Mallard Lake:I would class this lake as 4/10 in terms of difficulty with 10 being the hardest – You can turn up at Mallard for a few hours and haul out a dozen doubles in an evening and likewise can fish all weekend on the same tactics and blank. The key to Mallard is location, the water is crystal clear so its not hard to find them, look for the clear margin patch’s and the quiet areas to find the bigger fish. My first port of call is the overgrown pegs on the road side bank.
Elsons Lake: Margins Margins Margins, I couldn’t emphasise this enough and im not talking 10ft off the bank, I’m talking 1ft. I will go into the Elsons Lake in full detail later but the highlights would be, far and near bank margin, tiger nuts, drop off leads and KD rigs.
Roman Lake (Syndicate): As I said earlier, Roman is full of potential. There are some cracking looking fish in there and this will only become more sort after as they continue to pile on the weight, I actually think Elsons is the harder lake at the moment and for me Roman doesn’t have the same X Factor as Elsons.
Why would I want to fish at Stanwick Fishery
The venue as a whole offers lots of variety and though I am not particularly a coarse fisherman I know plenty who are that are regulars at Stanwick, I would say that there are definitely better venues out there, better coarse lakes, better runs waters, better syndicate lakes but not many that have the whole lot in one place. Stanwick has this down to a tea.
A lot of venues and complex’s out there with several lakes are baron, boring places where all the lakes look the same and surrounded by bare landscape but Stanwick Lakes is different, full of shrubbery and life. Which is precisely how I like it, I won’t bore you about the french carp lake with one tree that I attended, the tree was in fact a Christmas tree, in the spawn lake to act as a egg hatchery. That is not the place I want to be fishing, trees are for dropping rigs under, climbing up fo plataues r spotting and casting straight into when you have to make that perfect cast from the far bank. Stanwick Lakes has trees, reeds, weed beds,clear patches, gravel bars and gullies! A marker float experts haven.
Which lake to fish at Stanwick
Obviously this is largely based on what type of fishing you want to do and what type of fisherman you are so I am not going to bore you with the facts about what fish are in what lake because lets be honest we are all bored to tears reading it. What I will do is focus on the stuff that I know, the facts, the figures and the truth about how to catch them, for which means I will focus on Elsons lake.
Elsons lake: Stanwick Fishery
Elsons, in my view is the best lake on the complex, in the future Roman may and probably will be one of the top syndicates in the county as it has a lot of potential and some amazing looking fish but at this point in time Elsons is the one.
A lake of 5-6 acres and holding 50-60 fish though the bailiffs seem to forget which end of the scale it is, the current record is just under 40lb and I think it will struggle to get over that mysterious barrier. In my view the bigger fish in the lake do not seem to have the growth cycle or the shoulders to hold a lot more weight so unless any fish are put in there I wouldn’t image a 40 will come out, of course there is always hope!
There are a lot of tench about and unless your baits are tench proof you are destined to catch one or several if your on the spot I will point out a little later. I find that a tiger nut based boilie does the trick to keep them a way, and once you have the carp feeding the tench seem to stay well clear, especially in the shallower sections which is my favourite way to catch ‘em.
There are a lot of different pegs available on the lake and much like many other lakes of this stature in the region the most comfortable pegs are often the ones that go first as well as the ones which are closer to the car park. You have your choice of shallower areas, weed beds, gravel patch, far and near bank features a plenty which we will touch on later.
If I was a novice approaching Elsons for the first time I would recommend a few things: take plenty of time to observe, there are several good climbing spots and the carp are more than happy to cruise by close in for you to spot. Elsons more than most pleas I know has strict patterns, through my learning there I know of a group of between 12-15 fish including two of the big boys, swannie and spike patrol a certain area and can be found in different parts of the lake at different times of the day, so much so between 8.45 and 9pm was fish time on a certain area which I will show you later, if you didn’t get a run at that time, your rig was the issue.
Some of the fish available in Elsons:
Pictures thanks to www.stanwickfisheries.com
Top level tips for targeting Elsons lake
Elsons is a cracking lake and to give you some more insight I am going to tell you the swims/areas that worked for me, the baits that got results and the rigs that did the business. This is not to say that other swims, other areas and other rigs would’t work as to be honest I have only fished half the lake, the other side just doesn’t appeal to me as much as it doesn’t offer the same in terms margin locations and there was lots of clear patches scattered over the end of the lake, I’m of the opinion that you are better creating your own location, or fishing to areas where the carp are not used to baits being presented rather than the ones that are fished regularly.
Elsons Lake: Swim Choice
For me the far end pegs are the ones to be in, as highlighted on the image below (1,2 & 3). The top left peg is pretty much left alone, its not often you see people fishing that spot, its tight, there isn’t much water to aim or look at but I don’t fish it for those reasons, I fish it because its just about the only peg you can hit the clear patch on the far bank (cream arrow is casting angle, circle is clear patch) from, highlighted on the image is the spot, it sits between two overhanging tress is only 2-3 foot deep, a nice gravel patch that I baited regularly for several months, this is THE spot for fish, sitting in the top left peg (it has got a name but I can’t for the life of me remember it) you can cast to it, its not easy and is an awkward line but just attach your lead, cast straight into the trees and walk round attach your rig and drop in by hand (I have often walked in and positioned my rig by hand, covering the line and lead completely).
The green arrows indicate the patrol routes I used to track the fish to, during the day they will circle these routes several times an hour.
