15/06/13 - Viaduct - Cary

Weight - 77lb 12oz (17lb 3oz - silvers)
Catch - 10 Bream, 8 Carp
Weather - Heavy rain to start, but mostly sunny and heavy winds later
Match - MFS - 17th out of 25 (2nd - section)

After seeing how hard Cary had fished on Friday, neither Mark & I were looking forward to it, however we were hopeful the wind may stir the fish into action.

 

Peg 100 was my home for the day, which Roland Lucas had caught 107lb for 3^rd in section. Within my section was the top 3 from yesterday’s match, so at least one of us was going to be disappointed. To my left on p102 was Steve Hutter and Calum Craig was to my right on 99. Fred had drawn another flyer on 97.

 

The day’s weather forecast was for heavy winds, but as were setting up it was blowing only slightly and it was it mostly calm in front of me. The intention was to spend an hour on the tip, see how it goes before fishing the 5m line were I had fed 6s and hopefully it would be full of skimmers.

 

Well that was the plan. After 45mins without a bite, I got bored and switched to the 5m line. 1 skimmer and a 12lb carp on pellet was all I could muster. So far I hadn’t fed longer because the wind was supposed to be blowing hard, but with no wind still, I decided to feed some pellet at 13m. Whilst letting that settle I tried the waggler & 8mm pellet, but only managed 1 big skimmer.

 

After 2.5hrs I was struggling, as it seemed was most others, except for Fred. A switch to the 13m line coincided with wind picking up - typical. However I managed 6 skimmers/bream on pellet, before the wind just got too strong and good presentation wasn’t possible.

 

In the meantime Calum started to catch on the tip and was now 4 carp ahead of me. So any thoughts of a pickup disappeared. Since I couldn’t catch on the pole and the short line was a waste of time, I had no choice but to fish the tip.

 

I had been fishing meat without success, so switched to 8mm pellet coated in predator plus. Over the next hour I had 4 carp and was now only 2 behind Calum. With 90mins left I stayed on the tip just hoping it would continue to go round. It didn’t for 30mins, but they returned with a further 3 carp, landing the last one 2mins from the end, but I was still 2 behind Calum and it looked like it was between the 2 or us for the 2^nd in section money.

 

45mins previously I had dumped a pot of meat in the margin, followed up with a further pot. A previous look on the pole only produced knocks from roach, but as I was playing my last carp, I noticed a carp being spooked by the weigh in on Lodge Lake. So with only 2mins to go, instead of casting out, I decided to drop the lead rig into the margin and bugger me if the tip didn’t go round, although it wasn’t the expected carp, but a 3lb bream. That will do.

 

As it turned out it was an inspired move, because Calum had 10 carp to my 8, but I knew I had more silvers. However, Calum has hooked a carp 10mins from the end and was still playing it after the whistle. I stood behind me to check his progress and I may have mentioned that he would need that fish, just as I said that the hook pulled and I beat Calum by 3oz to claim 2^ndin section!  Fred won our section with 113-6 and Ben Bentley won the lake from p88 with 115-4.

 

Overall Cary fished harder than yesterday, but Campbell fished its nuts off with only 2 anglers weighing less 100lb.

 

1^st 249-15 – Adam Mitchell – p110

2^nd 211-10 – Dave Brittan – p123

3^rd 207-12 – Richard Wyatt – p132

4^th 200-13 – Alex Murray – p115

5^th 193-14 – Russell Graves – p130

6^th 180- 4 – Roland Lucas – p125

 

Silvers

1^st 69- 8 – Alex Murray – p115

2^nd 58- 4 – Roland Lucas – p125

3^rd 37- 2 – Steve Musitano – p126

4^th 29- 0 – Dave Brittan – p123

14/06/13 - Viaduct - Campbell

Weight - 143- 9 (20- 1 - silvers)
Catch - 24 Carp, 7 Bream, 5 Tench, 1 Eel
Weather - Bright sunny start, becoming cloudier and cooler
Match - MFS - 4th out of 25 (2nd - section)

Without a car Mark picked me up for the first of a 2 dayer at Viaduct organised by MFS (Match Fishing Scene), which involved a 30 mile detour for Mark, so a big thank you doing that, greatly appreciated.

