Viaduct Fishery Winter League Round Two.

Back to the second round of this popular ninety five peg league with fifteen teams of five competing, As normal Team mate Donald picked me up we had are normal hilltops breakfast before arriving early to get a decent parking space' It was my turn to fish match lake which had an overspill onto spring lakes which I fancied to produce a few fish but the chances of drawing it were slim" & a couple on middle, We decided Ivan Currie could Honour the draw for us today as he's not able to fish the last few rounds, Thank god" A few of us said, Steve Segar was on peg 6 Spring which doesn't has much history at this time of the year, Ivan was on peg 80 Cary which is shallow so best sitting it out on the bomb for the resident lumps" Don had the same result as me in the last round drawing one of the overspill pegs on Cary from lodge lake peg 74 which was favoured a few weeks ago!, Captain Chris hook looked to have the best on paper drawing 114 on Cambell opposite the spit, And I ended up on peg 44 Match lake on the near bank in the middle of the lake, I hadn't a clue what to expect as I've only fished this lake once before & that was years ago' Arriving at my swim I had talented Chris Davis next to me on the end peg of are bank peg 45 & Venue expert & fellow blogger Tony Rixon the other side" Help... Owe well I had to make my own choices today then & hope I got something right'.

First out the bag was my Maver 10ft bomb rod which is just right for a shorter chuck to the island with a light lead of small cage feeder with 4lb main line to an 0.11 bottom & an 18 808 hook. It looked idea to start with but with strong wind forecast as the day went on I didn't want to venture to far out & chose to target two swims at 13mts to start with & see how things progressed?

I didn't have much depth anywhere with the best being the 3ft on the long pole lines so opted for 2 x 0.2 pencil floats, one on 0.11-0.10 and an 18 63-13 hook & the other on 0.12-0.11 and an 18 808 hook. Last up was a small loaded waggler to fish to the island but I only found a foot or so tight to the bank so wasn't sure it would work to well?

At the all-in I fed 2 balls & a pot of loose Ground-bait with a few casters & dead reds at 13mts in-front of me, A pot of loose to my right at 8mts as a throw away line & fed 6 pieces' of 6mm meat to my left at 13mts. I started on the bomb over to the island with red maggot on the hook but the next 30mins saw me try bread, corn & meat but I still hadn't had a bite nor had Tony or Chris at this stage.

Not long after Chris dropped in on his long pole line with meat & was rewarded with an F1 straight away so I soon followed suit' I gave it 15mins but no early signs so fed another small amount & decided to have a go on my silvers' line as tony was already putting some small fish in the net, I had 3 quick blade skimmers then it died so re-fed another ball & decided to give it another go on the lead, I had been pinging a few cubes over to the far bank with the wind assisting so started with a small cube on the hook. It hadn't been in the water a few seconds before I had an F1 over 2lb shortly followed by another of similar size, The disaster struck as I hooked something bigger which was certainly not in the gob" as soon as bomb hit the water which took me right past Chris into his margin before shedding the hook" Then 10mins later I had another carp on only to pull out bringing it back". this seemed to unsettle then as I didn't get any indications even when I switched to fishing the waggler over the top with maggot as it just threw up some small roach.

I had been topping the meat' swim up at regular intervals so dropped in for another try but still didn't have any signs and Chris hadn't had anymore off it after his early fish but had added a few perch including a fish over 2lb', Tony had managed a couple of F1 of his long pole line at 16mts & a better skimmer but even he was struggling to hold it so I had no chance as he's 3 times the size of me!" I gave my silvers line another go & felt something better was around as I didn't get any small fish? 2mins later I had a decent bite and promptly bumped a better fish" things weren't going quite to plan at this stage & being behind Tony & Chris as felt my best chances to add some better fish would be back over to the island & going into the last couple of hours the wind had swung around slightly giving me more chance of presenting the waggler better. I went back over on the bomb & began to feed casters across with the wind & added another F1 on meat before I switched to fishing single maggot on the waggler, I had an F1 then a couple of small roach which had me thinking they were easily spooked so it was a case of resting it again. The silvers line just wouldn't produce anything of size for me although Tony had added a couple more F1's & another better skimmer & Chris had also added a couple more F1's. back on the waggler I managed another but going into the last hour as soon as Chris back switched to his long meat line he was into a fish so I decided to give it another try.

