Viaduct Fishery Teams Of 5 (Final Rd).

I think when we all woke this morning we were all fearing the worst as it was lashing down with rain & the wind wasn't best pleasant, I was half soaked just loading the gear up' It was the normal case of meeting Gabo before breakfast in Burnham which was better, Arriving after most again I just managed to get the kit loaded on the trolley before the heavens opened, My turn to be on Spring lake for this final round which can be a bit of do or die depending on the draw, goods weights of silvers have been coming from peg 3 or at the back of the island pegs 18/19 but pegs 7 & 8 are usually good for a few carp?.

Steve Segar offered to do the draw again as he's been pulling himself some good un's' It turned out captain Chris hook missed out on drawing Lodge lake ending up on peg 103 Cary which is the overspill from Lodge which is a hard area unless u can pinch a carp, Mark Leader Was also on Cary peg 76 which can produce a few, Steve ended up on peg 40 on match lake which is the end of the island, Gabo drew end peg 110 in the corner of Cambell Lake & finally I was on peg 2 on Spring, It could of been a lot worse & I was thankful the wind would be off are backs unlike those at the top end & far side of the lake, I was hopeful of catching some decent skimmers either on the waggler of long pole & also had the bonus of an island chuck I the hope of some carp' Thankfully the rain held off long enough to get everything assembled, First up was a bomb rod to fish a straight lead to the island with various baits, It was a fair chuck but with the wind helping it wouldn't be an issue as long as it stayed in are favour, Between myself & peg 1 which is in with match lake their is a rope holding the aerator at about 30mts which connects to the point of the island so I planned to feed corn in-line with this & fish the waggler over the top using 3lb main line to an 0.11 bottom & an 16 PR434 hook. The only other kit I set up was a pole to fish a couple of lines at 14mts using a 4x14 Wire wonder on 0.13-0.10 & an 18 PR412 hook in 4ft of water.

On the all I fed 4balls of G/bait with a few casters & dead red maggot at 14mts to the left & one ball with pinkie's added the same distance towards the rope, I started the day on the bomb towards the island starting with punched meat on the hook, I found their was a lot of debris tighter to the island & was still hooking bits when I switched to bread on the hook so dropped back a couple of feet. I gave it 30mins but not so much as a liner so early signs weren't promising? I had been feeding corn with the catty best I could in the wind inline with the aerator so decided to switch to fishing the wagg over the top with corn on the hook. I fully expected to get some bites as John Moody on hot peg 3 had already switched to the wagg & took a couple of smaller skimmers, It wasn't happening' I gave it over another 30mins but still couldn't get a sniff', John however seemed to be striking a lot but thankfully wasn't connecting with many'. By now we were over an hour in & I was still to catch so it was time to try the pole.

I started with single caster over the heavier fed line & had a bite straight away which turned out to be a small roach" I managed a couple more to 8oz & had a blade skimmer before it went quite, I decided to feed another ball with nothing in it & have another try on the waggler as John had managed a few more net skimmers, I had been feeding it with corn & casters whilst on the pole so hoping a few had turned up' Nope I still couldn't get a bite on the corn even though I could see John fishing & feeding it'  Craig (Trigger) Edmonds who was on the spit peg 25 chucking to the aerator from the opposite bank had taken a decent skimmer & a carp but wasn't in my section but from those I could see in my section not much was being caught except for Shaun Townsend on corner peg 8 was playing some lumps out already" I had been feeding the 14mt positive swim with caster whilst on the wagg so decided to give it another try, It didn't take long to get a bite this time a better result, A near 3lb skimmer" Back in & I had a 1lb fish then a few minutes later a smaller sample so decision time' I fed another ball with casters added this time. I switched to the line I had fed 1 ball at the start with dead red maggot on the hook, I took a while to get a bite but when I did it was decent fish, until that was the wind whipped up & I ripped out of it...