With 25 fishing we would be split over 4 sections, 2 on Campbell and 2 on Cary. The first match was an open draw, then the 2^ndwould rotate to the other lake.  Ideally Mark & I both thought that fishing Campbell first would be the better option, because with heavy winds forecast for the Saturday  Cary would be more sheltered. In hindsight we were proven wrong.

I got my wish drawing P128 on Campbell and Mark got 118. What information I got suggested my draw would be OK, it would be just a question of how strong the wind would get. Fortunately the spit sheltered me from the worst.

Viaduct is a venue I have struggled with, probably because I don’t fish it often enough, but generally my results are improving. In a perverse sort of way I was pleased to draw 128, because the last time I drew here I got it completely wrong chopping and changing instead of concentrating on one thing.

The results from Thursdays cost cutter suggested the fishing hadn’t been easy, with 200lb+ winning from p132, but 2^nd was a long way behind with 111lb. I did set up 2 leads rods, which were already in made up, but other than 1 cast whilst sorting out a rig they never got used.

Rigs for the day were

- Ackoo Powertrap 0.3g > .16 > 16 carp feeder – hair rigged meat

- HB Shady Shallow > .17 > 16 B960 – pellet shallow

- HB Shindig 0.4g > .14 > 18 B911 – hair rigged pellet

The one thing I have picked up reading other blogs is that feeding too much can kill your swim so a little & often approach is usually best. With this in mind I started at 10m by the overhanging willow toss potting 5/6 cubes of 8mm meat. After 25mins I had my first carp and after 90mins I was up to 6 before the swim died.

In the meantime I had been regularly feeding pellet at 13m in the hope of catching shallow. I had a 9lber and then a bream, but then nothing. I tried later catching another carp, but they just didn’t seem to want it. Eventually the fish just disappeared, but I think it was more to do with the weather, because it started bright and sunny, becoming duller and cooler in an increasingly strong wind.

By the end of the third hour I was up to 12 fish (9 carp). I had been feeding a small handful of 6s at 5m to my left from the start, more as a back-up to catch skimmers if I was struggling to catch carp. I didn’t really want to chuck the tip out, so went out at 5m and soon started catching skimmers, tench and more carp. This line just got stronger and accounted for half my overall weight catching on hard 6s.

I had been feeding meat towards the point of the spit, but for some reason it didn’t really get going, because I only managed 3 more carp and bites took a while to develop.

Throughout the match I was ahead of Fred Roberts (p126) on the carp front, but he was catching loads of big skimmers & tench, plus his carp looked to be a bigger stamp than mine, so it was likely to be very close between the 2 of us.

Ultimately the fact I couldn’t catch some better fish on the meat late on cost me at least 3^rdin the match and Fred had a great last hour to overtake me, winning the match.

 

Overall I was really happy with how the match went and pleased to have finished 2^nd in section picking up a brown envelope.

1^st 164- 2 – Fred Roberts – p126

2^nd 160- 6 – Steve Hutter – p115

3^rd 148- 1 – Gary Mitchell – p102

4^th 143- 9 – Ken Rayner – p128

5^th 138-12 – Tyrone Hull – p119

6^th 128- 1 – Rob Anker – p97

 

Silvers

1^st 44- 9 – Fred Roberts – p126

2^nd 43- 7 – Mike Walker – p125

3^rd 36- 5 – Alex Murray – p86

4^th 32- 4 – Steve Hutter – p115

 

 

03/03/13 - Viaduct - Lodge

Weight - 10lb 10oz
Catch - 44 Roach, 8 Skimmers, 2 Rudd
Weather - Cold, easterly breeze
Match - Winter League - 8th out of 19 section

Glyn Reynolds asked me to guest for his team again, this time on Lodge. I think we were all disappointed to see an icy crust on the water, but not for me! I found myself on p59, which according to everyone had some skimmer form and the peg was ice free.

