Paul Garratt Memorial Match (Viaduct Fishery) Cambell, Cary & Lodge Lakes.

Well the mini beast from the east was back' As it was bloody cold when I arrived at the fishery with a brisk north west wind blowing" I managed to grab a breakfast roll on route which I was thankful of, With the three lakes in I just didn't want to drawn in the brunt of the wind' There were a few drop outs probably due to the weather but still 36 of us fishing, Taking the kit out the van I realised I picked up the wrong rod case and had two rods with no reels! Thankfully team mate Gabo came to my rescue lending me one of his posh Tournament 11ft lead rods & Posh reel to go with it"...

I intended to be nearer the rear of the draw but found myself near the front when we changed rooms' Phil Hardwick drew before me & ended up on peg 112 Cambell , I went in & drew out two together, Nick Ewers took the top one, I opened up Peg 111 Cambell & Nick Ended up on peg 114 with 113 being empty" That's Three matches in a row that's happened to me on here, Spooky" & I Haven't moved much".

Lately pegs 110 & 132 have been dominant but appears since the use of pellet again this week a few have woke up & spread out a bit so was hoping for a few fish, I had Previous Fisho Winner Steve Jackson on peg 110 who fancied his chances but we had a quid on for the fun of it. With the wind blowing down are end quite strong I ruled out the waggler as I wouldn't be able to present it, I set up another bomb rod after finding a reel in my kit so had one to fish a hair rig band on 0.17 & a 16 hook the other with hair spike for meat. I was going to set a pole rig up to fish around 9mts but didn't fancy kit flying around in the wind so would feed short & try the bomb over it through the day.

I would spend the day mainly fishing pellet & started the match fishing around two thirds from the middle of the lake with banded 8mm pellet, I decided I was going to feed from the off but gave it ten minutes before pinging just a couple of 8mm's over the top, Two minutes later & I soon had a 4lb fish in the net, twenty minutes later I had a slightly bigger fish after going slightly past the feed, I had been pinging a couple of pellets every few minutes & was getting the odd sign of fish so decided to feed another line off to my left just short of the middle feeding around half a dozen pellets & left it while, Ten minutes later I went over it & within seconds I was in' Another fish around 5lb, At this stage Phil was yet to catch & Jacko had netted one smaller carp & after an hour I though I had around 24lb in the net so not a bad start, It seemed a case of getting a few indications I one area then try off the areas I had been feeding. It wasn't hectic & at some points I had to wait ages for signs of fish, I though things were going nicely until Phil went on his pole around 10mts after trying down the edge without success, He missed a bite straight away the hooked a carp seconds later".  

I thought it would be a one off but how wrong could I be' He had four more in the next four dob-ins all on hard 6mm pellet, No Prob, I had been feeding a few 6mms the same distance so plopped the lead in on it. 15mins & not even a liner even though Phil was still hooking the odd fish at the same distance' It appeared Nick Had the same Idea on peg 114 but couldn't catch at this distance, I didn't waste to much time & was back out towards the middle. Jacko had added a few more carp but didn't look to be that big, I did have to keep searching the peg on & off the feed to take the odd fish but Phil Had gone well in-front of me at this stage but I keep pinging a few 6mms on the short line hoping to draw a few over, Ricky Mills opposite me on peg 130 had given up & gone for a wander after being in the worst of the bitter wind which was better for me I hoped" I keep plugging away & with a couple of hours to go started the get the odd small run of fish, At one stage I had four in 15mins for around 25lb, Jacko had gave up with the bomb & had assembled a pole to fish down the edge after seeing a fish roll their but he appeared to be doing a better job of branch clearing most of the time, Phil's peg continued to produce a few carp but I still couldn't get indications on my short line, Going into the last 90mins I began to feed slightly more on the positive area which did the trick for a while before I found some better fish by fishing to the right of the feed. Despite the cold wind I had quite an enjoyable day, the fish seemed to come in spells but finding where the were willing to feed was important, Phil caught right up to the all out & had some decent fish so knew I wouldn't beat him but was confident of my quid of a rather disgruntled Jacko!" Lol, He wasn't happy with the foliage he had cleared so decided to dump it back where he was fishing all day"..?? It looked like being close between Nick & myself as he was admitting to 124lb on his clicker & I had 121 on mine?  I caught up with Steve doing the weigh-in & gave him a hand to do the board, Nick ended up with slightly more than he thought finishing with 133lb odd, Next was Phil who really did the business to finish with 209lb odd all on the shorter pole line & 6mm pellet to easily win the day so a big well done Phil & good company" I was really out with my clicking today as I was surprized to finish with 167lb odd" To be honest I think I forgot to click a couple when I had a burst of Fish" & it didn't help when I spent over 40minutes of the day without a hook-length on after it had slipped the connector Gabo had on his set up, Not something I was keen on but probably should check it hadn't came loose after each fish? Back at the results & as expected Phil took the spoils but thankfully I had enough to finish 2nd picking up £70 along the way, Owe & Jacko's quid as he finished with 95lb odd'  As far as the silvers went Gabo had a nice day on peg 90 in the corner of Cary to finish with 30lb of skimmers on pellet so a good result there as well, Some decent weights considering the harsh conditions & its amazing how much difference the pellet has made again" Really enjoyed the day & nice to see Josh fishing in his dads memory.

Full Results -

1st Phil Hardwick (Burts Baits) peg 112 Cambell, 209lb 8oz.

2nd Dom Sullivan (Mosella UK) peg 111 Cambell, 167lb 13oz.

3rd Gary O'Shea (P.I.Thatchers) peg 85 Cary, 139lb 2oz.

4th Nick Ewers (P.I.Thatchers) peg 114 Cambell, 133lb 1oz.

5th Dick Bull (Langport) peg 59 Lodge, 130lb 13oz.

6th Mark Wynne (Colmic) peg 100 Cary, 125lb 6oz.

Silvers -

1st Gabo Skarba (Mosella UK) peg 90 Cary, 31lb 1oz.

2nd Toby Burrell (Team Army) peg 115 Cambell, 28lb 12oz.

3rd Ryan Shipp (Westerleigh) peg 64 Lodge Lake, 25lb 9oz.