it didn't take long for the float to go & soon added another F1', Shortly after I had another, Then another" It had came alive" the problem was so had Chris's swim along with tony adding a couple of better carp over his long line, I added a carp of 4lb which was fun on light elastic without a puller system' then added a couple more F1's before the end of the match, Bloody typical as I was just starting to enjoy myself'. I felt Tony had Enough to beat Chris & Myself & Chris had a fish or to more than me, Mat Parsons on peg 42 weighed 16lb before Tony had 9lb of silvers to add to his carp & F1's to finish with 32lb odd, I weighed 25lb & Chris had 29lb so it was a close call in the end but well done to Tony as he always does well here & knows the place well, Unfortunately further around the lake had fished better with a couple of 40lb weights & as far as I know nearly all the pegs on spring lake of are section had beaten us so no mega points for the team today for any off us by the look of it? I did enjoy the match & it proved you had to try & make thing happen so look forward to trying this lake out in the future, It turned out team wise we had a bit of a mare' Steve had 12lb of roach on spring but suffered to the carp having a go today, Ivan had managed a carp on Cary with a few bits, Chris had faired best with 60lb odd to finish over halfway on his lake & Don had a day to forget without hooking a carp finishing the day with a mixed bag for 6oz which cant be helped if the fish just ain't their".

I didn't get the weigh sheets today as Steve Ect have a lot to sort after the match & Don was desperate for a pint which I cant blame him but that's the way it go's with winter fishing, I know the match was won by Rich Lacey from the famous monk peg 66 on lodge lake with 129lb odd & that man again England Star Des Shipp put in another great performance to top the silvers with 35lb odd of skimmers from peg 62 on lodge catching good skimmers/bream at 10mts on caster over casters. Back again in two weeks for the third round I it might be my time to do the team draw? Can I just say now I'm sorry lads before I get the flack!" lol. I will add the full results as soon as I get conformation in the week, As for next weekend a lot will depend on the weather as I have a free weekend with no league matches so will decide later this week. 

Full results -

1st Rich Lacey (Silverfox) peg 66 Lodge Lake, 129lb 14oz.

2nd Ben Hagg (Keyford/Guru) peg 112 Cambell, 113lb 4oz.

3rd Dan White (Thatchers Vets) peg 110 Cambell, 95lb 11oz.

4th Gordon Cannings (Silverfox) peg 128 Cambell, 94lb 5oz.

5th Adam Mitchell (Freenze S.W Orange) peg 26 Spring, 82lb 9oz.

6th Fred Robert (2nd Time Lucky) peg 56 Lodge, 77lb 4oz.

Silvers -

1st Des Ship (Thatchers Gold) peg 61 Lodge, 35lb 12oz.

2nd Mike Williams (Thatchers Gold) peg 37 Lodge, 26lb 13oz.

3rd Dave Romain (Viaduct Select) peg 19 Spring, 24lb 3oz.

Teams Overall After 2 Matches -

1st Keyford, 134pts

2nd Premier Angling, 131pts

3rd 2nd Time Lucky, 126pts

4th Viaduct Allstars, 124pts  

5th Thatchers Gold, 118pts

6th Freenze Black, 114pts

7th Avon Angling, 113pts

8th Freeze Orange, 109pts

9th Somerset Angling, 105pts

10th Silverfox, 104pts

11th Team Viaduct, 96pts

12th Southwest Nomads, 94pts

13th Thatchers Vets, 88pts

14th Viaduct Select, 83pts

15th Thatchers Welsh Wizards, 76pts

16th Garbolino BVMG, 74pts

16th Moaning Maggots, 74pts

18th Maver, 72pts

19th Amigos, 68pts.