Viaduct Fishery Thursday Costcutter.

With my trailer in for service & things a bit quite at work I decided yesterday to book in yesterday for this weeks cost-cutter match, When I woke this morning I was thinking the worst as it was blowing a gale with the residents bins flying everywhere as I loaded the kit, Just grabbing a sarnie on-route I arrived in plenty of time, Thankfully the wind wasn't quite as bad but blowing very hard into the far nearside bank on both ends.

 Cary.

 

 Cambell.

 

With 20 fishing I was just hoping for a day out of the wind for a change instead of battling with the eliments' the match would be on Cambell with an overspill onto Cary lake. I wasn't far from the front but with two tickets pulled out together I threw the lower one back in the tin, I couldn't believe when I opened the ticket to find myself on peg 118' Again", I cant get away from this peg & have drawn it that many times over the last two years I'm just about to start on the second level of my foundations", Just to make it worse it meant I would be taking the full force of the wind to start with!.

I say I drew 118 but I did have the choice of 118 or 119 in the corner but opted for my resident swim as it gave me the option of fish long down the edge towards the empty pallet where I planned to dob bread as Tony Rixon had a few doing this in the league here on Sunday to weigh 57lb odd,

I didn't plan to start here but hoped the wind would drop giving me a better chance to present it so set up a 0.2g rig on 0.17 straight through to a size 16 PR434 hook, For the time being I ruled out the long pole but opted for a line to fish meat at 6mts hoping to use the wind in my favour & catching a few here later in the day so again used a 0.2 hand made float on 0.17-0.15 & an 16 F1 Pellet hook in nearly 4ft of water. The only other bit of kit I set up was the trusty bomb rod to search the peg as far down to the end bank of 119 if need be?

I started the day feeding a tiny amount of meat at 6mts and began the day on the bomb with punched meat straight out in-front of me short to begin with at 20mts or so, After about a minute the tip went round & dropped back, Must of been a liner so chucked again slightly shorter, After a couple of minutes I had a proper pull round but a smallish carp of 3lb to start with, It took me twenty minutes for my next fish chucking slightly further to the left but then no signs of fish, It was still blowing a Hooley so rather than the long pole down the edge I decided to give it a bit more time searching around, I started to cast between myself & halfway across to the end bank where I had been pinging a bit of meat but nothing here. I had noticed Rob Eagle on the opposite end peg 123 start to catch a few fish off his end bank also on the bomb so decided to follow suit & chuck within a couple of feet of the end bank between the pallet & the recently trimmed tree you can see in the picture,

 

I had a liner straight away which was followed by a fish around 6lb soon after but apart from a couple of small knocks I couldn't get another bite I tried slightly further along up past the pallet but nothing from here either. By now we were over 90minutes in & if I was going to catch up with rob I had to start catching as he was getting a steady run of fish from his end bank but the sun was on the calmer water he had so maybe this was helping? It was time to try the pole down the edge to try & speed things up, I baited up with a 10mm disc of bread with the rig set around 2ft to start with, I lowered it down just this side of the pallet at 13mts & it had only been in the water for seconds before it shot under & I netted a 5lb fish, Easy enough? Back out in the same spot & another fish on' I started to ship back & had no pressure on the pole as such, Crack" Their goes my No.4 then, With it hanging on a thread I tried to ease it back before the inevitable happened! It shot back into the nearside bank area heading for the sunken branches further along towards the next peg' Marvellous... Off my box with my bomb rod in the hope of lassoing it unfortunately it had to be from the empty pallet I was fishing too!. I gave it 5mins with the help of Gareth Lennox who was wandering around & came & gave me a hand (Cheers Mate) but it had hooked up in the braches under the surface & a couple of attempts saw it filling with water, (Why Me"Lol') I decided it best to leave it as I didn't think it was going very far & worry about it after the match, I had a spare No.4 so got another top kit out & assembled a new rig whilst chucking the bomb back out but after all the disturbance we made wasn't very hopeful of adding more fish from down the edge..?

