Viaduct Fishery (Saturday Open) Cambell & Cary Lakes.

Two blogs to get through tonight after going out with the wife when returning home yesterday, I skipped breakfast today arriving first again as normal' Proves how keen I am' Lol, We were going to have a pleasant day weather wise as it was overcast with no wind & very mild, 24 of us fishing today & as normal I would choose what to target depending on my draw? close to the front today & ending up on peg 124 on the far side of cambell lake, Not a bad area for silvers again so would again use today as a bit of a practice for the next round of the league tomorrow should I end up on this lake. For company I had Nigel Easton on the end peg 123 which Jacko" won the silvers off of on Thursday who was also going to target them today & Fisho finalist Roland Lucas next door on peg 125 who was thinking of a silvers attack until he bumped a couple of carp plumbing up" With the conditions ideal I planned most of my faith on a long pole attack so set up a 0.3g pencil float to fish at 14mts slightly to the left on 0.11-0.09 & an 18 Guru maggot hook, A lighter 4x12 Chanti with a strung out style set up on the same line with a size 20 hook to fish the same distance infront of me & finally a 0.2g pencil on 0.11-0.08 & an 18 PR412 to fish off to my right at 13mts which would double up to fish at 9mts, On the all in I put a small ball of G/Bait with a few casters & pinkie's on the 9mt line, Fed four balls with a few of the same in at 14mts to the left, fed one ball packed with casters infront of me & fed some loose G/Bait & chopped worm on 13mt line.

I started on the 9mt line with single caster but struggled to get more than a couple of small roach in the first 30mins so soon on the longer lines, Starting where I fed the one ball with dead red maggot I had my first skimmer all of 4oz's' I switched to caster on the hook which got me three more in the next thirty minutes from 8-12oz. Nigel had slow start with just a few small fish so even at this early stage things were looking harder than we had expected, This line soon dried up so time to try the other long lines after topping up with just another small ball, Strangely I expected to get some fish straight away off the line I put the most feed on at the start but never had a bite here despite trying various baits, I had a look at 13mts but still no signs nor on the short line I had been topping up regularly.

Back on the long one ball' line & again I had a small run of smaller skimmers along with one around a 1lb before I bumped a fish & they were gone again' The heavier fed 14mt line finally produced one 12oz skimmer but then nothing before I gave the 13mt line another go, Starting with red maggot on the hook I had a near 1lb fish followed by another couple of 8-10oz in the next 15mins again on maggot, Nigel was really struggling & hadn't had any better sized fish & looking around the lake those fishing for silvers seemed to be in the same boat, I keep plugging away just picking the odd fish of each line it seemed with no sort of pattern but kept changing the baits to try & induce some bites, I expected the last 90mins or so the fish would have a go but unfortunately for me it went the opposite way' I went from picking off the odd fish to really start struggling for bites, To make things worse Nigel had now managed to take a Tench & decent Perch off his 9mt line & the bulk of Jackos weight on Thursday on the peg was made up of tench so I fancied Nigel to hook some more? I kept trying my short line but the best I could manage was a couple of hand sized skimmers, I spent the last hour chasing around my lines just trying to put something in the net but only managed another 1lb fish off the 13mt line & a coupe of 8oz skimmers fishing past my feed at 16mts, With seconds remaining I hooked what would of been my best fish from the 13mt line only for it to shed the hook' Nigel had a much better finish as he added two more tench & another decent Perch & in the end I thought he had enough to come out on top.

When the scales arrived the best silver weight was 8lb odd before I managed a level 14lb, As expected it was close between the two of us but it turned out in my favour beating him by a mere 2oz" but it turned out to be a good battle between us come the end, back at the results & I was surprized to find myself with the top silvers weight on the day picking up £50 but more importantly my place booked in next years silvers final already so a good day all round, The match was won today by venue regular Mark Wynn from peg 112 with 156lb odd catching on the bomb & pellet & some better fish later in the day shallow on the pole followed by a couple of 140lb weights. Hopefully todays effort will put me in good stead for Sunday's match depending on my draw?

Full results -

1st Mark Wynn (Colmic) peg 112 Cambell, 154lb 11oz.

2nd Dave Hayward (Wilshire Angling) peg 86 Cary, 145lb 10oz.

3rd Paul Bell (Un-attached) peg 96 Cary, 145lb 1oz.

4th Lawrence, (Un-attached) peg 77 Cary, 132lb 15oz.

Silvers -

 1st Dom Sullivan (Maver) peg 124 Cambell, 14lb.

2nd Nigel Easton (Bait-Tech Viaduct) peg 123 Cambell, 13lb 14oz.