So 2 balls of groundbait with a pinch of dead maggot and caster was cupped in at 14m, plus some caster under the tree to my left. As we were about to start a number of fish started to roll in front of Roland Lucas on p60, so he started on the waggler straight away and after 90mins probably had 7-8 skimmers.

I also started on the waggler by the aerator, but no bites. In fact I didn’t have my first fish until the hour mark and was seriously concerned that I had over done the groundbait. However the next hour proved productive with skimmers and small roach coming regualrily.

The rest of the match turned out to be a bit of struggle. I couldn’t fish too far to my right without interfering with p60 and couldn’t fish to my left due to the rope. I caught a few more roach on the waggler, but the pole line was becoming frustrating and I can only think I got my feeding wrong. When I topped up I only caught one more skimmer, but the swim was at times alive with small roach, which was annoying when I needed skimmers, because Tim Rowe on p57, Steve Seagar on p56 and Tom Thick on p61 all caught more skimmers and few roach. 

I’m pretty sure my swim as worth a few more skimmers, but I’ll never know. To be honest I also think I am a little of touch fishing natural baits over groundbait, being more used to pellet fishing at the moment.

17/02/2013 - Viaduct - Spring

Weight - 18lb 14oz
Catch - 1 Carp, 34 Roach, 6 Skimmers
Weather - Cold start. Sunny, breeze picked up later
Match - Viaduct Winter League - 39th out of 95, 7th out of 19 section

I was asked to guest for Glyn Reynolds team for this round of Viaduct Winter League. Because my car is currently in the garage awaiting a repair on the cam shaft, Tim Clark kindly volunteered (or he was volunteered by Tony!) to pick me up. On the way we collected Fabio, who still cant go fishing for another 2 weeks due to the cast on his broken arm, planed on walking around the match to get some fresh air.

After paying my pools to Glyn I disappeared to get my kit out of the van. When I returned Fred Roberts congratulated me on drawing a peg he wanted to avoid, until he realised I didn’t know where I had drawn. So when I found Glyn he just said sorry, you are on p21, in the top right hand corner of Spring. Oh joy. At least I had loads of room, although it was pointed out the reason why there was so much room was because the peg was crap.

With plenty of time to set up I sat at the peg considering my options, waiting to see if anyone turned up on p23 (I forgot to ask whether the peg was in) and no one did. Asking around suggested I could get carp down the margin late on and there wasn’t many silvers, which meant I was likely to have a boring day.

On the all in 3 balls of groundbait with dead maggot & caster was cupped in at 14m, a pot of dead maggot & caster by the pallet on p22 and a small pot of caster at 14m to my left. The first 30mins I spent on the waggler and maggot cast towards the island (p24) and to my left, but no bites. Since I wanted to give my groundbait line plenty of time to settle, I cast the straight lead & double corn towards the inlet gap with the intention of waiting 30mins to see what happens.

After 20mins the tip flew round and 10mins later a big mirror was netted. At least that would secure good points and I could relax for the rest of the match. I topped up my groundbait & gave the lead another 30mins, however without success.

A switch to the pole produced 15 roach/small skimmers reasonably quickly. The rest of the match was a case of spending time looking for a carp on the lead, before switching back to the pole for more small fish. I had kept the margin topped up with dead maggot/caster and when I tried the swim with dead maggot on the hook, I only had 1 roach.

At least the pole was providing some bites and a 2lb skimmer was a welcome surprise. Come the end I knew I had done OK and in fact I quite enjoyed the day. I just missed out on picking up coin, because Alex Murray on p24 managed 25lb of skimmers, but those carp didn’t feed in any numbers on Spring except for Martin Preston on p4, but that side of the lake was in with Match Lake.

