Viaduct Pairs (Silvers Only) Day 2.

Back to Viaduct fishery in Somerton for the second day of the pairs With team mate Donald Sutherland and as soon as I took a peek out the curtains when I woke this morning my worst fears were confirmed as everything was white from the overnight frost" After a bit of chasing around on-route to get something warm inside us before the day ahead we arrive at the fishery to find the temperature was -6 Degrees and all the lakes had a covering of a couple of inches of ice' It was my turn to fish Cambell lake today so after wrapping up to the hilt to stay warm I went and took some pictures of what we were greeted with.

 (Pitures of Cambell lake)

Well there was nothing we could do about it and with the forecast of the temperature forcast to stay below zero all day we were all in the same boat meaning nobody would be fishing the waggler or feeder today. The best weights the lower end of this lake yesterday or the pegs either side of the spit on the opposite bank so I was hoping to avoid the shaded area at the top end where Don was yesterday but it wasn't to be and I found myself on peg 118 which is behind the tree meaning the chances of me seeing any sun was minimal", The weights were lower here yesterday with Don Having 3lb odd from peg 116 which was enough to beat the pegs either side of him but just to make things a little harder for company I had England Ace Des (Smiley) Shipp on 116 today! (No Pressure Then!?).

The first main task today was to clear the ice as far as possible as the hope of catching anything short was going to be impossible, Don have a look around the van to see what he could attach to some rope heavy enough to break through the ice whilst I cut what I could out with my landing net handle, 30mins later and I was still doing my best to sling it as far as possible after having to borrow one as Don's Attachments disappeared to the bottom of the lake first chuck!, It was a bit hairy though trying to give it some welly whilst perched on the end of a slippery platform" Put it this way I wasn't cold afterwards whilst I set up with just 30mins to the all-in.

I Chose to make just one new rig up being a 4x12 Chanti on 0.11-0.08 and a 20 63-13 hook where I plumed up at 13mts straight in-front of me which was a couple of feet from the ice, this would be my main line but I could go a couple of feet to the left and right in search of fish away from my bait if need be as I chose to make a wider channel in the ice than some had although the pegs on the opposite bank seemed ok but needed some work.

 (45mins later my swim")

Quite simple at the start' One small ball of ground-bait with a couple of dead pinkies and casters added onto the 13mt line followed with a sprinkling of pinkies over the top! Mega positive today then". I wanted this to settle for a while so start by cupping in a nugget of ground-bait next to the ice at 10mts and going over the top with a single red pinkie on the hook. As expected after 15mins I had know indications so switched to the long line again with pinkie on the hook, It wasn't until we were 50mins in I had my first bite being a 1oz roach which was a bonus as des was yet to catch as were the guys opposite, I had just a pimple of the float showing and struck at any small movement which got me a few more small roach before I had a welcome 10oz skimmer out of the blue and at this point I was getting excited as we were over an hour in and I hadn't seen anything caught".

At this point I hadn't fed anything else so attached a small cad pot to the pole and fed around 6 pinkies and a couple of casters over the top of the rig, this did bring me a couple more small roach before it went dead so I had a swap around between baits just in case there was something bigger around? after trying caster on the hook without a sniff I switched to a single white pinkie and was soon attached to something much better' after taking my time to steer the line away from the ice I still hadn't seen it but it was trying to dive under the platform so was hoping it was a tench so was pleased to net a 2lb plus fish! Bonus.." By now we were halfway through the match and from what I could see most were struggling for as much as a bite and after searching for another better fish I was back catching what I could being the odd small roach by working the rig over another small ball of ground-bait cupping in tiny amounts of pinkies via the cad pot.

In order to get any indications I had to play around with the way I put the rig in as well as changing the depth a couple of inches at regular intervals but it got me bites when others were struggling, Des had managed a big skimmer and a few more small fish but was struggling so I kept at it which kept me from thinking about the cold so much. I Felt if I was to get anymore bonus fish it would be late and in the last 15mis I had two more skimmers one over a 1lb which boosted my weight. It was a very hard day but having Des next to me helped me to keep at it working for bites and although I took his scalp today I didn't know what had been caught on what I thought would be the better end of the section? I was first to weigh and was pleased to end up with 7lb odd and after a couple of lower weights Nicky Collins put 5lb odd on the scales meaning I had won the section picking up 1pt, It was down to Don now on peg 77 Cary and his small fish net of 2lb odd was enough for 2nd in the section picking up 2pts meaning are total of 10pts would be close for a top 3 finish in the pay-outs"?

