Viaduct 2 Day Pairs (Silvers Only) Cambell, Lodge, Spring & Middle Lakes.

Donald & Myself had been looking forward to this 2day event for some time after we managed 3rd overall together last year after a disappointing first day with myself winning the second day outright but that was after smashing the ice before we started!" No chance of that this year with the overnight temperature at 10'c", With Don picking me up we headed off for the normal Hilltops breakfast & I woke up starving' I was gutted when we found it was closed so the best we managed was a Mc'Donalds drive by which we can safely say was SHITE!".

Arriving in plenty of time to mix my ground-bait & have a wander around along with another fresh cuppa to wash down the taste of the foul one I had on route we found their were 21 pairs fishing so a good attendance for the two days, You could decided which Angler fished which lake first So I would fish Spring Lake today which also had a section on middle lake & Don opted for Cambell with a section on lodge lake, I fancied either a draw in the low numbers along the island or a draw on pegs 18 or 19 on the opposite side of it which always seems to produce a few big skimmers?. Into the draw & I found myself on the top bank of the lake peg 11 so nowhere near where I fancied & not an area I've ever drawn before but the section looked to be pretty fair on paper?. I Had plenty of open water to target but wasn't allowed to cast right across the peg as the marker boards on the island dictate peg 16 on the opposite bank can cast to the island as you can see in the picture,

 

For company I had Dave Roper next to me again on end peg of are bank which happens to sit below the Viaduct & I fancied him to catch some big perch down the edge today?

 Dave Hiding behind the bush' 

I did have an inviting inside to my right but would be sharing it with the guy on peg 10 so wasn't so sure it would work?. First up I set up a small Ground-bait Feeder to fish at around 25yrds then plumbed up at 14mts with a 0.3g pencil float on 0.11-0.10 floro carbon to an 18 PR434 hook where I found about 4ft of water which seemed quite flat over a large area, I set up a 4x12 Wire Wonder to fish another line off to my left at 9mts on the same line/hook, A 0.3g AS1 to fish short at 5mts & finally a 4x10 chanti to fish down the edge in 3ft of water on 0.12-0.10 & an 18 PR412 hook. To start the match I fed 4 balls of Ground-bait with casters & a few Dead pinkie's added onto the 14mt line, fed 2 balls with chopped worm & some red Squatt on the 10mt line & began the match on the feeder with dead red maggot on the hook whilst feeding casters by hand at 5mts & down the edge. It was a sow start to say the least, Just 2 roach in the opening 30mins which wasn't good as Dave had already netted a nice perch & another fish off his short line & the chap to my right had a better size skimmer on the feeder' I switched to single caster on the 5mt line but was surprized when it never went under! even a try down the edge produced just one branch" So it was back to the feeder as I still wanted to let my long pole lines settle.
I began to feed a few casters through the feeder & thought I had sussed it when I netted a 10oz fish but nothing followed, I tried various baits but was going nowhere & after an hour or so it was time to try the longer lines. Starting at 10mts I had 2 small roach on a small bit of worm so was soon out to 14mts with maggot on the hook, I had a bite as soon as it settled being a skimmer of 8oz followed by 4 more to 1lb in the next 20mins" I was now back in contention with the guys in around me so things were now settling down. The fish didn't seem to want to settle as I struggled for a bite after so soon decided to add another ball of bait & rest it for 10mins, I tried again on all my other pole lines but couldn't muster anything off them so it was back to the long pole. This time it was a much better result as I netted a near 3lb fish followed by another of 2lb shortly after" I thought I was going to empty the place but it seemed you would get the odd fish the they would disappeared' I kept working at the swim feeding regular amounts when I felt the fish had backed off, on a couple of occasions I went out to 16mts and found a couple more skimmers sat off the feed. I did expect the peg to get better as the match progress but if anything the peg began to fizzle out, The guy to my right had seen how my match was going & also netted some decent size skimmers after following suit but after a change in my feeding slightly I managed to pull a few more better 2lb plus fish back into the swim. I did think that the 10mt line would produce late in the match but it just didn't happen as I never managed a skimmer off it all day' The last hour was slow but I did add another couple of smaller skimmers before the end of the match when others around me struggled to add much so a pleasing match come the end, When the scales arrived 10lb odd was winning the section & I new I had more than that but was pleased to see my total go 21lb odd which was plenty enough for the section so a great start' Walking back Don came to help with the kit & it just so happened Don had fished a good match to win his section on Lodge Lake with 14lb odd so we couldn't ask for a better result" Back at the results it turns out Des Shipp (Peg 18 Spring) I ask Ya" & Mark Harper , (Peg 119 Cambell) had both won their sections as well so were tied on top after the first day with all to play for tomorrow. Top spot on the day went to none other than Andy Power from peg 4 on spring lake catching 42lb of skimmers on the waggler with corn on the hook, A good day around so looking forward to what tomorrow brings for the pair of us.

Full Results -
1st Andy Power (Preston/Barnsley Blacks) Peg 4 Spring. 42lb 13oz.
2nd Des Shipp (Preston/Daiwa Dorking) peg 18 Spring, 33b 9oz.
3rd Paul Cardwell (Bait-Tech Viaduct) peg 25 Spring, 24lb 24b 5oz.
4th Dom Sullivan (Maver) peg 11 Spring & Andy Namn (Freenze) Peg 2 Spring 21lb 2oz.
6th Ziggy Slowinski (Garbolino) peg 19 Spring, 20lb 5oz.

Pairs -  Des Shipp & Mark |Harper 2pts.
             Dom Sullivan & Don Sutherland 2pts.