Frenzee Festival 2019, Whiteacres.

A mini, self imposed close season after a poor finish to the Viaduct Winter League meant I had all my rigs and gear up together, new reel lines, new elastics and whilst not bubbling over with enthusiasm, I was looking forward to the week away.

Paul (Faiers) and Glenn (Calvert) would be my lodge mates for the week, they had gone down on the Friday, but I left early Saturday morning, glad I did as apparently quite a few beers and then Sambuca was consumed on the night.  A nice uneventful drive down and I was there by 09:30, after finding I had been left the tiniest bedroom in the lodge (would have bet my house on it - but I'd have done the same....) we all headed up to Twin Oaks for a days fishing.  It was a decent day, that just got better and better as the evening drew in.  The clocks went forward that night, so we would be finishing the matches an hour earlier in effect, with the miserable cold weather, it was likely to hit the fishing.

No fishing Sunday, Pauls van had a problem on the way down, the RAC guy had told him it was the MAF sensor, I had brought my code reader and it confirmed his diagnosis.  We found a Euro Car Parts in Truro and got a new MAF sensor and fitted, cleared the codes and by then, decided a walk round the lakes would be more beneficial than fishing.  Not sure I learnt too much.

Monday morning dawned and it was off to Bolingey, hopeful of a big weight and a decent days fishing.

Peg 33 - old 45, a decent peg, but I'd rather have 23 the bridge peg, still I was hopeful of a few fish from the peg, it gives plenty of options., the end bank is in pole reach, a LH margin with a reasonable depth and open water.  Started short on meat, as this usually gives up a quick early fish or two, but not today. So a switch to pinging pellets long and this saw a 3lber netted quite quickly, but it was a lone soul. I tried pinging pellets to the end bank, nothing, I did resort to a method feeder further along the bank and had a 6lb fish on that.

With 20 minutes to go, I'd had 5 fish for 25lb and was really scratching my head, when they rocked up on the short meat line, I had 3 and lost one in the last 20 minutes - if only those bloody clocks hadn't changed....  I put 42lb on the scales and that is quite easily my worst weight at Bolingey, a venue that is often good to me.  I beat one in the section, peg 23 opposite, the peg I had fancied!!
Best bit of the day was a pint in the Perranporth Inn and a curry from the Indian.

Tuesday, Pollawyn and a chance to make amends and get back on track, but when peg 9 popped out of the drawbag I wasn't too hopeful, peg 13 is the strong peg in that section, but I had to give it a go. 

Given how cold it was I set up a lead to fish popped up bread, the waggler rods stayed in the b bite ag, the wind was howling down the lake . I was expecting to catch on worms, a meat line and the longest I could realistically fish the pole was 11m. so a pellet line there, an edge rig completed the set up.

I started on the bread, casting just short of the island, after a couple of minutes I had an indication and didn't connect with anything on the strike, back out and within a couple of minutes a very tentative bite saw a fish about 6lb netted, next two chucks saw a 9lb and a 10lb fish netted, then a 2lb F1 and I was wondering if this was going to be a red letter day.  But that was it for the bread, tried other baits across there, but not as much as a liner.  The rest of the match was spent rotating between the 11m pellet line - 3 F1's, the meat line - 2 barbel and a skimmer and the worm line - a few skimmers, for a total of 39lb odd and the much needed section win.

Some renewed enthusiasm for day three, I drew 28 Twin Oaks.

The weights weren't good the day before, but the lake is full of F1's so surely they'd have a feed after having a day off.  Again, it was windy, so the waggler rods had a ride and stayed unused, a lead rod for bread and a method feeder on another lead rod, topkits to fish the margin, down the shelf and at the bottom of the shelf.  I started across on bread and had no indications, I switched to the method, again, nothing, I had been feeding to my right just down the shelf with pellets, a look here was equally barren.  I had been feeding caster to my left and had a drop in with that after nearly an hour biteless, I could get bites here, but it was roach, not the intended F1's.

I had a decision to make, it was fishing rock hard, so I got off my box and set up a roach rig, intending to fish this until anyone near me started catching F1's (or carp), I was catching roach 1-3oz with a couple of 5/6 ouncers.  The guy on my left was sticking it out for carp or F1's and at one stage he had two in two chucks, so I went back out on the method and had an F1 straight away - great, they've arrived I thought, well that was the only bite across there.  Back on the roach and I ending up with 21lb odd, so 20lb of roach and a nice days fishing but not too successful, I bet three pegs to my left, who had 6lb, 8lb and 6lb respectively and I beat one other who had 14lb.  The end pegs beat me, 22 with 60lb, 34 with 25lb 23 beat me with 29lb and the guy on 26 had 59lb on paste - I wouldn't have thought to try it, maybe food for thought.  So if a couple of F1's had shown up in the roach, like I thought they would, I could have had a third, it was a tough day.

On to Thursday, I didn't really want to draw Trewaters, as I have never done any good on there and my back is not up to swinging 16m of pole and 5m of line to the island.  Quite unusually, I got my wish and drew Jennys.

21, I was initially hopeful it was an end peg, but on checking I could see 22 was in.  I drew 20 in the Preston festival a couple of years ago and Andy Bennett gave me a real lesson off 21, fishing the method, afterwards he spent quite a while explaining what he did and why, so hopefully his tips from then would help out today.

Again the wind would make the waggler a waste of time, so yet again they came along for the ride and stayed in the bag.  A lead and bread rod, although I wasn't convinced it would be any good, the water had a bit more colour than Pollawyn.

A method feeder clipped up to the island, 3 topkits, one for pellets long, one for meat and another for worms short.  As predicted, the bread wasn't right and I binned it after 10 minutes, I had a couple of F1's and skimmers on the method, but it wasn't hectic.  Next bite was a carp, a big one, it came in like a heavy wet sack, then went nuts under the rod tip, snapping 0.20 at the hooklength loop - bugger would that be costly.

 I persevered and had a couple of carassios, I cast just to the left, coming about 2m off the island and had a couple more, but it was slow and getting slower. I could see fish coming from the other end of the section, but it was a case of switching between lines and taking odd fish, the last hour I had a few better skimmers on meat, but it was a case of being patient and waiting for a bite.  My 33lb was only enough (by ounces from end peg 22) for third place, the end two pegs winning the section and the carp I lost may have cost me second.

Onto the last day and it was the little lakes, not sure where I wanted to be, so when I pulled out 3 Eery, it meant little to me, Trigger was on peg one, so was going to be hard to beat and peg 13 had won the lake every day so far.

Setting up was a bit of a faff, peg 1 & 3 being disabled pegs, so had to get over the framework, shame they didn't make the front bar removable. I did get the waggler out of the bag, also a method, although its a short chuck.  I suspected it would be a pinging pellet day, I couldn't quite get to the island with 16m, the peg is set back behind peg 1 and the wooden frame pushes you back another half metre.

I had a tree along to the left, which restricted how far I could get down the edge, to set up a rig to fish there, the RH margin was too shallow for the cold weather and the water clarity. The final rig was a meat rig.  Starting on that short was spectacularly ineffective, out with the pellet rig and I soon had a 1lb carassio, which proved to be a false dawn, as apart from a couple of skimmers, that  was it from there for ages, whilst Trigger on peg one was fishing to an aerator and getting one a bung - carp, not carassios and skimmers....

Another tough day, two carp added from the pellet line, two big carp from the meat line in the last hour and a double figure fish smashed me up (0.14) as I was too impatient trying to get it in. The edge line only produced the odd skimmer and a small perch.  Bit of a disheartening day, but I wasn't the only one struggling, the guy to my left never had a carp and the 4 corners beat me and Jon Arthur - if I had got the double figure carp in, then I would have had one more point.