Back at the results and as expected the lakes fished harder due to the ice but it was a surprize to find out that my weight was enough to take top place on the day pushing Don and me up in the weights for the overall positions, As expected it turned out to be very close with the winning pair going to Gary O'Shea & Bob Gullit with 9pts and a total weight of 22lb ahead of Andy Power & Lee (Peanut) also on 9pts but a lower combined weight of 18lb,

Again it was close for the final placing but my late skimmer helped us to pinch 3rd spot on weight by 8oz finishing tied on 10 points with Martin Preston & Phil Cardwell. A good end to the two days for the both of us with Donald picking up £30, me picking up £50 for the section and adding another £76 for 3rd gave us something to share, A hard but very enjoyable day in more ways than one'.

 Bob & Gary.

Full results -

1st Dom Sullivan (Maver/Cadbury Angling) peg 118 Cambell, 7lb 8oz.

2nd Phil (Fabio) Harding (Avon Angling) peg 85 Cary, 6lb 11oz.

3rd Nicky Collins (Sensas) peg 112 Cambell, 5lb 1oz.

4th Gary O'Shea (P.I.Thatchers) peg 100, 4lb 12oz.

5th Martin Preston (Bait-Tech Viaduct) peg 94 Cary, 4lb 8oz.

6th Phil Cardwell (Thatchers Tackle) peg 115 Cambell, 3lb 5oz.

Overall Pairs Results -

1st Gary O'Shea & Bob Gullit, 10pts  £120.

2nd Andy Power & Peanut, 10pts  £100.

3rd Dom Sullivan & Don Sutherland, 9pts  £76.

 

 

 

 

               

    

      

 

 

 

 

     

Viaduct 2day Pairs Silvers Only.

Myself & Team mate Don Sutherland decided to have a crack at the two day event at Viaduct Fishery after the recent silvers league so felt pretty much in touch with how its fishing at the moment but that could all change after a hard frost as well as a bright day forecast? It was a very welcome breakfast this morning after a day at the races yesterday were a fair amount of alcohol was consumed' but at least I came home with a profit".

We arrived at the fishery to find out the match was to be held over Cambell & Cary Lakes which was a bit disappointing as we both expected a day on Spring lake each which can produce some good silvers weights as its not used as much for matches. At the draw we had to choice which lake we fancied between us so Don let me decide so I opted for Cary on the first day hoping to end up in the 90's as I had been in this area for my last few visits, It was nice to find myself on peg 99 which I've already had this season as well as being on peg 98 in the last round of the silvers, the section fished hard that day with 10lb being the top weight and I expected things to be harder if anything due to the frost? For company I had old friend Nicky (Fur ball) Collins on 100 who gave the challenge of a quid & venue regular Roland Lucas on 97 so had to have my wits about me, This has been a good area to catch skimmers on the waggler and with the lake being flat calm it would be my first option fishing a 3AAA loaded waggler on 3lb main line and an 0.10 hook length topped off with an 18 808 hook. Last time we were here nobody seemed to catch anything on a short line so plumbed up 2 swims at 14mts left and right were I had about 4ft, I had to set up two rigs as the light here was bad with the shadow off the tree from the opposite bank making things more difficult. |For one line I used a 4x14 wire wonder on 0.11- 0.09 and an 18 63-13 hook, and the other with a lighter 4x12 on the same line/hook. My last rig was 4x10 Chanti on a longer line which I could use over both pole swims should I need to conditions allowing.

At the all-in I cupped 4 balls of ground-bait at 14mts of to my right with a few dead pinkees added and two balls off to my left with casters and some chopped maggots in. Starting on the waggler with caster on the hook it took me 30mins to get my first fish a 3oz roach followed by 2 more of similar size in the first 90mins which sounds bad but Nicky only had 1 small roach and Roland who was fishing the bomb was yet to catch. The only person I could see who had netted a few smaller skimmers was Phil Cardwell on peg 96 who was on the long pole.

