Viaduct Fishery Silvers League Rd 1 (Cambell,Cary & Lodge)

Woke up with a lot of thought's for my old travelling partner Donald Sutherland today as normally we would be dead keen to get this popular league underway having both had decent results in this last year, Sadly I would be travelling on my own this year but I did take a stop off on route for 5mins to have a good think of the memories. It was certainly a fresher morning of late & arriving at the fishery their was close to a ground frost although it looked like being a pleasant day with the sun breaking through & no wind, Something I hadn't seen at the fishery before were two hot air balloon's overhead as I was getting the kit from the van, I took this pick as it came across the top of Cary Lake,

 It wasn't half fitting for it to read Tribute" I though!.

 

   I hadn't quite got my kit fully prepared rig wise so arrived in plenty of time to assemble a few with a cuppa. A good turn out as always with 51 of us fishing, The talk was either a draw in the 120's on Cambell or the noted rope pegs on Lodge but to be honest I didn't really mind drawing on Cary having done well on it in the first round last year , I shuffled back in the draw queue a little & let a few others dive in before taking my turn, I ended up on Cary but it wouldn't of been a choice peg as I ended up on peg 74 being the first peg up backing on the Cambell lake, I've drawn this in the warmer months but have always targeted Carp as its very shallow with not much more than 3ft of water with the deepest spot off towards the end of the tree at just over 3ft,

 My first rig for here at 12mts was a 0.3 pencil float on 0.13-0.10 & an 16 808 hook where I would fish soft pellets over  fishmeal groundbait & Hard 4mm's, Next up was a 0.2 pencil to fish at 6mts again on 0.13-0.09 & an PR434 hook but I was going to put most of my faith in catching down my inside margins in just over 2ft of water, I didn't think the peg would compete for skimmers as much as some other pegs in the section as my section finished on peg 86 so I had in mind to try & catch roach with the chance of the odd bonus fish so set up three 4x10 chanti on different length's of line so I could work up & down the inside bank all being on 0.13-0.09 & 18 PR412 hooks. I started the day by feeding four balls of fishmeal & some pellets towards the tree at 12mts, Fed a ball of worm/casters at 6mts & began to feed both inside margins, one with casters & the left with casters & a little hemp, Starting down my right hand side I began to catch the odd small roach from 1-3oz but was just feeding 3-4 casters to start with as I was feeding more to the left so I could try & work out the best way to feed,

After an hour I though I had around 4lb of bits with the odd 4-6oz roach but as yet no bonus fish, I had began on the short line rig but already it appeared the fish would sit back after taking a couple from each side, I switched to the slightly longer line rig which saw me add a few more chucky roach & a bonus 1lb hybrid before thins slowed a little.

After 90mins it was time to try my other lines, I stared with a 4mm expander on the 12mt line but after 5mins without a sniff switched to the 6mt line with a small piece of worm, a couple of minutes later I had a 3oz skimmer on dead maggot but that was it, Looking around I hadn't seen to much caught so re-fed the longer lines & concentrated on catching what I could down the edge as I had know idea on what was being caught in my section although I did see the chap above me netting the odd hand size skimmer.

It was a case of catching a couple of fish before having to chase them slightly further along each inside, I kept my eye on those I could see & nobody appeared to be catching much on there longer lines so making the most of the edges was looking a wise choice? I managed a few more chucky roach on the longest lined rig along with a 10oz perch & another 1lb hybrid before I hooked one around 3lb, I know this because as soon as I hooked it swam towards the branches of the tree hanging in the water & for some reason shot out the water straight through the branches!"

Thankfully I only had to add a new hook-length but even worse the next dob-in I hooked a tench over 3lb which shed the hook as I went to net it.."

Back to catching the roach for a while but 20mins later I managed a 2lb tench again down the right hand margin, I had been feeding the left hand side a bit more positive all day & although I would catch the odd fish it was slow most of the day until the last two hours when I began to catch more 3-6oz roach but you would catch a few before they backed off, I did have another try on the longer lines but it didn't happen so stuck to catching what I could back down the edges, I did manage a couple of 6oz perch but mainly it was smaller roach gracing the net, The last 50mins were a struggle as all of a sudden both my insides were showing signs of carp with plumbs of mud wafting up, This really put the smear fish off & pushed them out the swim, I managed a few more roach on the longest line rig away from where I had fed & was thankful of another 1lb hybrid with a minute to go but did manage to hook & trash three rigs before the all out. I was the first in the section to weigh & was pleased with 23lb 12oz, I helped do the section board Whilst Colin Dyer did the scales, Their was another 20lb weight from peg 81 above the spit & a 19lb from peg 78 before Phil (Fabio) Harding put his fish on the scales, Colin called it, 23lb 12oz' then Fabio found a rouch in his keepnet" We added it back in the weigh-net & let the needle settle properly' 23lb 12oz!" So that was it, Fabio & myself ended up joint 1st in the section so the best result for both of us recording a section win in the first round as well as picking up £37.50 each after splitting the section money, Top weight on the day went to Bob Gullick over on peg 124 Cambell with 40lb odd catching on the long & short pole with a few back up weights over 30lb so it fished well really considering the colder night & bright sunny day, I've booked-in in for an open match on Cary next Sunday as I'm taking Saturday off next week so I will decided what to fish for depending on the draw?. An enjoyable but very busy day today, but by working the lines I managed to keep regular small fish going in the net & a result that proved worth while & look forward to the next round in two weeks.

 Winner Bobby G centre, Dan right, & Sam Left.

Full results -

1st Bob Gullick (Mosella) peg 124 Cambell, 40b 14oz.

2nd Dan Squires (Sensas) peg 118 Cambell, 38lb 14oz.

3rd Sam Powell (P.I.Thatchers) peg 115 Cambell, 36lb 10oz.

4th Mark Saunders (Exeter) peg 60 Lodge, 36lb 9oz.

5th Craig Edmonds (Mosella) peg 97 Cary, 36lb 4oz.

6th Matt Tomes (Avon Angling) peg 73 Lodge, 32lb 10oz.