So, a frustrating week, I was well prepped, thought I fished reasonable matches and made the right decisions, the last day particularly disheartening, but I honestly have no idea how I could have got those fish to move.

Thanks to all there, apart from the weather, some draws I would choose and being humiliated on the last day, it was a good week, next up Viaduct Spring League first round.

Viaduct Winter League, Final Round, Sunday 3rd March 2019

Match Fishing has a way of kicking you in the teeth, today was one of those days....

Going into this, the final round, we were sat in seventh place, the blanks in the round where over half the field blanked costing us a top five place, but we were confident that with a half tidy draw we'd claw enough points back to sneak into the money.  I was also confident that I'd do well and be in with a chance of a individual frame place on the day, as I was on Campbell and that was likely to throw up the winner individually, on the day,

Before the draw the rest of the team seemed happy and confident, so all was well, I drew for us and pulled out 7, which gave me 116 on Campbell - about as far away from the fish as you can get!!  Mark was on 85, always in with a chance from this peg, so he was happy.  Rich on 56, the car park bank has been better this year than in previous years, so he was relatively happy.  Paul was a little disappointed to be on 25, Spring instead of match lake, but he should have a few bites, finally Glenn, peg 8 on Spring, a corner peg, with little else to do than fish into the corner all day, but with the chance of big fish if they were there.

I went to my peg, determined to make the best of it and hoping the fish were moving down the lake with the wind.  As Storm Freya was forecast to make an appearance, I doubted a long pole line would be possible.  So a pair of lead rods set up, with different tips to take into account the wind and any tow.  Also a pair of wagglers, one with an insert and one straight waggler, as the visibility was poor and if it worsened, a insert would be difficult to see.

I did get the pole out, having drawn the peg before and got out of jail with a few late fish down the edge, but since then the tree that overhung the RH margin has been cut right back and there is scant shelter there now, doubt it will affect the peg in the summer, but the winter I think it will be detrimental.  That's not a complaint, I think commercial match fisheries should be fairly tree and snag free.

Three top kits, two for the edge, as there is a distinct drop off as you go along the edge, in the summer, I'd be targeting the shallower part, but felt if they would come in to day, the deeper water would be best.  I did set up a rig to fish meat as far as I could, which was 3+2.

I had a few casts with bread popped up, straight after the all in, nothing was forthcoming on that, so switched to the waggler and corn, it took an hour to get a fish, a carp just under 6lb.  Then I couldn't get a bite for the next two hours, Steve Nadin on 115 was catching on the waggler, whilst I couldn't get a bite. I tried the lead, various sizes of meat, corn, maggots on the waggler and didn't have as much as a liner for the next two hours.  I looked down the edge - in fact I tried that several times during the match and never had a single indication, so we can write that off.

After about 3 hours I slightly upped the corn feed and had two skimmers in quick succession on the bomb and corn, by now I knew I was massively behind most on the lake, although Paul Greenwood opposite wasn't catching either.  I switched to the waggler and had 3 more skimmers and that was it, not another bite, no liners, I didn't foul hook any, the peg seemed barren.

At the all out I was pretty pissed off, I thought I was last on the lake and really didn't expect that on the day, as the scales came round and revealed the weights, I really was made to look red faced, I had beaten one - the guy to my right on 118 who DNW, Paul opposite had a good fish near the end, but was still a long way adrift from the big weights, so in my defence, I think there weren't too many fish in the area, as for myself Paul and 118 to be so far adrift, I can think of np other explanation.

I saw Mark, who had a 2nd on lake from 85 and walked back to the van, then saw Rich, who had 15 points, the Paul and Glenn came back and we had lost all chance of gaining ground, as they had 2 and 1 points respectively.  It transpired that dropped us to 10th overall, so there is no way you can have 3 anglers return with 5 points between them and succeed in this league.

Well do to the teams and individuals that topped the leagues, that's me done with fishing for a bit now, just can't justify all the time and effort to get draws like that.  If we regroup and come back next year (hopefully) I know I won't be drawing the pegs out.

Top Weights Today:
1. Nigel Easton - 160lb 1oz - peg 123
2. Glyn Reynolds - 158lb 6oz - peg 119
3. Martin Preston - 150lb 7oz - peg 131
4. Andy Power - 116lb 13oz - peg 97
5. Chris Davis - 107lb 14oz - peg 132
6. Allan Oram - 102lb 13oz - peg 129
7. Alex Murray - 100lb 6oz - peg 128
8. Phil Wilkins - 92lb 5oz - peg 111
9. Mark Broomsgrove - 90lb 5oz - peg 85
10. Dan Squire - 88lb 6oz - peg 90


Top Individuals of the League:
1. Andy Power - 83
2. Craig Edmunds - 74 / 241lb 3oz
3. Paul Elmes - 74 / 193lb 2oz
4. Shaun Townsend - 71
5. Scott Puddy - 68 / 284lb 11oz
6. Chris Davis - 68 / 199lb 1oz
7. Gary O'Shea - 67
8. Ben Hagg - 65
8. Tom Downing - 65
8. John Moody - 65

Ivy House Open, Sunday 24th February 2019

I had been wanting to get back to Ivy House for a while now, especially to get a look at the new lake and the other work that has been going on.  I wasn't bothered which lakes were in, as it turned out, there were 24 fishing, exactly the number of pegs on Heron, the new lake.

A quick look at the lake before the draw and there were odd fish topping and every peg was easily accessible with no issues stopping easy shipping, Andy has even provided an area behind each peg covered in wood chip, to save walking on the bare earth, to set up rollers etc.  I kept meaning to take some pictures, but didn't actually get round to it.

As the lake has been stocked with small carp and F1's, I was going to stick to one simple approach, fish 4mm hard pellet.  I did have a couple of pints of casters, so took it along, but the hard pellet approach was going to be my banker and focus.

Draw time saw me pull out 20, meant nothing to me, but a couple of people suggested it was a decent draw.  I had a pair of waggler rods, set up 3 topkits and as I had time, a pellet feeder.  The waggler rods had 2.5lb maxima on one and I have just started trying the Preston sinking feeder line in 3lb on the other, first couple of matches with it and I am quite impressed with how it fishes, not lets see how it stands up to the rigours of constant casting.  The topkits had a rig to fish banded caster at 2+2 where I could throw them by hand.  another to fish banded pellet hard on the deck at 13m and another with a more strung out rig for the same bait.

I started on the waggler and it soon became obvious that the fish were in quite shallow water, so switched the float to a small Middy Fat boy, this fished about 20" deep.  I had a slow first hour, getting the right waggler and having a look on the 13m pole line, as the waggler was fairly slow.  Round on the other bank, one of the guys had landed 3 decent fish, whilst my fish were 2-3oz apiece.

I had a spell of more bites on the waggler in the 2nd and 3rd hours, but was by now well behind peg 21.  The lake narrows up slightly between 20/21 and the fish seemed to be happier sat slightly further across in 21, whilst my fish were coming and going, giving me spells with far too few indication.

Fourth hour saw things slowing down again and I did have a cast or three with the pellet feeder, I only had one bite on this and it was the best fish of the day for me, a ghostie about 2.5lb.  I had a scrabble round in my bait bag and found a bag with about 1/4 pint of maggots in.  I switched to maggot on the hook and started getting bites again, including some F1's (which are bigger than the carp).