I was a bit reluctant in coming off the waggler line as the last time I was here those who kept at it were rewarded with some better size skimmers as the match went on but after watching Phil add a few more I decided to give it a go. Starting off to my left with a single dead red on the hook I soon realised it was virtually impossible to see my float as there was now a ripple blowing towards us across the lake, I had already added a few inches to the depth so kept lifting the rig when I couldn't see it and was a bit lucky to hook an 8oz skimmer as I didn't even see a bite! back out again and two more fish of the same size before it seemed devoid so decided to top the swim up with a small nugget of ground-bait and try the other more positive line to my right but this failed to produce anything so far.

I kept trying to feed my waggler line as often as possible but had no chance of feeding it whilst trying to hold the pole with the head wind let alone shaking like a leaf as it was freezing. I stuck at the waggler for another 30mins and had a couple more small roach before I bumped a better fish just after twitching the float with a dead maggot & caster on the hook then I couldn't get a sign' Back on the long pole fully expecting a few skimmers where I had taken the first few only saw two more smaller fish so I decided to add a cad pot to the pole & feed a nugget right over the float, It worked' I bumped of a better fish within seconds! B*****KS....

I tried the right hand swim but again it didn't produce but felt there was no need to top it up as nothing had turned up anyhow"?? I new the rest of the match would be a case of pinching odd fish as Roland was still to catch and Nicky only had a few small fish on the waggler but was sticking at it feeding more often than I could manage which could make a difference in the last couple of hours as I know from drawing here this year they can turn up on the pole lines very late in the match and as late as the last 15mins? so put my faith on this being my banker in the last hour.

I did manage a 1lb skimmer on the waggler and thought I had sussed it after putting over a foot of line on the deck as the inside trip was pulling the rig though the swim but nothing followed and my worst fears came to light as Nick had taken a run of small roach and a couple of skimmers after sticking to the line all match and had overtaken me weight wise, The gamble of some late fish on the pole it had to be and as expected they did turn up late' 20mins from the end I took 2 skimmers off both pole lines on maggot to add another nearly 2lb to the net and I new it would be close between myself and Nick which was a great battle we both really enjoyed, as expect the lakes fished hard with Matt Tomes On the end peg 94 winning the section and the lake with 8lb odd, next door on peg 96 Phil took second in the section with 6lb so it was a battle for 3rd in the section between Nick & Me as nobody was admitting to much else? My total went 5lb 8oz before Nick put 5lb 7oz on the scales" result.. Nope! he found another small roach in his keep-net after putting the others back so we agreed on an ounce for it afterwards with owner Steve so we tied on 3rd in the section so a decent result for both of us on the day lol. Donald Over on 116 Cambell did well to beat the pegs either side of him but the better weights were the other end of his section but still ended up with 4pts making for an interesting day tomorrow with some people really struggling, Even the mighty Des Shipp could only manage 12oz" but I have to admit he wasn't in the best of pegs 74 on Cary... Or wasn't that where Dan Squires won a resent Saturday Match from?? lol.

Top weight on the day went to that man again Gary O'Shea over on Cambell peg 129 with 12lb odd including a bonus tench but some close weights followed which keeps things tight for tomorrow when its my turn for Cambell praying that the forecast of plummeting over night temperatures doesn't see us using ice breakers?!.

1st Gary O'Shea (P.I Thatchers) peg 129 Cambell, 12lb 2oz.

2nd Dan Squires (Bait-Tech Viaduct) peg 128 Cambell,  9lb 14oz.

3rd Matt Tomes (Got Baits) peg 94 Cary, 8lb 10oz.

4th Steve Tucker (Garbolino) peg 85 Cary, 7lb 12oz.

5th Andy Power (Preston Innovations) peg 123 Cambell, 7lb 7oz. 

6th Dave Roper (Bait Tech Viaduct) peg 112 Cambell, 7lb 2oz.

 

 

                

A Summing up of my year.

Well with the Xmas Dinner soon to be under way with us skipping the traditional Roast for a nice juicy piece of Rump Steak" I thought I would do a quick summing up of my year on the bank after ripping through the presents in the hope of adding more kit to my armoury only to find the usual array of smelly's , boxers and the bonus' present of a Muppet Show Onesy" which I cant see myself wearing on the bank in the near future..??

