Viaduct Teams Of 5 (Round Three) All Lakes.

After spending the day working yesterday I was looking forward to a days fishing, As normal I met Gabo before heading to Burnham for breakfast hoping today it would be warm" As soon as the plates were put infront of us I had my finger in the beans to check, Freezing! I don't like to complain but it was a case of having too as this seems to happen every time I visit so soon sent back for a re-heat". Arriving at the fishery it was already buzy & already we had some entertainment as Mr Shipp couldn't get into the back of his van as the lock had stuck with his kit & two others inside, I had to keep it low key though as he had brought me a bag of Ground-bait which he might just keep if I took the P**S" He did eventually get it open which was a bit of a shame as we all might get a chance of picking up if he couldn't fish! Lol.

It was another freezing cold morning with a bitter wind from the north, It was my turn to be on Lodge lake today with a split section of 5 pegs on the lower end of Cary Lake, The corner pegs 53 & 66 on Lodge have been the hot pegs of late but apart from dreaming of drawing these the best I could hope for was a peg without the wind in my face & the lawn peg of Lodge 56 was taking the full force of the wind so hopefully that would be avoided"? Steve Segar was doing the team draw today as Captain Chris Hook wasn't fishing so Sam Johnson was taking his place, Steve Said he didn't mind as he usually draws himself a good un' He wasn't wrong as he drew 85 on Cary which usually produces a few, Sam would be on peg 118 on Cambell which can be a bit hit & miss depending if the carp are at that end of the lake, Gado ended up on peg 24 Spring Lake which is the over spill from match lake, Mark Leader who was also filling in for Lewis Walker ended up on peg 9 which also happened to be on Spring Lake but he would probably end up with neck ache as legend Des Shipp had drawn the corner peg 8", So only my peg to go then, Yep you guessed it' 56 Lodge...!! with the wind smack in my chops.... Marvellous & to make things worse I was in the float only section".

In the last round this peg produced a few carp towards the rope running threw the centre of the lake but with the wind not in my favour it was going to be hard to fish, Gado was pointing out where the guy fished from the peg before the start before I started to assemble my kit, Although I would attempt to fish the waggler from the start the wind was due to get up which would only make thing worse so I planned on a silvers line at 14mts slightly to my left & at 13mts further to the left to try & avoid the rig pushing back under the pole. Thankfully Gabo had some proper' Wagglers & lent me a loaded 8 & 12g float which would fly out & by fishing over depth if need be I could prevent the rig towing through?. For the pole I set a  4x14 Wire Wonder on 0.11 to a 0.9 flouro carbon hook-length & an 20 F1 maggot hook to fish the 14mt line opting for a double bulk rig to fish a few inches overdepth & a lighter 4x12 rig to fish on & off the deck at 13mts on the same line/hook.

I had plenty of time to have a cuppa before the start as by now I couldn't even feel my finger tips & we hadn't even started' I happened to mention why the peg on my left hadn't been drawn, Well it had' By ME" I had only assembled my kit on peg 55 which Gabo & Steve told me I was on!

 (What would off been")

 

Owe what a day this was turning out to be & we hadn't even started! Thankfully Sam Came along to give me a hand to move it all before the all-in & I had time to re-plum my pole lines which turned out to be no different.

On the whistle I fed three balls of G/bait with a few casters & Dead red maggot on the 14mt line & Just one ball with squats & a few casters on the 13mt line. I started on the wagg towards the rope with single hair rigged corn just tripping the deck as conditions weren't to bad to start with, It was a bit awkward to see but after 10mins I had a slow bite after twitching the float & soon found myself attached to a carp, The problem was I could tell it was foul hooked so took my time trying my best to get it in' I managed to get it close to netting range when I could see it was foul hooked in the top fin" I tried to coax it closer but it wasn't having it & we soon parted company which was annoying as it was a decent fish around 10lb' about 20mins later the wind dropped slightly, I switched to double corn on the hook & after twitching the float slightly It shot under & I had another carp on, For about 10 seconds that was! Two Nil.."!.