1st 191- 1 - Des Shipp - p86
2nd 175-10 - Dave Romain - p53
3rd 152-12 - Mark Poppleton - p116
4th 146- 2 - Richard Wyatt - p73
5th 136-14 - Martin Preston - p4
6th 128-13 - Mash - p78

Silvers
1st 32- 4 - Tony Rixon - p38
2nd 25- 7 - Alex Murray - p24
3rd 15- 7 - Matt Parsons - p56
4th 14- 7 - Gary Cross - p16
5th 13- 7 - Dick Bull - p39

02/08/12 - Viaduct - Campbell

Weight – 105lb 8oz (29lb 11oz – silvers)

Catch – 16 Carp, 22 Bream, 1 Tench, 1 Roach

Weather – Mostly sunny, showery start, gusty wind

Match – Cost cutter Open – 9^th out of 24 (4^th in silvers)

I made the trip from Minehead again to fish todays cost cutter, which was on Campbell and 2 banks of Cary. Today for me was more about building my confidence at the venue and certainly my last few visits have seen a steady improvement in my results.

126 was my home for the day and with the gusting wind combined with the cool start to the day it looked like it would be a day for fishing the tip, which isn’t what I wanted to do, because I was wanted to concentrate on the pole and if possible the waggler if the wind allowed. I did set up the lead just in case and caught 1 fish when trying to sort out a new rig, but the waggler was only cast about 5 times.

So most of my time was spent on the pole. I started at 13m, feeding a toss pot of meat and 4mm pellet and after 30mins had 2 carp, including a 10lber and 2 big skimmers, but then nothing for the next 30mins.

I had been feeding meat and 6s at 6m to my right and 4s & 6s at 4m to my left. A couple of big skimmers came from the 6m line plus a couple more carp. However it was becoming obvious that I was falling behind in the carp race with Paul on P119 catching on the waggler, p124 catching on the lead and the p127 catching on the feeder. A switch to the 4m line with 6mm pellet and I had a good hour or so catching skimmers, plus a proper bream.

By the half way stage I decided to try shallow on the pole having feed the long line for 2hrs and I caught 2 carp within 15mins, but they just didn’t settle in the wind, which was gusting from bearly being able to hold the pole to being flat calm.

Since the carp weren’t coming shallow (a couple of anglers opposite tried the same, but only had a couple), decided to focus on catching the silvers. I hadn’t seen too many being caught so thought I might be in with a shout of a pick up. My 4m line had dried up and on reflection I properly overfed it. My 6m line had kicked into life with some carp coming in amongst the skimmers, however I was starting to wait longer for bites and the wind wasn’t helping when it was gusting strongly.

At 13m I had stopped feeding pellet by catapult and potted meat and pellet, which produced a big tench, a few skimmers and a couple more carp. Typical, having made the decision to target the silvers, I caught more carp.

Come the weight in Lee Werrett on p131 had 48lb of silvers so was likely to win the silvers, Lewis was admitting to about 25lb and I thought it would be close between the 2 of us. However, Paul Blake dumped 35lb on scales, having only admitted to 15lb! To be honest I didn’t think he had that much, but obviously sneaked a few better skimmers. Lewis was last to weigh, whilst I had more fish he had more tench and he finally did me by just over a pound - bugger.

Actually enjoyed my day, OK I am sure I could have pushed harder for a framing position had I fished the tip, but I really needed to build my confidence on the float particularly with last round of Tonys float only a few weeks away. 

1^st 198- 5 – Paul Greenwood – p119 (waggler)
2^nd 169-10 – M Fisher – p127 (feeder)
3^rd 160- 8 – Lee Werrett – p131 (pole/pellet)
4^th 146- 8 – Trev – p80
5^th 127- 7 – Ron Messer – p116 (lead)
6^th 124-10 – Lewis Greenwood – p123 (pole/pellet)

Silvers
1^st 48-12 – Lee Werrett – p131
2^nd 33- 7 – Paul Blake – p125
3^rd 31- 0 – Lewis Greenwood – p123
4^th 29-11 – Ken Rayner – p126

29/07/12 - Viaduct - Campbell

Weight – 117lb 6oz (16lb 3oz – silvers)
Catch – 17 Carp, 7 Tench, 1 Bream
Weather – Mostly sunny, showers, wind increased later in the day
Match – West Tackle Open – 2^nd out of 18 (1^st in section, 1^st in silvers)

Firstly an apology for the lateness of this blog, however I’ve been in Blue Anchor (Minehead) for a week enjoying the sea air and trying to relax.

