Viaduct Spring League Round One, Sunday 23rd April 2017

Travelled down with anniversary couple, Tony & Judith Rixon, who both had conveniently left their wallet and purse at home, so anniversary breakfast on me..... Cannards Well, it wasn't too bad, service was a bit slow, but the food was edible.

54 fishing the league and a good standard of angler, so no slip ups, drawing a bad peg isn't an option really, so into the tin and out comes 57 - so much for getting Lodge out of the way yesterday!!   Well its in with 53 and isn't the worst section draw but I felt the chance of any sort of frame position was gone.

Tony had drawn 71, my peg from yesterday, I wasn't too upset not to draw it two days running, I had seen Roland catch a few from 57 yesterday, so fingers crossed they were still in the peg. Rigs were pretty much the same as yesterday, but I could get into shallower water today, in front of the pallet of 58and down to the pipe that comes in in the corner, same rig would do for both.

Same as yesterday, start short on meat, but again, no sign of a carp, just one missed bite and one skimmer.  Bob Giles on 59 was catching on the waggler casting to the aerator, I was casting to the aerator, but my float was motionless, its a phenomenon that I can't understand, how its possible to have two floats landing either side of a rope and one going under and the other motionless- seen it happen on this lake before.  I did finally hook a big fish, I got it under the rod tip and estimate it was 17 or 18lb.  I thought I was going to net it OK, when it took off and the reel line snapped - not happy, a new line (to me) that I was trying out, think I'll be going back to good old Sensor.

With an hour and a half gone I had one skimmer in the net and it was deja vu from yesterday, I had been pinging a few bits of meat down to the pipe and had a look down there, hooking a fish straight away, safely landed, about 8lb.  I went in there again and hooked another, this was foul hooked and ran out into the lake and kept going, as the elastic bottomed out I was getting concerned as to what would break first.  Then luckily the hook pulled before there was an expensive crack, I was somewhat surprised to see the hook opened up, first time I have seen a Guru XS do this, but it was a very big fish, going very fast.

The rest of the match was spent at 16m to the pallet of 58 taking an occasional fish from there, mostly on meat, but I did take two on maggots.  I could see the lake was fishing hard apart from Bob Giles and I thought Calum Craig on 73 was catching well, but I think he lost a few when I saw him weigh in. I managed 73.11in the end which was good enough for second in section behind Bob Giles who had such a flying start.  Miles away from the 4 200lb+ weights on Campbell, but its a better start than last year, so long may it continue.

Lodge weigh sheet, didn't get pics of the others.

Viaduct Open, Saturday 22nd April 2017

First chance to get down to Viaduct for a while, bit of a practise for the Spring League the next day and hopefully, as this match was on Lodge, to get it out the way and draw another lake in the league.  Only 14 booked in, so it didn't take long to get the draw done and I was on my way to peg 71, not too disappointed, as I have framed from this peg before.  Getting to the peg, I could immediately see that since I last drew it the bramble bushes between 71 and 72, which was vacant, had spread out into the lake and you can no longer get along to the pallet of 72 and they stop you getting into the shallow water, so the peg no longer has a fishable margin.

I did have a tentative plumb round the edge of the brambles, but their tackle stealing fronds stick out under the surface and I was very, no totally reluctant to go in there, as I know exactly what would happen if a fish was hooked that close to such a tangle of sinewy nastiness.  As I had time I set up a lead rod, that stayed in sweet repose on the bank all match, so no more about it, no idea why I wasted my time setting it up..... Two wagglers, although that was because they ready made and I wasn't convinced a pellet waggler would work, but I set it and a depth waggler up anyway.

4 topkits completed the array of tackle on display, a rig to go near, but not in the brambles, a home made slim wire stemmed float to fish meat at 6m and a NG float to fish pellet at 7m and 14m.   As the sun was threatening to come out I also set up mugging rig.

I started short on the meat hoping to get an early mug fish, but after 20 minutes without any indication I switched to pellet at 14m, this brought a skimmer, but it was painfully slow going.  A couple more skimmers swapping between 7 and 14 metre lines and a couple on the waggler, but it was impossible to put a run of fish together.  I walked up to the shop and bought a bag of Thatchers, to try and get a few more skimmers.  I mixed this up and put it in at 7m with a few chopped worms and went out on the waggler again, I managed a carp about 8lb, but it was a one off.

Dropping in with a worm section, over the GB saw a couple of skimmers come to the net and then a 6lb carp, but it was not much better than the pellet line, I persevered with it as carp seemed unlikely to show up.  Even the expected carp bonanza in the last 1/2 hour didn't materialise, so it was sit and wait for a skimmer, maybe I should have fished for skimmers the whole match as I chucked back the 2 carp and weighed 25.13 for 3rd in the silvers and nowhere in the match.

