Viaduct Fishery (Saturday).

I decided to book in for this latest open now that you have chance to qualify for next years all-winners & Silvers finals again, To be honest I did fancy a days fishing for silvers but with the match spread between Cambell & Cary lakes it would really depend where I drew, Twenty four of us fishing so I let a few have their go in the draw first before I ended up on peg 111 Cambell. I had Paul Greenwood on peg 110 who was going to fish for carp from the off & with conditions seemingly ideal I decided to still try for the silvers as I didn't feel the peg would produce enough carp? I had John (The Gimp) Bradford on peg 112 who was going to go down the same route, I set up a 4xl4 wire wonder float to fish at 13mts with a double bulk, A 4x12 with the same float to fish with a strung bulk both on 013-0.10 both with 18 F1 Maggot hooks to fish the same line & a line left & right at 11mts & final a 4x12 Chanti to fish on my topkit plus two sections.

I started the day feeding 4 balls of G/bait with a few casters & dead reds added at 13mts, Fed two balls of worm & caster laced mix at 11mts to the right & some micros & a few hard 4mm's 11mts to the left. I started the day on the short line with caster feeding just a few of the same, The first 30mins saw my put just over a 1lb in the net but John hadn't caught at this stage, I stayed on it adding around another 1lb of fish but bumped of what felt like a decent perch, With bites drying up it was time to try the longer lines as john had gone from not catching anything to landing a near 3lb Tench from his short line' I had a quick look on the 11mts lines with soft pellet & dead maggot but no early signs so went out to 13mts on the heavier rig  as by now it was blowing a gale straight in are chops" you couldn't write it but the minute the all-in sounded it went from flat calm to this!..

I expected indications here straight away but it didn't happen' I couldn't see many silvers being caught, John was struggling despite his early Tench, I went back on the short line & added another 1lb or so of roach & an 8oz hybrid before bites dried again, Back at 13mts this time with caster on the hook, This worked as I had a 1lb plus skimmer & a smaller fish in the first two dob-ins, Nothing followed so went beyond my feed & managed another 12oz fish before I felt it was time to re-feed another ball & rest it. I tried both the other 11mt lines I had been topping up with small amounts but nothing, I did eventually catch two skimmers over the micros with expander on the hook but that was it, & I never had a sniff over the worm/caster line all day'.

I spent the rest of the match picking the odd skimmer off the 13mt line & adding what I could off the short line in between, John had struggled most of the day but with around 30mins to go took two big perch off his short line to stage a late comeback, I followed suit & a minute later landed a bonus 2lb plus tench off the short line' I tried long again just before the all-out & added another 10oz skimmer before the all-out, It seemed the far bank had fished best for the carp in the calmer water with plenty being hooked, When the scales arrived the top silvers weight was a great 36lb of small skimmers from Cary Lake, John ended the day with 11lb odd before I finished with 17lb 14oz, It nearly got me 2nd but I was pipped by a 19lb weight from peg 128 on the opposite bank, I should of had a few more fish today but the wind in are faces hampered the presentation I had to stick to the heavier double bulk rig to stop it towing at me but sometimes you miss out on bites laying a bit of line on the deck but was still happy with what I had, The overall stakes were close today with Mark Hayman just taking the spoils with 165lb 5oz from peg 130 Cambell ahead of Ben Broxson with 165lb 1oz from peg 78 Cary. Off to Shipate Farm tomorrow for Paul Chapmans Memorial Match on the Main lake, A full house booked in so peg 1 or 15 will do me please".

Overall

1st Mark Hayman, peg 130, 165lb 5oz.

2nd Ben Broxson , peg 78, 165lb 1oz.

3rd Steve Hutter , peg 128, 127lb 5oz.

4th Nick Jones , Peg 127, 121lb 9oz.

Silvers

1st Rocky , peg 88 , 36lb 15oz.

2nd Steve Hutter , peg 128, 19lb 3oz.