As it happened Viaduct is slightly closer to Minehead than home. Reports on arrival were of 350lb winning the midweek match, however the weather had changed to much cooler, windier conditions, with heavy overnight rain last night, I doubted those sort of weights would be repeated.

At the draw I found 119 in my hand and knew it has been a flyer, however my initial excitement was tempered when I was told it hadn’t produced in the last 2 weeks and all the weights from mid-week came from the other end of the lake.

When I arrived there was loads of scum in the corner with loads of small fish on the surface, but the good news, there was a few carp showing themselves and I was hoping a few may have followed the wind.

I decided to keep things simple to today and ignore the silvers, targeting the pallet/small tree on the end bank and down into the corner, but not too close to the sunken tree, which looked like a tackle graveyard.

On the all in a small handful of 6s went down towards the corner, starting on the full depth waggler fished towards the pallet with hair rigged 8mm pellet. After 10mins I already had 2 carp, but then lost then next 3, including 1 where the line snapped above the float where I obviously damaged the line whilst setting up.

After an hour I still only had 2 carp, plus a tench. A switch to the corner and a couple more carp followed on paste, plus a couple of tench. The next few hours were spent mostly on the waggler, but it was obvious the fish weren’t feeding hard. Steve did his usual walk around when I was landing my 7^th carp and advised that I was up there with the lake fishing generally hard.

I had now trashed 2 paste rigs in the corner, those carp certainly know where that tree is, however the swim had gone quiet, so decided to feed a ½ pot meat to try and pull the carp away from the sunken tree, fishing an 8mm cube of meat. This actually resulted in more tench and thought I may be able to pick up in the silvers, because I fully expected the pegs at the other end to have caught well and I was starting to struggle, which co-incided with the wind picking up, I did try the straight lead but that didn’t improve matters, so I struck with the waggler, even catching a couple on the pellet waggler, but to get a bite I had cast tight to the reeds.

In the end I thought I probably missed out on the frame but was hopeful of picking up the section by de-fault or silvers. I had trashed 5 rigs, so not as bad as it could be, but in hindsight I should have set up a 5m meat line, rather than focusing on the margin. The reason I didn’t was because I was a bit slow setting up and didn’t have time, being content to work the 2 lines. I could have fished the pole to the reeds at 16m, but the way my back is at the moment I didn’t fancy fishing that long.

By the time the scales arrived I knew I had 100lb and was surprised that only 1 ton had weighed in so far. Mark on 110 thought he would be close to my weight, but didn’t think he had enough, although Jono on 112 had caught well. As it turned out Jono had smaller fish and Mark reckon he lost 100lb, which is just careless if you ask me :¬)

So really pleased and a little surprised to come 2^nd with my first ever Viaduct ton. I finally feel that I’m getting to grips with the venue, with my weights increasing with every visit. Today the change in weather to much cooler conditions obviously had an effect on the fishing. Cary suffered as well with only 88lb winning a Carps AC match.

1^st131- 1 – Nick Merry – p132
2^nd117- 6 – Ken Rayner – p119
3^rd99-12 – Mark Poppleton – p110
4^th91- 5 – Jono Atkins – p112
5^th88- 4 – Alan Aslett – p128
6^th70- 0 – Ian “Herbie” Hornby – p127

30/06/12 - Viaduct - Campbell

Weight - 88lb 7oz
Catch - 18 Carp, 6 Skimmers, 1 Roach
Weather - Mostly sunny with showers & windy.
Water Temp - 25.2c > 26.1c
Match - Match Fishing Scene - 11th out of 20

I arrived at the venue in real need of a decent breakfast and I wasn't disappointed, which made we feel less groggy. Yesterday (Friday) I spent at Lords watching England beat the Aussies in the first ODI. I was invited by one of the companies I do business with, which meant free food and booze all day. Needless to say, not being the big drinker, I certainly felt the effects of what was a great day out, but due to a rain delayed start, it meant a late finish. So a really long day and an early start today with a hangover is not recommended. Fred Roberts suggested I was being a lightweight - yep, not going to argue with that.