 

I gave the short pole line a try where I had been pinging meat at 6mts with the catty as I had no chance of feeding it by hand' but after no early signs I went back on the bomb but this time came a little further from the bank and fed a few cubes over the top as the wind had started to swing around slightly so it was wind assisted'. This seemed to work as I netted a couple more fish to 8lb, It went quite for a whilst despite trying up & down the bank, I Re-fed about 6 cubes further across & decided to have another try down the edge again on the bread as I had left it about an hour. 10mins & Not a bloody sign of fish" Really ball's that line up then! 

 

Back on the bomb I had a couple of chucks where I had fished & fed earlier in the day but still no signs, Back to the end bank & I had only been in the water seconds before it flew around & I had a 4lb common, I chucked back to the same spots & a minute later I was in again' I gave it another 10mins then fed over the top again, Two minutes later & I had a decent fish pushing 10lb' followed by a couple more slightly smaller before I latched into a right beast" I did manage to land it & it must of been 13lb' Soon after this the fish seemed to switch off for a while even Rob had stopped catching for a while, With a couple of hours to go the wind had dropped enough for me to start feeding another line on the pole at 14mts so cupped in a small amount of meat & left it whilst trying the 6mt line again, I was now able to present it properly & soon had a dip on the float, I lead it back in and as it settled I had a positive bite which turned out to be a 2lb tench, I hadn't brought another net but thankfully Colin Dyer behind me lent me another to put my silvers in. Back out & a near 2lb Bream was soon netted before hooking a decent carp' A good battle before netting a 10lb mirror & 5mins later I had another".

I left it to settle for 5mins having a look on the new long line, Nothing here so had another quick chuck on the bomb to try & pinch a fish?. I gave it ten minutes but not even a liner so back to the 6mt line, Straight under & another 8lb fish' It seemed to be a case of hooking then nothing, I tried either side but still nothing so fed a small amount & rested it again. I had decided to ping' the odd cube of meat down to the inside pallet after bites failed on the bread & in the last hour gave this a couple of try's but nothing. The last 30mins were slow but I managed a small 3lb carp on the bomb Before taking another lump off the short line in the dying stages. At the whistle I had finished with fifteen carp & the two silvers which I felt would be good on the day but not enough to catch Rob as he had another late run of fish again off the end bank.

I caught up with the scales just before Rob's turn & 30lb odd was the best weight, Rob had a great day Taking a few fish on the bread before switching to meat with the bulk of his catch taken off the end bank to finish with 151lb odd easily enough to win the day so well done to him as Rob will tell you he prefers to target silvers normally'

Winner Rob Eagle.

I was next to weight & my total went 115lb which turned out to be enough for 2nd & below this on 114 Steve Trevett put 105lb odd on the scales to finish 3rd, With it being a cost cutter the money is well spread out but the £20 back was enough to cover the day & it turned out to be quite enjoyable barring the wind"

Most of my fish were caught on the meat with a couple on bread but I seemed to have to wait ages on this where as the meat was a bit more instant when the fish turned up. Top silvers on the day went to venue regular Nigel Easton with 17lb odd from peg 110.

Worth the day off work for a change shame I ruined the inside swim' A big thanks has to go to Matt at the Fishery as he donned a set of chest waders after the match as was able to get my top kit back from the branches I had to tug it back a bit but finally it came free still attached to the fish" Only a 3lb'er but at least I got my top & rig back along with the bonus of a loaded waggler" Thanks Matt.

Full result -

1st Rob Eagle (HLS) peg 123 Cambell, 151lb 8oz.

2nd Dom Sullivan (Mosella UK) peg 118 Cambell, 115lb 15oz.

3rd Steve Trevett (Salisbury)peg 114 Cambell.

4th Phil Denslow (Taunton) peg 115, 68lb 7oz.

5th Roy Worth (Bait-Tech Viaduct) 65lb 10oz.

Silvers -

1st Nigel Easton (Bait-Tech Viaduct) peg 110 Cambell, 17lb 10oz.

2nd Jim Butcher (Wiltshire Angling) peg 128 Cambell, 16lb 14oz.