Viaduct Fishery Silvers League Rd 2 (Cambell, Cary & Lodge Lakes)

Back to Viaduct for this second round of this popular league after yesterdays Silvers Final, Travelling on my own again I did manage the normal breakfast on route, When I was putting the kit in the van this morning it was chucking it down but thankfully when I arrived the skies were already clearing & the forecast was for quite a pleasant day with bright skies but with the amount of rain we had overnight I thought it may well have an effect on the day ahead, Close to the front of the draw again today & with the random draw I could end up on any of the lakes, I was hoping for Cary again today as I was confident of doing ok on it but wasn't to worried where I drew as long as could avoid what seem to be the dreaded numbers at the moment with the zero's on the end 80 & 90 on Cary, I did manage one with a Zero but thankfully it was peg 60 on Lodge lake which backs onto the pathway leading to Spring Lake, I have never draw this area before but from what I could gather it was quite a fair area, Bobby Gullick happened to draw it yesterday winning the section with 20lb odd just a couple of ounces ahead of Steve Jackson who was next door on peg 59, His catch consisted of mainly small skimmers on the maggot but I felt confident I could still catch a few on the soft pellet or worm/caster mix on the long pole as I was told they struggled to catch much short here yesterday.

I set up two pencil floats 0.3g for 14mts slightly to my left & 0.2g for 12mts just In-front of me both on 0.13-0.09, One with a 18 Guru F1 pellet hook the other with a 18 PR434 hook, Apart from this I set up a 4x10 chanti on a long & short line to fish at around 6mts on the same line with PR412 hooks & finally a 3x8 Chanti to fish at 4mts down the edge but to be honest I couldn't see this producing much?

For Company I had Poland's finest with Ziggy Slowski next to me on 59 & Thatcher's Nick Ewers on my right peg 62 so good company & the chance of a good micky take a some stage", I started the day feeding four balls of fishmeal ground-bait at 14mts with hard 4mm's & some micro pellets added, Fed two smaller balls with casters & a few pinkees at 12mts & at the last minute fed a good amount of casters & chopped worm behind it again at 14mts, I had done the usual, feeding a few casters on the short lines whilst feeding the long lines & this is where I started, I didn't have to wait to long for some small roach to 3oz to show up but it soon started to slow, I had a bonus 8oz hybrid but after about 30mins I was struggling for a bite, Ziggy had started slow & I had myself ahead of him until he caught a perch over a 1lb down by his tree" & I had notice Nick who had started at around 8mts had already netted some 8oz skimmers, I started on the 12mt line with caster on the hook but only had a couple more small roach, I switched to double pinkee which gave me one skimmer of 8oz but nothing followed, I had five minutes at 14mts with a piece of worm where I had fed loose W/C but no early signs. Time to try the expander over my fishmeal line & was pleased to take a 1lb skimmers straight away before adding a few smaller samples, Ziggy threw the spanner in the works by netting a good 1lb plus roach followed by a 2lb skimmer & to add to the pain Nick had netted a few more skimmers off his long line. I had another go on the short lines but after just a small roach I could pretty much forget these for the time being but would keep dripping some bait in on them.

I went back to swapping between the long lines but I could only catch the odd fish & by now it seemed the three of us were now struggling to catch, Except for Nick who managed a near 3lb bream... In the fin!" Things weren't quite going to plan, I was struggling for bites at 12mts & the only interest I had here now appeared to be carp" Trashing one rig when I parted company with one!. By now time had shot by & we were approaching the halfway stage, Ziggy Had managed a couple of skimmers to a 1lb But Nick had netted another decent fish, this time in the mouth" I had to do something to try & catch some decent skimmers in the last few hours if I was going to catch up, I decided to start a new line at 13mts off to my right, Feeding it with a new mix of Groundbait with no fishmeal in, Feeding 3 balls with just a pinch of casters & dead red maggots in & left it to settle, Back at 14mts I tried a few different baits on the hook but pellet still seemed to be best for the odd smaller skimmer so decided to add a cad-pot & fed a small nugget every put-in, It was hard work at this distance but it seemed to do the trick as I would take a couple of skimmers before the carp appeared & I had to rest it, I let the new swim settle for about 30mins before dropping in with double dead red maggot on the hook a few inches over depth. After about 10mins I was just about to give up when the float slowly slid away resulting in a 3lb flying skimmer" which thankfully I netted, After another ten mins I took a 1lb fish before topping it up with a  another small ball.

Back on the 14mt line I took a few more smaller samples but Ziggy had also netted a few & another better fish & Nick had managed a couple more better fish & we already had him down as the section winner at this stage, High light of the day went to Ziggy no question asked" He managed to hook a decent skimmer which made its bid for freedom towards the rope, he managed to stop it slowly easing it back towards him, I kept telling him it was obviously foul hooked but he wouldn't have it slowly playing it down to netting range" Well I nearly fell off my box when he went to net it" As for the last minute he had skilfully managed to play a decent sized..... Branch!" I had a job to breath but it certainly gave me & Nick a good laugh"

Back on my new line again with two dead reds saw my add another 2lb plus fish along with a similar sized fish soon after before the carp played ball again" I lost it at the net but went straight back on the same line & as I've often found was rewarded with another near 3lb bream, Nick had managed to add another decent bream, Again in the fin" just to rub salt into the wounds but he had had a slow last couple of hours & my bonus fish were soon catching up, With time running out I fed another ball & had another try on the pellet line which gave me just one more fish around a 1lb, with less than ten minutes remaining I was back at 12mts sticking to dead reds which had produced the others & I missed a bite as soon as it settled, I led the rig back in & took a 2lb fish on the drop" Getting back out with seconds to go I had another as soon as it settled" by the time I netted it Steve had shouted the all out which was a shame as I was enjoying that" Lol. I felt although Ziggy managed a decent bream at the depth I had another to take another quid off him today but still had Nick down as the section winner, Are section was one of the first to weigh, The pegs in are section In-front the Lodge on the lawns had fished hard with the best weight just over 8lb, Ziggy managed to finish up with 17lb odd before my own estimate of 20lb wasn't far of as I finished with 22lb 14oz, We walked up to see how Nick ended up & I couldn't believe it when he put 22lb 13oz on the scales with the result being me winning the section by a mere 1oz...!" Not what Nick would of wanted but the three of us had a right battle today & good banter with it'. Back at the result & regular framer Sam Powell did the business again today from peg 78 on Cary topped the day with 35lb catching most of his fish at 7mts over casters so well done to him, Runner up was another regular framer Bobby G' from peg 98 also on Cary with 30lb catching big skimmers & fish to 4lb later in the day on the long pole with maggot. My weight wasn't enough to make the main frame finishing 6th but more importantly another section win of £50 to keep me at the top of the table after two rounds with a number of others but a long way to go yet . An enjoyable days fishing as my original plans didn't quite work & making the decision to start a new line with a different mix certainly played dividends as I'm sure I wouldn't of caught the otherwise, It always feels better when you know you've made some good choices along the way.

  Top Three , Sam (Centre) Bobby (left) & Glen.

Full results -

1st Sam Powell (Preston Innovations) peg 78 Cary, 35lb 3oz.

2nd Bob Gullick (Mosella) peg 98 Cary, 30lb.

3rd Glen Calvert (Maver) peg 123 Cambell, 27lb 6oz.

4th Dave Burns (Viaduct) peg 71 Lodge, 24lb 3oz.

5th Craig Edmonds (Mosella) peg 114 Cambell, 23lb 8oz.

6th Dom Sullivan (Maver) peg 60 Lodge, 22lb 14oz.