1. Mark Cullerton - 174lb 8oz - peg 66
2. Roland Lucas - 143lb 3oz - peg 57...
3. Craig Edmunds - 140lb 1oz - peg 68
4. Charlie Dalton - 100lb 7oz - peg 55
5. Jeb Attwood - 75lb 14oz - peg 73
6. Phil Hardwick - 73lb 4oz - peg 64

Silvers
1. Nigel Bartlett - 32lb 15oz - peg 59
2. Matt Tomes - 31lb 4oz - peg 60
3. Chris Fox - 25lb 13oz - peg 71

Landsend Costcutter, Tuesday 18th April 2017

Travelled down to this one with Tony, a stop off at Shipham for breakfast and it wasn't too bad.  Tony is trying to get this to be a monthly match, but support is a bit thin on the ground with only 8 fishing this one, be good if it took off and gave an alternative Tuesday venue.

Match lake was all ours, so the pegging was spread around to give everyone some space, I dipped into the tub and pulled out 13, not a peg I usually draw and first time on that side of the lake for a long time.  I had Tony next to me on 15 and Gordon Canning opposite on 11.

Four rigs set up, a margin rig which would cover just down to my left under the bushes, further along the end bank and RH edge.  A homemade float with 4x11 stotz to fish meat through the water at 5m, a Drennan crystal dibber to fish across to the island and a rig to fish pellet at full depth.

Bait tray was simple, pellet and meat, I did have a few dead maggots and the best part of a Kilo of worms, left over from the Frenzee festival.  Starting short on meat, I missed one bite, but that was the only indication and after 15 minutes It was over to the island, which is 16.5 metres away, so in for a back aching day...... There were fish visible across in 12" of water, but as expected I had a couple and they just melted away.  Tony had a good view of them and said they came back when I took the pole away and disappeared as soon as the pole went out again.

It was fishing fairly hard all round and I tried the line immediately to my left under the bushes and had a small carp from there, but that was a one off.  Back on the short meat line and all I could get from there were little knocks and a 8oz roach.

With a couple of hours gone and everyone struggling I decided to chop up a few worms and start a new line at 11m feeding just neat worm.  This gave me some bites, a perch, then a carp, a 8oz hybrid and then a run of small perch.  I tried going back over to the island, but my shoulder was complaining at holding 17m on an angle, even the painkillers weren't working, so gave that up.

I tried GB and maggots along the end bank and meat down the RH edge, never had a bite on the RH edge and one perch from the endbank.   I did manage a couple more carp from immediately to my LH side under the bushes, but there were no indications of many fish there, just a bite out of the blue.  I did get a decent skimmer over the worm, but he appeared to be a lonesome soul, as I never got another.

I just kept rotating round all the lines until the last half hour when I stuck it out on the 5m meat line for a couple of big roach, a hybrid and two carp, Tony had been catching across and I knew he'd caught me up and overtaken me in the last 90 minutes and the scales proved this to be the case, with Tony being the only angler breaking the ton today. 

1: Tony Rixon  102.04 peg 15

2: Chris Fox 74.00 peg 13

3: Dave Blakemore 73.07 peg 18

4: Rich Heatley  59.01 peg 6

5: Adam Palmer 55.03 peg 24

6: Gordon Canning  43.08 peg 11

Silvers

1: Gordon Canning 28.02 peg 11

Ivy House Open, Tuesday 11th April 2017

Its been a while since I visited Andy Lloyd & Karens's fishery, not for any other reason than weekend clashes and it can be a pretty horrendous journey on a weekday.  As it is the school holidays Tony Rixon and myself decided the roads would be clear enough not to endure a 2 hour trip like the last time we went.

The roads weren't too bad and it took an hour which passed with the usual fishing talk and putting the world to rights, got there in plenty of time for a large breakfast & coffee. Andy had 17 booked in and was looking for volunteers to fish a section on Kingfisher, the recently filled and stocked canal lake.  I said I'd give it a go, as did Tony, a couple of others did and Gary Ethridge was late so was conscripted into the canal section.

The canal has a large head of small carp and a selection of decent silvers, so hopefully a few bites to be had.  Into the tub and out comes peg 10, meant nothing, but it had been the 'cold' end of the lake when Tony & I walked it before the draw.  Peg 6 was rumoured to be the flier, regular Val drew that, Tony on 4 and Gary managed to pull himself 12, the end peg.

Simple approach today, stockie fish like pellets, so the bait tray had 4 & 6mm pellets on it, I did have a tin of corn and some dead maggots, as well as a kilo of worms, which had been brought expecting to be fishing the match lake.  Four rigs today, of which two were used, first was a Hillbilly Chump 0.3  on 0.16 to 0.14 with a 18 LEG and a hair rig band, this was for fishing short.  Next set up was a float I used on 4 out of 5 days during the Frenzee festival, a homemade diamond with a carbon stem - its amazingly stable in the wind or tow.  This was on 0.15 (just using up some old Powerline I had lying round) to a 0.12 hooklength and a 18 LWG again with a band,

I did set up a rig to fish across and found a shelf tight to the far bank at 16m, but never went over there, so no more about that one.... Also a margin rig, which I did try for about 5 minutes, but had seen no signs of fish, so that was all that had.

