Viaduct Fishery (Saturday Open) Cambell Lake.

I was supposed to take the old boy of 76 I know from work out for a days fishing but with the forecast of heavy rain it didn't seem a good idea as I didn't want to be responsible for him catching hyperthermia" Being a hardy soul I still decided to venture out so booked into Viaduct for the Saturday open, The match was due to be fished over Cambell & Cary but with only 14 fishing & Cary having an open match on it tomorrow we were all going to be on Cambell. After another nice breakfast at the Albion Truck Stop on the A39 I arrived at the fishery to find it still surprisingly mild with hardly any wind to contend with although it did look like we were going to have the rain which had been forecast? Into the draw and I found myself on the near bank peg 116, An ok area for carp & silvers but I fancied a change so would take a chance on targeting the carp today.

The Bomb & 6 or 8mm pellet has been working well this year so that was the first out the bag' Next I set up a loaded insert waggler with no shot down the line to fish towards the middle of the lake just tripping the bottom which was around 4ft deep, I wasn't going to bother getting a pole out the bag but after purchasing a pint of casters I set up a 4x12 chanti on 0.15-0.13 and an 16 PR434 hook to fish in the open water at 8mts with bigger bits of worm over pots of casters and chopped worm. Finally I had a 0.2g AS1 on 0.17-0.15 to fish down the edge towards the tree.

At the start I fed a large pot of casters and some worm at 8mts, fed a few grains of corn down the edge by hand and began the match on the bomb & 8mm pellet. After 5mins I had my first wrap round only for it to promptly come off" I was pinning just a few 6mm's and a few 8's In a few different areas around the peg and kept switching around the swims, It seemed to be slow on are bank to start with and after an hour I had managed 2 carp of 4 & 8lb both from different areas which was more than those around me, It was time for a change so I switched to the waggler with 6mm pellet on the hook, 20mins later I had lost two foul hookers so decided to try of the deck. This seemed to do the trick for a while as I added a few more by fishing around a 1ft off the deck, Something had to spoil it and after approaching the halfway stage the wind had now picked up and was blowing straight in are chops! This put pay to that as I just couldn't get the rig to stay still long enough for a fish to take interest, A look on the pole lines didn't produce so it was back to the bomb, I thought I had sussed it when I had 2 in 2 chucks when switching to 6mm pellet on the hook but it was short lived' The carp just didn't seem to be happy to stay in the lower layers of the water and I could see Martin Preston just up from me on the opposite bank taking fish off the deck on the waggler which was made easier with the wind assisting him. The guys either side of me were also struggling so it was just a case of plopping the bomb around the peg snaring the odd carp on 6 or 8mm pellets. I expected the swim to produce better going into the last hour but the fish seemed to have other ideas as they pushed further up the lake & the guy on 118 had a good late run of fish it seemed again on the bomb, I managed to take 1 fish off the inside line, an 7oz skimmer on double corn!" but talking after most are side didn't catch anything short and I never had a sign on the 8mt line. The guy on peg 118 ended up with 98lb odd before I had 77lb which was ok until we got to that famous peg 112'' which again won the match with 153lb odd catching on the bomb mainly with pellet on the hook. Their was a couple more 100lb plus weights so it was a shame the wind put pay to catching on the waggler but despite trying it as much as I could it just couldn't present it. On the silvers front Paul Greenwood opposite me put 40lb of mainly skimmers on the scales on the long pole with maggot & casters for an enjoyable day. Back next week for round 3 of the silvers league and after the wife made a last minute change of plan it freed my up to have another day on the bank tomorrow, Very last minute but I've managed to get the last place at Shiplate Farm for their open on hawthorns lake and with it being two minutes from my door I wont be rushing to make it after the clocks go back tonight. Owe & just for the record I now have the sheet from cambell on last weeks silvers league results.

Full Results -

1st Jim Morrison (Tackle Trader) peg 112, 153lb 6oz.

2nd Martin Preston (Bait-tech Viaduct) peg 124, 137lb 8oz.

3rd Mark Wynne (Sensas) peg 110, 120lb 11oz.

4th Dave Hayward (Tackle Trader) peg 118, 98lb 15oz.

5th Dom Sullivan (Maver) peg 116, 77lb 2oz.

6th Nick Ewers (P.I.Thatchers) peg 131, 64lb 4oz.

Silvers - 1st Paul Greenwood (Parsigns) peg 125, 40lb 11oz.