I only used to fish this are for the last few hours of the day and through the night, you can’t get a rig back on it in the night but use 2 rods and separate them on the spot. During the day the carp will patrol this area but will not feed unless its perfect conditions which is rare for this area of the lake. You must use drop off leads and the KD rig worked wonders on this area with a single 15mm tiger nut pop-up, not much else seemed to work anywhere near as effectively, just make sure your rigs are settled before 8pm as bites will not be too far away.
The second location is in the top right corner of the lake (2), I think they call this peg the menagerie but don’t quote me on that. A very confined peg with a deep circular whole starting form the bank, to the left is a huge overhanging tree, just walk a little bit further around the bank and go into the tree to see just how much room there is under here. Carp are regular cruising in and out this area, a carefully mounted zig will do the business during the day and if the other swim was as productive I would have concocted some form of implement to get my rigs right up in the tree during the evening.
The margins in this peg is where the carp spawn, they visit it regularly and if you spend some time perched in the broken single branch to the right of the peg you will see fish without too much of a wait. There are also a lot of tench about so the same tactics are needed, i would recommend a more natural bait in here to reflect something that has dropped from the trees.
Between the two spots highlighted is a very small peg (3), its only really big enough for one rod at a push and don’t expect to cast unless your going to walk out a little way. Walk down to the waters edge and you will see an overhanging branch, the ‘Swannie’ peg is how it was described to me the day after I lost my first fish on the venue, apparently Swannie, one of the bigger residents and nearly always getting up towards the 40lb mark is regularly caught under that branch on some very strange rigs and baits, which all became obvious when I told the lively chap who was telling me this that I set up a ‘strange’ bait combination of two pieces of pepperoni separated and popped up with a piece of foam, his words were ‘you lost Swannie then’ the morning after my first night on the complex, cracking! After that Swannie evaded me, little git.
Elsons Lake: Bait choice
I have tried several approaches on Elsons but for me the best combination was a particle blend with washed out tiger nut boils in varying sizes over the top, shelf life’s seemed to be more productive too, strangely.
This is how I caught my fish from Elsons on the pegs above:
A few nights a week for 2 weeks before my trip I would arrive on say the Monday, soak a few kilos of Dynamite Baits Tiger Nut boils in 10mm, 15 and 18mm varieties. I would feed into the clear gravel patch and the margin menagerie peg with 2 kilos of mixed particles, hemp, maize, maple peas, tiger nuts and liberal helping of chilly flakes and salt, on top of that I would add a few few decent handfuls of boilies.
The following Wednesday, Thursday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday I would do the same ensuring to add more of the larger variety of boilies getting closer to my session. Arriving after work on the Friday I would watch the spots until 7.00-7.30, no fish on the scene and I would put some particles in to try and get them in or if there were fish circling I would add in a few handfuls of boilies, often 1 at a time so as not to spook them, alternatively you could lower a PVA pag in to keep things quiet.
The tactics above are what worked after a few weekends of watching, learning and blanking. I lost a few fish including the supposed Swannie but after changing and refining down to a very lightweight KD rig, heavy drop off lead which was pushed under the gravel on most occasions and a single pop-up critically balanced.
My best weekend saw a blank on the Friday, thanks to not being able to get a rig on the spot without spooking fishing but the saturday evening to morning session resulted in 7 fish to low 30′s with the smallest being high doubles.
Rig Choice
I have touched on this already but for me what worked were very lightweight and gravel coloured KD set ups, drop off leads, tungsten leaders and everything pinned down. A single pop up accounted for all my fish but I did lose a few on other rigs and baits, the surface is always worth a look as well as the zigs.
Watercraft for Elsons Lake
Elsons is not an easy lake but its definitely not one of the hardest as results can come quickly if you get it right and for me its quite an easy place to learn, the lake is quite small and thin enabling you to see whats going on the whole time, one bank is pretty much un-fishable and you definitely can’t get a bivvy in, trust me I have tried, though I did get it in it was a squeeze, very uncomfortable, covered in bugs and bites the next day, not going to happen again. So it stands to reason that the far bank should be your first port of call for observing close in.
Though others may tell you, the Elsons carp don’t seem to follow the wind as much as most, I have an inkling that its because there is natural food available all over the lake that the residents never need to follow the wind for food but I may be wrong and no doubt people have had some cracking results on the end of a south westerly.
The one thing that I would advise more than anything else is to start in the quietest place on the lake, if there are several anglers on one end then head to the other, don’t sit next to anyone for gods sake as he is probably less likely to know anything about fishing that my next door neighbours cat. You do get a lot of people who only fish day tickets on the Elsons lake, who bless them don’t really know what they are doing so definitely do not listen to what the fisherman on their tell you, form your own opinions and learn quickly and bag up then go to a place that has some 40′s.
During the summer, make sure you turn up early or book on Elsons, it is very frustrating to turn up to a pre-baited swim only to find 3 nods and there misses with a crate of Stella, 2 staffs and a couple of dragon carp rods on show which is a common occurrence across the whole complex.
Stanwick Lakes:Elsons, the verdict!
Overal Stanwick Lakes and in particular Elsons is a great lake, steeped in local carp fishing history. There are positives and negatives like any complex with multiple skill lakes but overall its definitely worth a look, heres my headline advantages and disadvantages:
[checklist]
- Great looking lakes
- Great looking fish
- Simple enough to catch 20′s and 30′s
[/checklist]
[badlist]
- Pain in the arse locals and noddy anglers taking your spots
- Porta-loo situation or lack of a second one
- Expensive to learn, 48 hour tickets cost the same as my current syndicate for a year
[/badlist]
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Wow amazing pictures!! Gretings from germany!!