On the all in I started at topkit + 1 and had bites straight away feeding 4mm pellets with a 6mm in the band, I took the +1 off and still caught on the topkit, I stayed with this, not feeding anywhere else for the first hour, taking 45 small carp, reviewing it on the hour mark, I decided to keep going and put 40 in the net in the second hour.  To encourage bites when it slowed I put an occasional nugget of micros in on top of the float, but too much just seemed to send them scatty.

By the start of the third hour, things had slowed considerably, I could see Gary on 12 still catching, but he was feeding caster and I felt some caster or live maggot would have been the thing to revive my peg.  As usual Gary was topkit at arms length, stood up, loads of elastic out and I thought he was getting better stamp fish, turns out he wasn't, he was just using No1 Zim or something similar....

I went out to the joint of 6/7 section resting on my knee and fed some micros and 4mm, trying 6mm and corn over the top, this was a lot slower and only 15 fish came to the net in the third hour - not having maggots was costing me I felt.  I switched between the topkit line and the middle and there was enough bites and activity to keep my trying to increase the frequency, rather than go right across.

I had made up some GB to try down the edge, I wasn't confident as there is no flat ledge along the margin, just a steeply shelving slope.  I decided with about 40 minutes to go to dump a pot of this down the track over the micro line, GB and dead maggot.  I went over this with a hair rigged worm section and immediately started catching skimmers and bream, bugger why didn't I do that earlier!!!
I had 4 or 5 and then it slowed up, I topped up and immediately hooked a 5lb carp, which ran around the peg for a few minutes on the 0.12 and No8 elastic. I didn't have a bite for 20 minutes after that and then had two more decent skimmers in the last 5 minutes.

It turns out I should have tried the GB earlier, as I put 71.10 on the scales for 3rd and was 6.14 away from Tony who took the win, poor decision making cost me this match, but it was interesting and whilst I wouldn't want to fish for carp that small all the time, I am going to try and get back before too long, as the combination of a couple of hours frantic topkit thrashing followed by some trying to get the big skimmers makes for an enjoyable day.  Its good news that Andy and Karen didn't sell up, they are now working hard to improve the fishery and attract anglers to matches, there is a Thursday Costcutter every week on Kingfisher if you fancy plenty of bites.

Landsend Open Sunday 9th April 2017

27 fishing today, so match lake and No3 lake in, I wasn't thinking about pegs to draw or not draw, as that seems to have a detrimental effect and I never draw where I fancy.  So first into the tub and out comes 41 on lake, usually worth a few fish, but they can be small.

Simple bait tray for today, meat and hard pellets and a couple of bags of dead maggots, along with some groundbait for the margin.  The spit is an obvious place to target, but as mentioned, the fish are small, its also a horrible bottom to plumb up, as it goes up and down like a sine wave.  I set up a simple homemade float to fish pellet on the flattest bit of bottom I could find. 0.16 hooklength and a 16 LWG hook with a band, with the intention of fishing 6mm pellet and feeding 4mm.

I also set up a meat rig to fish short, a Malman Roob, again a 0.16 hooklength, this time with a 16 Kaizen hook.  A wire stemmed NG Gimp to fish pellet on the deck out to the aerator, another 16 LWG and a band.  Two edge rigs, as the LH margin and RH margin are very different depths, the RH being 18" - 2' deeper.  Finally a rig for mugging, as Tim Ford and Paul Faiers opposite could see lots of cruisers, although they weren't showing my side of the rope.

I started in the open water on the deck fishing 6mm pellet, feeding 4mm pellet by catapult, first drop in  I had an F1, then a roach, then a hybrid and several more roach. I hadn't come to catch roach, so swapped to the line against the spit, which I had been feeding since the off. This produced a run of F1's and a couple of small carp, but this was also going nowhere fast.  I saw a couple of bigger fish and they wouldn't go down and pick up a pellet, so a switch to the shallow rig was in order, but this only saw a couple of fish netted and the bigger ones were having none of it.

I started feeding the RH margin, as it was deeper I fed it with 8mm pellet and meat and had an early look, I did have 2 fish from it and hooked a third, which was a good fish, but it was plodding around and then caught me out by heading to my left and into the weed bed between 41 and 42, as soon as it touched the weedbed the 0.18 hooklength gave up - bugger!  I was surprised to find that this put an end to the bites down this edge, as the fish was lost so far from the fed area.

Back across to the spit and a couple more F1's and a small carp were netted, before I fed the LH margin with GB and maggots.  Virtually instantly there were signs of fish and whilst I left it settle for 15 or 20 minutes, I couldn't resist and went in there amongst the swirls.  I had three fish straight away, biggest just about a double, but then swirls stopped.  I had another fish, but rather than several in there at once I had to wait for a fish to come along.  I did refed it and leave it, going back in the RH margin and taking a couple more on meat, before going back over the GB in the last half hour and managing another double.