I had a couple more looks over the 11m line and the short caster line, but I didn't have a bite on any pole line, the fish were across by the island and moving around.  My stubborn plan to fish banded pellet was a mistake, I was pegged next to the winner who caught consistently all day, feeding pellet and fish maggot on the hook.  That definitely cost me, as I weighed 33.12, which was 6th on the day and those quiet spells and maybe the chance of a few more F1's on maggot were a lesson to get some local info, as several people said after that maggot has been the best bait on there.  Unusual - in my experience anyway, as new lakes, stocked with new fish are usually pellet dominated for at least a few months.

I'll be back for another go, but it's not something I'd want to do every week, its certainly being developed into a nice fishery, in case anyone hasn't heard, from 1st march there is a new Fishery Pellet Only rule  I can understand its a business, that developing and growing it isn't cheap, luckily its not a venue where huge amounts are needed.

Well done to the framers, its certainly a busy day catching that many fish on the waggler (winner said he had 147 fish on his clicker).

Shiplate Silvers Costcutter, Thursday 21st February 2019

I haven't been to Shiplate since last August, not sure why, as it really is a lovely fishery, well maintained and a great welcome from the owners.  It's obvious that there has been plenty of work going on, with a lot of tree pruning and clearance, the balance between a natural look and the need for a commercial fishery to be angler friendly is being well met here.

Only 9 fishing today, so I am not sure if it is really a match or a knock up?  I would suggest that to really be a match there should be at least double figures fishing and I'd like that to be 20 really.  I guess that there is just too much competition, with the Bathampton matches at Hunstrete, Viaduct, Ivy House and a few other fisheries all within an hours drive hosting Thursday matches, it would be nice to get some decent size matches back on the calendar, as the only way to get this now is to fish leagues and series.

I paid my pools and had a chat with Paul Faiers who had come along, with 10 minutes to draw time I thought it safe to wander off and use the facilities, when I came out, the place was deserted, apart from a smiling Steve (the owner) who had the last ticket in the tub for me, as everyone was there they'd drawn early, peg 10 was left for me.  I wasn't really sure where a good draw was, but nearer the middle is often a decent place to be for silvers on these canal lakes, so not too disappointed and I did have 52lb of silvers off of peg 9 - but that was August 2011, how time flies!!

Roach and skimmers were the likely targets, so I did set up a range of topkits, to rigs to fish for roach, HB Frosties (0.1) with strung out No11's to a 0.09 hooklength and a 20 Gama Green hook, one set at depth and one 6" off bottom.  Another HB Frostie (0.3) to fish a regular bulk and droppers, this with a 0.010 hooklength and a 20 Guru F1 hook, this would do for 3 lines, two down the centre at 10 and 2 o'clock and one across at the bottom of the far shelf.  A lighter NG slim float with the same hook and hooklength and finally a double bulk rig.

The peg plumbed up as being within 2" from the bottom of the near shelf, right across to the bottom of the far shelf, so the rigs would do for all lines with only minor tweaking.  Bait was simple, maggots, pinkies and caster for loose feeding and feeding on the GB line, micros, a few 4mm hard pellets and some expanders to fish the 2 o'clock line, where only pellets would be fed.

On the all in I fed my pellet line, and the 10 o'clock line with two tangerine size balls of GB laced with caster and maggot, one ball on the line right across.  Started on the roach rig fishing caster short, this was a slow start, 4 roach in 15 minutes, so I went out over the pellet line with a 4mm expander, this was instant, but it was a small roach rather than the desired skimmer.  I dropped an expander over the GB line and had a hand sized skimmer, but then couldn't get another bite, I rotated round the lines with a maggot on and had a couple more roach, by now an hour had gone and I had about 1lb in the net.

I refed all the lines and then had another hand sized skimmer over the pellet line, but the bites were few and far between, I tried an expander over the GB line again and had a better skimmer, but nothing was forthcoming after that.  I could see some fish being caught down to my right, but not much off to my left.  I had been feeding the short caster line and looked in on this again, I was getting bites here now and switching from caster to pinkie increased the number of bites, without changing the size of the fish - which were roach 1oz-3oz. I kept the longer lines topped up and had an occasional look over them, but they really weren't productive - I didn't catch at all off the line at the bottom of the far shelf.

I managed to get the fish on the pinkie line to come into topkit range and I even had a bonus chub that must have been nearly 1lb, it wasn't frantic, but steady enough to make it worth staying on, the last hour was a bit torrid, two snapped elastics and a lost rig (double bulk rig, had gone for another look over the GB line with double maggot and immediately hooked a carp).  The carp had certainly woken up and they were actively looking for feed.  Whilst it was a beautiful day to be outside fishing, I wasn't too disappointed to hear the all out after 5 hours, the carp were getting more and more active and I think another hour would have been pretty frustrating.  I wasn't alone, Paul said he had hooked at least 15 carp and a few others were also finding the carp in a hungry mood.

The payout was just two section winners and my 10.14 was enough for a section win and second in the match, beaten by a 13lb, a few more skimmers showed in the pegs to my right.  A lovely day in great countryside and I will make an effort to get to Shiplate a bit more this year.

Not sure how many midweek matches I will get to now, as I am starting a new job next week, after 14 years of shift work and having my weekends disrupted, I am returning to the 'normal' world of Monday-Friday working, at least the series I have missed out on in recent years can get my attention now.

Acorn Costcutter. Tuesday 19th February 2019

Fancied a match today and didn't want to travel too far, so this was the closest and on my second visit this year, I fancied beating my last match fifth place finish.

I was there ridiculously early, apparently its half term, the roads were nigh on deserted, shame the kids aren't on holiday more often....

22 fishing today, so a reasonable turnout for a February Tuesday, I somehow managed to draw a fancied peg, hmmm, this doesn't happen often, pressure on, as peg 9 has thrown up plenty of framing and winning weights.  Luckily, there were a fair few fishing which I didn't know, so none of of the usual banter to create more pressure.  I left the van where it was parked and walked my gear two and a half pegs, proper lazy fishing.

I had put together a Preston 9' Carp Feeder, with a small pellet feeder on it last night, but whilst I got it out of the van and took it to my peg, I couldn't bring myself to take the ties off and assemble it, so it went back in at the end, still strapped up.  Pole it would be then, peg 9 gives you a few options, there is a nice flat area in front of peg 8, the far bank is only 11m away straight across, but as it goes away to the right, you have a decent length  of bank to fish at, the only downside is that there is no farside shelf, it has eroded away all the way along.  I plumbed it very carefully, but just could not find that nice 15-18" of water, that the fish will feed in.  The best I could get was 24-30", so that would have to do.

I set up a dobbing rig to go all along the far bank, initially set 6" off bottom, another to fish banded pellet across (18 LWG on 0.14) and an identical rig with a spade end hook on for pellet or maggot (20 Kaizen on 0.14). The dobbing rig had a Kaizen 16 to 0.14 on, to start on bread.  A catch all rig for down the track, a 0.4 NG Gimp, with a 0.12 hooklength and a 16 Guru F1 maggot hook.  Finally a rig to fish down to the pallet of peg 8, this had a Kaizen 16 to 0.16, in the hope of a bit of action.....

Bait tray was caster, maggot, 4 and 6mm hard pellet, a few micros and some expanders, along with a couple of slices of bread.  I started dobbing bread across, had a couple of indications, but no proper bites, I varied the depth and it was the same, from touching bottom to 15" deep, I did expect to get something on this, but wasn't going to waste too much time on it, so after 25 fruitless minutes, put it back in the roost and picked up the cup.  I fed maggots across at approx. 11 0'clock and micro/4mm at 14m towards the open water, but still close to the farside.

