Sunday 29 April 2012

Maver Match, Viaduct, Sat 28th April 2012

In January I had a spare £100, so booked tickets for the two Maver qualifiers on Viaduct. It seemed a good idea at the time and Viaduct does seem to be the place, where my luck at the drawbag, sometimes exceeds my usual dismal dips into hats, tins or bait boxes.

Simples. That was the plan for today, one waggler rod, two lead rods and a couple of pole rigs, the waggler being one of those middy clear wagglers, they cast well and just need a little shotting (or a big swivel) to get them sat perfectly. The two lead rods were virtually identical, except for the hooklengths, one was 12" of 0.16 and a Guru 16 with a band, the other 18" of 0.18 with a 16 Guru and a quickstop for meat or bread. Pole rigs were a MW diamond on 0.18 to 0.16 with a 16 B960 and a MW slim power on 0.16 with a 16 Drennan Hair Rigger on 0.14.

Bait tray was simple, 8mm meat, 8mm pellet and 6mm pellet, with a, reduced to 30p in the Esso garage, loaf of bread to pop up should that be necessary - as it wasn't (or didn't work) no more of it and the bread became duck food.

Sadly my consistently shite drawing arm, once again played a blinder, putting me on one of the best skimmer pegs (70 on Lodge) - with no silvers qualification, nor money to fish for. I started on the lead and 8mm pellet and had my one and only liner within 10 minutes of the start, no ther indications on the lead on the several occasions I tried it. The wind (just for a change) was rendering the waggler a waste of time, as the surface drag from L to R and the undertow in the opposite direction thwarted all attempts to keep it in one place for more than a few seconds.

The pole at 12m produced a 5lb carp on the fith or 6th put in and that was to be the sole representative of Cypry's relatives to grace my net. I had a nice days fishing, I filled the bottom rung of my keepnet with skimmers and bream, 45-50lb would be a conservative estimate, but it was, in the context of the day, a total waste of time. I wasn't alone with most pegs on my bank, except 73 (who caught a few carp down to the tree) not weighing in. Oh well, I've another opportunity on 19th may, a carp peg would be nice.....

Rather than my usual photocopies of the weigh sheets, Steve gave me some hand written results, including some info on baits etc.

1) Tont Gilbert 196.08 peg 64(The Monk) 31 Carp on double 8mm meat at 16m in the margin
2) Martin Preston 165.07 peg 81 18 Carp on 11mm pellet on the lead
3) Jeb Attwood 158.08 peg 110 pellet on the waggler
4) Miles levy 139.13 peg 86
5) Ray Hayward 134.12 peg 102
6) Roland Lucas 128.14 peg 85


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