Don Sutherland's Memorial, Viaduct, Saturday 11th March 2017

A poignant day today, I knew Don for many years, not as a close friend, but one of those fishing acquaintances  that you speak to every match.  Don was always enthusiastic and I certainly miss seeing his smiling face and our conversations, he was usually trying to convince me it would be OK, where ever I had drawn.

A silverfish match, Campbell, Lodge and Spring lakes in with 51 booked in and 49 actually fished on the day, so a decent turn out.  Spring was likely to be the place to draw, but where ever I drew, I was determined to enjoy the day and remember Don in a positive way.

A brief word from Chris Hook and a minutes silence before the draw and then into the tin, twice I pulled two tickets stuck together and dropped them back in, getting a single one, opening it revealed 24, I wasn't disappointed, as I have picked up silvers money from this peg in the past.

With pellets being banned, the bait tray was simply, casters, dead maggots, a few live maggots, corn and 4mm meat. A 3 square Drennan feeder, with a 15" hooklength of 0.10 and a 20 Guru F1, was put on a 10' feeder rod, clipped up just short of the overhanging tree.  Two waggler rods, one with a Drennan Glowtip waggler to fish caster over the pole lines and another to fish out to the overhanging tree with corn.

3 Topkits, two with Middy 1-5 hollow elastic - I have yet to find better for winter skimmers - one with a Drennan float whose number I forget, to a 0.08 hooklength and a Middy 6313 hook, the other was a NG Gimp, to a 01.0 hooklength and a 18 Guru F1 in case I was catching well (this never got used.....)  I also set up another Gimp, this one with a 0.10 hooklength and a 18 F1, to fish meat or caster.

Starting on the feeder at the all in, after feeding two 14m lines, one to the LH side with 3 balls GB and caster, one to the RH side with caster and meat, I gave to feeder ages (for me!!) but after 40 minutes I had one roach and a 3oz skimmer, with no other indications.  So a look on the pole and I had a couple of skimmers on it, but the action wasn't exactly frantic.  I was being kept amused by watching the large dark shapes cruising round the peg and a ghostie that must have been close to 20lb.

A look on the waggler, saw 3 fish come in fairly quick time, all reasonable fish between 1 and 2lb.  For the next couple of hours it was a case of rotate lines and get an odd fish, when I got one it was decent, but a long wait between bites.  The caster and meat line saw me get 4 bites in 4 put ins, two missed, one fish bumped and another 1lb+ fished in the net.

Back on the waggler and corn, it was slow, but when I did get a bite it was a decent skimmer, so kept at it, at quarter past three, I had three in three chucks and thought that I might have a good last hour, fourth chuck another bite, but this time it was one of the big black shapes, they were obviously starting get there heads down.  That seemed to kill the peg off, as I went back out, C/W new hooklength, but it took nearly 30 minutes to get another bite, which was a skimmer approaching 3lb, next bite was another carp, another hooklength gone....

Only five minutes to go, so back onto the pole, double dead maggot and another skimmer netted.  I knew I didn't have enough to bother the frame, but weighed in as I wanted to see what they went, 24.04.  The lack of fish on the pole line and smaller fish to build some weight between the bigger fish cost me. but the weather was good and 24lb of silvers isn't to be sniffed at.

Don's brother presented a shield to winner Mark Saunders, which will be fished for every year, obviously an emotional moment for the family, pleased for them it was a good turnout, the weather was good, plenty of fish caught and all done in a great spirit.

Landsend Costcutter, Tuesday 7th March 2017

Chatting to Tony Rixon on Sunday, we fancied a change of venue for a Tuesday costcutter, as Acorn has been tough lately and unfortunately, it takes us so long to get to Ivy House, it meant trying to garner enough interest in another venue, Viaduct match lake was mooted, but Landsend came up as the one to try.

Tony picked me up and we stopped at the café in Shipham, we were joined at the table by Leon and he did his best to convince me I'd draw on a few fish today.  This is the first time I have been in there since Wendy left and I must say, it was very good, nice food, good service and a bit of banter with the staff.

Just 9 of us today, so spread around the match lake, I was first into the draw tub and out comes 11, apparently the fish have been up this end, so fingers crossed they hadn't moved.  Whilst tackling up I didn't see a single fish move, nor whilst having a good plumb round the peg did I feel any fish, so not such a good sign.