I had a bite over the maggot line and a small roach dropped off, the victim of 12 solid elastic!!  Net drop in a perch the best part of a pound and three quarters was safely netted, then two carp about a pound each.  Then it started, a nightmare that I just couldn't stop - plenty of indications and 'bites' but it was all liners, they all came off, some just shedding the hook, some leaving me with the gift of a shiny scale.  I tried not feeding, drip feeding, dump feeding. this was happening on the maggot and the pellet line, I tried at various depths - bizarrely, coming off the bottom stopped the liners and foulers, but also stopped any indications. I tried another rig, lightly strung out and also bulked all the shot down on the original rig, to no avail.

I was pretty frustrated by now, over an hour gone, fish in the peg, peg 11 had a few over, 11 has a nice shelf, which is where he was catching. I had been feeding a 'throwaway line' caster by hand down the track, I picked up the catch all rig, single flouro maggot on and dropped it in, the float buried and a 3oz roach fell off, I swapped the rig onto one I had sat in the roost with No6 elastic (10 on the original set up) and went back in, looking to catch a few silvers while the carp settled, or  I worked out how to catch then across.

Float eased under in a much slower bite, expecting a silver I lifted into it and a 4lb carp was my reward.  I had a nice hour or so of double feeding about 20/30 casters and then dropping the rig in and within 5-15 minutes getting another carp. Feed too lightly and get liners, too much and the bites dried up. I put about 45lb in the net in 3 hours doing this, with one spell going back over, it was just the same, liners and foulers, except for one F1 one soft pellet.

The last hour was a nailbiter, I thought I had pulled ahead of peg 11, but my fish had disappeared, then he started catching across again, I tried this again, along with my LH edge and up to the pallet of 8 ( I felt this would be no good, as 7 was in and he fed to the pallet of 8 with a big cup, right from the start).

I upped that caster feed down the track and managed 3 more fish in the last 20 minutes, 2 in the last two put ins.  Thankfully my 64.13 was enough to win by just over 2lb...

Viaduct Winter League Round 4, Sunday 17th February 2019

After the last round, when 60% of the field, including me, blanked, today had to be better.  Well you'd have thought so, until I went into the draw tin and pulled out 11 again, the same pegs as last round, this put Mark Broomsgrove on 125, Rich A'Herne on 90, Paul Faiers on 61, Glenn Calvert on 38 and me on 12.

Mark would hopefully get a few silvers on 125, Rich should get some carp up the edge on 90, Paul should catch skimmers and hopefully carp on 61, wasn't sure about Glenn on 38, but I was sure he'd catch, especially when I walked past and was amazed to see how much more colour there was in the water this week .  For me, 12 was going to be a struggle, its in with pegs 6 and 20 as those you don't want to draw on this lake.....

I really wasn't confident of catching a carp, but did set up a waggler for corn and a bomb, to have a chuck round the peg with bread at the start and meat later on.  A silvers waggler and 3 silvers rigs, these being the same rigs s I used last Thursday at Plantation.  I was next to Fred Roberts again, but he was on 13 and had the corner to fish into, so I was sure he'd catch carp.

Not much point rambling on about this match, I had a few on the waggler, but nearly all my fish fell to the light strung out rig fishing pinkie or a single flouro maggot, one perch around the 1lb mark, the rest were roach and rudd from 0.5-1.5oz, just couldn't find any quality.

I beat 10 on the lake to get 11 points from 18 - I can't be too disappointed at that, its the best return of points from that peg so far this league, but it would be nice to get a decent draw next round and catch a few carp.....

Team wise we ended 6th on the day, so really need an outstanding round next time to sneak into the frame.

Team Positions Today:
1. Guru Viaduct - 72
2. Spotted Fin - 70
2. Thatchers Vets - 70
4. Team Amigos - 59
5. PI Thatchers - 56
6. 2nd Time Lucky - 53
7. Moaning Maggots - 52
8. M5 Angling - 49
9. Garbolino BVMG - 46
10. Colmic SW - 45
11. Viaduct All Stars - 43
12. Balti Boys - 42
13. Team Keyford - 41
14. Future Networks - 37
15. Wyvern Anglers - 33
16. Silverfox - 32
17. Fishing Tackle Warehouse - 31
18. PR Floats - 23

Plantation Silvers Open, Thursday 14th February 2019

Third of these matches, unlikely I can make anymore due to work, so had to try and make the most of this opportunity.  Match limited to 16 today, as the lake is a bit of a bugger to peg out, as so many of the pegs interfere with each other.

My dip into the draw tub saw me on peg 3, which is permanent peg 4.  I wasn't disappointed, as it should be good for skimmers and roach.  Three top kits set up, a double bulk rig, a standard bulk and droppers - both these on 0.14 rig line, with 0.10 hooklengths and Guru F1 hooks.  The final rig was a HillBilly Frostie, again on 0.14, this time with a 0.09 hooklength and a 18 Gama Green hook, with strung out shotting.

I did set up a waggler, first time trying the Preston sinking feeder line (3lb) as a waggler line, just looking for a line that sinks quickly, no other reason for trying it.

I plumbed up and settled on 3 lines, two at 14m, 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock and a short line at about 7m.  The 7m line was loose fed with caster, the 10 o'clock 14m line with GB and caster, the 2 o'clock line with micros and a couple of 4mm pellets.  Apart from one tiny roach on 4mm soft pellet, the first half hour was devoid of bites, I finally started to get a couple of small skimmers on the light strung out rig.  The smaller fish had obviously come over the GB, but were sitting off bottom, I tried the double bulk rig and had 4 or 5 skimmers between 6 and 10ozs straight away, that sadly was the end of the easy fishing.

For the rest of the match, I had to keep working the bait and came off bottom to catch a few more, but sadly no quality, wasn't sure what I had in the end, but the scales gave me 19.01, which was not enough to trouble the framers, walking round the lake and looking at the weigh-in, I could see the lack of quality had cost me. It was a nice close match and one where half the field could have, with a couple of better fish or a another run of fish, won it, I enjoy matches like this.

Viaduct Winter League R3, Sunday 3rd February 2019

After the last round team success, we'd been hoping to build on it this round, but the weather was likely to have a say in this, with heavy snow and then a night where the temperatures went down to double figures of minus centigrade in some areas locally.

The van temp gauge was -5° and did briefly drop to -10° near Clutton, so I doubted the carefully prepared wagglers or lead rods would be required.

The lakes were all iced over with a thickness varying from 3/4-1", so I was reasonably happy to be on Match lake, as I was convinced I could get a fish or two from any peg on this lake, talk in the car park before hand, was wanting to avoid peg 38.....

In my experience, the bigger lakes at Viaduct don't respond well to fishing through the ice, as usually at this time of year, the waggler or lead is essential, as the fish rarely venture into the close lines that they avidly feed on in the summer, so there were likely to be a fair few struggle.  After the last round draw I went into the draw tin hopeful and was pretty devastated to see I had plonked myself on 38 - the one peg singled out by quite a few as the peg of doom....  The match lake doesn't quite hold a full section, so two pegs are put on middle and 4 on Spring.  Middle is currently gin clear, as far out as you can see, you can see every leaf and bit of gravel on the bottom.

Rich had 125 - he should catch at least a roach in the last half hour from here, Paul on 90 - not sure, but tried to sound confident for him and encourage him to break out a channel to the end bank, where there would hopefully be a carp.  Glenn on 61 - probably the best draw on the teamsheet, myself on 38 - I would have been off out the car park with wheels spinning had it been an open - and Mark on 12, a waggler peg, so not much hope for him either.

