Viaduct Fishery Silvers League Final Round, (Cambell, Cary & Lodge Lakes).

I was looking forward to today as I was still in with a chance of a top six finish to pick up in the main frame, I did attempt to find the Café in Burnham but it was a failed effort & I ended up with a costa & Sausage bap from the garage which I can safely say was disgusting & most would be coming home for the dog" Which wasn't a good start to the day as I was starving".

I arrived in plenty of time to mix some Ground-bait with the help of Gabo's drill, It looked to be a pleasant day ahead with little wind & overcast skies to begin with although it was on the chilly side & their was a lot of rain in the area yesterday so didn't expect some areas to fish very well so was hoping for lady luck in the draw? After the normal cuppa & a chin wag I found myself towards the back of the draw, Out comes 97 on Cary which I was happy enough with as I had the chance of some of the lakes bigger skimmers/bream on the long pole, Pegs 99 & 100 have been the pegs to draw in the earlier rounds but fish have fins & these pegs were in the next section anyway. For company I had Nicky Collins on peg 99 who was filling in for someone, If you look hard enough you can see him in the pic as he's probably the only angler smaller than me" Lol,

& that man again, now team mate Craig (Trigger) Edmunds next to me on peg 96 who was in my section & would be seeking revenge from the last round when he drew next to me'.

I planned a quite simple approach today, Three long pole lines at 14mts, Where I set up two 4x12 Wire wonder floats on 0,11-0.09, One with A size 18 F1 maggot hook the other with 18 63-13 hook, Set a 0.2g pencil float on 0.11-0.10 & an 16 F1 pellet hook to fish bigger baits on the hook, Apart from this all I set up was a 4x10 Chanti on a long line to fish along the inside bank towards the empty pallet on my left & at 5mts in-front of me. I began the day feeding two balls at 14mts infront of me with dead pinkie's added, Fed four balls at 14mts to the right with a few dead reds & Casters & fed one ball packed with chopped worn & squatts 14mts off to my left, I started the match down the edge with caster over a few loose fed casters but nothing after 5mins so switched to fishing the same at 5mts, I gave it another 10minutes but still nothing, Trig had started on the wagg & had missed a couple of bites off small fish. Much sooner than I would have liked I was on the long pole lines after just 20minutes, Starting in-front of me with floro pinkie on the hook I had a small roach straight off before I started to catch the odd 4oz skimmer, I did try different baits on the hook but most bites were coming on the pinkee, I took the odd fish for the first 30mins or so & bumped what felt a better fish but with things slowing up I chose to feed another ball with Pinkies added & decided to try the other long lines, I had a quick look on the worm line with a small segment on the hook but it showed no early signs so was onto the positive fed line with dead red maggot on the hook.

I had an 8oz skimmer straight off before another run of 3-4oz skimmers appeared, Trig was now on his long pole lines & was also beginning to catch the odd smaller skimmer but Nick on my left seemed to be getting plagued with small roach, It seemed to be a case of catching the odd fish then topping the swim up before switching lines, As time went on bites seemed to slow right down, The sun had began to stick its head out which seemed to have an affect on the fishing, I had to keep switching lines to try & pinch the odd smaller skimmer as the bigger fish we were hoping for didn't seem keen to feed, The middle part of the match was hard for me But Trig had managed to keep putting the odd fish in the net including a couple to a 1lb so he was now ahead of me but it was still close, I chose to keep feeding the odd ball in the hope of some bigger fish late in the day, I kept trying the worm line & at one point did have a 10oz hybrid on a small piece of worm but apart from the odd small roach this line didn't really produce. The line infront of me where I had been feeding pinkies in the G/Bait really slowed up by the end of the match but going into the last 90mins bubbles appeared on the line I had fed more positively with dead reds & a few casters in the G/Bait, It was really frustrating though as I new their were fish in the swim but were more interested in routing around in the ground-bait than taking the free offerings" I switched to fishing small bunches off dead pinkie on the hook & although I had to wait ages for bites some fish were up to 12oz, I always felt the last 30mins or so would show some signs of better fish but it wasn't until the last 10mins the fish seemed to want to have a go as I took three skimmers approaching a 1lb In three put-in's" To late to try for another which was a shame as I felt although Trig had a quiet last hour he had still done enough to just be in-front of me but Sam Powell on the opposite bank 88 was admitting to 12lb, When the scales got to trig Sam was winning the section with a level 15lb, Trigs turn & he was close with 2oz's short ending up with 14lb 14oz, Before I was last to weigh, I finished with 13lb 14oz so it was close between all of us come the end, One more decent skimmer a bit earlier might of helped but it wasn't to be but Trig & myself had a right battle Which was an enjoyable day. Finishing 3rd in  the section meant I could drop my four pointer to finish with 1,1,2,3,3 for a total of 10pts but I would be lucky to make the final standings as I was losing out on weight count back. back at the results & fellow blogger Mike Nichols had a nice days fishing on lodge lake using the waggler & caster to finish with 30lb of skimmers to win the day ahead of good mate Gabo from peg 78 on Cary, catching a mix of fish including Tench on the worn off the end of the tree to finish with 22lb odd, 16lb odd was third on the day with a lot of close weights there after.

So down to the final standing & it turned out Matt Tomes Who just so happened to draw the peg everyone wanted, peg 68 on lodge finished second in his section which was enough for him to win the league with 8pts dropping a three pointer so well done to him, Runner up went to Stu White also on 8pts dropping a 4 who also fished a good league throughout with last years winner Sam Powell finishing in 3rd place with 8pt dropping a 5, Unfortunately I just missed out in the overall payouts as I tied with Mark Sanders on 10pts but missed out on weight count back, It was a very close run event as always & with 50 anglers fishing to finish in the top ten is a good result & quite often ounces make the difference. Well done to Steve, Helen & Matt for making us all welcome & for running this popular league, Already looking forward to next year.

 Winner Matt Tomes (Centre) Stu White (Right) Sam Powell (Left)

Full Results -

1st Mick Nichols (Silverfox) peg 69, 30lb 3oz.

2nd Gabriel Skarba (Mosella UK) peg 78 Cary. 22lb.

3rd Paddy (Viaduct) peg 62 Lodge, 17lb 5oz.

4th Bob Gullick (Mosella UK) peg 128 Cambell, 16lb 3oz.

5th Kev Newman (Bait-Tech Viaduct) peg 100 Cary, 16lb.

6th Sam Powell (Preston Innovations) peg 88 Lodge, 15lb.

 Final Overall Standings -

1st Matt Tomes 8pts (Dropping 3pts)

2nd Stu White 8pts (Dropping 4pts)

3rd Sam Powell 8pts (Dropping 5pts)

4th Kev Newman 9pts (Dropping 4pts)

5th Bob Gullick 9pts (Dropping 6pts)

6th Mark Sanders 10pts (Dropping 4pts) 90lb 13oz.

7th Dom Sullivan 10pts (Dropping 4pts) 80lb 15oz.