Viaduct Silvers League (Final Round).

I opted to fill in for Sam Powell for this final round of the popular silvers league held over Cambell, Cary & Lodge Lakes but when I arrived I was having second thoughts as it was lashing down & blowing a gale already & the forecast was for worse winds to come" I left the kit in the van until the draw as I had already made up my mind if I was unfortunate enough to draw with it in my kisser then I would turn around & go home? I was around halfway in the draw queue just behind Steve Jackson who was hoping for a section win today in the attempt to catch Craig Trigger Edmunds at the top of the table, Jacko drew peg 131 on the far side of Cambell with the wind off his back then I went & pulled out peg 130 next to him" With the wind in are favour I had to give it a go just to see if I could upset Jacko's Plan's..

When we arrived at are pegs the wind was now gusting to 60mph plus" & I really felt for the guys opposite with it smack in their kisser even when they were attempting to set up their was kit flying everywhere!" Even owner Steve had to come out with a chain saw after a tree toppled over in the car park luckily missing the vehicle's". It was going to be quite a simple set up today, A waggler to fish the open water, A 4x14 & 4x12 wire wonder on 0.13-0.10 & 18 PR412 hooks, The heavier rig to fish slightly over depth with a double bulk & the lighter rig with a strung bulk. On the all-in I fed 4 good balls of G/bait with casters & some dead red maggot at 14mts in-front of me & just one ball with dead pinkie's added at the same distance to my left. I started on the wagg at around 25mts with caster on the hook just feeding minimum amounts of the same via the catty, I had a couple of small roach in the first 30mins or so before taking a 4oz skimmer when I switched to red maggot on the hook, This appeared to be a fluke as after the first hour just a couple more small roach were added, Jacko had also had a slow start with just a couple of small fish & the guy below him was struggling but I couldn't see the others in my section as they were above the spit.

After just over an hour it was time to try the pole lines, I started over the negative line with double pinkee but only had another small roach after ten minutes, Time to try the heavier fed line this time with double caster on the hook, I did have a bite after a few minutes but missed it so switched to single caster with the hook buried inside, This made a difference as I soon netted a few 6-8oz skimmers, I could already tell though after a couple of bites the fish would back off so picked a couple more off fishing off the feed before I felt it was time to top up with another smaller ball. Back on the negative line I took a couple more skimmers again on caster but they appeared to be much smaller so fed another ball here this time just with casters added, I was going to try the waggler again but the bad light had put pay to that & it didn't appear to be working that well as Jacko had only added a few more small roach at this stage.

Back on the positive line & I had to sit & wait for bites but I was putting the odd 6oz plus skimmer in the net at least, I did manage a couple on single red maggot but the bites were really iffy & caster was producing better bites when they happened" I went through a bit of a pattern of catching a couple of fish over the feed, Would knick the odd one off the feed either side then top the swim up again when I didn't have signs of fish in the peg, Just over halfway through Jacko managed to snare a decent 2lb plus perch on the waggler & I think everyone on the lake knew about it! Lol, I was still happy to stick with the pole as I was at least putting odd fish in the net which were slightly better stamp than most of the blip roach Steve was catching, I thought the last couple of hours would see the catch rate improve but it went the opposite way to be honest with bites hard to come by, I did have a better late run of small skimmers off both lines late in the day but was never going to set the world alight, Come the all out I thought I had around 8lb odd, Jacko was admitting to lest than this but had also netted a better skimmer later in the day, Are bank was the first to weigh & the guy below Jacko had 3lb odd, Steve finished the day with just over 6lb & I was a bit surprized to finish with 10lb 4oz so I had shown him the way home today' Lol, Above the spit Ryan Shipp weighed 9lb odd & the guy above him had called it a day before we even finished the day so thankfully it meant I won the section picking up £50 in the process. Back at the results & it was a tie for top spot as Vince Brown from peg 59 on Lodge weighed 24lb 8oz along with Nick Ewers from peg 77 on Cary with the same weight. As far as the overall standings went Craig Edmunds finished 3rd in his section from peg 74 on Cary which was enough to see him wrap the league up with 7pts so another big well done to him" It was very close with the rest of the frame places with a few being decided on weight count back.

Fair play to those who had to contend with the wind & rain in their face for the first few hours but it was like a different world come the end with all the lakes flat calm'. Quite a hard days fishing but still enjoyable for this time of the year & even better to come back with a few quid.

Full Results -

1st Nick Ewers ( P.I Thatchers) peg 77 Cary, & Vince Brown (Mosella) peg 59 Lodge, 24lb 8oz.

3rd Tony Rixon (Mosella) peg 99 Cary, 18lb.

4th Joe McMahon (Veals) peg 78, 15lb 7oz. 

5th Stu White (Wiltshire Angling) peg 70, 14lb 11oz.

6th John Fuidge (The Sedges) peg 55, 14lb 3oz.

Overall Standing -

1st Craig Edmunds (Mosella) 7pts.

2nd John Fuidge (The Sedges) 8pts (weight).

3rd Steve Jackson (Garbolino) 8pts.

4th Gary O'Shea (P.I Thatchers) 9pts (weight).

5th Nigel Easton (Viaduct) 9pts.