Fishery details correct as of 17th July 2024
Take Your Pick
This popular complex is on the outskirts of Peterborough, not far from the A1. There are matches most days, but with plenty of pegs, everyone is well catered for. There are specimen lakes too, where swims can be booked online, or via the on-site tackle shop. On my first visit it was a busy weekend, but having checked the fishery website in advance, I knew which areas to avoid where competitions were taking place. Popping into the tackle shop, they were also very helpful, suggesting pegs where it was less busy and explaining what species to expect. Although massive hauls are common to pleasure and match anglers, for those who like variety, this isn’t simply a carp bagging venue. There are impressive choices of roach, rudd, perch, bream, tench, ide, chub, barbel, grass carp, crucians, koi and catfish, depending on where you set up.
Mapping Out
Bait and all the gear you need is available from a well-stocked tackle shop, along with a day ticket. The latter costs £9 full price, or £7 for juniors and OAPs. There’s also an on-site café and a match room where people can meet. Access is very good, in most cases allowing vehicles to be parked close to swims. The different lakes offer lots of variation, including canal-like shapes, islands, bays and big reaches of open water. Combining these features with all the different species, means just about all methods and types of coarse anglers are catered for. Refreshingly, when I visited the first time, I saw kids being taught the basics by qualified instructors on one of the lakes. The place was packed with cars and anglers, but there were still quieter spots where it was possible to tuck yourself away. Most importantly, everyone seemed to be catching.
Down to Business
It was still busy midweek when I met with James Robbins for a serious go at Float Fish Farm. Surprisingly, I had Phoenix Lake all to myself. It’s a decent size with a big island down the middle, requiring a fair cast to reach the central feature with a bomb or feeder in wider areas, but within range of float tackle in narrower parts. The island is fringed with reeds and bushes, as are the gaps between pegs, making this spot look more like a wild venue than a commercial. I picked a peg where I could just reach the island with a waggler, taking that option because there was plenty of fish activity over there. With an awkward swirling wind and a good chuck needed, I opted for my Cadence CR10 12ft Match #3 rod. A 13ft float model would have worked too, but when expecting big fish, particularly carp, I prefer the extra power the shorter 2-piece offers.
On The Ledge
I found 4 feet of depth just short of the island, where it began to shelve up towards the far side reeds. I began by catapulting a mixture of 4 mm pellets and casters over this spot. It was a fair way, but with the wind coming mainly from behind me, it was reachable most of the time. I started with a banded pellet and missed the first three bites, which came out of the blue and were like lightning. Going back to when I had studied the fishery website, it stated this new lake was stocked with different types of carp, along with barbel and ide, but in the tackle shop they said I could expect more than that. Pellets are normally a good starting bet on places like this, but I usually take casters and maggots as backup. It was indeed pellets that scored first, finding a couple of lively carp, although I noticed when I fed casters odd fish were swirling for them.
Usual Suspects
I stuck with pellets for a while longer, and lively carp like this resulted. I could probably have caught them short on the pole as well, but was enjoying having a decent amount of water out in front of me to explore with a waggler rig. It’s a good method in swirling wind and rain, when holding on to longer lengths of carbon can be tricky. This way of fishing reminded me of the great Kevin Ashurst, who I once drew next to over on a big festival in Ireland. It was similar conditions, but big Kev mastered the situation superbly, only in that instance catching roach and bream rather than tubby carp. Being a peg away from a World Champion all those years ago, quickly taught me that smoothness and accuracy are so important. He made everything look so easy when it wasn’t, which is why I constantly strive to follow his example whenever I’m fishing.
Another Angle
Although carp were greedily mopping up pellets, I suspected there were other species out there. Every time I fed casters there was activity on the surface, and it didn’t look carp-like. I tried double casters, but they didn’t seem right on a pellet hook. I switched to a smaller crystal bend pattern and a single dark shell. Suddenly, it was a different world out there. My float didn’t get a chance to cock properly, shooting away just after it landed. A couple of surprise chub resulted, followed by several roach, some rudd, and a perch. It quickly became evident there was a much bigger span of species than advertised for this lake. I like variation and was enjoying the experience even more now, rather than monotonously hanging onto carp every chuck. I stopped feeding pellets and concentrated solely on casters, latching into more rod benders.