I won't regale details of the match, I set up 3 rigs, all with a 0.08 hooklength and 20 or 22 Gamma green hooks, one just on bottom, one just off and one 6" off bottom. Started on 2 or 3mm punch and a pinch of liquidised bread, swapped to squatt, pinkie, 1/2 a pinkie and at the end switched to caster and pinged a few in with a catapult, but never felt at any time, during the day, there was a fish in the peg.

Really didn't enjoy being sat there, in the 99% certainty that I wouldn't get a bite, Fred on 37 had had one bite against the tree, hooked and lost a carp, but at the end he had the same result as me - DNW.  We were far from alone, 54,  more that half the field failed to weigh in, that's not a fishing match, its a pointless lottery, although it is purely down to the weather - could it have been called off, with hindsight I'd say yes.

The rest of the team faired as expected, Rich catching a couple of fish late to get 10 points, Paul blanking, Glenn weighing 16lb odd of silvers for 17 points and 4th in the Match.  Mark joined me and Paul in the DNW club, all of which put us on 27 points and 12th on the day, one more angler catching would have made a huge difference.  This leaves us in 9th overall and with 2 rounds to go, we need a couple of outstanding results to frame now, shame the weather rather than anglers decisions/ability/mistakes have helped to shape this years league.  When you have some of the quality anglers that failed to catch today, it's a sure thing that it was all weather inflicted.

Here's hoping the next round sees some milder weather!!

Plantation Silvers Open, Thursday 30th January 2019

Another chance to fish this prolific silvers venue, the weather gods were not kind and the van temperature display was gleefully showing -4°C as I set off.  A good tip learnt today, if using the Bridge Inn for breakfast, ask them to swap the sausages for extra bacon, as the sausages aren't the best.

Had a walk round the lake before the draw and the lake was mainly frozen over, I was hoping to draw a peg that was completely frozen, as I am sure the fish prefer to sit under the 'lid' rather than in the unfrozen areas.  A few had cried off because of the weather, so 13 fishing today.

I had brought plenty of caster and waggler rods, the waggler rods weren't likely to be used looking at the thickness of the ice, into the draw bucket and I pulled out 8, which turned out to be permanent peg 19.  I was going to cut out two channels, but as the peg is on a point, I decided that one line straight out in front would be the way to go.  Nice and warm chucking these around...

As there was no point in getting the waggler rods out, I decided on a simple approach, 3 rigs, first one was a 0.1 NG Gimp, with strung out No11 stotz, this was finished off with a 0.09 hooklength and a 20 Gamma Green hook.  The other rigs were a 0.3 float set up with usual bulk and droppers and a double bulk rig - not too much to say about these, as I started on the strung out light rig and stayed on it all day.

On the all in I fed a tangerine sized ball of GB (50/50 Tom Thicks Intelligent and Sonubaits F1 Green) with caster and pinkie in.  Wanting to get a fish of any size to start off, I had a single flouro pinkie on the hook. It took 25 minutes to get a bite and a 8oz skimmer was a nice first fish in the conditions.

Another skimmer shortly after and then a 4lb carp, which wasn't so welcome, but it didn't mess the peg up too much.  I refed after this, as there was obviously fish feeding and I had a little run of 4 skimmers.  This was pretty much the way it panned out for the rest of the day, a couple of fish and then refeed, and a lull, then a couple more, I hooked a couple more carp, one landed and one broke the hook.  What was odd, was that I kept trying caster and fed a caster line a bit shorter, that I never had a bite on a caster, every fish fell to the single flouro pinkie, yet talking to Paul (Faiers) after the match he had caught all his fish on caster.  Given the low temperature and the ice, everyone was surprised that the fish were very responsive to feed, in fact, if you didn't feed regularly, you didn't get bites.

What I had thought would be a tough day, was very enjoyable, a lovely simple days fishing, one rig, one bait and some nice quality skimmers, I had hardly any roach, whereas the other end of the lake they showed.  I didn't have a clue what I had in the net come the all-out, but I was hopeful it would be there or thereabouts.

It wasn't enough to beat match organiser Tony Rixon, who put 32lb on the scales, but my 28lb was enough for second on the day, given the conditions, there were some great weights with 5 over 20lb and everyone except two DNW's in double figures.

Viaduct Winter League Round 2, Sunday 20th January 2019

After  the team disaster in the first round, of what in the spring, summer or autumn would be a decent set of pegs.. well, maybe except 7, we needed a decent draw and team performance to ensure we weren't out of it after two rounds.

I was going to pass the drawing duty over to someone else, but in the end took the responsibility and drew 17, which is a good draw (how did that happen!!!).  It put Paul Faiers on 131, Glenn Calvert on 100, myself on 70, Mark Broomsgrove on 51 and Rich A'Herne on 19 - we'd be disappointed not to be top three from that draw.

After the usual quick discussion and the confiscation of Paul's silvers rigs and bait..... off we went to our pegs.  I expected to catch a few skimmers and carp from my peg, without having to revert to scratching round for bits.  The dedicated silvers wagglers stayed in the bag and two 12' Daiwa Tournaments set up, one with a Middy Fat Boy waggler, 4lb maxima and 0.16 hooklength, finished off with a 18 PR16 and a band, I like to fish corn or meat by pulling the band into it.  The other with a Drake waggler, 0.14 hooklength and a 20 LWG, for maggot or caster.

4 topkits, a 0.3g silvers rig, No6 elastic, 0.10 and a 20 Guru F1, a 0.4g rig 0.12 with 16 F1, same rig but with 0.14 - just in case and finally a full blown carp rig, Malman Roob, with 0.16 hooklength and 16 LWG, that really was an optimistic set up, but I was ready with 25 minutes to go, so why not.

Bait tray was maggot and pinkie, dead and alive, corn, caster and various bits of cubed or punched meat.  A simple GB, Tom Thicks Intelligent and some Sonubaits F1 Green to darken it.  Two balls of this with caster in at 14m on the all in, then straight out wit the waggler and corn, I was really expecting some indications and bites on this, but after 20 minutes of stationary float, I did have a look over the GB and start up a loose fed caster line towards the rope that divides 70 from 69.

The caster line fishing the waggler at 20m was best for the next 40 minutes or so, as I had a quick burst of 4 perch from 6oz to 2lb.  It was typical winter fishing after that, I could describe each switch of line, each observation of what was happening (and the conversations with Gary O'Shea on the next peg, top angler, doesn't miss anything in front of him, he was seeing every minor indication of fish in the area) but it was a case of rotating between caster and corn and an occasional look on the pole, but that was never going to be right on the day.

I relied heavily on the waggler and corn, for a large part of the match, it was well under par from my expectations, I do know the straight waggler was wrong, the bites I did have were such tiny dinks, it needed an insert waggler dotted right down, that was possible today, with no wind and flat calm conditions.

I was putting odd fish in the net on caster or the occasional look with maggot, mostly on the waggler, the pole line never got going all day, finally at 14:20, the waggler just slightly dipped and a strike met with the firm resistance of a carp, a 7-8lb common came in quite nicely and was soon netted.  Next cast, similar tiny dip of the float and a bigger more angry common, maybe just over a Barny rubble was netted after a determined fight, I was then looking forward to a hectic last hour, but sadly not to be, I had a 2lb skimmer 2 minutes later and waited until 5 minutes before the all out at 15:30 before the third and final carp, also the biggest came to the net.

