Paul Garrett Memorial Match (Viaduct Fishery)

It seems to have come around quickly from this time last year for the annual match in memory of Paul Garrett, With team mate Donald picking me up and the normal hilltops breakfast on-route we arrived in plenty of time as the draw wasn't until 9.30am with the fishing times from 11 til 5, A good turn out saw 46 of us line the banks with the match to be spread over Cambell, Cary & Lodge Lake, I fancied Cary or Cambell to produce the winner but you never know so into the draw and I found myself on 116 Cambell which I was more than happy with as there had been a lot of fish up this end of the lake lately, Arriving at my peg the only down side was I had the cold North Easterly wind blowing at me which could make fishing the waggler awkward which was a shame as Tackle UK's Scott Russell had draw here on the Thursday cost cutter and won the match fishing the wagg and pellet.

For company I had Fred Roberts on peg 118 and a Neil Gaffe from Bordon Angling on 115, It was a straight forward plan for me today just to target the carp and hope they would come to the bomb and pellet if I couldn't present the waggler? With the rods both made up in my new double rod case I had plenty of time to set up so as a bit of a throw away line I made up a 4x12 Chanti on 0.15-0.13 and an 12 PR478 hook to fish meat at about 8mts in 4ft of water but didn't expect this to work until towards the end of the match if at all?

At the all-in I feed half a large pot of 6mm cubed meat onto the 8mt line and with the wind being really awkward started the match on the bomb and 8mm hair rigged pellet towards the middle of the lake feeding dampened down 8mm pellets over the top hoping it wouldn't take long for me to get a wrap round on my new maver elite 11ft feeder rod' Fred decided to start on the waggler and had a fish first chuck' but it didn't take to long for me to have a 3lb fish after 5mins, If anything the breeze was getting worse and Fred & the guy on 119 were soon on the bomb as well but they seemed to be getting a better response in the first part of the match, After an hour I had 3 carp of similar size and although the guys above me had a couple more it was still early days, I was casting the bomb to different areas of the open water feeding pellets over the top at regular intervals in the hope of drawing a few more fish into the peg as well as feeding a few shorter at about 20mts where I was hoping to try the waggler should the wind change.

The feeding pattern seemed to work as I was soon putting the odd fish in the net and going into the 3rd hour I was up to 12 fish which was ok from what I could see and the poor lad below me was still waiting for his first bite", Just as I thought things were going to plan the fish decided to move down towards his swim with him taking 4 in as many casts so I began to feed around 6 pellets twice every couple of minutes in the hope of pulling them back towards me. I was pleased to say this did the trick as he stopped catching and although it wasn't hectic I was still pinching the odd fish as it became obvious they wanted some bait fired at them, I did have a couple of attempts to try and make the waggler work on the slightly shorter swim but the wind was playing havoc pushing the float through and back towards me so didn't waste much time trying to get it to work, As the day went on I wasn't getting as many fish but they had increased in size with a coupe of fish over 6lb, It was just a case of feeding regularly and searching around the swim picking off the odd fish, with about 45mins left I had to ask the Neil if I could borrow another keepnet as I was getting concerned I was approaching the 70b limit in a couple of my nets but I never have been that good at guessing, as soon as I had put it in the water I had my biggest fish of the day approaching 10b but it was the kiss of death as I never had another bite on the bomb' I did quickly try the short meat line but after 3mins without a sign I saw the match out on the bomb hoping for a late pull around but it wasn't to be, I finished the day with 24 carp but had know idea what weight I was likely to have? From what I could see I had done ok on my bank although the guy over on the opposite side peg 126 had a few but didn't know how the other lakes had fished? When the scales arrived the top weight was 151lb odd so I new it would be close'. 

 

After totalling up my weights it turned out I had fell just short with 145lb which was a tad disappointing as I had lost a good fish near the net which was my fault and also lost a couple as they swam towards me' but it happens, 

 part of my catch.

Back at the results it turned out to be a very close affair with Chris Davis just taking the win from Paul Homewood by a few ounces with both anglers weighing 151lb although it was painful for Paul as he had gone over in one of his nets and had to have 5lb deducted! Chris drew peg 129 on cambell and caught on the long pole with meat on the hook,

 Winner Chris Davis.

 

 Just to rub salt into my wounds I was piped for 3rd place by 1oz.." but at least I managed to pick up £40 which paid for the day, Top silvers weight went the way of fishery owner Steve long from Cary lake peg 94 with 44lb odd catching on 6mm pellet on the pole. Apart from the wind spoiling things as far as the waggler went I had an enjoyable day, One more fish could have swung it my way but that's fishing, maybe on my next visit it will work in my favour'.

Full Results -
1st Chris Davis (Team Flip Flop) peg 129 Cambell, 151lb 5oz.
2nd Paul Homewood (Sedges Fishery) peg 96 Cary, 151lb.
3rd Dave Romaine (Bait-Tech Viaduct) peg 64 Lodge, 145lb 11oz.
4th Dom Sullivan (Maver) peg 116 Cambell, 145b 10oz.
Silvers -
1st Steve Long (Bait-TechViaduct) peg 94 Cary, 44lb 2oz.
2nd Scott Russell (Tackle UK) peg 78 Cary, 42lb 7oz.