29/04/2011 - Viaduct - Cary

Weight – 62lb 1oz
Catch – 10 Bream, 4 Carp, 1 Tench
Weather – Cool start, blustery and mostly sunny
Match – Pole Only Open – 17th (out of 53) – 1st in section

58 booked in to make the most of the extra day’s holiday due to the Royal Wedding, however the 5 no shows obviously thought watching TV was better than fishing.

To be honest I wasn’t that enthusiastic about fishing today, simply because Viaduct is a venue that I rarely fish, mainly to due to the hours drive and I haven’t really got to grips with the place. Everyone has gone meat crazy at the moment, including Viaduct and I felt obliged to bring a couple of tins, although I was hoping to catch on pellet and paste.

Most wanted to avoid Cary, because it was only won with 40lb yesterday, so not many feeding fish. I also wanted to avoid drawing the diagonal bank, due to the forecast NE wind which would cut across these pegs. So peg 101 was on the wrong lake and the wrong bank as far as I was concerned. Also a few enquiries about its potential were met with screwed up face, suggesting a tough day was on the cards.

My section ran from 98-109, which included Alan Oram next to me on 100 and Tony Rixon on 105, Having Alan next to me was going to a real challenge and is 1 of those anglers I would prefer not to be drawn next to, because he always seems to get those carp with a simple, yet very effective approach. Matt Tomes obviously sensed blood and thought a £1 side bet would be a good idea.

With the likelihood that the wind was going to increase in strength later in the day, decided that 13m would be my main swim. This would also allow me to fish further out later in the match should the fish back off. 5m would be my other line in case some of those big carp moved in, but to be honest I wasn’t expecting much from here and the margins was a non-starter with Nigel Bartlett on the other side of me.

Rigs were a dura 6 4x14 (shotted shirt button style) with a 16 B960 to .17 and a 0.5g float with a 18 B911 to .14, in case I needed a lighter rig. Both were hair rigged. I also had a paste rig, but only had 1 bite on it at 5m.

On the all in a cup of mostly 6mm, with a few 4s, meat & corn went in at 13m, plus a handful of 8mm & meat at 5m. Started on the dura 6 rig, with an 8mm pellet. 10mins later I had a 9lb carp. That was a really useful start. The next 45mins I was getting loads of dips on the float as the silvers tried to whittle the pellet down, but no carp. A switch to the 0.5g rig and 6mm pellet saw a run of bream up to 3½lb, feeding a pouch of 6mm every 5mins.

By the ½ way point I was up 20-25lb all on pellet and I was thinking who needs meat! Alan had 2 carp and with the size of fish in Cary wasn’t far behind. Unfortunately, I was beginning to struggle for bites, which also coincided with the strengthening wind. I did set up a 0.75g rig, but only had 1 skimmer on that.

Since my 5m line was a waste of time I really needed my long line to work. Throughout I had been firing a few 8mm at 16m for later and in the final 2 hours concentrated on the dura 6 rig, but with the increased wind, fished a 10mm piece of meat, to mainly use it as anchor. I kept the 6mm going in at 13m, but was actually fishing at 14-15m when the wind allowed, dropping back to 13m when the wind was particularly strong.

Alan was catching me up and with 30mins left now had 6 carp to my 4 (which included 2 doubles). Although I had a good net of skimmers, I felt I was now behind and thinking he’s (Alan) done it again. Fortunately I had another skimmer and a tench to beat Alan by 3-10 and to win the section. Tony weighed 43-4 to finish 3rd in section with everyone else not weighing, including Matt Tomes who chucked back 3lb. It was a pleasure to take your pound –lol.

Cary was a tough nut to crack today, due to the time of year. 105lb won our lake from 85, whilst my weight was 4th. Campbell however was the place to be with 6 ton weights.

So I won my section which I was really pleased about and I nearly picked up in silvers. My 21-1 was 5th on the day, only 13oz away from 3rd.

1st 147-14 – Matt Parsons P132
2nd 137-9 – S Kiefer P113
3rd 133-10 – Nicky Collier P94
4th 124-6 – Mike Nicholls P111
5th 123-4 – Andy Power P116
6th 114-13 – Will Bohne P121


Silvers
1st 25-1 – Phil Harding P71
2nd 23-7 – Alan Healey P121
3rd 21-14 – Matt Parsons P132