I ended with 38.07 for 14 points from 18 and all in all a reasonable return, beaten by one in the section on another lake and 3 corner pegs, not sure I could have done much more.  The rest of the team fared well, Paul winning Campbell with 148.06 and second in match, Glenn also with 14 points from Cary, Mark with 13 from Match lake and Richard with 12 from Spring.

That was enough to win on the day as a team and claw our way back into a framing contention place after last weeks poor start, but this is winter fishing and we are taking nothing for granted.


Team Positions on the Day:
1. 2nd Time Lucky - 71
2. Guru Viaduct - 70
3. Team Keyford - 69
4. Future Networks - 61
5. Thatchers Vets - 58
5. Team Amigos - 58
7. Preston Innovation Thatchers - 56
8. Spotted Fin - 52

Team Positions so Far:
1. Guru Viaduct - 134 (2 section wins)
2. Preston Innovation Thatchers - 130 (2 section wins)
3. Team Keyford - 130
4. Thatchers Vets - 118
5. Spotted Fin - 115 (1 section win)
6. Colmic SW - 111
7. 2nd Time Lucky - 110 (1 section win)
8. Future Networks - 106 (1 section win)
9. M5 Angling - 104 (1 section win)
10. Moaning Maggots - 101 (1 section win)
11. Team Amigos - 95 (1 section win)
12. Garbolino BVMG - 90
13. Balti Boys - 72
14. Silverfox - 71
15. Viaduct All Stars - 66
16. PR Floats - 60
17. Wyvern Anglers - 49
18. Fishing Tackle Warehouse - 45

Plantation Silvers Float Only, Thursday 17th January 2019

I was lucky enough to have a Thursday off, as Plantation is a venue with some great silvers in, not who it was who had to go in the room with the goose fat tub and various other instruments of pleasure to get these 5 matches on this lake, as its not often match fished now.....

A few met up for breakfast in the Bridge in, good bit of banter and the breakfast was OK, but let down by the sausages.  More banter at the draw, I drew peg, which wasn't peg 4 as it had been repegged for the day, it put me on permanent peg 8, not too bad.  Then it turns out there wasn't enough tickets in the tub as a latecomer arrived, so a hastily arranged redraw and I'm now looking at 14, which turns out to be permanent peg 28.

Looked ideal for a small cage feeder towards the gap in the island, but with it being float only, a waggler and pole were the only options.  So, a light rig with strung out No11's for roach, a couple of skimmer rigs, 0.3g and 0.5g - I was surprised at how much the venue has silted up and was using the same rig as I was at Viaduct last week.  I also set up a double bulk rig, just in case that was required.

The pegging to my right was fairly tight, so I couldn't really fish the standard 10 & 2 o'clock lines, more like just past 12 and just before 10.  The 12 o'clock line fed with Tom Thick's Intelligent/Sensas Lake mixed 50/50, that then mixed with about 30% leam.  The 10 o'clock line fed with micros.

Once they were fed I did try optimistically short for roach, but despite trying on and off through the match, a line fed with casters to my left, I didn't have a single indication there.

I had a fish and indications as soon as I went over the GB, I was getting liners and bumped a couple of fish, so put the light rig in the roost and tried the double bulk, less bites, but each on a fairly hooked fish - the initial flurry of bites didn't last long and I did try an expander over the micros, but that just saw roach pestering it.  I refed the micros line with a few more and included some caster and dead maggot.  This did see a couple of roach and a hybrid come to dead maggot on the hook, but the action was far from hectic.

I stared up a new line, loose fed caster as far as I could get them and tried the waggler over the top, a couple of roach, then nothing.  I swapped back to the lighter rig and spent the rest of the match rotating between the pole lines and the waggler, never taking more than 2 consecutive fish of a line before it went quiet again.

I could see pegs 1 & 2 catching and knew they had more than me, so I did push the peg trying to get some bigger skimmers in the last hour, it didn't work, but I'm not convinced it did too much harm, as the lake seemed to slow down for most in the last 90 minutes.

Quite an enjoyable day, I knew I hadn't done enough to win or frame, my 15.15 being enough to win the section and 6th place, so day paid for.

Acorn Costcutter, Tuesday 15th January 2019

First visit of the year to Acorn and after seeing the weights from the weekend, hopeful of a few bites.
14 fishing, so plenty of room, but that's not always a good thing on these snake lakes, as the fish back off under pressure.

The weather forecast was 11°C and dry, I  hope the forecasters aren't paid by accuracy, as the one who forecast that would be skint, it was a chilly wind and for a big part of the day, that fine misty rain - the sort that gets you wet, as someone said.

I had meant to bring some bread, but looking at the lake before the draw with Paul (Faiers) it was still quite coloured, so wasn't upset I'd forgotten to call in and pick a loaf up - my memory is getting terrible.  Into the draw bag and ping pong ball 13 was my reward, or as it turned out, penance.

Got to the peg and found Des Shipp on the next peg (15) so had to endure the usual moaning about his peg and the mid games of how good mine was - always a good bit of banter with Des.  The wind was blowing L to R but not too bad, wouldn't hinder fishing across to the far side.  I did consider setting up a method rod, but decided against it, so 4 topkits assembled, one a small Drennan float to fish banded pellet in approx. 2' water, a rig to fish the next shelf down, this rigged up with 0.14 and a 18 LWG hook, to try and tempt the carp.  I also set up a rig for the near margin, down to the pallet of 12, but not with much confidence, its been months since I caught a margin fish, or even anything  decent short.  Finally a 0.5 diamond homemade float to fish down the track, a catch all rig hopefully, this would do for two lines, 2 o'clock line being fed with GB and caster/maggot/pinkie, 10 o'clock with micros.

On the all-in I cupped in half a dozen 4mm pellets and 20 micros over the 2' deep shelf, dropping a 6mm pellet in a band over the top, the float had hardly settled, before burying and a decent fish on.  I got it to the net and saw that it had a hookhold that I just knew was going to give, right on the outside edge of the mouth, with the hook barely nicked through.  As expected, once the fish came near the nest and then dived down, even with me dropping the topkit down quick to reduce pressure, the hook pulled - bugger, at least 8lb gone.....

Straight back over and after a couple of liners a fish about 3.5lb safely netted, followed by one about 1lb, I was starting to think it might be a good day.  Thinking is obviously not good, as that was the last of the indications or bites from there.  Gave it another 15 minutes or so, searching along the bank, but the carp had upped sticks and moved out.  Hoping they'd dropped down the shelf, I switched to the deeper rig and expanders, nothing, not a bite.  Des was struggling, so I was fairly happy that it wasn't just me getting it wrong, in fact I couldn't see anyone catching.

I fed the 2 o'clock line at 7 joints and left it whilst I tried to make the lines across work, also fed the 10 o'clock line with micros, in the end gave up with the biteless lines across and came over the GB line.  This was slow, but at least a couple of small skimmers took the double pinkie offered, the wind had changed by now and was blowing into the faces of those of us on the 'back bank' this was frustrating, as I had to keep wiping the mist off my glasses, even the peak of a baseball cap not offering enough protection.

I refed the 2 o'clock line and then had a little run of skimmers, which was a welcome change from no bites, I had also been feeding casters by hand at topkit + 1 just to my left.  I had a couple of better roach from there, but felt I would have needed a lighter, strung out rig to make it work, rather than the skimmer rig.