I've had quite eventful year on the bank, fishing a variety of venues and different methods, I never really been a fan of accumulating massive weights of fish and much prefer to chose venues that usually produce close overall weights at different times of the year. In the early part of the last after the viaducts teams of Five I started off with the Acorn individual league, After A disaster in the first round mainly down to the gale force winds I was pleased to end up Finishing joint 2nd overall missing out by just one fish at the end of the league, A lot of the fishing was small expanders or maggot on the long pole and a method that seems to suit my style of fishing.

 

Further on in the year when the weather warmed up I really enjoyed fish the meat on the short pole as I have found once the fish take a liking to it the swim often just gets better' And most of the time the bites are un-missible!.

Going back to my routes before most of these commercials were even heard of to the River Huntspill for the Somerset Super League was a good change of scenery and although it wasn't that productive for me a change to a natural venue made a welcome change, I have always had a good record on the venue for catching some decent weight building nets of EELS' but the biggest mistake I made was to try and fish for them to far out' As everyone knows with this venue on the Somerset levels it can look spot on when you tackle-up but can have some big waves on it at anytime" so a lesson learned there.

 

 

Ending the year taking part in the Viaduct Silvers league along with my own silvers league on Emerald Pools again made a change from catching battling Carp'. I felt I did ok at the first attempt at Viaduct but losing fish late in the day on most matches cost me dearly, Something that I will be hoping to adjust in the future but it showed I must be doing something write to get them in my swim in the first place?.

Emerald pool failed to produce the expected silvers weights of last year but nevertheless with careful feeding it proved there were fish to be caught and to finish the year taking the league was a nice end to quite an eventful calendar.

 Going back through my year in total I have fished 82 matches picking -up money in 37 of them so nearly a fifty present record collecting a total of £1987.00 , It doesn't sound a massive amount but if I was to put it all in a jar to collect just before Christmas it would be very welcome! To be fair I have fished a number of cost cutter matches this year and although being popular in numbers you cant go with the hope of adding much to you wallet but I tend to use them more of a learning day under match conditions. As you can tell I tend to stick to just a few patterns of pole floats simply because I believe you can get used to reading a float and making it work for you, I cant remember the last time I didn't work my rig' to induce more bites so getting used a float certainly helps. Well with the new year on the horizon the popular teams of 5 starts soon which is well attended so some nice draws will be hoped for' as well as it being a time on canal lakes I enjoy weather permitting? So good luck to all.  

     

Shiplate Farm Xmas Match (All Lakes)

After The works Xmas knees-up last night I was fearing the worst thinking I would be in no fit state with a banging hangover but I wasn't to bad, must be something to do with age as I called it time at 10pm but after 5hrs I must have consumed well over the weekly recommendation! With the match held over both canal lakes & the main lake I would wait and see where I was before thinking what I would do. I was hoping for the noted pegs 1 & 15 on the main lake or the lower numbers on Hawthorns as it was the most productive at this time last year, I ended up on peg 15 hawthorns which wasn't where I wanted to be due to the fact Owners Steve & Carol recently had a leek repaired as well as extending a new lake right where I was pegged so I felt the fish would pushed into the lower numbers with the disturbance but we would see? With peg 14 empty I had a bit of room to fish down the edge at 11mts but it was deep at around 7ft so set up a 4x16 chanti on 0.13-0.10 and an 18 808 hook,

 

I set up a 4x10 & 4x12 chanti to fish across to the far bank vegetation both on 0.11-0.10 and 18 63-13 hooks in around 4ft of water where I plumed up a few lines to find the same depth but only planned to feed one area to start with to gauge a response.

For company I had Fishery resident Steve (Peanut) Howell on peg 13, I say resident as I recon all the work going on is making way for him to have a mud hut built to save him having to go home! He keenly challenged me to a quid, Before informing me he drew the same peg last match!" Great..'
At the all-in fed a few 4mm hard pellet down the inside swim and started the match close to the far bank reeds feeding just a few dead maggots via the cad pot on the pole and fished two dead red maggots on the hook. It took me 10mins to get my first proper indication, A half ounce perch" and the first hour wasn't much better as I added a chub of 3oz and a carp of 8oz! Peanut was already admitting to 3 carp so taking the quid looked grim' My head wasn't quite on it as last nights session was catching up with me and as well as feeling a bit peaky I had a banging head so took ten minutes out to take some tablets and have a cuppa. I decided to start a new swim off to my left by feeding some micro and maggot together but again all I had were a few missed bites and some tiny perch so things were looking disappointing? It wasn't until we were over two hours in I hooked my first carp which was somewhere in the wrong place as it took off" and I had the same happen shortly after but at the 3rd attempt I had a 3lb fish in the chops! At Last".

