Viaduct Silvers Only Pairs (Day 2).

Back to Viaduct for the 2nd day of this two day pairs event & after both Donald & Myself both having section wins Yesterday & sitting joint top after day one we were keen to do are best today. We did manage a nice breakfast at The Albion Truck-stop on route which was a god send after yesterdays dire Mc'Donalds", Just for the record this Truckstop is going to open for breakfast for the Viaduct teams of 5 starting in mid January if there will be a minimum attendance of 10 anglers, you have to pass it if your exiting the motorway from junction 23 to the Fishery following the main road so worth keeping in mind & if anyone would like to use it can you let them or myself know please. It was my turn for Cambell Lake today with the chance of being in the section on lodge lake & Don's turn for spring lake with a section on middle, I was half hoping to draw on lodge lake as I thought the section would be the fairest weight wise?.

Into the draw & I found myself on peg 119 Cambell in the corner of the lake & Don ended up on peg 2 on spring which was a fancied area, Mark Harper drew my peg yesterday & won the section with the bulk of his catch coming down the edge close to the bank at 5mts but today was a lot brighter & after peg producing here yesterday I wasn't so sure it would be as good today?

I had Bobby Gullick next to me on peg 118 Which was the first peg in the section with the rest of it on the opposite bank down to peg 126 so things weren't going to be easy' I started by pluming a line up at 10mts but it didn't seem right as I was only level with bobby's short line being set further back,

 But I planned to start the day here whilst building my other lines up so set up a 0.2g AS1 on 0.10-0.09 and an 18 PR412 hook were it was around 4ft deep, Next up was a 0.3g pencil float on the same line with an 18 PR434 hook to fish two lines left & right at 14mts + where the depth was pretty uniform again at around 4ft.

Last up was a 4x10 & 4x8 Chanti to fish along the inside edge one with an 18 808 & the other an 18 PR412 both on 0.12-0.10.

I started the day feeding One ball of ground-bait & pinkie's at 10mts, Fed 4 balls with casters & a few dead red maggots at 14mts to my right & 2 balls with chopped worm & Red Squatt at 14mts left. Starting on the 10mt line with a dead red maggot on the hook whilst feeding a few casters by hand down the edge I took a couple of blip" roach before bumping off a proper fish after 15mins, It didn't help with bobby already getting the better start buy taking a bonus 3lb tench off his short bits' line' after a couple more blips I was getting nowhere so it was time to try down the edge starting on single caster, First dob-in I was pleased to hook a better fish which turned out to be a 1lb perch' followed by a 6oz fish soon after but then I couldn't buy a bite there so it was time to have a look on the longer lines as we were already over an hour into the match.

I started to the right with double dead red on the hook but only had 2 small roach after 10mins so switched to the left hand swim with a small segment of worm on the hook. I had an 8oz skimmers after a couple of minutes but that was it for now so had another quick look down the edge, A couple of 2oz roach were soon added but then nothing again which seemed to be the pattern & already I was finding things hard'. Bobby had managed a couple of skimmers to a 1lb on the long pole & things weren't going to pan for me at this stage so switched back to the left hand long line with caster on the hook but decided to loose fed some casters over the top with the catty to try & trigger a response. I did seem to work for a while as I took three 8oz skimmers on the trot but it didn't last as I was back to catching next to nothing, I tried the other long line with a segment of worm & netted a 12oz perch straight away before being pestered by small roach again. I decided to re-fed both the longer lines with another couple of balls on each and have another try down the inside.

I just wasn't working for me here as all I manage was a few small roach again with know signs of the better perch I was hoping for, With over half the match gone I thought I had around 4lb or so in the net but estimated bobby had about 7lb so I was still playing catch up & I had seen a few fish netted on the opposite bank. it was looking like I had to rely on my long lines to produce something as the 10mt line was none productive. I did manage the odd 8-10oz skimmer of each of the longer lines but you couldn't catch more than one fish before you had to re-feed it or rest it for a while. I spent the last couple of hours just trying to put anything in the net from the odd roach down the edge to what ever I could off the long lines. With about 45mins of the match remaining and the water being flat calm in-front of me I noticed some small bubbles on the 14mt line I had been topping up with small amounts of chopped worm so said to bobby I would catch it thinking it could be a nice tench but hopefully not a carp". It didn't take long for me to get a bite again on worm but it was a skimmer around a 1lb which I thought would be a good sign but in the last 30mins I managed just one more 8oz fish & missed one more bite off the left hand swim. Bobby had managed a few more skimmers to go with his small fish off his short line & also added another tench over a 1lb so I new he had me beat, The pegs opposite me had struggled all day but seemed to have come alive in the last hour so things weren't looking promising"?. bobby was first to weigh & stuck 12lb odd on the scales, I ended the day with 8lb 13oz before we went over to the rest of the section on the far bank, Dick Bull on end peg 123 had a great last 30mins netting some good skimmers to go on & win the section with 13lb odd, The lad next to him had two bream in the last to put-ins netting one on the all out to finish with a level 9lb pushing me down to 4th in the section by 3oz".. Back at the results & Don had managed another good day with 20lb odd to finish 2nd in his section so we were still hoping for a pick up in the main frame overall. Top weight on the day went to Stu White from Spring Lake peg 15 with a great net of skimmers weighing 44lb with some good back up weights. 

It turned out England star Des Shipp had another good day winning his section with 21lb odd from peg 127 on Cambell & his partner Thatchers Captain Mark Harper who was 3rd in his from peg 16 on Spring was enough to see them win the event with a total of 6pts so well done to them.

 Winners Des & Mark.

 

It turned out we ended up joint second overall with 8pts but after a weight count-back we lost out 64lb -76lb to Roland Lucas & Dick Bull to end up 3rd overall after the two days which happened to be the same position as we finished last year" It turned out that 3oz proved costly" as it cost us that 1pt to go one better than last year but to finish anywhere in the frame is a good result with the standard of anglers fishing, My heads still telling me I should have had another look down the edge as I new I could of had at least a few more roach to perhaps give me a few more ounces but I chose to wait for better fish which didn't happen but that's sometimes the choice you have to make & we don't always get it right" lol. A Good result though never the less as we both picked up £50 each for winning are sections yesterday aswell as collecting £80 between us for 3rd so some penny's already in the money pot for next Xmas..?

Well done to Steve & Helen for another well run event & looking forward to next years. A day off planned tomorrow as the forecast is dire' but hope to be back at Viaduct for the cost-cutter match on Thursday before the wife & I fly to Amsterdam for a few days holiday so roll on". 

Days Result -

1st Stu White (Premier Angling) peg 15 Spring, 44b 12oz.

2nd Roland Lucas (Wiltshire Angling) peg 24 Spring, 38b 4oz.

3rd Gary O'Shea (P.I.Thatchers) peg 3 Spring, 32lb 3oz.

4th Paul Greenwood (Parsigns) peg 19 Spring, 24lb 6oz.

5th Des Shipp (Preston/Daiwa Dorking) peg 127 Cambell, 21lb 10oz.

6th Chris Davis (Frampton Cottrell) peg 111 Cambell, 20lb 12oz.

Overall Pairs -

1st Des Shipp & Mark Harper, 6pts - £130.

2nd Roland Lucas & Dick Bull, 8pts (Weight) - £110.

3rd Dom Sullivan & Don Sutherland, 8pts - £80.

4th Gary O'Shea & Bob Gullick, 9pts  £60.

5th Phil Cardwell & Martin Preston £40.