I thought I had about 125lb and it turned out I wasn't too far out, putting 133.02 on the scales for a lake win (and happy that Tony was paying it continental style, with the lake winners rather than overall winner picking up).  Enjoyable day, it was bloody cold sat in the shade all day, but at least I had a few bites and something to work at.  Beaten by two weights on Match lake, Tony Rixon and Gary O'Shea weighing 185 and 150 respectively.

1: Tony Rixon 185.15 peg 6
2: Gary O'Shea 150.02 peg 5
3: Chris Fox 133.02 peg 41
4: Ryan Radford 132.13 peg 16
5: Joe McMahon 1177.07 peg 1
6: Shawn Townsend 110.07 peg 46

England Disabled Team Fund Raiser, Barston Lake, 2nd April 2017

I had been looking forward to getting back up to Barston, this time a fund raiser organised by Terry Swan, in aid of the England disabled team.  Decent run up with Tony Rixon and good breakfast at the Premier Inn.

I drew peg 45, it is on a little point where the lake overflow into the stream is, so does put you out slightly further in the lake.  Whilst I was tackling up I could see a carper on the opposite bank casting a big white thing out, then winding back in what looked like a dead seagull - I found out later that was a Spomb - I'm still none the wiser really........

I set up a method to fish about 65 yards and a bomb to fish at 30yards, a pellet waggler and two rigs, one for 14m and banded 4mm's and finally off to the LH side at 11m with GB, worm and caster.

To cut a long story short I had one roach after about 2 1/2 hours and had to walk back to the golf clubhouse to take advantage of the facilities, this let me know it was fishing hard,  when I got back I had on skimmer on a hybrid pellet feeder and a chocolate orange wafter, that was it, nothing else - an awful days fishing.

Not much else to add, a decent run back, after checking the lottery and finding that our luck was out as well, so a barren day in the van today,

Upwards and onwards, I'll try and find a match I fancy next Sunday.

Frenzee Festival, Whitacres, March 27th - 31st 2017

After last years disastrous Bait Tech festival, I was looking forward to this to try and make sure that this year was more successful.

Travelled down on Saturday and met up with lodge mates Paul & Glenn in the café at Whitacres, also Dave Stephenson was there.  After a decent breakfast we headed onto Pollawyn for a practice session, me and Paul headed for one of the points and fished 19 & 20, Glenn and Dave went round to the high bank.   We had a lovely afternoons fishing, I mainly fished meat short and caught skimmers, Barbel, F1's and Carp. Paul had some huge F1's that must have gone 5 or 6lb each.  He also had this Barbel which was 6-7lb.

The usual Saturday night social in the bar and then onto Sunday, decided to have a fish on Acorn, that was tough going, but we did end up with a reasonable day once we sussed out the F1's were shallow. I had bought a couple of packets of the new Guru Kaizen hooks to try whilst practising, not intending to use something untried in the festival, but I was so impressed by them, that I did use them in the matches.

Onto the festival itself, I had drawn in the same section rotation as Paul and Glenn, first time that had happened, we had the rotation of Monday on Pollawyn, Tuesday on Twin Oaks / Trelawny, Wednesday on Jennys / Trewaters, Thursday on Canal / Acorn & Python and Friday was Bolingey.

The draw put me on 21 on Pollawyn, the next peg to where I fished on Saturday, Paul drew 20, so we felt that we knew how to catch, as the short meat line had been so prolific.  I could also reach the point of the spit, so set up a rig to fish tight against it in about 2' of water. I set up waggler and lead as well as the same rig I had all the fish on Saturday.  I started across against at 16m the island with meat and had a carp about 5lb straight away, then a F1 and then hooked a big carp, which took ages to get back from 16m I got it down to the topkit and saw it, I'd estimate 18lb, then inexplicably, as sometimes happens, the hook pulled and that was my bonus fish gone.

I managed to catch more F1's across and a few skimmers and a 12lb carp on the short line, but it was nothing like practice day, as the F1's and Barbel didn't show up on that short line at all.  I weighed 57.02 which was enough to win the section and 4th on the lake, that lost fish costing me a third place. (Top three on the lake are paid out and section winners).

Tuesday saw me draw peg 12 on Twin Oaks, not an out and out flyer, but not the worst draw, I set up two lead rods, two wagglers one deep and one shallow, a margin rig and rig for meat short. Starting across on the lead was pretty unproductive, either with bread or meat, I did have one fish and a switch to the waggler wasn't any better.  Peg 14 was catching well and I was falling behind, I had to try and make something happen, so I started firing pouchfulls of corn across and fished corn on the waggler, this made a big difference and I started to catch - mainly F1's, but the odd carp.  The short line was totally dead until the last 30 minutes where I put 5 more carp in the net. Peg 14 won the section, with 172lb, I put 124.06 on the scales and was 12lb behind 2nd place, but I only managed 4th, so an earlier switch to corn may well have seen me get a couple of extra points.

