Viaduct Silvers League, 5th Round, 26-11-17

The penultimate round of this popular series has now been and gone, the last round is in a couple of weeks.

Anyways I didn't arrive too early, got a couple miles from home and the wife called to let me know I had left my waterproofs at home.....Numpty!!
Once at the venue I had a quick chat with a few guys, Matt Williams and Myself convinced we would again draw less than favourable and with the poxy wind blowing rather cool a draw with the wind off my back would be nice. The weather was due to be dry pretty much all day, but Mr Long said we would be fishing 10:30 til 15:45 due to the light fading and the rain was due at 4pm........

Into the draw and out comes peg 97 on the diagonal bank of Cary, reasonably happy with that area, at least I was on Cary as it does seem the most consistent of the 3 lakes, but individually Lodge seems to produce the winner at the moment, but that is the trickiest lake I think. I still haven't been on Campbell. Maybe next time?
For company I had Paddy Curry behind me on Lodge peg 66 (ouch!), Steve Kedge on peg 96 but not in my section, luckily as that peg seems to be in the top 2 in section each round.On peg 98 was Clive Barrow then Martin Rayet on p99.

Peg 97, Cary Lake. 

Bait for the day was pinkies and maggots both live and dead. Some casters and some corn. I mixed up 1kg of BMG groundbait as I didn't want the temptation to be too positive given the colder few days we have had coupled with the rains we had overnight.
I actually set up a feeder, which I chucked out maybe for 20 minutes in total and went fishless.
A waggler for around 25m out, I would feed corn for that line as the wind was pushing in to me so casters were ruled out.
Lastly 2 pole rigs, a DT F1/silvers in 0.3g to fish at 2+2 in front using small amound of groundbait and loose fed casters. The 2nd rig was using a 0.4g DT Floats Jabba pattern, this would cover 2 lines, the 1st at 14m in front where groundbait and dead pinkies would form the bulk of the feed initially.
The same rig was also used at 11m off slightly right where I fed dead maggots and caster quite heavily via a cup as eels and perch could show.

The match began and 3 balls of groundbait went out long, a full pot of caster/dead maggot went on the 11m line and a gold ball sized helping of neat groundbait went in on the short line. I didn't feed the waggler line but chose to spend 20 minutes on the feeder where I planned to fish the waggler.
No bites for this 20 minute spell though Martin and Kedgey started to get a few small roach and odd small skimmer in this spell.
A quick look on the waggler, but the wind got up, so on the pole, starting short, no bites in 10 minutes so looking over the long groundbait line. A couple little roach and a 6oz skimmer were soon in the net and blank avoided. It then went quiet for a while but Martin on peg 99 was catching consistently, nothing big (he did hook a couple carp and land 1) but regular spells of catching well. Kedgey was also getting a few fish on his pole lines. Elsewhere everyone was struggling.

So fast forward a couple of hours and I had been picking the odd fish from both the long 14m line and the caster line, I had also started to feed a few pieces of corn out for the waggler as I expected that to be the area to produce a better stamp of skimmer. I suppose I had 2.5lb in the net at this point, Martin maybe 6 or 7lb and Kedge about 5lb. Clive, to my left was really struggling and only had a couple roach to show.
It was 1pm when I had my 1st skimmer, around 1.5lb from the long groundbait line, double caster the bait fished off bottom, as like I had last week I was getting indications and liners, so I stick on a better bait and it went under right away. Sadly no more followed. A few more small balls of groundbait went in on that spot again and I switched to the waggler as Kedgey was getting a few fish, 6oz skimmers mostly but had a couple 1lb fish from what I could make out.

