Viaduct Fishery Open (Cambell, Cary & Lodge Lake.

It was still raining when I woke this morning & I was hoping it would clear up as I didn't fancy another day like yesterday getting totally soaked" I arrived in plenty of time & it was still doing its best to dampen are sprits but eased off before draw time, A good turn out today with 42 fishing so the match would be spread over the three lakes, I let a fair few go before me today before taking my turn. I ended up with peg 94 on Cary, In the top corner with the wind blowing from the north west, Smack in my face" I didn't really fancy it for carp but can be a good area for silvers so based my day around this, Just two rigs, A 4x14 wire wonder on 0.13-0.10 & a 16 F1 pellet hook & A lighter 0.2g AS2 float on the same line with an 18 F1 pellet hook, I plumbed two lines one at 13mts to the left & 12mts straight out which was slightly shallower by around 6inches but I still had around 4ft or so of water, I also plumed a line around 8mts which I could just feed by hand, I didn't plan to use anything except pellets on the hook, Expanders & hard 4/6mms over G/bait, Hard 4mms & some Micros.

Opposite me I had James Coops" Cooper over on peg 90 but by the look of things he was going to try for carp? & Phil Hardwick on peg 88 who was bound to do the same, I started the day feeding three balls at 13mts to the left with some hard 4mms added, Just one ball on the 12mt line with same & a few micros & a small amount of 4mms & micros on the 8mt line, I had assembled the bomb rod just to have a look at the start so hair rig an 8mm pellet & cast to the end bank feeding a couple of the same over the top, Ten minutes in & I had a drop back which resulted in a carp' All 1lb of it! I gave it another 20mins but with no signs it was time to get my head down to try & catch silvers.

I started at 12mts & had a couple of small skimmers but bites were slow, We had had a bit of rain at the start & the pole was bloody freezing in my hands, onto the 13mt line & again a couple of quick small skimmers & one around 10oz on expander, I switched to hard banded pellet but bites were really iffy & I wasn't putting anything in the net, Back to soft pellet on the hook & I had a few more at 12mts when I fed a few hard 4mms over the top with the catty but they seemed to back off, I wasn't getting very far & felt I had wasted nearly an hour trying to catch on the longer lines. I had a quick look short earlier but it didn't produce so kept feeding it by hand & it was time to give it another go.

I soon started to get bites, Only small skimmers between 3-6oz but it was a lot quicker than trying to do it at 13mts for similar size fish, I re-fed these lines just for when the shorter line faded, I had to keep changing depth from dead depth to a few inches on the deck, I switched to the heavier rig with a double bulk which seemed to work best, I found it best to feed a small ball of G/bait to pin a few fish to the deck each time I felt the were coming off the deck, It wasn't hectic but at least I was putting fish in the net & it was quite enjoyable' I had another couple of looks on the long lines when bites died off but just couldn't catch here. I decided to feed some lose micros off to my left at 8mts & leave it for a while, James had been trying for carp but had switched to silvers & was catching the odd fish but didn't know how the noted silvers pegs on Lodge lake were fishing as usually some good weights come from here.

I kept pugging away adding the odd net size skimmer, I had a look over the new 8mts fed line after 30mins but didn't get any indications so soon back to the original line, Catching a few then topping up after every few fish or when the smaller samples were present, I spent most of the day here but with an hour to go dropped back in were I had fed the micros, I was just about to give up when I had a proper lift bite' The result was a 2lb pus skimmer" Sadly no more followed so fed another small amount & went straight back over it, I had a run of around six fish to 10oz before they backed off again, I spent the last 40mins switching between the two short lines adding the odd fish right up to the all out.

I hadn't a clue what I had weight wise come the end but thought around 20lb' When the scales arrived the best silvers weights I had heard off on Lodge was Steve Jackson with 22lb odd, I was surprized to finish with 27lb exactly which was a hectic but enjoyable days fishing, Back at the results & Roland Lucas won the day from peg 102 on Cary with 123lb odd of carp on the bomb & 8mm pellet ahead of Tony Gilbert from peg 127 of Cambell, It was close in the silvers & Phil Cardwell just nicked it from me by 5oz" from peg 116 of Cambell but at least I picked up £50 along the way, Just the tonic after yesterdays disappointment", That's the great thing about this venue , If you don't draw on some carp theirs always the silvers to target.  Well done to the winners today, Off to Shiplate Farm Main Lake tomorrow for there sell out match, Pegs 1 or 15 would be idea but options open depending where I end up? Owe & a big well done to team mate Craig (Trig) Edmunds who has shown his class yet again to win the Todber Manor winners Final Today". 

Full Results -

1st Roland Lucas (Wiltshire Angling) peg 102 Cary, 123lb 6oz.

2nd Tony Gilbert (P.I.Thatchers) peg 127 Cambell, 115lb 9oz.

3rd Clint Wojtyla (Future Networks) peg 129 Cambell, 88lb 12oz.

4th Tony (Bait-tech Viaduct) peg 114 Cambell, 78lb 13oz.

5th Chris Fox (Maesknoll Angling) peg 97 Cary, 76lb 15oz.

6th Adrian Jefferies (Avon Angling) peg 112, 75lb.

Silvers -

1st Phil Cardwell (Bait-Tech Viaduct) peg 116 Cambell, 27lb 5oz.

2nd Dom Sullivan (Mosella) peg 94 Cary, 27lb.

3rd Benn Hagg (Guru/Dynamite Baits) peg 119 Cambell, 25lb 14oz.