Viaduct Silvers League (Round 2)

Back again for the next round & after the first matches result I was keen to try again, Traveling again with Don We stopped off for the normal hilltops brekky but only just timed it right as for some reason their was a mass invasion and the place was nearly full' I had to Laugh though as Adrian Jeffries walked though the door & his face was a picture as he promptly left" Only for us to arrive at the lakes to find him tucking into a pasty! I was near the front of the draw again today just praying that I could have the magic touch' Don't be so bloody daft" peg 132 in the far corner of Cambell, Another area where I was going to have to fish my socks off to get good points to compete against the more fancied pegs around the spit'? We were saying in the café this morning about drawing pegs you don't fancy, And I agree theirs nowt you can do about it you just gotta get on with it, after all a day on the bank is better than working, Unless your Simon Cowell or such like". I drew peg 131 a couple of weeks ago & had a nice day catching lots of roach short and a few tench late after the colder nights I wondered if this would be possible, Peg 131 is left empty and I had Paul Blake & Gary Webber above the tree on 130 & 129, Which produced 3rd in the silvers final yesterday with a net of bigger fish & I fancied Gary to have a few?.

I used the same rigs as yesterday for the long lines one at 12mts left and at 14mts slightly to my right, I couldn't find much depth and my 12mt swim was only around 2ft deep' I had a bit more depth on the 14mt line at around 3ft.

I was hoping I could catch shorter though & put my faith in a line at 7mts which I could just about feed by hand with casters, Again about 3ft deep so set up a 4x10 chanti on 0.11-0.10 and a 16 808 hook, This might sound a little large but I planned to fish double caster or a piece of worm on the hook to hopefully avoid the small fish but should I be lucky enough to hook tench then I would be confident of landing them'. I also set an identical rig on a longer line which I could use at 3mts in the hope of mugging some early roach. Finally I set up a 4x8 chanti to fish under the branches down the edge in 2ft of water but enough said about that for now.

At the start I fed 4 balls of ground-bait with a few hard 4mm pellets and micros onto the 12mt swim and 1 ball with casters & a few red maggots at 14mts, fed a small amount of chopped worm and caster under the branches & fed a ball of chopped worm & casters at 7mts, I had been flicking a few casters in by hand whilst feeding my other lines onto the 3mt line & started here to hand with single caster on the hook. I had a couple of small roach straight away the nothing" by now what breeze their was would cause all the leafs to skim over my side of the lake making it nearly impossible to lay the rig in" As far as the swim under the branches went was out of the question as this is where they all stacked up!' Great.. With only half a dozen roach in the net in 30mins And seeing Paul net a tench & Gary net a bigger fish I felt the writing was already on the cards?.

I knew I had to catch some better fish though the day as I couldn't rely on the roach to give me enough weigh to compete as it wasn't quick enough so I opted to start feeding heavier with caster by hand whilst I tried the longer lines, Starting at 14mts with double caster on the hook I had a decent fish straight away, Shame it was in the shape of a carp! Not a good sign' Over to the 12mt line with an expander on the hook and I was expecting to latch into another but was surprized after 5mins without a bite it shot under & a 1lb skimmer was added' nothing followed but it did do the flying act so it was time to try the 7mt swim I had been feeding by hand. Starting on double caster I did have bites straight away but it was from small roach which I was making a hash of getting in as my elastic was a bit pingy', Another good helping of casters & chopped worm on the 7mt swim before I tried my long lines again, I managed another 12oz skimmer at 12mts but was amazed at the amount of carp that seemed happy to sit over the single ball of feed I had fed at 14mts as I hooked one every time I tried it" In the next two hours I put nothing In the net but did manage to land 3 carp which I was doing best to keep away from my other lines" It just wasn't happening, I couldn't fish the long line rig or even get the rig on the short line under the branches to try and snare a few perch as the leafs had all collected here and to be honest I was starting to lose interest. With about 90mins to go I had a near 4b tench off the 7mt line on double caster after spotting a few small bubbles which got me interested again hoping a few more would follow going into the last hour, I still kept trying the lone lines & although I hadn't been topping them up I just couldn't hook anything but carp, I managed a few hybrids to 1lb off the 7mt line before hooking another carp here but with seconds of the match remaining I hooked a decent fish I could tell was a nice tench so took my time netting a 3lb fish just after the all-out, I had it in my head that I had been well beat above me by Gary & Paul but was surprized to find 15lb odd was winning my section from the other side of the spit when the scales arrived, My total went 13lb 14oz which turned out enough for 3rd in the section as there was another 15lb weight so not a disaster but had me thinking had I missed out catching the extra couple of pounds to win the section?  I bumped off two better fish earlier in the match at 7mts but it happens but I'm sure had the leafs not hindered the swim I could of had a few more roach on the longer line or some fish down the edge but that's Autumn fishing for you, The Good News of the day Was Donald Had managed to win The match With 33lb odd from Cambell peg 124 catching some big Skimmers/Bream' at 7mts with pellet on the hook so at least we had a happy van for the journey home" As far as my peg went from yesterday, Paul Elms drew it who can catch a few and struggled for 7lb so I was right in saying it wasn't an area to draw at the moment.  Back again in two weeks for round three but not planning a match next weekend to keep the wife happy but have a pleasure day planned on Saturday with a dear old boy of 76 who's been itching for someone to take him out as he hasn't been for 10yrs so a bit of a crabtree day I think". I do apologise but it wasn't until we left and had a phone call off Steve I realised I hadn't taken a picture of the weigh sheet from Cambell as it was under the photo copier but will add as soon as possible.  

Full Results -

1st Don Sutherland (Maver) peg 124 Cambell, 33lb 14oz.

2nd Andy Power (Preston Innovations) peg 103 Cary, 28lb 12oz.

3rd Tony Rixon (Drawbag/Mosella/Veals) peg 99 Cary, 27lb 13oz.

4th Craig Edmunds (Flip Flop) peg 69 Lodge, 24lb 4oz.

5th Nick Chedzoy (P.I.Thatchers) peg 112 Cambell, 23lb 2oz.

6th Mark Lehay (Summerhayes) peg 125 Cambell, 20lb 14oz.