Viaduct Fishery (Thursday Costcutter).

With a hard overnight frost I was in two minds as to bother fishing today, Not wanting to waste the day I decided to make the trip to Viaduct stopping off in the Albion Truck Stop for breakfast on route which thankfully was very nice, And Warm'. Arriving at the fishery it was quite frosty" I was the first one their and already I was wondering if I had made the right choice? A low turn-out today which was a shame so the match was changed to Cary Lake with us all spread around the lake. Looking at the peg put in I wanted to avoid peg 88 at the top end of the lake as I know from experience this can be rock hard for any carp at this time of the year, With just the seven numbers in the tin at the time of the draw I dived straight in, Joking with Matt to stick me down on Sundays winning peg 102 before I had even opened the ticket didn't work as were did I end up? Peg 88!" I wasn't even going to bother but seeing I had plenty of room to chuck the bomb around I decided to give it a try, Simple fishing today the straight lead to chuck around the peg with various baits & I also assembled the waggler rod to fish corn at dead depth around 25mts but wouldn't be able to see very well as the day went on as the sun was going to straight in are eyes at some point. This is how my day panned out, Fished the bomb, bread/meat for the first hour without so much as a liner despite chucking everywhere I could reach including the end bank, I gave the waggler nearly 30mins again without any signs, Nigel Easton on 86 had a carp & a skimmer in the first hour but he was the only one to catch one at this point & Colin Dyer opposite me on 96 was also without as much as a liner, Back on the bomb with different baits & still nothing, The lake was flat calm & all the time I was looking for signs of fish but nothing appeared to be in the area, by midday I couldn't take it anymore, I went & had a look at match lake which was frozen in areas this morning but the peg at the top of the lake, 47, was clear to the island on one side so not feeing confident I would even get a bite on Cary fishing for carp I decided to call it a day & pitched up on Peg 47 for the remaining few hours, Thankfully I had a few fish, I had 3 or 4 F1's on the waggler, One on the bomb/bread, but caught best on the long pole to end up with thirteen F1's & four better size skimmers.

As far as the match went things didn't improve to much' Nigel managed another carp in the last hour, Which afterwards admitted was hooked under the chin,' To finish up with a total of 22lb odd which believe it or not won the match' & Paul Greenwood on peg 100 won the silvers with 7lb 10oz of small skimmers on the long pole so I didn't miss much. It was always going to be harder with the clear bright skies after a hard frost, Not very often I call it a day but I still believe I wouldn't of hooked any carp so glad I had a few hours with some fish to show for it off the match lake.

In a classroom all day Saturday this week with work commitments again so no fishing until Sunday when I'm off to Shiplate Farm (Main Lake) right on my doorstep, Which is dead handy as after spending the day listening to someone rabble on I will be looking forward to the pub straight after & the wife can drop me off on Sunday Morning if need be".

Full Result -

1st Nigel Easton Peg 86. 22lb 4oz.

Silvers -

1st Paul Greenwood Peg 100, 7lb 10oz.