With over half the match gone I decided it was time to try my inside swim so started with corn on the hook feeding a few grains of corn over the top with a small ball of micro pellet, I had been feeding the odd few pellets with the catty though-out the match but was hoping to draw the fish right into my bait. It didn't take long and 10mins later had a carp of 4lb but nothing followed so gave my far lines another try but only had another carp and a 6oz roach off the new far bank swim. going into the last hour I expected to catch a few more fish down my inside but was disappointed to finish up with just 2 more and nothing from my far lines.
it turned out Peanuts flying start was short lived as he only added a few silvers for the rest off the match" so when my total went 20lb odd to his 10lb I was soon keen to pick up my nugget! as expected the lower end of the lake threw up the best weights with the top 3 only separated by one fish with Matt Tainton coming out on top from peg 4 with 50lb mainly catching down the edge with maggot closely followed by Russ Pecker with another 50lb weigh so a good close frame to end the match, I don't think there was much else I could of done to catch any more as they just didn't seem to be there in any numbers but the weather held up and it was still an enjoyable day with carol laying on free food afterwards back at the hut before the results which was golly good of them.
Well that's all the fishing I plan to do this side of Christmas but have a two day pairs silvers only match on Viaduct next Sunday & Monday with team mate Don Sutherland so looking forward to having some time off work over the festive period. Merry Xmas to you all and thanks for the support as the blog has been running a year now so Ile do that stats for the soon  to see how I got on??.
Final Results -
1st Matt Tayton (Bristol) peg 4 Hawthorns, 50lb 14oz.
2nd Russ Pecker (Thatchers Tackle) peg 9 Hawthorns, 50lb 12oz.
3rd Des (Smiley) Shipp (Preston Innovations) peg 3 Hawthorns, 49lb 8oz.
4th Rich Hawkins (Wormheads) peg 10 Hawthorns, 41lb 4oz.

 

 

            

 

  

     

Emerald Silvers League, Final Round (Saturday)

Back to Emerald pool for the final league of the silvers league and although I was lucky enough to already have won the league I still wanted to do my best in the last round so was well prepared, Barry Fitchew couldn't make it today leaving just 7 of us so it was decided best to leave out the two pegs facing the wind on fairy island, I let John Barker draw for me today and was pleased to find myself in the deeper water on peg 5 for a change an area I had happened to avoid through-out the series' I was confident the way I had approached the previous rounds was working so didn't see the need to change things much so made up a 4x14 wire wonder on 0.11-0.09 hook-length and an 18 63-13 hook to fish into the open water at 13mts were I had around 5ft of water, And 4x10 chanti to fish on a longer line at 5mts with the same line/hook.

For company I had Andy Gard next to me again on peg 4 and Kev Jeffries on peg 6 where I drew last time, at the all in I began to by feeding on ball of ground-bait laced with casters at 11mts off to my right which would be a bit off a throw-away line as I didn't expect to catch over much feed and started to feed a few casters by hand onto the 5mt line. Starting on the 13mt swim with single maggot on the hook all I fed was a nugget of ground-bait and a couple of maggots over the top via a tosspot attached to the pole, It took me less than 5mins to catch my first fish being a 10oz hybrid followed by a tench of similar size, After this I managed to pick the odd fish off this line for an hour and estimated to have around 5lb in the net, I had a look on the short swim and had a tiny roach and no signs over the ground-bait and caster swim so was soon back on the long line.