I set up a homemade wire stem slim with 4 No11 stotz spread out, to fish banded pellet just down the shelf, a carbon stemmed NG Gimp No1 to dob maggots round the peg, a margin rig, a rig to fish meat at 6m and finally, another Gimp to fish the deepest part of the peg at about 14m off the point of the island.  Bait tray was fairly simple, 4 & 6mm pellets, dead maggots and 6mm meat,

Starting on the dobbing rig, I spent nearly 30 minutes searching the peg and had one bite from a miniscule roach which fell off when shipping back.  I had been pinging a few 4mm pellets across towards the rushes and slipped a 6mm pellet into the band and dropped the rig in, it settled and dipped, first fish netted, an F1.  Another 3 F1's and a 2lb carp followed fairly quickly, before the bites dried up.  I did rotate round the lines, the margin down to peg 12, the meat line and out to the 14m line, all to no avail.

I had to try and make something work, so I opened up the casters I had languishing in my bait bag and started a new line towards the island, easing a caster into the band, I shipped it out and laid it in, the float settled and kept on going, another decent F1 netted.  Next drop in, same again, then a couple of missed bites before a roach joined the F1's in the net.  The roach was to be the last action from this line all match, nice to see the F1's but not enough of them there to stay competing for feed.

Another look round the lines, I had been fairly frugally dripping maggots and corn in front of peg 12, but this again didn't give so much as a quiver on the float, I tried upping the feed, hoping for something, even if a few perch moved in, but the line remained resolutely biteless.  The meat line gave me a flurry of 3 bites, 2 of which I missed, one was hit and resulted in a 8oz hybrid.  Then that was it, every other look on it was biteless.

I had started to feed the 14m line a little heavier, about 100 micros and a few dead maggots every 20 minutes and dropping in on this saw a few indications and missed bites.  I tried soft pellet to no avail and corn, with an hour of the match to go, I went back to double maggot saw a decent skimmer netted, then a 6oz hybrid, next up was a 12oz perch - all accidentals, as I had set my stall out for carp, but with only one in the net, they were remaining elusive.  I then hit a bite that felt like a carp, but after it ran towards me, it shed the hook.  Two more carp were hooked and netted, but they were only small, as the weigh in proved, with the 3 carp going 12.04, the F1's and assorted silvers went 13.08, giving me a total of 25.12, which was 4th overall and top silvers weight. The carp, whilst not abundant did seem to be on the other side, as the top 3 weights all came from there.

It was a nice change today, started with a good breakfast, the realisation that I had left my Goretex jacket at home, was soon sorted as fishery owner Mike Duckett lent me a jacket, that stayed unworn!!  No rain.  The fishery is so peaceful, no motorway nearby, the birdsong was the only noise for virtually all of the day until a low flying aircraft came over the moors in some exercise.  I even felt that whilst I wasn't sat on a shedful, there was ways to get a bite and a fish, it took some working out and all in all, was an enjoyable day.

Next up is Viaduct on Saturday for Don Sutherland's memorial match.

1: Leon Hubbard 54.07 peg 15
2: Tony Rixon 50.02 peg 20
3: Mike Duckett 36.05 peg 22
4: Chris Fox 25.12 peg 11

Silvers

1: Chris Fox 13.08 peg 11

Viaduct Winter League Final Round. Sunday 5th March 2107

There really isn't going to be much content in here about the days fishing, I could describe set ups, terminal tackle, rods, pole anything, but at the end of it, I would have come back with virtually identical points if I had just taken a crabline.

I am wondering if there is much point at all in sitting here tapping away at the keys, I started this blog as a diary & something to get me thinking about my day, with the aim of the analysis improving my thought process.  I am at a loss trying to analyse my day.

Mark Broomsgrove was tasked with drawing the team a decent quintuple of pegs, he managed 118 for himself, 85 for me, 56 for Paul, 24 for Glenn and Fred got the unfavoured 9.  Well I couldn't be too upset, it hasn't been quite the flyer it was, but should still be worth decent points, if not more.  The weather forecast was pretty horrendous and the rain had been lashing down, with the wind increasing, 40mph+ being promised by the BBC.

First stumbling block was the Cary bank, there have been machines along this bank working on the lakes during the week, given the amount of rain that had fallen, that meant trying to push a laden trolley to the peg was akin to a strongest man competition.  My old team mate Nicky Ewers was on the next peg and had abandoned his trolley, handballing his kit to his peg.  The mud was getting everywhere, both myself and Nicky, along with Nicky Collins who was on 88, were taken back to winters long past, on the Kenn, the Axe and the Huntspill when the levels were dropped down and all our clothing and tackle were a nice shade of grey clay all winter......

The wind was pushing down into peg 90, where Bunghole himself was sat, moaning about it!!  The wagglers stayed in the bag, I set up two lead rods, one for popped up baits, one for meat on the deck.  Two topkits completed the tackle, one for meat at 6m, another for down the edge, where 3' away from the bank I had 2' of water, seemed OK given the colour, which was much more opaque than of late.

