Donald Sutherlands Memorial Match (Viaduct Fishery).

I had been looking forward to fishing this event for my old traveling Partner Don. A Silvers only event as this would of been his preference to be held over Spring, Lodge & Cambell Lakes. I had arranged in the week for the Albion Truckstop on route to accommodate for breakfast & jolly nice it was' It looked like being perfect weather wise when we arrived with overcast skies & little wind to go with a mild day ahead, The talk was Spring lake was expected to produce the winner as it had been producing some good silvers weights of late but I also fancied a few pegs on Lodge & Cambell.  A few words were said before hand by old team Captain Chris Hook on behalf of Don coupled with a minutes silence which was a nice touch in his memory. I was quite close to the front & gave the tin a good shake when it came to my turn, I managed to pick up two tickets again so had to put one back again, I was praying for a good un but was really disappointed when I ended up on peg 129 on Cambell the first peg below the spit, This is the shallower end of the lake & I just didn't fancy it to compete with the pegs further up the lake or a few on the opposite bank but so be it. It just so happened to be the peg Steve Jackson won the Fisho Mania Qualifier off of on Wednesday & when I arrived at my peg I could see why' It was black with carp & they were boshing everywhere in front of me!" Owe dear...

I still wanted to give it my best so set up & 4x12 Wire wonder on 0.13-0.10 & an 18 PR412 hook to fish two lines at 14mts left & right in around 3ft or so of water, A 4x10 chanti on the same line to an 18 PR434 hook to fish at 7mts & a loaded waggler to fish off towards the aerator towards the middle of the lake.

I started the day feeding 4 balls of G/Bait with a few caster & dead red maggot to the left & just one ball with dead reds & pinkies to the right, I began the day on the wagg with caster on the hook loose feeding a few caster with the catty, Second chuck & I was playing a carp! I did come off but it wasn't a good sign, I managed a couple of small roach in the first 45mins but was going nowhere & had managed to hook a couple more carp in the process" I had been feeding casters by hand at 7mts so decided to give that a try, I did manage to put a run of roach together & was getting a bite a chuck but they were very small, I had seen a couple of better fish being netted & Chris Hook over on 110 had landed a decent tench so time to try the long lines, I started over the negative line with dead red maggot on the hook but no signs here so was soon on the positive swim, I had a skimmer around 10oz before bumping another better fish off which seemed to kill the swim' I would like to say things got better but they didn't, Not much point in me going on about the day to much because I found it a real struggle to catch anything of any size, I did try the waggler again a couple of times & at one stage hooked three carp in as many casts when I switched to corn on the hook". The swim seemed solid with them all day & I'm sure had they of counted I would of had a few & didn't even need to feed anything".

I managed a couple more 1lb skimmers late in the day over the negative line on double dead red maggot but could hardly get a bite on the caster, I was a bit disappointed come the end but not forgetting what the day was about I was thankful just to be on the bank. Back at the results & their were some good weights of fish caught by some people, Top weight on are lake went to team mate Gabo with 39lb odd of decent size fish on the long pole from peg 124, I finished with 10lb odd & the pegs either side weighed 12 & 13lb so not much between us, Over on lodge lake the top weight was 29lb odd but Spring lake proved the place to be today as it produced the top two overall on the day, Mark Saunders faired best to finish up with 49lb of skimmers taken on maggot over G/bait to see him win the day from peg 26 on the spit, A very good weight of silvers so a big well done to him.

After the results were announced their was a presentation by Donald's Widow Julie & His Brother John of a plaque to Mark for his win in Dons memory which will become a regular event at the fishery. A big thank you to all of the 49 who attended & for taking time to think of him in are minds, Rest in Peace Mate.

Winner Mark Saunders With Julie & John.

 

Full results -

1st Mark Saunders (Tiverton) peg 26 Spring, 49lb 8oz.

2nd Stu White (Wiltshire) peg 2 Spring, 42lb 9oz.

3rd Gabriel Skarba (Mosella UK) peg 124 Cambell, 39lb 11oz.

4th Shaun Kitteridge (Drennan Thyers) peg 1 Spring, 39lb 9oz.

5th Jess Jordan (Summerhayes) peg 17 Spring, 33lb 12oz.

6th Steve Jackson (Garbolino) peg 116 Cambell, 32lb 1oz.