Viaduct Silvers League Rd 4, Cambell, Cary & Lodge Lakes.

Back down to viaduct for the next round of the silvers league again today, Travelling on my own today with no stop off for breakfast which wasn't a good idea as I spent all day starving but I heard a few went to the new Café in Burnham the old owners of Hilltops have opened so will make a be-line their next time, Weather wise things looked spot on with no wind & it seemed now most of the leaves had done a disappearing act although we could do without the bright sky's. As normal most of the Bristol mob were at the front of the queue' before it came to my turn, I fancied a day on Lodge Lake but it wasn't to be, I ended up on peg 118 on Cambell, Again'

I drew this last week in the Saturday open & struggled for 11lb odd of silvers, Nicky Ewers drew this in the last round & finished up last in the section with 7lb odd & peg 119 didn't fair much better with 8lb odd, We were the only two pegs in this section on the bank backing onto Cary with the rest of the section opposite us which often produce much better for silvers. For company I had Nigel Garrett on peg 119 & Nigel Easton Again the other side of me on peg 116 which I drew last time in the league but he was in the section below. I was still going to be pretty positive feeding three lines at 14mts, One line at 10mts & a short line for casters on my top set plus a section, I would feed the three long lines differently & hopefully gage a response what best to catch on?.

on the all in I fed one ball with some pinkie's added at 14mts slightly to the right, fed four balls with a pinch of casters & a few dead reds to the left, Fed two balls laced with worm & squats' well off to my left at an 10'o'clock angle & finally some loose worm & casters on the 10mts line just off to my right, As normal I started the day looking for a few quick fish on the short long line rig with caster over loose fed casters, 15mins later I hadn't had a touch so it was time to try the longer lines much sooner than I would have liked so started where I had just fed the one ball with double pinkee on the hook, As soon as it settled it slid away I straight away I though it would be a small roach & just lifted the pole slightly, Big mistake" I had only hooked a decent skimmer & didn't set the hook so had it on for seconds" Bollock's not what I wanted, I gave it another go but nothing except for a few small roach so I decided to top it up with another ball & try elsewhere.

I wanted to leave the heavier fed line for as long as possible so went onto the far left 14mt line with a small small piece of worm on the hook, I missed a bite straight away then had an 6oz skimmer soon after, Next put in I had to wait a bit longer for a bite then hooked a better fish which again seemed to be a decent skimmer but half way back it came off' it turned out the worm had masked the hook this time" Not quite going to plan as normal' but at least their seemed to be a few fish present? I gave it another ten minutes but with no more signs topped it up again switching back to 14mt line I started on again with pinkee on the hook, I managed a couple more 4-6oz skimmers straight off but again things stopped, by now we were over 90mins in so It was time to try the line I had been positive with at the start kicking off with single caster on the hook, It didn't take long for an indication & this was a proper fish" First up I could of been mistaken for what I thought was a carp but after it didn't blot off I was hoping it was a decent tench? I got the fish back to my top kit & realised it was a tench around 3lb which I had a close shave with when it went to dive under the pallet leg but thankfully I netted it safely, Well that had boosted things up a bit & hopefully I would attract a few more thought the day? Either side of me it seemed both Nigel's were struggling with just a few small fish showing but on the opposite bank Steve Denmead on end peg 123 had already netted a couple of skimmers & a near 4lb tench & a few others seemed to be catching the odd better skimmer.

Just as I thought things would settled down & a few more fish would start to show the lake seemed to shut down at are end & it became hard to get an indication on any line, I even had another look on the short line which I had continued to feed with a few casters in desperation for bite but it still didn't produce, I the space of more than two hours all I managed was a couple of skimmers to 8oz off the long lines with a couple of roach in between, The 10mt line didn't show any signs of fish despite topping it up with small amounts from the off, With around two hours remaining I decided to feed the positive line' with another three balls in the hope of drawing some more fish into the peg going into the last hour, With around 90mins to go a few fish seemed to start feeding again on the pegs opposite, I managed a skimmer around a 1lb off the worm' line to my far left with maggot on the hook, 15mins later I managed a 2lb plus skimmer on the pinkee' line with dead red maggot on the hook then shortly after managed a run of three 8oz skimmers on the heavy fed line which I began to loose feed caster on with the catty but nothing would seemed to stay in the swim for long, It was a case of trying to catch anything then switch lines, I was hoping the last 45mins or so would give me some more bonus fish but I only managed one skimmer around a 1lb & bumping another decent fish" It just didn't seem to happen, I did miss a couple of late bites for some reason but the end of the match was soon up on us. I though I may have around 10lb but new some of the pegs on the opposite bank had done better.

When the scales arrived Chris Fox was easily winning the section with 20lb odd from peg 128, With back up weights of 15lb & 12lb, Nigel on 119 weighed 5lb odd before I put 10lb 10oz on the scales which meant I would finish 4th in the section, Not a total disaster but hopefully it will be the result I can drop at the end of the series, I don't think I could of done much more to try & catch a few extra fish, The pegs either side of me produced 5lb each so I felt I had done quite well considering, I would of much rather been on the other bank but that's the way it goes hopefully that's my dropper out the way & I draw a more fancied area on the next match, Top on the day went to Viaduct Regular Dan Squires who just so happened to draw peg 99 on Cary again" but did well to finish the day with 32lb of big skimmers ahead of Gary O'Shea who finished second with 27lb odd from peg 68 on lodge which won the last match, After the four matches Matt Tomes who had Des Shipp to thank for winning him the section in the last round is leading the way closely followed by Dan Squires but its still close with dropped results to be taken so all to play for. Back again in two weeks but don't think the conditions can be as favourable as we've had so far can they? forgot the camera again today so sorry I don't have the results sheets this time around but here was the top six on the day.

Full Results -

1st Dan Squires (Sensas) peg 99 Cary, 32lb 9oz.

2nd Gary O'Shea (Thatchers P.I) peg 68 Lodge, 27lb 6oz.

3rd Clint Wojtyla (Bristol) peg 128 Cambell, 25lb 11oz.

4th Chris Fox (Sensas Thyers) peg 126 Cambell,

5th Clayton Hudson (Mosella) peg 111 Cambell,

6th Jess Jordon (County Gardens) peg 96 Cary, 17lb 2oz.