Discovering More
After another chub and other silver fish, the carp came back for a while, nothing particularly big, but they would have been good weight builders if I had been in a match. I kept plugging away with casters and a couple of decent roach turned up, along with some small ide. Something large rolled on top a few times. It was long and had a prominent dorsal fin. I was thinking it could have been a barbel, but as my float went under again and after a good tussle, this cracking ide resulted. I’m a big fan of this species, which can be tricky to fool, generally responding to shallow tactics. They are similar to big roach on heavily fished waters, requiring extra finesse to fool. On-the-drop, or up in the water rigs are best, in combination with regular loose feed. Ide mirror hybrids in the way they feed in such a crafty manner and always put up a good scrap.
Tackling Up
Having a decent on-site tackle shop is handy when visiting places like this. Apart from allowing experienced anglers to grab some last-minute bait, along with topping up essential bits and pieces, it also provides beginners with a better chance of obtaining the right gear. You get up-to-date information as well, as I did, which often makes for an even more rewarding day on the bank. The other handy thing about this complex, is if you like a bit of competition, there are matches available most days. These rotate around the lakes, as do booked club events. There are also festivals that run over several days, along with over 50s and over 60s sweepstakes, making this a very busy hub. It’s a good place to see what other anglers are using, so you can keep your kit up to date. The regular competitions are advertised on the fishery website.
Going Well
Back on Phoenix, persistent rain had set in by this stage, but I didn’t care. In-between catching carp, I was wondering what else might turn up. In this case, something was giving my 12ft CR10 Match Rod a proper workout. I wasn’t expecting anything like this, which is exactly why Cadence Fishing and Edge Tackle thought a regular fishery focus series would be an interesting exercise. Since the general demise of magazines in favour of social media, it can be a struggle to find good fishery information. Even above average websites don’t tell you everything, like I’ve discovered today, catching lots of different species that I hadn’t seen mentioned anywhere. When trying somewhere new, it helps to know what you will be targeting, along with the right baits to buy. In this case, I was hanging on, with no idea what was on the other end, but loving every minute.
Special Fish
Although it said barbel had been stocked here, I’ve been to other commercial pools that boasted the same, without ever seeing one. It’s a species that can become extremely localised in stillwaters and prove very difficult to catch. I suspect it might have been this fish I saw rolling on top a couple of times, well, down the far side ledge. I had tried deepening off by a few inches and dropping my waggler short of the main catching area. The result was an epic fight from this beauty, considering its size. It’s many years since I caught a barbel, and it completely made my day. These fish were stocked in another lake I used to frequent, but only turned up in one swim, which I could never get near. Other than that, I caught barbel in my distant River Thames days. Even there, it was isolated pegs that seemed to hold most of these whiskery creatures.
Where it Happens
Day ticket venues like this are where most of the action is taking place these days. There were matches and anglers all over the complex, and yet I managed to stumble across this pleasant lake, where I only saw one other person all day. It’s a good idea, sometimes requiring a bit of luck, to seek quieter areas. I used to take that path on another busy day ticket water when I lived in the midlands, avoiding popular hotspots, enjoying bagging up away from the crowds. It was the close season, and although I couldn’t wait to get back on local rivers and drains, sport like this was almost guaranteed compared to places I would be visiting soon. It becomes addictive having your gear battered by rod benders, almost to order, while it might take several outings for a red-letter day like this on the wilder venues I would be fishing a few weeks later.
Another Way
Match regulars on heavily stocked places like Float Fish Farm would probably be weighing in several keepnets full of mainly carp by this stage, but I was just as happy mixing it with a much wider span of species. I’ve now done it here and at nearby Decoy Lakes, both widely recognised as carp bagging waters. As you can see, there’s lots more to enjoy than you might find advertised. The method feeder, margin pole or pellet approach will inevitably find heaps of carp, but add some maggots or casters into the mix and a different world is revealed. All the “silver” fish I caught today were in pristine condition, not looking like they had ever been caught before, which was surprising from such a heavily pressurised fishery. I will certainly come back, maybe without any pellets at all, to find out what the basics like maggots or casters can really do.
For more information, visit the Float Fish Farm website here.
