Viaduct Two Dayer, Fri and Sat 1st and 2nd September 2017

21 fishing this two dayer, organised by myself.  Big thanks to those that supported it, no one moaned (well, not too much) and it was fished in a good humoured and friendly spirit.

I have booked the lakes again for next year, 21/22 September 2018 (Fri/Sat) I have booked both lakes both days so hopefully the numbers will be enough to make this work.

First day was on Campbell, pole only, I thought it best to let someone draw for me, Emma volunteered, she handed me 132, probably the least consistent corner, but it can throw up a weight, so I was hoping to day was one of those days.

Nice and simple being pole only, a shallow rig, full depth pellet rig, meat rig and a rig to fish up the edge. I was only paying sections in this match, saving the main bulk of the money for the overall framers over the two days, I had tried to make the sections as fair as I could, but carp do have a habit of moving, so it was best guess, although most thought they were as fair as they could be.

I thought the section I was in would be the lowest weight section, 132, 131, 130, 124 and 111.  I was thinking about 130lb to win it, but who knows, these fish have days when they go mad, so it's impossible to predict accurately.

First drop in short with meat and I was attached to a decent fish, didn't feel fouled, but it came off, that was that for bites short, not surprised I wasn't expecting it to do more than give up one or two fish.  Out to 14m and I had a few fish on pellet at depth, it wasn't hectic action and after an hour or so, the bites and indications dried up.  Back on the short line and that gave me two small skimmers, so no carp there either!

An early look down the edge, where I had fed 8mm pellets and some mest and I had two fish, giving me some hope it would come good, I think they may have been residents, as they weren't followed by any more.  I did feed some GB and maggots to my left and had a double from there, but that was it.  I did lose a couple of fish during the match, those odd ones, hooked in the mouth, but they come to the top and 'waddle' towards you, there is little pressure on the hookhold, but it inevitably seems to come out with these fish.

A couple did rock up short on the meat line, but I knew Mark Poppleton on 131 had beaten me, I think I spent too much time trying to make the edge work, when concentrating on the open water would have been a better use of the available time - another match where hindsight is the answer.....

I managed to put 2oz short of the ton on the scales, a poor effort really and it cost me as I was 4th in a section of 5, so that was me out of the running for the overall places.

Winner on the day was Steve Hutter, with a creditable 237.01 from peg 127.
2: Emma Drysdale 188.09 peg 116
3: Steve Nadin 184.13 peg 135
4: Martin Rogers 163.00 peg 118
5: Allan Oram 155.01 peg 115
6: John Mills 151.13 peg 114


Section Winners:
A: Steve Nadin
B: Mark Poppleton 140.10 peg 131
C: Emma Drysdale
D: Steve Hutter

Onto day two, a quick tangent to the fishing, many anglers like to frequent a café before a match, today I had my first visit to The Den at Pylle.  Not the cheapest café, but it was excellent, food, service, surroundings, toilets, all get a 5.0 (stealing the scoring system from Tony Rixon's blog).

Cary today, no restrictions other than the usual Viaduct rules.  For me all I had to fish for was a match win, today it was just section payouts again, with an added £30 for the match winner, looking at the table after day one, depending on who drew where, it was possible for anyone in the top 12 to get into the overall money.

Emma's trial as my official draw person was abruptly terminated after yesterdays poor show, Steve Nadin was the next candidate for the role and he handed me another corner, 90.  90 can throw up big weights when the wind has been pushing in there for a few days, but today, it hadn't......  

As well as similar pole rigs to yesterday, I set up a lead and two wagglers, most of which had been tried by the 90 minute mark, as I was blanking.  I had fed a line at 14m and had some indication that there were the odd fish coming over it, but couldn't catch one. I did resort to chucking a lead onto that line and by using an 8mm expander (dry) popped up I had my first fish, but it wasn't a magic solution, as I had no more doing that.

There were lots of fish swimming between me and Roland on 94, but they weren't cruisers nor looking for food, they were swimming fast and often in two's - just like in May before spawning!

At 14.20 I had one shallow over the 14m line, then two more, this was strange, as they went as soon as they came and the three in 15 minutes were all I could manage shallow.  I was hoping the short meat line would come good at the end, it did the last time I drew the peg, but before that I was hopeful the margin might give up a few fish.  I did have one, but apart from that and an eel, it was quiet.

The short meat line failed to produce a single carp, just a couple of skimmers for my trouble. The margin did come to life and I had 4 fish in the last 30 minutes, frustratingly, I hooked the big common that inhabits Cary and comes out at about 26lb, I survived several powerful runs, got it nearly to the net and the hook pulled - frustrating, but it wouldn't cost me, as my 73.04 was over 50lb short of what was needed,

Winner on the day was John Mills from 86 with 126.08
2: Andy Lloyd 124.02 peg 85
3: Martin Rogers 81 120.06 peg 80
4: James Evan 99.02 peg 74
5: Roy Worth 96.09 peg 102
6: Roland Lucas 87.04 peg 94

Section Winners:
A: John Mills
B: James Evans
C: Martin Rogers
D: Roy Worth

Well done to Steve Hutter for hanging on to the lead with 11 points and picking up £300 for the win, along with his £40 section money on Friday.
2 Overall: Martin Rogers 11 points £200 + £40 section money
3 Overall: John Mills 11 points £100 + £40 section money + £30 match win
4 Overall: Mark Poppleton 11 points £80 + £40 section money
5 Overall: Roy Worth, Roy missed out on a overall payout on weight, but had a consolation section win.

Viaduct Result Sheet
		Total points	Total Weight
1	Steve Hutter	11	297.09
2	Martin Rogers	11	283.06
3	John Mills	11	278.05		1st	Steve Hutter	300
4	Mark Poppleton	11	227.11		2nd	Martin Rogers	200
5	Roy Worth	11	211.09		3rd	John Mills	100
6	Emma Drysdale	10	273.02		4th	Mark Poppleton	80
7	Andy Lloyd	10	252.04
8	Steve Nadin	10	238.14			Fri Sections
9	James Evans	10	218.06		A	Steve Nadin	50
10	Dan White	9	231.07		B	Mark Poppleton	40
11	Allan Oram	7	195.05		C	Emma Drysdale	40
12	Adrian Jeffery	7	141.00		D	Steve Hutter	40
13	Phil Hardwick	6	207.13
14	Roland lucas	6	180.02			Sat sections
15	Chris Fox	6	173.02		A	John Mills	50+30
16	Simon Parker	6	117.14		B	James Evans	40
17	Phil Morris	5	87.12		C	Martin Rogers	40
18	Chris Davis	4	171.01		D	Roy Worth	40
19	Claire Hollis	4	94.09
20	Matt Tomes	3	84.04
21	Ian Black	3	46.02