Fishing In Cambridgeshire

Welcome to the captivating world of fishing in Cambridgeshire, a delightful destination offering year-round angling opportunities. With an abundant mix of carp, coarse, pike, and zander, Cambridgeshire caters to a variety of fishing preferences, even extending to the art of fly fishing.

Anglers here are spoiled for choice, with options ranging from pleasure and specimen to match-fishing. The diverse fishing lakes in Cambridgeshire promise thrilling experiences and memorable catches. For river enthusiasts, the River Cam, the Nene, and the Great Ouse are renowned for their excellent fishing opportunities.

So, whether you’re a carp fishing specialist or a general angling aficionado, Cambridgeshire’s diverse waters are eager to reveal their treasures to you. Dive into the heart of Cambridgeshire fishing and discover what makes this region a beloved angler’s paradise.

The Cam is a Great Ouse River tributary where you can catch Roach, Chub, and Perch. The Nene is also a favorite for pike and zander anglers in Cambridgeshire. Fishing the Great Ouse offers roach, bream, pike, and zander in abundance.

You can find monster carp lurking in the depths of many syndicate lakes in this English county. You’ll discover top-class carp fishing in Cambridgeshire at Holme Fen Fishery. This venue provides excellent day-ticket carp fishing in Cambridgeshire and is a hugely popular destination for anglers of all skill levels. Many fish in Holme Fen Fishery has the potential to break carp records in the coming years. It really is one of the special Cambridgeshire fishing lakes.

Pike Fishing Cambridgeshire

The Fens area of Cambridgeshire is a Pike fisherman’s dream, but you’ll need to have comprehensive knowledge of the waters in the area if you want to catch the biggest pike.

There are several fishing venues in the Fens, from the Fen rivers like the Great Ouse and the smaller feeder rivers such as the Lark, Little Ouse, and the Wissey. Naturally, the feeder rivers are a lot narrower and can be pretty shallow. However, there is a lot of fishing competition on the small rivers, so the best advice is to search for much quieter spots.

You might also like to try the land drains. In the winter months, the water from the drains is pumped into the nearby rivers. Even allowing for shallow water, often only between twelve and eighteen inches, some excellent pike are still caught.

Suppose you like the sound of guided predator and Pike fishing the head over to St. Ives Lakes Fishery near Fenstanton. You’ll find some excellent fishing here with Pike up to 30lb.

The day consists of a mixture of bait and lure fishing. You are leaving from either the ancient town centre of Ely, Denver sluice, near Downham Market, or the Fish and Duck Marina on the River Cam. With jigging, trolling, and drop shotting available, you’ll learn something new and possibly catch a few fish! 

Located just a few miles north of Cambridge, you will find Milton Country Park. Back in March 2021, the management of fishing was taken over by the Cambridge Sport Lakes Trust. Fishing here is for members only. Unfortunately, there are no day tickets available. The largest lake in the park, Dickerson’s Pit, is where you’ll find the majority of the Pike fishing. Some enormous specimens have been caught in this lake.

Fly Fishing In Cambridgeshire

Should you be more interested in fly fishing in Cambridgeshire, then here are two venues where you’ll find a warm welcome whether you’re experienced or looking to learn fly fishing.

If you like the idea of joining a syndicate for trout fishing in Cambridgeshire, then take a look at Hauxton Trout Fishery Syndicate. They have two attractive lakes of 3.5 and 2.5 acres and have been in business for over 40 years. This private syndicate is limited to only 30 members. You can find them in Hauxton near Cambridge.

They regularly stock the lakes with 1 1/4 to 4lb rainbows and 1 1/4 to 1 3/4lb brown trout. Anglers have caught fish over 6lb at the lakes. 

Trout fishing in Cambridgeshire doesn’t get much better than at Grafham Water, near Huntingdon. They cater to anglers of every level of ability, with the trout season running from March to the end of January. 

Over 65% of the trout population weighs over 2lbs, with some as much as 15lbs.

If you’re a beginner, you can join one of the courses they offer running most of the season. You can learn tackle, technique, safety, and boat handling. There’s also a full tackle shop on site. They provide a range of permits from day permits to four-day permits, boat hire, senior citizen’s rates, or buy yourself a season permit.

Tench Fishing Cambridgeshire

Many lakes and rivers in Cambridgeshire enable anglers to fish for tench, but there are three highly recommended spots. The first one is at Float Fish Farm where they have an exclusive tench pit. This venue is located in Farcet near Peterborough. You can purchase a day ticket for £9.