From this point on the wind got even worse & I had to remove one of the discs below the float just to be able to see it, The problem I had now is the rig was really towing back towards me, I began to add more line on the deck in the hope of slowing the bait down but it just wasn't happening, I switched to meat & maggots on the hook to try & get a response but after 75mins I was still fishless as was Dan Squires Next to me on peg 57, It was time to have a quick look on the pole, I started at 14mts with single caster & had a roach straight away around 3oz but after another ten minutes all I could muster was another 1oz roach, I had a look on the 13mt line with maggot on the hook but nothing on this line. I new the best chance of a carp would be on the wagg so felt I could be a bit more positive on the pole lines so decided to feed a good ball laced with casters & a few dead reds on the 14mt line & a ball laced with squatt at 13mts, Back on the wagg with corn again I began to loose feed casters over the top of the 14mt line with casters hoping it would draw a few fish in the swim, No matter what I tried I just couldn't get the waggler to stay still long enough to induce a bite as by now the water was towing right at me, I did miss another bite after another 20minutes of trying on single corn but think it might of been a skimmer as I didn't connect with anything, Approaching the two hour mark I decided to try the pole at 14mts again, Starting with single caster with the hook buried I had a skimmers around 8oz straight off, Back out & I gave it a minute or so before loose feeding casters over the top, Within seconds the float shot under & I found myself playing a decent fish which turned out to be a skimmer over 2lb' I didn't really expect that' In the next 15mins I had another two 8-12oz skimmers before bites dropped off, Nothing to loose so in went another small ball laced with casters whilst I continued to loose feed over the top with the catty, Another look on the 13mt line still failed to produce so I attempted to try the waggler again, I had a slow bite after about 5mins but as I struck I had the main line caught round the rod rest which duly snapped!" The float popped back up & I managed the catch the access line with the tip of the rod which I then had to thread back though the rod & re-tie at the reel" Ho Hum Deep Breath's!.

I gave it another twenty minute switching baits but no matter what amount of line I put on the deck it just wouldn't stay still", Back on the pole at 14mts again with caster on the hook, I had another fish pushing 2lb followed by a few smaller samples, With just a couple of hours to go I contemplated just to target the silvers but after all its a team event so every time I felt the pole line was dying I topped it up with another ball & Keep trying the waggler again, I just couldn't get it to work, I was convinced there were carp there but they wanted a static bait, It was frustrating more than anything else, I event added a bulk of shot above the hooklength to slow it up but even that didn't work'.

Back on the 14mt line I had a couple more skimmers to 12oz & did manage to eventually catch a couple of fish on the 13mt line on maggot but of a much smaller size, With 30mins remaining I went all-out & fed another two balls laced with caster on the 14mt line why I had one last try on the wagg, No more signs so back on the pole for the last 15mins, One more 1lb plus skimmer & a few smaller samples were added before the all-out which had me thinking what perhaps I could of had silvers wise if I hadn't spent half the day trying to get the waggler to work? I new a few carp had been caught on are lake but it also appeared some really struggled, When the scales arrived the corner pegs again were the places to be as pegs 66, 73 & 53 were sharing the top three places, I was last to weight & finished up with 10lb 7oz of silvers which put me just over halfway in the 19peg section so not to bad but the two lost early fish would of been worth some more points. Back at the results to add insult to injury it turned out my net of silvers was 9oz out from picking up 6th in the super pool ending up in 7th position! As far as the team went Steve was top man again from his draw on Cary, Winning the lake to pick up 19pts, I finished with 10pts, Gabo ended with 13pts, Mark had 13pts But unfortunately Sam was last on his lake picking up just 1pt giving us a total of 56pts finishing 5th overall on the day. Thatchers vets won on the day with a good 79pts to see them take the lead overall after three rounds with two rounds remaining with 208pts ahead of three teams tying for 2nd place on 178pts.

Individual wise you can always rely on somebody bagging a few & this time around it was Steve Nadin of the Blackmoor Vale Group tempting 106lb of carp from peg 114 Cambell on the long pole with meat ahead of Nick Chedzoy who was on the opposite bank peg 127 with 104lb, Top silvers went to Gary O'Shea who finished up with 19lb 8oz from peg 47 on the match lake, back again in two weeks for round four & my turn to be on match lake but could be on middle or spring as again its a split section. Back to Shiplate Farm next Sunday as Thiers a Silvers Only match on the main lake which I'm looking forward to just as long as the conditions are more in my favour" I'm sure my peg was worth a few more silvers today which would of seen another brown envelope but it is team fishing for points so not to worry just a shame the wind ruined it for the waggler to work.

Full Results -

1st Steve Nadin (BVMG) peg 114 Cambell, 106lb 2oz.

2nd Nick Chedzoy (Thatchers Vets) Peg 127 Cambell, 104lb 7oz.

3rd Tom Dowling (Keyford) peg 66 Lodge, 85lb 12oz.

4th Des Shipp (Thatchers P.I) peg 8 Spring, 74lb 9oz.

5th Paul Faiers (2nd Time Lucky) peg 110 Cambell,  72lb 13oz.

6th Mark Poppleton (Colmic) peg 132 Cambell, 71lb 8oz.

Silvers -

1st Gary O'Shea (Thatchers Vets) peg 47 Match, 19lb 8oz.

2nd Ricky Mills (Moaning Maggots) peg 15 Spring, 17lb 3oz.

3rd Chris Davis (Moaning Maggots) peg 94 Cary, 16lb 12oz.

4th Craig Edmunds (Mosella Bathampton) peg 100 Cary 13lb.

Teams Overall -

1st Thatchers Vets 208pts

2nd Natural Talent , Frenzee & Somerset Angling 178pts.