And then there were six...

Peg 18, Phoenix, Float Fish Farm
This was Fenland Rods' first time on Phoenix, at Float Fish Farm, who were happy to let us have the whole lake. Many thanks. However, just eight signed up, and I got a message on the morning from Callum  that his wife was ill, so we were down to seven. Martin Parker turned up and had a funny turn, so the tackle shop got him a chair.

When I say a funny turn I don't mean like Tommy Cooper's funny turm ( Man: Doctor, I keep thinking I'm a pair of curtains. Doctor: Don't be silly. Pull yourself together). No, Martin definitely didn't tell any jokes. But he seemed to slowly get better and drove to his peg after the draw. Kevin Wilmot had given me the eight swims he thought would best suit us, but now we were fishing just 1, 5, 11, 18, 17, 20 and 31, with Martin on 31.

Fifteen minutes later I had a phone call from Martin's wife, Sheila, to say that Martin had rung her saying he again felt unwell. I went round and Martin was in his van at the wheel. After a conversation we decided that he was well enough to drive home, and I watched him drive away. A short time later he rang to say he was home, feeling a bit better. And then there were six of us...

The message from above
Someone had very kindly written"18 FLYER" on my platform. So at least I knew I was on the correct peg; some of the pegs on some of the lakes here seem to be missing, probably overgrown. But where should I fish?

Frankly  it would have been more helpful if the 'someone' had written something like: "Fish feeder with orange wafter within a metre iof the far bank to the right against the reeds, or fish the right margin with paste. In the last hour go to the reeds in the left margin" They would, or course, have to have written it very small to get it on the paving slab, of course, but I needed information, information. Only half a message; typical!

Thanks for nothing!

A cool wind

No matter. Conditions largely dictated my tactics. The cool wind was into me slightly from the right, and as 18 is in a corner it was very kindly blowing a little debris into my swim. It wasn't too bad when I got there, but as the wind picked up the debris started piling up. 

This won't take long. Fish were waving to me from the far bank, so I started on a feeder and for half an hour I had liners; then they stopped and I hooked a fish...which came off. After 90 minutes that was all I the action I had had so I wandered up to Frank on 27, who had two carp on a feeder from well short of the far bank. He said that Mark Ramm on 29 had had several fish on a pole. I went back to my nightmare.

It looked lovely before the start!

By now the left margin was really afloat with debris, but I had another half hour on the feeder, without a bite. I felt I had to try the pole so I went out to about four feet of water to the right, as there was scum close to the bank. Here there was a huge undertow, left to right, but I put on a 1 gm float and was able to hold back and in the next hour or so I had two or three small carp. 

Eventually I felt I had to try to the left, about ten feet from the bank to avoid the rubbish, but the undertow was so strong the float just whizzed back to me. I put the float up the line, and next cast was snagged; next cast I hooked a piece of carpet or something, covered in weed. Next cast snagged again. I gave that up.

Now I understood!
Then I realised that the undertow wasn't an undertow - it was the result of the spinner near peg 16 being on, and creating a big flow, like the Trent. That explained why rubbish was gathering next to the bank to my left, where the flow was less, but just under the surface I could see leaves in front of me flowing fast to the right. So it was into the right margin about  metre from the bank, as the scum there had cleared, where at last I found fish.

Casters the answer for me
Putting hemp and caster into two feet of water saw a nice final 90 minutes with four small barbel and a dozen carp, nearly all on a bunch of casters. Nice fishing. If I'd started there I might have been able to get somewhere near Roy Whitwell's winning 126 lb 7 oz from peg 11, taken on mainly bomb to the far bank mud after a slow start.  A day or two later Kevin told me that the hotspot in my swim was, indeed, in that left margin.

When the scum cleared I fished there and found fish.

Conclusion
I wouldn't hesitate to go back to Phoenix. It obviously holds fair numbers of fish after last year's problems  on some of their lakes, and the banks are nice, and the margins look good. If only I had been able to fish my left one! But that's fishing. Well done Roy, who had never fished there before. Mark Ramm was second, and I was third, winning my three-peg section by default. Better than nothing. Next match on Damson with Spratts.

THE RESULT

1 Allan Golightly           4 lb 6 oz
5 Stephen Thomson        DNW  (had a carp and a barbel)
11 Roy Whitwell        126 lb 7 oz         1st
18 Mac Campbell        41 lb 11 oz       
27 Frank Snow            17 lb 11 oz
29 Mark Ramm           68 lb                2nd