From what I could see not that much had been caught but traveling partner Darren on end peg 3 was admitting to 5lb in the first hour so decided to catch as much as I could over small amounts of feed hoping the other swims would produce later in the day, By the half way stage I was up to about 12lb being a mixture of hybrids and a few tench but those who were catching had slowed up a little so just kept plugging away taking the odd fish but what I did notice was I had to keep moving the rig to induce bites. Most of my fish were coming to red or white maggot on the hook although I did have a couple of bonus 2lb skimmers on expander pellet, Going into the last hour Andy next door was having a good run of tench on his short line and did manage a couple of hybrids before losing two tench in a snag I wasn't aware of". The last hour was slow but still added a few more smaller fish to the net and thought I had around 20lb most of which were caught over as much feed as I could fit in my hand", A total contrast to last year were you could throw 3 pints of caster at them just on the short line! Starting the weigh-in at the far end of the lake first to weigh was Ken Rayner on peg 9 who put 17lb odd of mainly tench on the scales followed by Tim Lewis on peg 8 with 19lb odd, I was hoping I hadn't guessed wrong' but was pleased to end up taking the win on the day with 23lb as well as the series with 3 wins and 2 seconds dropping a 3rd to finish on 7pts picking up £145 for the league as well as another £42 for the day so its been a profitable result for me managing to pick up money in each round.

 My catch.

The final placing were very close and with Timmy taking 2nd spot on the day finished runner-up in the series picking up £100 with 17pts followed by Kev Jeffries taking third after drawing with Ken Rayner on 19pts but taking the result on weight count back by 4lbs" picking up £76. I really enjoyed this small series and by keeping things simple I managed to catch well though-out and having the faith without over feeding I would get bites. Thanks to those who fished though-out and although the fishing was harder than last years opens the weather was kind to us.

Match Result -

1st Dom Sullivan (Maver/Cadbury Angling) peg 5, 23lb 4oz.

2nd Tim Lewis (Shiplate Farm) peg 8, 19lb 9oz.

3rd Andy Gard (Alcove Angling) peg 4, 18lb 6oz.

4th Ken Rayner (S.W.M.G) peg 9, 17lb 9oz.

 

Final Overall Standings -

(Worst result dropped) 

1st Dom Sullivan, 7pts - £145.

2nd Tim Lewis, 17pts - £100.

3rd Kev Jeffries, 19pts - £76. (weight)

4th Ken Rayner, 19pts.

5th Andy Gard, 22.5pts.

6th Barry Fitchew 26pts

7th Darren Greenwood 26.5pts

8th John Barker 27pts 

9th Simon Price N/A.         

                     

Viaduct Silvers League Rd 6 (Final Round).

After the normal Hilltops Breakfast with traveling partner & team mate Don we arrived at the fishery in plenty of time for me to mix up some ground-bait and have a cuppa before the draw, The match today was to be on Cary, Cambell & Lodge Lakes but with the signs of an overnight frost the fishing was expected to be hard. I did my usual trick of using my height to my advantage sneaking near the front of the draw queue but happen to draw to tickets stuck together' I was short lived for choice though as Gary Webber grabbed the top one ending up on 131 Cambell so I was left on peg 98 Cary which I would of preferred and just so happened to be the peg I drew in the first round"

News on the bank was the match held on here yesterday produced just 5lb as the top silvers weight on are side of the lake so with this in mind I didn't expect to catch any fish short so opted to fish the long pole further than those around me at 16mts and a waggler line into the middle of the lake. I made up two rigs being a 4x14 & 4x12 wire wonder on 0.11-0.09, one with a 18 63-13 hook and the other with an 18 PR434. I also set up a 4x10 rig on a long line to have a look short to begin with. Company wise I had Viaducts Tallest" angler Martin Preston on peg 99 and Sensas Thyers Paul Faires on peg 97 but he was in the next section up and Don happened to draw the other side of him on 96 so at least it was good company.

At the all-in I cupped 4 balls of ground-bait at 16mts with a small amount of casters and chopped' red maggots added (Something Different hey") and 2 balls off to my right with just casters at 12mts where on plumbing up had nearly the same depth but wasn't confident the skimmers would feed this close? Starting with single caster on the short long line rig hoping for a few early small fish didn't see me waste much time and after 5mins I was soon on the waggler with single caster on the hook feeding a few casters and odd grain of corn over the top via the catty, After an hour to say the fishing was hard was an under statement as the only fish caught were a tiny roach each by Don & Paul and me and Martin were still blanking! I did have two bites on the waggler with maggot on the hook which I missed but think it was again small roach grabbing the bait?