Today there are 20 members from the MFS site and I was pleased to find myself on 110. Campbell and Cary had been hammered all week due to a private "festival" and the most consistant area was the bottom end. I didn't expect that to change today, because the wind was still blowing down that end, although we were greeted by spawning fish.

As mentioned before Viaduct is a bit of a bogie venue for me and I have struggled to get to grips with it and I received plenty of advice from the regulars on how to fish the peg. I was in danger of confusing myself, however the one bit of information that was repeated was to fish to the end bank. So I had a pellet waggler, a drake loaded insert waggler to fish on the deck and the lead which I hoped I wont need. The pole rigs were easy, one for meat and one for paste, which would do for fishing 13m as well as down the left hand margin since the depth was fairly uniform.

I started down by the stump on meat and soon had a carp and a couple of skimmers, but those were the only fish I had from here. A few more skimmers and a carp came from the 14m line again on meat.

However, whilst a switch to the pellet waggler, saw an immediate response. The problem was that stump. Any hooked fish would kite left into the corner, which in itself wasnt that much of issue, but the foliage on the stump as well as the overhanging willow branches (which included someones pole rig), meant I couldnt manoeuver the fish and I got done several times.  I got fed up of this and had to go round and pull out the offending foliage. Unfortunately I couldnt do anything about the overhanging branches. When I did fish down the edge I got done again! In total I lost 12 carp, some were foul hooked, but most were in the mouth and I got a little irritated (as everyone heard!). This wasnt helped by the fact I was starting to fish like a muppet, as I was losing my composure - I was hooking my keepnet, rigs were tangling and to really illustrate how things were going, I landed a carp that I had pulled out of the margin, which had managed to wrap someones loaded pellet waggler around my rig. The fish dived to the near margin as I netteded it, but with this waggler swinging around it got caught up on one of my spare top kits that was in my pole roost.

With 2hours to go, my frustration reached its limit as another lost fish meant I needed to go for a walk for 5mins. After having a word with myself I actually had a good last 2 hours, losing very few fish, catching on paste down the edge, then on the full depth waggler towards the end bank and a couple on meat at 5m.

I really should have framed today and had I landed half the fish I lost I probably would have. Taking the positives out of the day, this was my best weight at Viaduct (told you it was a bogie venue) and I ended up wishing the match would finish later as I was having a nice time on the waggler.

1st 191-2 - Richard Wyatt - p119 (pole/pellet shallow to the end bank)
2nd 131- 8 - Gareth Boycott - p128
3rd 117- 8 - Ian McCulloch - p132
4th 115-13 - Mark Poppleton - p112
5th 98-11 - Craig - p117
6th 96-13 - Fred Roberts - p113

06/05/12 - Viaduct - Campbell

Weight – 62lb 7oz (14lb 12oz – silvers)
Catch – 8 Bream, 7 Carp, 2 Tench

Weather – Mostly sunny. Cool easterly breeze.

Match – Avon Angling – Float Only Series – rd1 – 24^th out of 40 (4 out of 5 – section)

Today was the 1^st round of Tony Rixon's Float Only series. I had decided to fish the series, even though the 2^nd round clashed with the last round of the Paul Frairs Pole only series and I will only miss the 2^ndround if I’m in with a chance of an overall payout from the pole series, which is a possibility, but I can’t afford any more slip ups.

Viaduct is one of those venues which I have struggled to get to grips with, mainly because I don’t fish it that often, which I do intend to rectify this year, because I never fish here with any confidence. Today was very much a case of not understanding the venue, however this was one of the reasons why I wanted to fish the series.