I went in again but nothing so decided to have another quick try on the bomb to the island, Nothing here so baited up with corn & chucked the bomb over the waggler line but no joy. Back on the pole with caster over the G/bait I had another 2lb fish before foul hooking another & losing it after dragging the rig a bit which put pay to bites here again, I tried back over the single ball line again but couldn't get a bit so fed another small ball & dead reds. Over halfway threw the match I decided to feed a new line at 10mts as a bit of a gamble this time with chopped worm & just a few dead reds in the chance some decent fish which seemed to be in the area might settle over it late in the day, I had a couple more smaller skimmers before hooking another decent size fish I managed to pull out of again! It just wasn't going to plan' I couldn't get another bite on the negative long line but did miss a bite on the 10mt line after leaving it for an hour but nothing followed, Only being a 5hr match time soon went by & I seemed to be chasing shadows', I expected the fish to switch on in the last couple of hours but it wasn't until the last 45minutes things got interesting, I managed another near 3lb fish on the long line, I hooked a nice bronze' near 4lb fish only to lose it at the net! |I had already changed the hook after earlier mishaps' so this wasn't the issue' then bumped another off on the longer line which was foul hooked". with around Twenty minutes remaining I noticed Trigg catch a carp by chucking closer to the aerator from his side so decided to follow suit & baited up with double hair rigged corn. Five minutes later & round it went' I had a bit of a scrap as it went under the rope into some floating braches caught on it but thankfully I got it in' Not big at just over 5lb but a welcome bonus' Back out with five minutes to go the tip went round just as Steve gave it the all out but I got it in a bit easier as it was another 3lb bream". A bit of a horrid time weather wise for all of us but fair play to those who took the brunt of it today the wind was bad enough let alone the rain" It took a while for the scales to arrive as I was last to weigh & Shaun was winning the lake from peg 8 with 80lb odd & Tom Downing next to him had 40lb plus from peg 7 both catching carp down the edge, John Next to me on peg 3 ended the day with 13lb odd of silvers which would of been close between us without the carp as I totalled 19lb odd to finish with 12 out of 19pts for the team, Back at the results & Chris managed 4pts from his poor draw, Gabo finished with 9pts, Steve finished with 13pts but best again was Mark finishing 2nd on his lake to get 18pts, this gave us a total of 56pts to finish 7th on the day & 9th place out of the 19 teams come the end with 254pts, We had a dire start with a 36pt match in the first round but did ok their after. on todays individual front it was a tight finish but Welsh Talent Lee Werrett took the spoils from peg 127 on Cambell Lake catch in hair rigged double meat on the bomb, I asked him after did it happen to be that smelly polony stuff to which he agreed, They love the stuff" some of um even have it in their sarnies"! I like chatting to Lee, Simply because he's the same height! Well done Mate'. On the silvers front Andy Power showed his true colours, he's suffered some dire draws in this series & believe me he didn't have a flyer" today but managed 32lb of skimmers on caster at 9mts with the wind smack in his face - Shallow! from peg 61 on Lodge Lake". On the team front Natural Talent Won the day with 70pts to see then win the league outright with 324pts Ahead of Thatchers Vets who were a close second with 320pts with Frenzee SW finishing in 3rd place with 294pts so all quite close in the end so well done to all of you, Made a few mistakes on the silvers front today by feeding again to early, I should of just rested the positive long line & not fed until it total dried but lessons learnt. The overall Individual winner went to the most consistant Angler around at the moment team-mate Craig (Trigger) Edmonds finishing the league with 86pts ahead of previous Winner Ben Hagg. He has had an unbelievable last couple of years winning at Stafford Moor festival, Two Individual Spring league titles here, Tony Rixon's League And, And And" The list go's on, Well done Mate, Surely this guy's going somewhere!

 Winner Craig Edmunds Centre, Runner up Ben Hagg & Third Place Shaun Townsend.

 Another very well organised league & always popular, Thanks to all those involved & Especially to the Long' Family for always being hospitable" 

Next Saturday is Donald Sutherland's Memorial Match At The fishery which is already looking to be popular, The match is a Silvers Only event to be held over Cambell & Spring Lake with Lodge Lake Being added dependant on numbers, Their are still names being taken so contact the fishery to book in or order some bait as NO PELLET will be allowed on the day, P.S, They do lovely casters & you might be able to book a Chicken & Mushroom pie for afters if your early enough'.

Full Results -

1st Lee Werrett (Natural Talent) Peg 127 Cambell, 116lb.

2nd Clayton Hudson (Future Networks) peg 113 Cambell, 110lb 14oz.

3rd Paul Greenwood (M5 Angling) peg 129 Cambell, 106lb 15oz.

4th James Knight (Somerset Angling) peg 38 Middle, 103lb.

5th Ricky Mills ( Moaning Maggots) peg 102 Cary, 101lb 11oz.

6th Glyn Reynolds (Viaduct All-stars) peg 128 Cambell, 99lb 4oz.

Silvers -

1st Andy Power (Thatchers P.I) peg 61 Lodge, 32lb 11oz.

2nd Sam Powell (Thatchers P.I) peg 37 Middle, 31lb 10oz.