After just over an hour I decided to have a look on the long pole with dead maggot on the hook, Well I was amazed when the float went under within seconds and soon netted a 10oz skimmer followed by one of similar size the next put-in so at least I was avoiding the blank" things were slow but I managed to add 2 more in the next 30mins but had to rest the swim so switched back to the waggler. By now Paul had added a few better skimmers also on the waggler and caster but I was struggling to get a bite on it as was Martin mainly I put down to the fact we weren't feeding it regularly enough? I was up to about 6 smaller skimmers by the halfway stage all taken on the long pole line as the short 12mt line didn't produce a bite. The problem was I couldn't feed the waggler line as much as would have liked and with Martin and Paul putting the faith in it by feeding more I struggled to get any indications on it, Martin had managed to add a couple of bigger 2lb fish on corn and Paul was still catching the odd skimmer including one of 3lb on caster so I was hoping my long pole line would produce some late fish?

The rest of the match spent on the waggler with corn on the hook which produced just 1 fish, A 1lb perch!, and the long pole line, A couple more small skimmers on the pole line were added and it wasn't until the last 30mins when the light faded things got interesting' I added a 1lb & 2lb fish in two chucks before I hooked a better skimmer which came off after a few seconds" so with time running out I added a small nugget of ground-bait via a tosspot attached to the pole over the float and hooked another as soon as the rig settled' And would you believe it I lost another good skimmer! Its amazing I hadn't bumped or lost a fish all day then this happens? I've had the same happen on most of this series and if its not frustrating enough with the weights being so close though-out it can turn out to be costly point wise.

At the weigh-in Bob Gullit was winning the section with 8lb odd before Martin put a level 10lb on the scales catching 5 bigger skimmers on the waggler with corn which turned out to be enough to take the section so well done mate (See I said you would get a mention) lol. I was last to weigh and finished 3rd in the section with a level 8lb so those late lost fish cost me again but that's fishing and I will be keen to try it all again next year being such a popular and talented well run league so a big well done to them, I was hoping for a top ten finish being my first attempt and I think I was close unding the league with 12pts. As expected the weights were down with 16lb winning the match but it again was a very close frame.

It was a very close call for the overall series and old team mate Gary O'shea from Preston innovations Thatcher's showed his consistency though-out the league ending the day with another section win to take the title along with the heaviest overall single weight caught which boosted his wallet further" So well done mate, The runners up spot was taken by last years winner and Mr consistent Tony Rixon Followed by Viaduct's Dan Squires in 3rd. 

 Winner Gary O'Shea left with Runner-up Tony Rixon.

Back to Emerald pools next Saturday for the final round of the silvers league followed by Shiplate Farms Xmas match next Sunday but that could be interesting as I'm out with the lads works do next Saturday evening!??.

Full Daily Results - 

1st Dan Squires (Bait-tech Viaduct) peg 59 Lodge, 16lb 14oz.

2nd Sam Powell (Exeter) peg 64 Lodge, 16lb.  

3rd Paul Faires (Sensas Thyer's) peg 97 Cary, 13lb

4th Craig Edmond's (Avon Angling) peg 126 Cambell, 12lb 14oz.

5th Gary O'Shea (P.I Thatchers) peg 111 Cambell, 12lb 13oz.

Final Overall League -

1st Gary O'Shea (P.I Thatchers) 6pts

2nd Tony Rixon (Mosella) 7pts (Weight)

3rd Dan Squires (Bait-tech Viaduct) 7pts

4th Craig Edmonds (Avon Angling) 8pts (Weight) 

5th Bob Gullit (Garbolino B.V.M.G) 8pts

6th Paul Elms (Avon Angling) 9pts (Weight)

7th Gary Webber (P.I Thatchers) 9pts.

 

 

 

 

   

                               

Emerald Silvers League Rd 5.

Back to emerald pool today for the 5th round of the silvers league but after a hard overnight frost followed by a bright sunny morning wasn't going to make things easy for sure so the breakfast at the normal hilltops with Darren (Big Bird) Greenwood was very welcome although he managed to put another belly buster away before I was halfway thought the standard!"