Wednesday, I was hoping for a draw on Jenny's as Trewaters is a bit of a bogie venue for me, it wasn't to be and 31 Trewaters was home for the day and I had Paul for company on 29.  The wind was right to fish 16m and long line, but I didn't set it up, as my shoulder is buggered up and there is no way I can swing that around all day. There were some old bulrushes on the far bank, I could see them knocking, these lakes with islands are my least favourite and I hate the way the fish stick so tight to them.

First cast with bread and the tip went round as I was sinking the line, a small carp, then another, but typically for this lake, that was it, I fished the waggler across and had a couple more, but they would back off into the rushes and casting tight to the rushes meant the wove their way into the back of the stick-ups and snagging everything up.

The short line was totally non productive and I did manage a couple down the edge towards the end, I just had to keep leaving the far bank and then going back to it and taking an odd fish.  I knew the pole at 16m with about 6m of line would be better, but couldn't risk making my shoulder so bad I couldn't fish the rest of the week.  I ended up with 60.09 and the same points as Tuesday.

I got back to the lodge and then discovered that Paul's van had broken down leaving Trewaters, so me and Glenn went down to find him.  Couldn't do anything to help, I hadn't taken any tools or my code reader. It sounded like there was no fuel getting through,  The tow truck took him off to the garage, where the next day they informed him the cambelt had snapped...... ouch.

Thursday I drew 19 Canal, Alex Nadin had popped down for a couple of days staying with his dad and he was good enough to give Paul and Glenn a lift to the lakes.

Having listened to Trigger who won his section on Canal earlier in the week, so I set up to fish meat short, I also set up a waggler, a lead and a long line, as well as a shallow rig and one at 2/3 depth.  Starting on meat short was a good move, as I caught steadily for a couple of hours, then I started missing bites and had a couple of foulers.  A switch to the 2/3 depth rig resulted in a few more fish, before the same happened.  Switching again to the shallow rig saw a few more fish netted.  I wasn't sure how much I had in the net, so dropped another in - kiss of death - had to switch to chucking a waggler and corn down the peg to get an odd fish for the last couple of hours.  I weighed 63.08 for a section win and third on the lakes.

Friday, the draw was at Bolingey, I took Glenn and Allan Oram was good enough to take Paul, I drew 25, not too over joyed, but then found I had no one either side and loads of room.

I set the usual, lead, waggler and long, short and an edge rig on the pole.  Two chucks with the lead and bread, not so much as a liner and up the bank with it.  A look on the short line saw me get off to a great start, 42lb on the clicker in the first hour, carp and big F1's, I did think a big weight might be on the cards.  The second hour knocked that back, as I put one carp and one F1 in the net for 12lb, the third hour was as bad. Luckily the 5m line came back to life in the last couple of hours and I had a few from the margin. I fed both sides, one with maggot and one with corn and meat, the maggot line just produced roach, so no more about that.

The LH edge produced 4 or 5 fish, but there wasn't loads of fish there, the 5m line was better and there was some bubbles and signs of fish there towards the end, shame about the quiet mid section of the match, as I put 132.14 on the scales, which was second in section behind peg 10 which won the section 4 days out of 5.  That was also enough for 3rd on the lake, so a pickup again to end the week.

Shame I couldn't have nicked a couple more points on Twin Oaks as that would have seen me scrape into the top ten, I guess I can't complain at 19th as I have a had a good weeks fishing in great company, thanks to Lodge mate Paul and Glenn, the evening company in the bar, Steve and Alex Nadin, Chris Albiston, Dave Stephenson and all the others from our local circuit and those I only see at big matches or Whiteacres.

I guess I'll have to get booked on the Preston Festival now.......

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.

Viaduct Winter League Round 4, Sunday 26th February 2017

After a dreadful winter's fishing from a personal perspective, I had taken two weeks off, partially work induced, partially because I thought it might help revive some enthusiasm.  So I was looking forward to this weeks round of the winter league, especially as I was on Campbell, so with a chance of a few fish.

This week I obtained a virtually brand new ZT-PRO hook tyer, it is a nice bit of kit and does tie tidy knots with no line damage, although I am struggling a bit with 0.08 fluorocarbon, more practice needed I think.

Back to today and as a team we take it in turns to draw, this week it was Paul's turn and he pulled 4 reasonable pegs and one that no one would want, unfortunately Mark Broomsgrove was on that one, peg 21 - telling someone that they are on there, is akin to delivering news of a death in the family.   132 for me, 102 for himself, 71 for Glenn and Fred had 52.

I would rather have 132 in the summer, but a few fish have come off it recently, so hopefully they'd still be there.  If it wasn't an end peg, I think the pole would have stayed in the bag, the lead and the waggler have been much more successful recently.  But, with the end bank in easy reach, it would be remiss not to set up a dobbing rig.  So whilst it was out, I also set up a topkit for 14m, to fish meat, I didn't think they would come closer, the water is no longer gin clear, but it remains far from coloured.