By now - ha;lfway through, the wind was blowing some fairly unpleasant acrid smoke across the lake and my eyes were watering, Des had enough of it and packed up early, as did Paul on peg 2, had I not had the run of skimmers, I probably would as well. The skimmer line died off, they never settled over the micros line, I didn't have a bite on a 4mm expander, even trying to switch it to a maggot line was a dismal failure.

I did keep looking back across for a carp and down to the pallet of 12, where I tried corn and maggot, but never had any sort of indication from either area.  A couple of skimmers in the last 20 minutes completed my day and I unashamedly took the payout for second in silvers by default - feel I could have won the silvers if I fished for them all match, but hindsight is great.....  Well done to Mike Chapman, winning from unfavoured 27, all by himself down that end.

1. Mike Chapman.                 21-12 p27
2. John Mills.                         17-11 p18
3. Dave Stephenson.             16-09 p9
4. John Roberts.                    13-13 p5
5. Chris Fox.                           11-14 p13
6. Eddie Wynne.                     11-00 p30
Silvers
1. Mike Chapman.                 10-11 p27
2. Eddie Wynne.                       7-08 p30

Viaduct Winter League Round 1, Sunday 12th January 2019

This popular league seems to have come round again quickly, last I year I endured all 5 matches without even hooking a carp, so was looking for better this year.  The team has had a change of personnel, Freddie Roberts leaving and Richard A'Herne taking his place, sorry to see Fred go, but a good signing made in Richard.

18 teams this year, so a 90 pegger, good to fish matches this size, but that does inevitably mean that some of the pegs aren't the best, hoping to avoid those, I was first into the draw tub and pulled out, 115, 81, 53, 45 & 7. Not a bad draw on paper, but in the winter 115 can be tough, 81 and 53 can be feast or famine pegs and 7 had Paul Faiers borrowing margin poles to try and get a couple of bites from under the bush. Glenn on 115, myself on 81, Mark Broomsgrove on 53 and Richards debut was on Match lake 45.

I set up a silvers rig, just the one, to catch skimmers hopefully at 14.5m, a rig to dob bread along the spit and down to the monk, another rig to fish the same areas at full depth.  A rig to cover the open water, in case the carp showed up and as there was plenty of time, two wagglers and a lead rod.

Started dobbing bread along the spit, not as much as a tremor on the float bristle, same down by the monk.  I had a search further along the spit with the lead rod and into the open water without as much as a liner, I was starting to feel that there weren't any/many carp in the peg.  So I fed the silvers line with GB/leam and caster, then rested it for a spell on the waggler and corn, again, nothing on that, not any sort of indication.

To get something in the net I went onto the silvers line and started getting hand sized skimmers, not frantic action, but reasonably steadily.  The wind was getting up and there was a lot of tow, I can only assume the affect of the  wind on the main body of the lake was pulling the water out of my peg, as it was fairly sheltered out to 14m, where the ripple started.

I had got off my box to get another topkit, setting up a heavier silvers rig, as the skimmers seemed to want a static bait, when the wind blew  an 8' long branch out of the tree - out of 90 anglers fishing, whose pole would it land on, yep, mine.

So after a bout of Tourettes and being pretty pissed off, I packed what was left of the pole away, I hadn't brought a spare one, so it was rod and line for the rest of the match.  I tried the waggler over the GB, but even laying line on the bottom, the surface tow was pulling the float along and that was nowhere near good enough presentation. I did try a small cage feeder, but that wasn't right either, so I resorted to fishing for a carp for the rest of the match.  I did manage to get one at 14:55 so 35 minutes to go, a angry common that was 14lb I thought, I was hoping another couple might come along, but that was the only tip action of the day.  I did have a few spells on the waggler, but that was totally unproductive and did nothing to give me hope it might produce.

I weighed in  20.01 of which 6.8 was silvers, could have a chance of a silvers pick up until the carbon devastation….  I beat all the pegs on the Cary bank, scoring 11 points, so not brilliant, but not as bad as I thought it would be.  There just didn't seem to be any carp at this end of the lake.

Teamwise we didn't fair well, so its all to do next week!

Todber Manor Silvers, Saturday 5th January 2019

First match of 2019, 35 fishing this silvers match, I was hopeful of a decent draw, but I managed to pluck out 62 on Ash, end peg and apparently the shallowest peg on the lake, it was also the only one with a covering of cat ice before the start.

Plumbing up I could see that it may not be the ideal silvers peg in the cold weather, from about 10m out the peg shallows up, it also shallows up towards the end bank as you go to the left, so to get in the deepest water, I would have to fish 10m at the most, I did set up a rig to fish in the shallower water at 14m, but was doubtful it was right on the day.

I also set up a waggler, but that was pretty fruitless, there didn't seem to be any fish sat across the peg in the shallower water.

Not going to waffle on too long, it was a struggle, weighed 8lb odd, beating Dave Stockton to my right who had 6lb, at the end Nick Chedzoy said "I don't know why you bother to come and draw pegs like that".... I'm beginning to wonder myself if its worth the effort, time and cost!

Landsend Open, Sunday 30th December 2018

Last match of the year, I did fancy going to Ivy House, but they had a two day mini festival, which I couldn't enter, not being able to fish on Saturday, so Landsend it was.  I have a strange relationship with this venue, I love the tranquillity of it, I like the feel of the place, I just never do any good here.

I had hoped for a days silvers fishing, so a draw on the Match lake was required, I was still eating my breakfast (another plus point for Landsend, the tasty breakfast) when it was time to draw, so Tony drew for me, peg 55, I couldn't be further away from the Match lake or the silvers in lake 3.  My inability to draw on Match lake when there are two or more lakes in has now stretched for as long as I can remember.....

Still, with the next peg in being Dick Bull on 51 and Adrian Jefferies across the lake on 58, there was plenty of room, although, that's not always a good thing at Landsend, as the fish are wise old buggers and often back off into the gaps.  The island is a good 17.5m away and I wasn't going to risk my back by fishing that, so I set up a 9' Preston Carp lead rod and a tiny lead, to plop a 6mm pellet across there.

Pole for the rest of the peg, its 14m to the spit on the end bank, so a dobbing rig for there, the lake is very shallow, but I found a deeper area fishing across pointing the pole at Adrian on 58, so I set up a rig to fish soft pellet over micros here, a caster line at 7m and a hard pellet line at 14m towards the island.

Starting on the dobbing rig, I could get bites on maggot, but it was tiny roach, Adrian was suffering the same fate fishing to the island, I didn't stick with it too long as the roach were too small to be worth targeting.  Out to the soft pellet line and a couple of indications. then a positive bite and carp on, well, he knew where the snag in the peg was, a dark shape under the water that looked like a dead weed bed which had an autumn and winters worth of twigs and branches entwined in it, carp 1 me 0.

I had another bite from this area, but it was a roach and then the line was lifeless. A switch to hard pellet at 14m towards the island saw me hook and land a 1lb F1 first put in, then I hooked another that just came off.  Then a 3lb carp graced the net, before another was hooked and that came off - frustrating, pretty sure they weren't foul hooked, hooks and elastic were ones I have used without problem for a while now, so no idea why these fish were coming off.

The caster line at 7m never showed any sign of producing, not a single bite from it.  I ended the match fishing 6mm pellet to the spit, but had to wait a long time for a bite, adding 3 more carp and a decent roach all on 6mm pellet and a couple more managed to shed the hook.

I knew at the end, that Adrian had beaten me, having 7 to my 4, he had a little run of fish fishing long down top the weed bed which is the other side of the spit from me, others on the lake had beaten me and I was 100% confident the match lake would throw up some better weights, so the fish went back and I was off out the car park before most got back.  See Tony's blog for the weigh sheets, Bob Gullick won from Match lake with over a ton, well done Bob.

