Viaduct Fishery (Thursday Costcutter).

A last chance go at the silvers before Saturday's All-Winners Final & With Traveling Partner Don Sutherand as we both managed to take a days holiday, We didn't have time to stop off for breakfast today but managed to stop off and grab a bacon & sausage sandwich at the truck Albion truck stop on route, Or so we thought? It wasn't until unwrapped it after getting a mile down the road we realised they had forgot the sausage! I thought it felt a bit light" Bacon it was then!".

What was noticeable when we arrived is how much cooler it was with the temperature hovering around 7* and it certainly felt fresher' With 19 fishing the match was to be held over Cambell & Cary lakes again today and I fancied Cambell would probably be best for the silvers as there were some nice tench caught here over the weekend, Draw wise I fancied somewhere around 126/125 on Cambell which is above the spit on the far bank an area which can produce the tench or big skimmers/bream quite regularly. Into the draw & I found myself on Cambell 128 which is the first peg above the spit so not to disappointed". The only problem I could face would be hooking carp as there seemed to be a few still wanting to play ball as we arrived at are swims. Quite simple today as I had a 0.2 PB2 on 0.11 - 0.10 an 18 808 to fish a line at 2'oclock at 12mts in around 4ft of water, The same again to fish at 14mt in-front me were it was a couple of inches deeper with a 18 PR434 hook,

A 4x10 chanti on 0.10 - 0.9 and an 18 808 to fish down the edge near the brambles were I had about 2ft of water,

And finally the same set up but on a long line to fish in-front of me at 3mts. For company I had Alex Murray next to me on 127, Mr draw bag himself Gary O'Shea on 126, Don on 125 and Gary Etheridge on peg 123, and yep' We were all targeting silvers".    

At the all-in I fed 4 balls of ground-bait with casters & red maggot at 14mts, 2 balls at 12mts with some casters & micro pellets and began to feed a few casters by hand down the edge & at 3mts. Starting on the long line to hand at 3mts I had a couple of early small roach but after 20mins I could tell this line wasn't going to get me far, I tried down the edge but only one small roach in ten minutes so it was time to switch things around a little, I decided to feed a bigger amount of casters at 7mts via the pot with some chopped worm as Alex had already taken a couple of net fish among his roach further out than I had started, I wanted time for it to settle so after 25mins I was out on the 14mt line with red maggot on the hook. Well in the next 10mins I had three 12oz plus skimmers, Then 5mins later I added two tench for around 3lb odd" This now put me in-front of Alex for the time being but it was still early doors" After 10mins with no more bites I re-fed with another ball and switched to the 12mt line with caster on the hook. In the next 15mins i had a couple of hand size skimmers before another 12oz fish but then nothing so it was time to try the longer line again were I expected some more fish to be waiting? WRONG", I sat there for 15mins on different baits before final connecting with a fish on the head of a worm' A CARP!". It soon parted company but more to the point it seemed to be the reason why I hadn't connected to anymore silvers, I tried again with maggot on the hook and ten mins later I pricked another one' This wasn't a good sign so I left the swim to settle hoping the carp would move off after mopping up what they hadn't already taken" .

A Quick try on the inside & 7mt line but they still were to produce anything worth wile, Back at 12mts on caster & Dead red I had a run of another 4 skimmers in 20mins and a couple of fish on pellet but they didn't seem to want to stay in the peg ong as you would get a few bites then nothing, It was a case of the normal routine of catch what you could of a line then rotate swims searching for fish, Alex had managed a better skimmer or two on the long pole to go with a bonus 3lb perch' off his short line so it was pretty level pegging at the halfway stage, I kept trying my shorter 7mt line fully expecting it to produce but for some reason they didn't want to be this close in my swim? The 14mt line remained pretty none productive for the rest of the day, A few smaller skimmers & one flying 2lb fish was all I could muster as ever since the carp arrived they weren't to keen to leave' I did manage to land two by the end of the match both which were pushing double figures" Most of my fish came off the 12mt line topping up with small amount when I couldn't get bites at all, Alex Had added another big perch along with a nice tench off his long line but was adding bits off his short line all day, Gary's peg had seemingly got better as the day went on as he was adding skimmers to his net at regular intervals along with the odd tench, I did manage to catch a couple of bars of soap' tench down the edge and lost a better fish but bites didn't come here until late in the day again, A couple more 1lb plus skimmers at 12mts was all I could add before the all out sounded.

I didn't think I had as much as Alex as again his peg got better as well as Gary's, but after a flying start for me, disappointingly it didn't produce fish at regular enough intervals for the rest of the match, When the scales arrived Gabo was leading the way on the silvers front from the peg I had Saturday with 21lb 13oz, My turn for silvers and the scales went to 21lb 14oz which was dead handy as we had a quid on it before the start" lol, added to the carp finishing with 46lb odd. Alex did well to put 26lb of silvers on the scales and his dog perch certainly helped, Yet Again Gary didn't disappoint putting 30lb of tench and skimmers along with a three carp taken on the long pole with caster or maggot on the hook over ground-bait before Don managed to end up with the same weight as myself'. Winner on the day was Jim Butcher from peg 77 Cary catching mainly on the bomb & Pellet, Well that's all the practice done so hoping for a dream draw on Saturday, Somewhere around where I've been today or the noted pegs on lodge are going to be favourites with everyone by the sound of it so here's hoping".

Full results - 1st Jim Butcher (Viaduct) peg 77 Cary,

2nd Roy Worth (Bait Tech Viaduct) Peg 118 Cambell, 52lb 3oz.

3rd Tony? peg 119 Cambell, 48lb 15oz.

4th Gary O'Shea (P.I. Thatchers) peg 126 Cambell, 47lb 5oz.

5th Dom Sullivan (Maver) peg 128 Cambell, 46lb 6oz.

Silvers - 1st Gary O'Shea (P.I.Thatchers) peg 126 Cambell, 30lb 9oz.