Two waggler rods set up, one for straight in front and one shallower for fishing up to the pallet of 134, both on Titan 2000 rods, with 4lb reel line, 0.14 hooklengths and 18 LWG hooks.  I have pretty much switched all my hooks to Guru patterns now and they have yet to let me down - although. admittedly, they haven't exactly had a ruthless testing this winter.  Two lead rods, one with a small bomb and a 12" hooklength of 0.16 with a 16 QM1, this bomb stopped with a feeder stop, so the popped up distance can be adjusted, second rod with a Preston in-line bomb, 14 QM1 and 0.20.

Starting on the waggler, a couple of chucks to get my range and 3rd chuck towards 134 with a waggler and fish on, after a spirited tussle, that was 10lb in the net after 5 minutes - that's nearly as much as I caught in the last 3 rounds put together.  The wind then started to get up and made getting the waggler to the pallet very difficult, as it was picking up the line and blowing it into the overhanging tree on my right.  A look on the lead with bread brought a fish about 8lb, but that was it, I think the waggler with no shot down the line would have been better but just couldn't get it there - I hadn't brought any pellet wagglers, maybe one of those would have cast better in the conditions.

Picking up the pole I had a dob with some bread along the end bank and hooked a fish about 6lb that leapt from the water 4 or 5 times like a salmon, the water might be cold, but the fish were fighting harder than they do in the summer.  I managed one more on the waggler before a 3 hour quiet spell - not just quiet it was dead, no liners, no indications, nothing.  Mash on 131 was getting odd fish and plenty of indications and foulers, whilst my float or tip remained motionless, frustrating....

Last hour I had a couple more on the waggler, as the fish started moving again and the last 20 minutes I was getting plenty of indications and had two fish on punched meat on the lead.  I feel I was sat just off the main ball of fish and only picked up the odd ones and then at the end, they started to spread out a bit, shame they didn't do that with 90 minutes to go.  Ended up with 60lb dead, for 7th on the lake, beaten mainly by those in the hotspot area around the aerator.

13 points from 19 for me, team was 6th on the day with 60 points, so we are staging a belated and too late resurgence after a poor start.  Mark managed 8 points from his peg from hell and maybe there is some light at the end of the tunnel after this long and winless winter.  next up Silver match at Viaduct on Wednesday.

Viaduct Winter League 2nd Round, Sunday 29th January 2015

Looking for a good team draw today, to push us up the league, left that with the normally solid drawing arm of Fred, sadly he must have brushed against me on the way to the draw and managed to pick a not particulary good draw and mine was probably the worst of the bunch., 47 on match lake, no island chuck and with the temperature and clarity of the water, the margin was unlikely to feature.  Glenn had 126, Fred put himself on 94 and Paul on 15.

I set up two wagglers, one with a hi viz top Preston peacock insert - these are great floats for visibility, one for closer in with a Drennan Glow Tip waggler, again, very visible, but much thinner.  Both on Microlight rods with a 0.10 hooklength on one and a 0.08 on the other.

I did set up a dobbing rig for down the edge, athough I was very sceptical about it working and that scepticism proved right, no bites down the edge.  A couple of rigs to fish out in front at 14m and 9m, the 9m rig was not much used as I didn't have a bite on that line.

Put 4 balls of GB at 14m at the start, didn't think there was too much point in being overly negative on a renouned poor peg.   Started on the bread, on the lead chucked round the peg - nothing.  Down the edge, nothing, then I saw a lone bubble over the GB.  I decided to go over it earlier than planned as the lake seemed to be fishing hard except 43/44 who were both catching to the island.

Rather than put the pole over their heads in the shallow, clear water I dropped the light waggler in and had a couple of roch and a small skimmer before getting a better fish about 1lb or so.  Then another decent skimmer, next up a 4lb carp and I was suddenly hopeful of a better day.  Then the angler on 45 picked up his catapult and started feeding level with my skimmer line and I didn't have another bite for 3 1/2 hours.  I ended the match by fishing as far powards the island as I dare, without breaching the limits of my peg, this brought a run of roach up to 3oz, better than nothing, but was't going to see me catching those who'd had a better stmp of fish to the islands.

I ended up with 9.09 and 7 points, I certainly didn't expect more from the peg as it usually is in the bottom 4 in section.

Team wise, it was a bit of a disaster, finishing last but one - we seem to have caught whatever afflicted Leicester after their success in the Premier league last year.....  We'll need three good draws to even finish halfway at this rate.

Viaduct Silvers, Wednesday 25th January 2015

Another go at the silvers on Spring today, it started badly and didn't improve much, I got as far as Pensford when I realised I had forgetten my ice breaker, the nose to tail commuter traffic heading towards Bristol meant there was no chance of turning back to get it.