I felt I fished a tidy match, I wasn't convinced there were many fish in the peg, I am just hoping 2019 bring me a couple of good draws to get some confidence back, its been a poor few months for me and I just can't seem to get back on track.

Viaduct Xmas Match, Saturday 22nd December 2019

Firstly, whilst it's all Bah Humbug to me, I'd like to wish any one who actually reads through these incoherent ramblings a Merry Xmas and all the best for 2019.

I will admit, of late its been a bit of a head scratcher trying to write anything meaningful in this blog, I started it to act as a diary and aide memoire for myself, had some encouraging comments and some critical ones, so decided to keep it going.  For some reason, for part of this year I seem to have lost my way, I have suffered a bit at the drawbag, I have undoubtedly failed to make the most of some of the pegs and there is no doubt, that to fish the open circuit nowadays you have to be at the top of your game at all times, there are too many good anglers who will punish you if you aren't.

Time for a bit of soul searching over Xmas and the New Year, maybe a plan for next year, concentrating on a few goals, rather than meandering from match to match, venue to venue.  I will be swapping jobs soon, to a Monday - Friday role, freeing up my weekends, which will allow me to get back into (spaces allowing) some of the series I have been forced to drop out of.

Anyway, onto todays match, 70+ fishing, so spread over Campbell, Cary, Lodge, Match and Spring lakes, for those who aren't familiar with the layout of Viaduct, it looks like this..

I wasn't sure where I wanted to draw, but I did want to avoid Campbell, it is an amazing lake, consistently throwing up big weights and consistent fishing, with the exception of the months either side of Xmas, the fish tend to ball up, someone or maybe three or four have a great day and others struggle, even the skimmers seem to switch off, as they go and sit with the ball of carp.  Recent results show the carp are balled up at the opposite end to the river, so pegs 110, 132, 111 and 131 - obviously a draw there would be OK, but the rest of the lake would likely be hard going.

I can't say I was surprised when I drew 118, which is end but one peg on Campbell, but the 'wrong' end, I couldn't get near here in the summer!!!  I did have one hope, 117 wasn't in (not usually in) and there are a few brambles to fish to, these were cut right back last year and have not regrown as prolifically as brambles often do, so the cover is limited, but you have to hold onto some hope.

I had come to be positive and fish to win, so had left silvers rods etc at home, but I had brought some caster and maggot, as well as bread corn and meat.  A lead rod set up, this would do for popped up bread, meat or corn, a waggler for corn initially and two rigs to dob along the edge, one for bread and one for caster/maggot. An open water rig for carp (wildly optimistic for me, I know!!) and just in case, a silvers rig.

I spent 40 minutes looking for a carp along the edge, with bread at various depths and then maggots, not as much as a tremor on the bristle, I got the feeling there really wasn't anything there.  Nick Chedzoy on 116 had a carp on bread to the tree/bushes to his left, but there was little other action on the lake.

I tried the bread on the lead, corn on the wag and the result was the same, motionless tips and wagglers resolutely visible, not even the slightest hint of a fish being out there.  Given the known facts that the carp were up the other end, I swapped over to the silvers rig, it wouldn't do me any good, but at least I could get a few bites, it was tough going, I'd fed two lines at 14m the usual 10 and 2 o'clock, the 10 o'clock line was the more prolific, but prolific has to taken in context, bites were hard to come by and after catching a fish (roach or skimmer) that would be it from that line for 10 minutes.

I did set up a new line at 6m by the tree branches that dip into the water, but with no leaves, they offer no cover or feature and a couple of small roach were the total reward for that.  I kept going back along the edge, fed a caster line there looking for perch and a maggot line for carp, the sum total of my efforts there was one roach on the maggot line.

I put 6.02 on the scales for absolutely nowhere, as expected 110 and 132 were 1 & 2 on the lake, but they were beaten by Mark Wynne on Lodge who put 179lb on the scales for the win, with Lodge also providing Gary O'Shea with 45lb of simmers for the silvers win.  well done to all those who framed and won their sections, you still have to catch them.....

I stayed and got my wine and chocolates, thanks to Steve, Helen & Matt for another good year at Viaduct, thanks for the beer and mince pies, I can only hope my drawing arm and mental approach both improve in 2019.

Overall
1. Mark Wynne - 179lb 2oz - peg 66
2. Jeb Attwood - 104lb 6oz - peg 110
3. Simon Maunders - 79lb 2oz - peg 132
4. Joe McMahon - 71lb 5oz - peg 102
5. Jess Jordan - 71lb - peg 131

Silvers
1. Gary O’Shea - 45lb 12oz - peg 70
2. Stu White - 28lb 13oz - peg 78
3. Nigel Bartlett - 18lb - peg 90

Viaduct Silvers Open, Wednesday 19th December 2018

First match after an enforced break of nearly 6 weeks, work, some debilitating virus and then a nice holiday in India - so after enjoying wall to wall sunshine and temps up to 35°C, its been a bit of a shock coming back to this grey, dismal and wet weather.

I did consider going to Acorn yesterday, but saw the weather forecast and whimped out, right decision looking at the result and seeing how much it rained.

Onto today, minimal prep, took some maggots out the freezer, along with pinkies and checked my worms, they seemed alive, so all well and good.  I did have to wash the mould and fungal growth out of my bait boxes, but that was it for prep, nice and easy.

Only 10 booked in, but some good quality competition, so a decent draw was required, I had no complaints when 18 came out of the tub, off I went, expecting to catch a few skimmers on at least a couple of methods. First rod set up was a 10' wand, to fish a cage feeder at about 20m, with the option to unclip and go closer to the island if necessary.  Next was two wagglers, one peacock waggler to fish right across to the island, plumbing up it was nigh on full depth within a couple of feet of the island.  The other with a Drennan glowtop waggler, the shape of the old canal blue, these are lovely sensitive floats for caster fishing.

3 topkits to complete the set up, one with a HB Frostie (0.3) to fish at 14m over some GB, a NG Gimp to fish caster over caster at 7m and another HB pattern to fish double caster sport in front of the tree/brambles to my left - hoping for a big perch or two.

Bait tray would be simple, GB, casters, maggot and pinkie and a tin of corn.  On the all-in, I put one ball of GB in at 14m and started on the feeder, 3 casts and 3 bites indications with nothing to show for it, 4th chuck the tip twitched and a 5oz hybrid was netted, the bites dried up after this and I had one small roach in the next 20 minutes. A look on the pole next and a small skimmer, then a roach, then nothing.  A switch to the waggler and caster brought a few small fish, roach, rudd and another small skimmer, but it wasn't possible to get more than a couple of fish from one area.

I just kept rotating lines to put odd fish from micro rudd to 5/6oz hybrids in the net, the perch line in front of the tree was devoid of fish, but I half expected that given the water clarity, it was too slow to be doing any good in the match.  Steve Kedge to my right and the guy to my left was struggling as well, yet Martin on 16 was catching steadily, not too far out either.

Last hour I decided to sit it out on corn across, I had 5 better stamp fish doing this to the island and bumped a couple!!!   After bumping each on it took at least 10 minutes to get a bite, I did have one over 2lb, but that was 5 minutes before the all out, I think the light just went too late for the bigger skimmers to switch on.

I beat either side, didn't get wet (bonus) and that sums up the good points, downside is that I am not sure what I could have done differently, it just seemed as there weren't many fish there. Well done to Martin on the win.