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.