Arriving at the fishery, an inspection of the lakes revealed a fairly thick lid, so borrowing an ice breker was imperative.  Getting my kit out of the van I went to the front set and picked up my flask, it felt strangely light, then I realised the lid hadn't been on properly and the entire contents were now soaked into the passenger seat..... maybe that should have been an omen to forget it for the day.

Peg 4 was my home for the day, with once again on the next peg, Andy Power on 5 and Scott Puddy on 3.  Andy kindly cut out my peg, as I have a knackerd shoulder and chucking the ice breaker isn't easy.  Cupped a couple of alls of GB on the all in and started just short on caster, spent about 20 minutes without a bite before swapping to a Chianti  set 6" off bottom, this brought bites, but only from small roach.  This set the scene for the rest of the day, I kept looking back on the deck for better skimmers, but as soon as I dropped back on the deck, the bites dried up.

Scott to my right had a few skimmers, but Andy was in the same boat as me, so maybe there weren't any skimmers in the area.  Ended up chucking back 6 or 7lb roach, shame I didn't have 20lb of skimmers to go with them......

1: Des Shipp 29.05 peg 25
2: Scott Russell 18.09 peg 10
3: Scott Puddy 17.09 peg 3
4: Callum Dicks 17.07 peg16

Acorn Costcutter Tuesday 17th January 2015

Chilly day today, traveled down with Tony Rixon and had a decent breakfast in the Bridge Inn, the scene of many fishing team meetings yeatrs ago, they usually descended into a drunken party.......

The lake was frozen, but top man Mark Bartlett was going round breaking the pegs out, into the tin and out comes 24, with Tony on 27, but before we got out the door, it transpired there was a ping pong ball short in the bag, so a redraw was in order, this time we ended up next to each other again, this time either side of a bridge 33 and 34.

Being next to a bridge made tidying up the ice Mark had cut out easy, so that done it was time to set up a couple of rigs, one for the second shelf, one for the track and then a dobbing rig.  Bait tray was simple, maggots dead and alive.  Opposite we could see the pegs either side of the other bridge into early action, whilst it remained quiet our side.  After 15 minutes I did get a 3-4lber on bread and not too long after another, but this one was lucky if he weighed a pound.

A long quiet spell then as I rotated round the lines, to no avail, Tony had a couple of fish, but it was quiet for everyone except peg 21.  Out of the blue I had a bite to the right of the peg against the ice and a 8lber put up a spirited fight on 0.10 before finally giving up.

Anoher look on bread saw a small F1 netted before the end and my one and only bite by the bridge saw a good fish hooked, but it kited under the bridge and snagged on something, I could feel the fish, but everything was solid, in the end the hooklength parted and that was my action for the day.  Frustrating as Tony had 3 or 4 fish from the bridge, whereas I had just the one bite, don't think I did much wrong and the North side of the 3 briges top the top three places.

1: Lee Waller 50.09 peg 6
2: Phil Cooper 39.04 peg 21
3: Tony Rixon 26.04 p34
4: Andy Gard 21.08 peg 22
5: Adge 20.08 peg 5
6: Chris Fox 15.15 peg 33

Viaduct Silvers, Wednesdy 18th January 2015

Really looking forward to this, as some nice skimmers reside in Spring lake and it's the deepest lake at Viaduct, so was hopeful of a few.  Not so hopeful when peg 12 stuck to my drawing hand, but maybe they will have moved round.  Next to Andy Power on 11 and Steve Kedge on 16, so some quaility to test myself against.

I set up a waggler and several pole rigs, a double bulk - but I haven't had much success with that for a long time now - a rig to try and catch perch down to the pallet and rushes of 13.

Groundbait in at the start, 14m and a shorter line with just caster.  Starting off on the caster line, there were roach to be caught, but too small, too slow and too far out.  A switch to the waggler was the same, as was the GB line.  The sun was the worst I have ever fished in for visibility, the ripple was making any colour of size of float impossible to see.  I could see Andy's float and after I asked what he was using, a Preston peacock wih a hi viz insert, he kindly gave me one to try.

The edge seemed devoid of perch and the peg devoid of skimmers, as I could only catch roach on every line.  Andy did have some shade from the island and caught a few skimmers on corn and waggler, but we were well off the pace of the top spots st the end which came from further up the lake.  The fish just don't want to be the river end of the lakes at the moment.

That man Des winning from Middle lake.

1: Des Shipp 25.13 peg 32
2: Chris Davis 22.08 peg 3
3: Vince Brown 22.01 peg 4
3: Matt Parsons 22.01 peg 10

Viaduct Winter League 1st Round Sunday 15th January 2015

After last years dizzy heights of winning the league and having the individual champion in the team, we had a lot to live up to.  I drew for the team, Fred on 127, Mark on 96, myself on 64, Paul on 47 and Glenn on 16.