Green Tench are up to 8lbs and Golden Tench to 4lbs. The rules state that it’s float fishing only with a rod or pole and no keepnets.

You can find the second one at Townsend Lakes Fishery, in Upwell near Wisbech. The smaller of the two lakes, Woodpecker pool, is a well-established lake offering some lovely golden and green tench. Fish for tench close to the margins or under your feet. 

The Tench lake at The Warren Fishery in Stanford-Le-Hope occupies approximately 1 1/2 acres and runs between three to seven feet deep. Along with Tench, you can fish for Carp, Crucian Carp, Grass Carp, Perch, Roach, and Rudd. There are 15 swims at Tench lake.

Carp Fishing In Cambridgeshire

There’s a tremendous amount of top-quality carp fishing in Cambridgeshire, suitable for anglers of all skill levels. Let’s take a look at some of the best cambridgeshire fishing lakes.

Carp Fishing Cambridgeshire

St. Ives Lakes Fishery is a nine-lake complex located close to St. Ives in Cambridgeshire. If you want big carp (who doesn’t), then the St. Ives Lagoon is the venue to choose. With Carp in the upper 40lb weight range and several elusive Carp yet to be landed, you’ll be spoilt for choice with these carp lakes in Cambridgeshire.

The Lagoon is not the only lake that caters to big-Carp anglers; the Shallow Pit has around 20 fish over 30lbs and up to 48lbs.

Mass mirrors and common carp in the Meadow/Fjords are estimated to be over 50lbs but never banked.

It’s safe to say all the carp lakes in Cambridgeshire at St. Ives Lakes are capable of producing stunning Carp.

On the edge of the Cambridgeshire fen near Colne, you’ll find Holme Fen Fishery. This location is a specimen carp day ticket fishery. Holme Fen incorporates two lakes, The Meadows and Poachers Pool.

The Meadows takes exclusive bookings weekly for up to 10 anglers. In contrast, Poachers Pool takes bookings from individual anglers for 48, 96, or 144 hours.

The Meadows is 26 acres with a depth up to 40ft. There are over 80 fish over 40lbs and around 40 fish exceeding 50lbs. The lake record is 71lb.

Poachers Pool is much smaller at 4 acres; nevertheless, there are carp in here up to 38lbs. The owners estimate at least 120 fish in the lake, with at least 20% going over 30lbs.

Fenland Fisheries is another wonderful and well-known Cambridgeshire carp fishing venue. It was established in 1984. You’ll find the fishery near Earith, Cambridgeshire, and the venue is one of several carp night fishing lakes in Cambridgeshire.

Fenland is home to three lakes, Willow, Vermuyden, and Ash Tree Pool. You can fish Willow Lake every night of the year; however, the lake only accommodates seven anglers on the lake at one time. Vermuyden Lake is a day/night lake, and you pay for it every 24 hours. Ash Tree Pool is an all-year day ticket lake, opening at 7.30 am.

There are several carp fishing syndicates in Cambridgeshire. On the border of Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, you’ll discover Park Farm Fisheries, a private carp fishing syndicate. They offer scaley carp up to 34lbs with plenty of other fish because new stock is always added. This syndicate offers two lakes; Cedar and Heather.

Cedar is 2.8 acres and is stocked with well over a hundred fish, with the biggest up to 28lbs. Heather is 2.5 acres and has more difficult fishing, but the carp here are up to 34lbs, and the lake has around fifty fish.

Another syndicate well worth checking out is the Rosemere syndicate. This syndicate is situated on a small 5-acre lake in Cottenham, Cambridge. They have stock of around 60 carp, with more than half of them up to 35lbs and a few over 40lbs. The lake record is 59lbs. Night carp fishing is also available here. If you want more information about the syndicate and some pictures of the fish caught here, head to their Facebook page.

Fishing Clubs in Cambridgeshire

NameAddressWebsiteFB
Offord & Buckden A.S.1 The Osiers Buckden Cambridgeshire PE19 5UX UKWebsite
Waterbeach Angling ClubWaterbeach Cambridgeshire UKWebsite
St Ives Fish Preservation and Angling SocietyCambridgeshire UKWebsite
Cambridge Fish Preservation & Angling Society Ltd27a Villa Road Impington Cambridge Cambridgeshire CB24 9NZ UKWebsite

Conclusion

That’s our roundup of the fishing in Cambridgeshire. There’s plenty of variety and some tremendous challenges. Undoubtedly there’s something for every angler here in this part of the UK.