Viaduct Fishery Xmas Match (Cambell & Cary Lakes).

Another Nice mild morning to wake up too with no wind in the air again, Travelling on my own I stopped off for a bacon sarnie in the burger van on route before arriving in plenty of time, Thirty two of us fishing today so the match would be spread over Cambell & Cary lakes, Most wanted to draw Cambell lake as their seemed to be a lot of fish still holding up in the shallowest end so end pegs 110 or opposite peg 132 would do as I though Cary would also fish hard, Steve was going to pay the winner & top silvers off of each lake as well as two sections on both but everybody would receive a prize come what may. Around halfway in the draw queue I was doing my best to convince myself & others I would draw 132 but no such luck, I ended up on peg 128 above the spit on cambell & when we arrived at are pegs their seemed to be plenty of fish moving through the whole length of the lake so we were all hopeful of a few fish although they do seem to have a habit of waving at you whilst setting up then doing the disappearing act as soon as the all-in is shouted"

I planned an out & out carp attack today so didn't mix any ground-bait to target silvers, Quite a simple set up, The normal straight lead & waggler rod were assembled first before a 0.2g pole rig on 0.15-0.13 & a 16 F1 Pellet hook to fish two lines left & right at 16mts using the rig to double up fishing off the point at 13mts to my right,

 Most of the day would be spent fishing either bread or meat on the hook.

At the All-in I began to cup a small amount of casters & meet off to my left at 16mts but had hardly put the pole together before Ziggy Slowiski Opposite me on peg 114 had hooked a carp on the waggler" Great' I had a quid with him today so he had the best of starts". I decided to have a quick look on the straight lead & bread but after 15mins soon switched to fishing the waggler & maggot off the deck. I missed a bite after 10mins of chucking around but that was it, I kept changing depth to try & find some fish but it wasn't happening, Looking around Matt Parson was catching a few silvers on the waggler with corn on the hook, A tin I happened to give him! Lol, but apart from this I hadn't seen much else caught although I didn't know if the end pegs I predicted were catching? after an hour I was still fishless' I decided to try the long pole lines hoping for some instant signs of fish but still nothing, I had a look off the point at 13mts were I had been pinging some 6mm meat with the catty but even this failed to produce anything at this stage.

I decided to try the bomb again with punched meat on the hook, I gave it another 40mins or so but still nothing, Back on the waggler with maggot & I finally hooked a better fish which turned out to be a decent Perch over 2lb which I got all the way in before sheding the hook at the net". By now we were over two hours in & still nothing in the net, After another fruitless try on the pole lines I was back on the bomb this time with punched meat on the hook, Finally I had a proper bite which turned out to be a decent tench but I had a bit of a scare as it got among the brambles off the spit but thankfully I got it out & safely in the net which was close to 4lb' Nothing followed so it was time for a re-think.

I decided to assemble another pole rig to fish along the inside bank towards the spit against the bramble cover which would be risky if I hooked any but I had to give it a go. I fed a small amount of casters by hand every so often for around 30minutes or so whilst still trying to catch off my other chosen lines, We were now nearly half was through so it was time to try the new short line which was my topkit plus two sections with a 6mm piece of meat on the hook where I had been feeding small amounts of casters.

The float had only been in the water for a few seconds before it shot under, I had a right battle trying to keep it away from the brambles but soon netted a decent carp pushing 10lb, I went straight back in & had another fish a few minutes later around 7lb before the fish seemed to have backed away.

I rested it again just feeding a few casters before hand & had another try on the bomb, !5mins later I was trying the long pole Lines again. Still nothing so back down the edge it was again, I had to wait but after 15mins or so took a 4lb carp but nothing here after, The bomb produced another small tench & I did eventually hook a carp which managed to shed the hook as It swam straight at me" I did expect to catch a few fish off the long pole lines which I was feeding regularly with the odd cubes of meat via the catty but it just didn't happen, I managed three more carp down the edge but a smaller stamp, & did lose another decent fish with 20minutes to go which I managed to get away from the brambles only to shed the hook off the point of the spit" It turned out to be a hard day for most come the end, The chap to my left managed one carp in the first hour on the lead & that was it & Dick Bull the other side of the spit had only managed two roach & a skimmer so it looked like I had done ok considering? When the scales arrived end peg 132 had the top weight as I expected with 91lb odd, I managed just over 40lb in total, Matt did well to take 28lb of silvers mainly on the waggler but before peg 110 came out on top with 109lb odd, I was right then the fish were still playing ball in the shallow end pegs, Back at the results & it turned out Cary Lake had fished harder as I expected with Roland Lucas taking the top weight with 48lb odd, I ended up finishing 4th on the day but missed out in the money stakes as peg 132 was in my section but did go home with a nice case of Magners cider for the festive period, Their were also mince pies & free cans of beer for all afterwards as well as making sure we each went home with a prize so fair play to them. Thankfully it was another nice day weather wise & with winter fishing we had to expect the fish to be shoaled up a bit but I did manage the quid off Ziggy". Off to Avalon Fishery tomorrow to fill in for Shaun Kitteridge on the teams of three with good friend Lewis Jones so lets see what that brings.

Full Results -

1st Jamie Bowden (Un-Attached) peg 110 Cambell, 109lb 11oz.

2nd Tony Mackett (Un-attached) peg 132 Cambell, 91lb 7oz.

3rd Roland Lucas (Wiltshire Angling) peg 99 Cary, 49lb 7oz.

4th Dom Sullivan (Mosella UK) peg 128 Cambell, 40lb 1oz.

5th Matt Parsons (Parsigns) peg 126 Cambell, 37lb 4oz.

6th Ziggy Slowiski (Garbolino) peg 114 Cambell, 31lb 5oz.

Silvers -

1st Matt Parsons , Peg 126 Cambell, 28lb 3oz.