So, the famous, or is it the infamous monk peg for me, the wind was all wrong for the peg, especially as Lodge is float only.  I set up a waggler to fish to the end bank, pole rig for dobbing bread up the edge and a couple of rigs to catch skimmers on in the open water.

I'm going to struggle to fill in much more detail or pad it out, as I sat and watched Ken catching on 66 and could see fish coming out with regularity in the opposite corner, pegs 53/73.  None of my floats moved, even a line fed with squatt did not give me a bite.  I kept giving each line - the waggler to the end bank, the bread/maggots/prawn dobbed up the edge and the skimmer line - 20 minutes each and had not so much as a tremor on any of the floats.

The last 20 minutes were spent on the waggler and I wa staring 0 points and a blank in the face, when at 15.26, 4 minutes before the all out, the waggler dipped and after the most nervy battle ever, a 6.5lb common was netted 2 minutes after the whistle and took me from 0 to 8 points.

We ended up aout halfway and considering we had several pegs at the wrong end of the lakes, we at least have somehing to build on.

Landsend Open Saturday 14th January 2014

First match of 2015, 8 fishing so more of a knock up really, but it was a reasonable day and when I drew peg 5 I thoght I might catch a few silvers. Given the clarity of the water I didn't bother with a rig for up the shelf, but did set up one for down the shelf, down the track and to fish to the pallets of 4 and 6.

I fed a few micros at 13m off to my left and began on the cater at the bottom of the shelf, the expected silvers didn't show, but I did put 3 carp in the net, the pellet line was completely non productive all day and the only bite by either pallet was a tiny perch.

I concentrated on fishing caster across and started a new line, but that too was fruitless, a look back on the original line saw 2 decent skimmers, a few roach and a decent perch netted towards the end, giving me 9.00 of silvers, to go with the initial 3 carp which went 16.08.  A tough day, but enjoyable.

1: Dave Westcott 30.15 peg 19
2: Chris Fox 25.08 peg 5
3: Rod Wootton 18.13 peg 17
4: Russ Peck 13.03 peg 11

Silvers

1: Chris Fox 9.00

Viaduct Two Dayer - Sept 2017

I have booked Viaduct, Cary Friday 1st Sept and Campbell Saturday 2nd Sept.

£13 peg fee (sooner you pay, sooner you are confirmed as fishing), £50 pools. - that gives £1000 to payout with 20 fishing.  4 sections of 5 and points then weight will decide the overall.

Friday will be anything goes within Viaduct rules, Saturday is pole only.

Only 4 places left, so you need to get in quick not to miss it.

Viaduct Open, New Years Eve, 2016

A couple of weeks off to get over the poor result at Todber and the general downturn in my fishing this year, can't put my finger on it, the wheels fell off after my faux pas at Viaduct in the winter league, losing the match win by going over in my net. The wheels seem to be still rolling away and gathering pace, hopefully 2017 will see an up turn in fortune.

28 fishing this one, so Campbell and Cary in, I bought a pint of casters, intending to fish for silvers if I drew a suitable peg, I was slightly down hearted when I opened up the ticket and saw 123, a peg any silvers angler would have run to a few years back, but not now.  Best bet I thought would be to target the few resident carp, that surely must be down in the corner and along the end bank.

Arriving at my peg the first thing that struck me was the clarity of the water, gin clear.  If it had not been a corner peg, the pole would have stayed in the holdall, but I did set it up, with a rig to fish down into the corner, a long line between pole tip and float due to the clarity of the water.  Two waggler rods, one with 2.5lb Maxima and a 0.10 hooklength, I was also trying out some new (to me) hooks - Guru F1 maggot, in size 20, a nice light gauge wire.  The other rod had 4lb line and a 0.12 hooklength and a 18LWG hook.

Two lead rods, one for popped up bread, the other for meat, corn etc. Bait tray was simple, caster, maggot, meat, corn and bread, with a few frozen prawns although I am yet to catch a fish on a prawn at Viaduct.

Starting on the lead / bread, I searched around the peg, open water and along the end bank, but without so much as a liner, I wasn't confident that there were even any resident carp in the area, walking to the peg, the carp were very much giving their location away, sat in a big ball up by the aerator.

A switch to the waggler and corn was equally unproductive and 2 hours in I was fishless, I had been feeding a line slightly to my right at a bout 20m with caster and a switch to this brought 4 good perch in the next hour to double caster and a skimmer.  Peg 125 was catching skimmers on the waggler and I couldn't seem to draw them down to me, another typical winter day.  I managed one more skimmer and 3 roach on the waggler, a look round the peg with a prawn produced nothing, with the perch being between 1.5 and 2lb, my net went 10.10 which was 4th in the silvers and one out of the money, maybe I should have fished for silvers the whole match....

The match was won by a huge margin from 130, Martin Lenaghan weighing 264lb, although that was knocked back to 180lb as he was the latest to fall foul of the net limits.

I have joined the 'ramp club' having had one for Xmas, certainly easier than  lifting a loaded trolley in and out of the van.