Peg 126 was an excellent draw, having won a mid-week match with over 200lb, but last night was cold and I wasn’t sure how the fish would respond. Also I had venue regulars in my sections with Anton Page on 125 and Dick Bull on 128. Regardless, I decided to approach the match with a positive frame of mind, taking only meat and various size pellets. Also since this seemed to be a carp area, decided against setting up any silvers rigs.

I started at 13m fishing on the deck with 8mm pellet, feeding 6s and after the 1^sthour had a couple of tench and a carp. However the next couple of hours is where I got it wrong.

Anton had started to catch shallow, whilst I decided to stick with fishing on the deck, confident the fish would come, reasoning that I could catch shallow on the waggler further out where I had been feeding 8s, also I been feeding meat short for later.

Unfortunately for whatever reason I had my stubborn head on and by the time I decided I was fed up of watching Anton catching shallow, the wind dropped and the ripple disappeared. I did manage 1 carp shallow, but left it far too late. I also had 1 carp on the pellet waggler, but the real surprise was the lack of action over the short meat line were I only had 1 skimmer. The fish really didn’t want to feed on the deck, which was a common comment post match.

By the end I could have kicked myself, because I knew what I did wrong, but was far too slow to response in the mistaken believe I would catch on the deck. If it hadn’t been for the match I had at Gold Valley on Friday I would tried to get in on one of the mid-week matches, which on today’s evidence I could have benefitted from.

In the end Anton weighed 152lb to win the section but what was really annoying was the fact only 69lb was needed to claim 2^nd in section and a section pick up by de-fault. I only have myself to blame. Never mind there is always next week.

1^st159-12 – Tom Magnoll – p98

2^nd153-13 – Shaun Townsend – p123

3^rd152-15 – Anton Page – p125

4^th146-13 – Clayton Hudson – p85

5^th126- 8 – Gary Etheridge – p114

6^th117-14 – Craig Edmunds – p110

Silvers

1^st73-14 – Nigel Bartlett – p80

2^nd53- 3 – Tom Thick – p81

3^rd20- 6 – Shaun Townsend – p123

28/08/11 - Viaduct - Campbell

Weight – 66lb 4oz
Catch – 13 Carp, 1 Bream.
Weather – Sunshine & showers. Windy.
Match – Tony’s Float Only

The post script for many of my matches this summer seems to be must try harder and today was unfortunately no different, although on the positive side at least I’m learning and on the whole understanding my mistakes.

Today I reluctantly guested for Tony’s league. Not fishing Viaduct regularly immediately puts me at disadvantage against those who do fish and its 1 of those venues I haven’t really got to grips with.

I found myself on Campbell p115, which meant nothing to me, although I was told it was in a good area. So after some advice, decided to fish paste at 6m, pellet/meat on the deck at 14m and pellet waggler at 25m.

The 1st half of the match was disaster with only 3 carp at 14m and 1 on the pellet waggler. I had been feeding mostly 6mm over the pole line, but I couldn’t work out how to feed, since the food drew the fish in but getting them to take the bait was challenging. I thought I sussed it by feeding ½ a cup instead of catapulting or toss potting, but the fish just didn’t settle.

My 6m line was also proving frustrating, because I couldn’t hit the bites, which I assume were silvers.

To be honest, I was being too stubborn about fishing on the deck. Initially with the forecast wind and the cool overnight temperatures I didn’t fancy it for shallow fishing, but I got that very wrong with most anglers around me catching shallow.

The 2nd half of the match was much better. I decided to concentrate at 14m fishing with a long line dibber. Strangely I caught better when the wind dropped. I did eventually catch 1 carp on the paste 5 mins from the end.

Disappointed with the result, but pleased to have sussed (well partially) it. Had I caught as much in the 1st 3hrs, as I did in the 2nd 3hrs I would have posted a very competitive weight. Also in hindsight feeding 8mm, instead on 6mm’s would have been better and would have probably made it easier to catch on the deck.