On the all in I chucked out the bread and then heard Nicky landing a fish, I brought it back in and dropped a little shorter, the tip did move in what could have been one of those finicky bread bites, a strike and fish on, almost immediately I knew it was a good fish, but foul hooked.  It came off after a couple of minutes.  Nothing else on the bread, so out with the meat, another finicky bite and a small fish was hooked, initially I though skimmer, but the jagged fight soon gave away it was a Tench, all 14oz of it.....

By 1pm I had tried red, yellow and natural meat, corn, bread discs, bread crust and prawn, all with the same result - nothing, not even a liner.  I was bored stiff by now, so reset the bread rod up as a small cage feeder, 0.12 hooklength with a 18 hook and fished this with GB and dead maggot, I had two bites on this, one I missed a rattle on the tip with maggots sucked dry - roach I guess.  Next bite was a 2oz skimmer and that was it.  I had been feeding the edge with maggot - nothing, the 6m line had seen 6 cubes of meat every 20 minutes or so and that too appeared to be as barren of fish, as the Sahara.

Pegs 82 and 81 to my right were equally struggling, but they did both manage a couple of hybrids to beat my dismal total of 1lb dead.  I have absolutely no idea what I could have changed to get me a fish, Nicky had 3 fish in virtually as many chucks, then didn't have a bite for the rest of the match, as neither of us had any indications or liners, either the fish were led dormant, or they weren't there, I can come to no other conclusion.

Team wise we had a poor first match, but had gradually clawed our way up towards mid table, that was halted and we slid back down after a pretty meagre 32 points on the day.  A very different feeling from last year, when we won the league, had the individual champion in the team and had all caught a few fish. Oh well, maybe we can make a better fist of it next year.

Thanks to Steve, Matt & Helen for running it, Clayton for taking the pools money, of which I didn't see a penny back this year, - poor show on my part - and well done to all those who took our crowns.

Viaduct Silvers Open, Wednesday 1st March 2017

Quite typical of my luck, which seems to be very best indifferent, at worst dreadful, I couldn't make last weeks match where the fish seemed to spread out a little and all have a munch.  The temperature duly dropped again for this weeks match, which I could make, so would that revert the fishing back to pre last Wednesday's spectacular!!

The journey down was not one to inspire, currently where I live I am trapped in by roadworks and temporary traffic lights in both directions I can go to head towards Viaduct, so an earlier than usual start.  The traffic wasn't as bad as expected leaving home, but Temple Cloud had single file traffic, light controlled and for a change I decided to go vis Wells, Glastonbury and Street - bad decision, the road between Glastonbury was closed off and a sea of blue flashing lights was evident.  The hastily switched on Sat Nav (Waze app on phone, its very good, worth getting and its free) sent me down some lanes past Milfields playing fields and so to Viaduct with a minute to spare.

The draw seemed to be kind, peg 18, with only 9 fishing most pegs were spread out, but I had Steve Kedge on 19 and Paul Faiers on 16 for company.  I set up two wagglers, one to fish corn across and another to fish caster/maggot over the pole line. A 3 square feeder clipped up to get just short of the island and two pole rigs were assembled, only set up two because of a 6" depth variation between the two lines I wanted to fish.

Put some GB and caster in at the start on two lines, both 14m, one straight in front and one off to my right.  Started on the waggler and corn, but after 40 minutes there had been not so much as a liner on it.  Steve had taken a couple of fish on the feeder and I should have picked it up there and then, but such is my hatred of fishing it, I persevered with the waggler and pole for too long and was struggling to get a bite.  A switch from caster to dead maggot, or actually, dead pinkie, saw a few small skimmers netted, but it was pointless catching them.

Finally picked up the feeder after a couple of hours and was well behind Steve, all that did was put a skimmer, a hybrid and a small roach in my net and it did seem to kill off Steve's feeder line.  All the while I was feeding corn, expecting to catch on it later in the match.  I had a short burst of fish on the pole again, but small 2-3oz fish, compared to the 12oz-2lb fish Steve was getting.

I refed the pole line to the right with an hour and a half to go and this did induce some activity, a bit of blowing over it.  I left it to rest and tried the waggler and corn, by now Steve was catching well on this and my float, despite being 12-15yards away from his, remained motionless, apart from two skimmers in a 40 minute spell, whereas Steve was getting an indication every chuck.

Last half hour back over the blowing pole line and two big skimmers hooked and lost, just about summed up my day, poor decision not to go on the feeder early, probably fed too much GB as the fish seemed to be sat above it, not looking for food, too reliant on caster, which really didn't work as it often does and it did appear those fish did not want to budge from the end of the island at the end.

So a proper battering from Steve who won with 42lb to my pretty pathetic 13lb, I just couldn't sort out the quality fish.  Shame I haven't got a Wednesday off for a few more weeks as I'd like to try and put that right, 19 has been a better peg, but not that much better, so I certainly got something wrong with the pole line feeding.