With the league down to 8 of us now I still left the 9 pegs we started with in the bag and left Kev Jeffries decide my fate by drawing for me ending up on peg 6 again!

I was hoping to be a bit further up the lake where its a lot deeper than the 3ft I had but I had done well before so was confident of a few fish despite the frost, I set up 2 4x12 wire wonder floats on 0.11-0.09 and a 18 63-13 hook were I planed to start the day at about 10mts, A 0.3g PB2 on the same line/hook where I plumed-up at 13mts but didn't plan to feed anything here to start with, An finally a 4x10 chanti on 0.10-0.08 and a 20 PR434 hook on a long line to fish off to my right over loose fed casters. Company wise I had Darren on peg 5 (So could have good banter") and Ken Rayner down on peg 8 in the conifers but I couldn't see him. At the all-in I fed a few casters off to my right near the over hanging conifer and started at 10mts in the open water feeding just a small dry nugget of ground-bait via a cad-pot attached to the pole and started with a single red maggot on the hook. I missed a bite after 15mins followed by another 4 in the next hour then I connected to my first fish' A 5lb carp! Great...

Looking around I had seen Ken net some tench and Darren & Barry Fitchew had caught above me in the deeper water and I was beginning to get a little worried" I had tried the shorter caster line without a sniff and after 90mins I was out at 13mts searching for something? After 2 hours I had my first fish at 13mts, Another carp! and things were really not looking good as I was still to catch any silvers' I kept at it by feeding a couple of dead maggots & small nuggets of ground-bait and on the 10 & 13mt swims and switching between them.

After 2 and a half hours I finally caught a hybrid of 10oz on the 13mt swim on a single maggot followed by another smaller fish straight after" At least now I had something to work at as those who seemed to have had early fish were now struggling so with not much being caught I could make some in-roads. I was very cautious of how much I fed and didn't feed anything until I couldn't get a bite and slowly I began to add the odd Hybrid/Skimmers, I kept feeding the swims in turn and did manage to catch a couple of fish from the shorter swim but it took longer for any indications so most of the last 90mins were spent on the longer 13mt swim catching fish on and off until the all out, Darren's swim had slowed right up and I felt that I had enough to overtake him, Although Ken's swim had slowed later in the day I new he had a good first few hours so that would of helped, I did have a bit of a disaster at one point as my landing net handle came apart and started to sink as I went to net a hybrid over a 1lb, I asked Darren to help me scoop it back whilst I tried to scoop the fish by hand' Nope" it came off but after we managed to retrieve my net Darren returned to find his rig snagged to the bottom and as he tugged at it swearing at me' it flew out straight out and tangled in the over head tree.." I didn't laugh much!  Starting the weigh-in on fairy island Andy Gard on peg 1 had 6lb odd before Barry was top on are bank with 8lb odd, I new it would be close but didn't pay much attention to what I was putting in the net but was pleased to end up with 10lb before Ken finished up with 14lb odd of mainly tench to take top spot on a very hard day. It was a surprise to finish in 2nd spot on the day but I got the result after working at it and not panicking and dumping bait in" also worth £40 back as well as 2pts on the day which now looks as though I cant get caught for the overall league although the overall pay-outs for 2nd & 3rd are now very close with 3 anglers tied on 15pts after dropping there worst results so weight count back could come into play in the final round in two weeks time. One nice thing about this time of the year is the amount of tame Robins that are around to grab any free offerings of bait' as this little fella was doing on my landing net handle".

 

 Winner ken Rayner.

 

Full results -

1st Ken Rayner (Southwest Match Group) peg 8, 14lb 4oz.

2nd Dom Sullivan (Maver/Cadbury Angling) peg 6, 10lb.

3rd Barry Fitchew (Pole Repairs) peg 4, 8lb 7oz.

4th Kev Jeffries (PSV) peg 3, 6lb 9oz.

Overall standings after 5 matches (Worst Result Dropped).

1st Dom Sullivan 6pts.

2nd Kev Jeffries 15pts, 109lb 7oz.

3rd Tim Lewis 15pts, 106lb 15oz.

4th Ken Rayner 15pts, 94lb 3oz.

5th Barry Fitchew 17pts

6th Andy Gard 19.5pts

7th Darren Greenwood 20.5pts

8th John Barker 22pts.