Viaduct Silvers League (Round 3)

Back Again for the next round of this popular silvers league and after another day sat in a classroom all day yesterday on my drivers Cpc course which runs out in another four years" So have to a module once a year until then, I ask you' theirs a lot more to this than just driving the thing these days!. With team mate Donald Sutherland picking me up we had plenty of time for the visit to hilltops first, Yet again we noticed how mild it was with the temperature reading 12 degree's & its the 1st of November today" It was the last match that pellet would be allowed and with the temperature not dropping much through the week I still felt it would play apart? With the match being held over Cambell, Cary & Lodge I fancied a few pegs on each lake to produce a few fish, For some reason I had peg 62 on lodge in my head but wasn't disappointed (For a change') to find myself on peg 69 Lodge which is the first peg above the rope on the opposite bank & also a peg I happened to draw in this league last year winning the section with 16lb odd but I would have my work cut out as I had silvers maestro Steve Kedge below the rope on peg 70, Mark Lehay above me on peg 68, And Venue Expert Gary O'Shea above him on peg 66 as peg 67 is left empty.   

This can be a good area for the lakes large skimmers and I was hoping to latch into a few on the long pole out towards the rope,

First up I had two 4x12 Wire Wonders made up on 0.10-0.9, one with an 18 808 to fish pellet over ground-bait and 4mm's at 14mts to my left and the other with an 18 63-13 to fish maggot/caster over ground-bait a few feet away from the rope again at 14mts both lines being around 4ft deep. Next up was 4x12 slim float to fish at 7mts on 0.10-0.08 in just over 3ft of water and finally a 4x8 chanti on 0.11-0.09 and an 18 PR412 to fish along my inside bank around 2ft deep.

At the all in In I decided to take quite a positive approach as I felt who ever could catch the lakes bigger skimmers would do a nice weight? I fed the 7mt line first with a good handful of casters some chopped worm and a small ball of ground-bait, Fed the 14mt to my left with 4 balls and some 4mm pellets, & fed the 14mt line nearer the rope with two balls containing some casters & a few dead red maggots and began to flick a few casters down the edge. Starting at 7mts with single caster on the hook it didn't take long to get my first fish being a hybrid of 6oz, Over the next 30mins I added a few skimmers of similar size and seemed to be doing ok as I had only seen mark catch some small roach and Steve didn't seem to be doing much better, As always it slowed down so I re-fed a similar amount as I was itching to try the longer line confident I could catch the bigger skimmers? Starting on the line to my left with 4mm expander as expected I had a bite straight away but it proved to be no bigger than I was catching short, Over the next 15mins I had another 8 skimmer but bite were hard to come by, By now mark had switched to his longer line and had two good skimmers in next to no time. I decided to rest it and try the swim nearer the rope starting on two dead reds on the hook, Again a bite instantly but it was only another small skimmer and the same happened when I switched to double caster on the hook.

By now Mark had added a couple more better fish and although he was having to wait for bites it was proving worth wile as Steve's match seemed to be going similar to mine although he was switching back to his short line more often adding more roach. It was getting a bit frustrating as I just couldn't seem to hook any of the large skimmers I had expected no matter what it tried on the hook bait wise, For some reason they seemed to want to sit further up the lake as Martin Preston opposite Mark was also catching better fish? I began loose feeding 4mm's with the catty on the pellet line and did hook a big skimmer only for it to come off shipping back! But nothing followed so I was back to square one. I was regretting coming of my shorter line so early wishing I had total fished it out before adding more bait as I did because I was also struggling for bites here every time I tried it. I kept switching around my lines hopping for the bigger fish to turn up on the long lines but I just couldn't connect to then the biggest I had managed was around 1lb but most fish were 6-8oz but it just wasn't quick enough to catch up with Mark and Steve had also added a couple of better skimmers to his roach off the short line. I had switched to feeding 4mm pellets along with the casters I was loose feeding by hand at 7mts in the hope some bigger fish would turn up going into the last hour but after a couple more similar stamp fish all I did was attract the lakes carp netting a 5lb fish soon after. With about an hour to go and my swims not responding I had to try and add something to the net so decided to have a look down the edge with single caster on the hook as I had been feeding it by hand threw the day, I had two 4oz roach then hooked into something much better which turned out to be a 3lb bream!" would you credit it' A welcome bonus never the less" A couple of small roach saw me rest it and have another try long which saw me miss a bite on double caster but that was it. Back down the edge and another better fish straight away, A 1lb perch" Now I was beginning to regret not using this line earlier in the day but when your neighbour is catching  better fish its hard not to try and follow suit. I did get another quick chance to try the long lines without success before adding a few more roach from down the edge before the match ended and to be honest I though I had been well and truly battered' from both sides today admitting to about 12lb odd?

Gary was first to weigh and put 21lb odd on the scales, Mainly Perch & Hybrids from his inside edge with a few better skimmers on the long pole, Next up was Mark who was admitting to about 18lb but ended up with 22lb of bigger skimmers to pip Gary, My turn & I was quite surprized to finish with 18lb 9oz which surprized me more when Steve had a level 18lb" With a couple of 9lb weights below him it meant I had enough for 3rd in the section & 3pts which isn't a disaster but again only a few pounds making the difference to win the section, Chatting to Steve afterwards his match had panned out pretty similar to mine also struggling to find the better fish so perhaps they just weren't in-front of us today who knows" Back at the results Sam Powell on peg 111 Cambell won the day with 34lb of skimmers & Tench catching at 7mts with caster and on the long line with squats, Don had another great day finishing second with 26lb odd from peg 114 on the same lake again catching mainly at 7mts on maggot. As it stands Local lad Dan Squires holds the lead with 3 section wins but its close behind him. The venue fished well with the weights being very close again which makes for a good match. Well off to Stafford Moor on Friday for the Silver Mania over the weekend with 60 odd of the country's best anglers it will be a true test but looking forward to it.

Full Results - 

1st Sam Powell (Thatchers P.I) peg 111 Cambell, 34lb 3oz.

2nd Don Sutherland (Maver) peg 114 Cambell, 26lb 6oz.

3rd Martin Preston (Sensas) peg 62 Lodge, 25lb 12oz.

4th Dan Squires (Sensas) peg 96 Cary, 24lb 13oz.

5th Steve Denmead (Bait-Tech Viaduct) peg 128 Cambell, 24lb 10oz.

6th Dave Roper (Thatchers Tackle) peg 24lb 1oz.