A PROCESS OF ELIMINATION...
If the fish aren’t showing, it can actually be a good sign, says SCOTT LLOYD. The charismatic carper’s approach to mobile angling might just change your outlook forever...
WITNESSING Scott Lloyd fishing is bit like watching a reporter at the London Marathon trying to conduct an interview with a participant as they continue to jog round. Fail to keep up and you’ll be left for dust.
“I reckon I could be packed up and over in that swim before you could,” says the cheeky Cheshire star as he eyes Carpfeed’s camera kit and his own minimal gear and poised barrow. We are on White Swan Lake at Dinton
Pastures in Berkshire and Scott has already moved swims before we arrive after his first night.
Travelling light enough
It’s late winter and the weather is mild with temperatures over 10°C. When we arrive in his swim, Scott is sitting next to his rods, watching the water. His barrow is half loaded behind him, ready to move on at any moment.
“I always try to travel as light as I can,” he explains, “but at the same time I usually get three or four nights so I have to find that balance. I can’t travel with no food and things like that, but I’ll try to cut down to the ‘essentials’, as I call them.
I’ve just got little bits and bobs out that I need – like my brew kit – and my eyes are constantly on the water. If I see anything to go on then that’ll make me stay here, and if not it’ll make me mooch around.
“I’m fishing on the barrow at the moment as I’ve just done the night in a swim further down in a bit of a channel area and nothing happened overnight.”
Using zigs for detection
Scott has his three rod-tips underwater and a three-inch drop on his bobbins.
“Generally, I’ll use bowstring-taut lines with zigs, once I’m on the fish. But what I’m doing here is actually trying to locate the fish. They’re not showing, I’ve not seen signs of them, so getting liners is another way of indicating if fish are there. I’m fishing with super-sensitive alarms, so if anything touches that line I’ll know about it.
“I did start with my rod-tips right down, now they’re sort of ‘mid down’ and I will lift them up a bit and maybe potentially a little bit more.
“What I’m trying to do is change that line angle in the water as a way to try to pick up liners at different depths that the fish might be sitting at.”
It’s instantly clear that everything Scott does is based on hunting down the carp, including observing the lake’s other inhabitants.
“I’m trying to get some liners, hopefully a bite, but I’m also watching all the bird signs. Like if there are birds thrashing around on the surface, looking down, or twitching off. Today there have been seagulls out here feeding, showing me that there are insect hatches.”
Seeing nothing is not a bad thing
Despite watching intently for the duration of our initial chat, Scott has yet to see anything that tells him carp are present – but he isn’t disheartened.
For Scott, what you don’t see is just as valuable as what you do.
“If the fish aren’t doing anything, and the birds aren’t doing anything, and I’m not getting the liners and I’m not catching fish, I’ve got to flip everything on its head. Not getting those signals is a positive thing as well, because I’m finding where the fish aren’t.
“If you’ve been standing there for hours and hours looking at the water and listening for signs, lapping the lake, climbing the trees, all that effort you’re putting in…if you class that as a negative and say, ‘well, that wasn’t worth it’ you’re going to be disheartened and you won’t put in that effort again.
“So flip it into a positive and tell yourself that it’s a process of elimination, and by working out where the fish aren’t you’ve got a better chance of working out where they are.
“Turning it into a positive is what makes me do it all the time. I’m up in the night, setting alarms, getting up before first light.
“If I wasn’t turning that into a positive I wouldn’t be doing it, so I try to stay really positive at all times.”
It’s hard to argue with that mindset, especially when Scott can back it up with a hugely impressive CV of captures and that trade-mark enthusiasm.
It doesn’t pay to be materialistic
Within moments of answering our initial questions, Scott is itching to get moving to another swim – a feat he accomplishes in seconds.
His rods remain fully assembled as he places them on top of his barrow with a set of buzzer bars and a landing net. The barrow is already loaded with his bedchair and he has a couple of bits of luggage, including a small rucksack for key items.
Scott, who doesn’t have a rod and reel sponsor, says: “You’ve obviously got to have tackle, but for me everything on the bank is materialistic. It’s just comforts. For me it’s all about the last 6ft and where you put it. Stuff on the barrow isn’t going to catch me more fish. The most important part of that statement is ‘where you put it’, which is where your eyes come into play.”
And with that we’re off to the next swim. His set-up time is just as swift as his pack-down speed, aided by the fact
“NOT GETTING THOSE SIGNALS IS A POSITIVE THING AS WELL, BECAUSE I’M FINDING WHERE THE FISH AREN’T”
he isn’t fishing with any bait other than the zigs.
Talking as he sets up, Scott explains: “I fancied a move into slightly deeper water and will do exactly the same here.
“I’m going to fan the rods across the swim at different distances and different angles, hopefully picking up some liners.
“The quicker I can get set up, the longer the rods are in the water and the longer I’ve got a chance of locating fish.
“The plan is now to give it another hour here. If I see something I could end up doing the night in here. It’s all based on what I’m seeing and what’s happening.”
Know when to stay put
Scott is in his third swim of the session, but he doesn’t move for the sake of it. “I caught fish in this zone last week, so if the fish are active then I’m going to be active too,” he says. “But if it was really cold and I felt the fish had gone to ground then one sign would be enough to make me batten down the hatches. If I see one show, see a bird spook off or get a couple of liners, that’s enough incentive to stick in an area and wait for those bite-time windows.”
And once he is settled for the night, the cover of darkness doesn’t put an end to Scott’s hunting instinct.
He says: “During the day, if I need to speak to mates I’ll call them on speaker and hold the phone out while I’m watching the water. At night, I’ll do messages so I can still keep an ear out for any signs of fish.
“I won’t ever have music or the radio on because I want to listen for what’s going on. I’m always trying to have my eyes or ears on the pond.
“I’ll stay up late and be up early. I really burn myself out. If I get home and I’m not mentally and physically drained I know that I’ve potentially not worked as hard as I could or should have.”
Take inspiration
It’s tempting to say that watching Scott’s mobile approach is as exhausting to watch as it is to do, but it’s weirdly inspiring and energising. His enthusiasm and drive is infectious, and makes perfect sense. It might not be for everyone – and that’s absolutely fine, we all go fishing for different reasons – but it is undeniably effective.
“The fish in here that I want to catch give me the power to do this,” he says.
“It’s all about that end goal. It’s the same as if you’re in the gym. If you haven’t got that end goal of either losing weight or getting strong, then you’re not going to succeed in getting there.”
Turning negatives into positives, looking for motivation when it all seems futile, taking small steps to a bigger goal… Scott Lloyd might just be the motivational psychologist carpers never knew they needed.