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

04/01/09 - Viaduct - Spring

Weight – 2lb 6oz
Catch – 47 Roach, 8 Rudd, 2 Bream
Weather – Freezing, mostly cloudy with odd sunny spell.
Water Temp– 4.5c > 4.5c
Match – Veals Winter League – rd 8 – 14th overall, 6th in section

It’s been freezing cold now for 10 days or so and its really affecting the fishing. A severe overnight frost (-5c) meant all the lakes were iced over and Steve was out in his boat breaking the ice, with the aerators on.

This caused a bit of controversy, speaking to Tony Rixon & Des Shipp they had suggested to Steve to leave the aerators off to improve the fishing, preferring to break their own ice. Time would tell whether the pegs around the aerators would perform. One change from the last round was replacing Middle Lake with Match Lake, simply because Middle fished so badly last round and the current weather would probably make it worst.

I drew peg 3 on Spring, which I was happy with, but it was an island peg, when I couldn’t reach the island, although I was close to the aerator, so at least I didn’t need to break too much ice. Des informed me that on Wednesday the anglers in this area didn’t get a bite until the last hour, so a hard day was in prospect – like I didn’t already know!

I was right on the edge of where the ice had cleared and the good news was I could fish the waggler (Crystal Insert Waggler, .09 bottom & 22 match) 20/25m out, so at least I could fish beyond the pole line.
On the pole line (13m) I set 2 silver rigs, a wire roach 4x12, 07 bottom & 24 hook, with spread out styls & a Jean Francios 0.2g, .08 bottom & 22 silverfish hook with bulk & 2 droppers. There didn’t seem to be any point setting up any carp rigs, because of the weather, although I had a lead rod already set up in case I could reach the island.

At the all in, a small ball of Black Lake & a few pinkies went in at 13m, a small ball of bread crumb went in at 11m to my right and a few maggots were catapulted on the waggler line, which is where I started.
After 30 minutes I had tried all 3 swims without any bites and it was starting to look grim. A switch back to the waggler and the float didn’t settle properly because of the tiny roach attached. At least I hadn’t blanked. A few more roach came to the waggler, before bites dried up.

An hour in, I was back on the 13m pole and I still couldn’t get a bite on this line. I needed to make a decision - another ball of groundbait or some chopped maggot, which has got me out of trouble before. I decided on chopped maggot that seemed to have transformed the peg and I started to get bites every put in. As the match progressed I switched between the pole (& rigs) and waggler. I would have periods where I would get fish every cast and other periods were I couldn’t catch. I concentrated more on the waggler, because the average size of fish was better than the pole, including a couple of 4oz fish.

The pegs in my mini section, which did the best, were those anglers who had to break the ice, Rich Coles & Brian Slipper opposite the aerator struggled.

Only 27lb won the match from Campbell, with 8lb claiming 2nd. It really fished very hard with 22 blanks. With so many blanks, I was hoping to break into the top 20 for the individual league, however although I collected 10pts I slipped from 21st to 22nd. The rounds at Stafford Moor really cost me, had I collected only another 10 pts during that weekend I would have come 8th overall, which would have been a truer reflection of how my league went.

On the team front, I was the only 1 to weigh in and we finished last on the day and 11th overall, so a bit of a come down from last years league win.

1st - Chris Davis - Westerleigh 98pts
2nd - Mike Nicholls - Charlies Angels 94.5
3rd - Adam Palmer - Sedges Mosella 84
4th - Mark Broomsgrove - Sensas Thyers 83.5
5th - Tony Rixon - Avon Angling 80
6th - Ryan Shipp - Westerleigh 77 (222-5)
7th - Vince Brown - Sedges Mosella 77 (182-3)
8th - Jon Gray - Somerset Angling 75.5
9th - Eric Fouracre - Sedges Mosella 75
10th - Clayton Hudson - Avon Angling 74
21st - Ken Rayner - Maver Veals Red 66

At the end of the match I heard something which I didn’t expect, but it just illustrates how hard the fishing is at the moment. Tony Rixon may not go fishing this Wednesday, because he’s fed up with the poor weather!

After the presentations, Vince Shipp presented me with a hatful of money (literally), approximately £105 following a whip round to say thanks for organising the league. It was very gratefully appeciated.