15 minutes of thrashing the water with the wag and missing a few bites I connected with a nice fish and soon a 3lb skimmer was netted, Steve lost one of a couple pounds at the same time.
Again no decent fish followed so I stuck with the pole for the last hour or so. I knew I was a long way behind Martin on peg 99, I couldn't see anyone in the section past him so didn't have a clue how I was doing in the scheme of things, but Gabe had gone home and there was a fair amount of grumblings about how hard it was fishing.
20 minutes to go and the rain had already set in, it was not very nice, quite heavy and bloody cold, but I could see the odd bubble over the long line and I suspected an eel to be honest but a couple 8oz skimmers were netted and a couple roach before I bumped a couple better fish, possibly big skimmers as a nice amount of laccy came out. Luckily I had another opportunity in the last minutes as a 1.5lb skimmer was netted. I reckoned to myself I had around 10lb and Martin must have 17lb maybe. But I had more than Clive who tipped back, so at least I was not last in section. From what I could tell Mr Kedge had 15lb and looked to have won that section as it was only Nicky Ewers over on 87 had really caught any amount of fish, similarly Jacko on peg 78 had netted some nice skimmers.

I packed up, well started to, in the rain, when the scales arrived. Martin had weighed 16lb but the rest of my section had struggled to catch with Roly's 10lb next best. Thankfully my weigh tipped the scales to 12lb 3oz and put me 2nd in the section. Steve Kedge did win his section but I was a little surprised to see him total 12lb 15oz, I was sure he had more than that. Nicky Ewers had 12lb 3oz to come 2nd in that section. Jacko won the 3rd section on Cary with 13lb 8oz.

Results:
1. Gary O’Shea - 20lb - peg 70
2. Craig Edmunds - 18lb 12oz - peg 59
3. Gary Webber - 17lb 14oz - peg 129
4. Martin Rayet - 16lb - peg 99
5. Mike Nicholls - 15lb 2oz - peg 132
6. John Fuidge - 13lb 10oz - peg 110

So although a tough day, I enjoyed it and am looking forward to the last round in 2 weeks. Well done to Mr Consistent Gary O'Shea on the win. He caught mostly on waggler and caster I believe.

Trig (Craig Edmunds) is leading the series with a maximum 4 points (dropper is a 3!!) after a section win and 2nd in the match. But a couple of others have an outside chance of overtaking him, although in-realistic at this stage.......but you never know.
For full sheets and standings etc take a look at the Viaduct Facebook page.

Next week I have the first round of the Landsend Winter League, another 1st attempt at the series for me and it can get really hard there at times, so maybe I will draw a bit better than my draw hand has been, generally, in 2017.

Until then, have fun.

Lee

Sedges Brick Lake, Matt Culpin's Series. 19-11-17

Another opportunity to cover in the series, the last round of which was on Sunday at Sedges, on Brick Lake. I could have been fishing the Parrett with Pawlett, but I had done zero prep so didn't commit.

An early 8:30am draw was on the cards, thankfully it is 5 mins from my house so a nice lay-in way past 7am. No wind and not too cold, but we had seen an awful lot of cold rain overnight and Saturday was cool with a nippy northerly breeze. I wasn't expecting most of us to do great, maybe 8 round to 13 would be the best area to draw, but that was one section, the other 2 were the rest of the pegs on either bank (1-7 and 14-20) if I am correct. I would be happy with any peg from 5 up and around to 15 to be fair. So after a natter and a cuppa from Denise we drew our pegs.

No surprise to see drawbags Mark Thorne and Steve 'Peanut' Howell draw the favoured pegs 11 and 10 respectively. But my favourite peg on the lake, peg 12, went to Russ Peck. Me, well my rather dire attempt at drawing a 'flyer' failed again when peg 17 was my pluck from the basket. I pushed my barrow round and proceeded to set my kit up...........on peg 18. Only pointed out by John Dursley who was meant to be on there. So I shuffled along, as did Wayne on peg 17 (moved to 16).

Brick Lake peg 17 at dusk....

I set up a few bits and bobs in the 60 minutes we had to get ready, fishing 9:30-15:30.
A waggler for maggot at 25m, a small cage feeder for the same area.
A topkit aimed for roach down my right edge didn't give a bite, just a snag that ate hooks!!
A line at 14m for banded 4mm over wet 4's and micros. DT RBS Open Water in 0.8g.
A line at 11m for maggots over my So Simple Bait's BMG/Bog combo using a light 0.3g DT F1/Silvers float. Lastly a meat rig for just past the shelf at around 6m off at a slight angle to the right. I used a DT RBS Margin for this rig.

I had, by the obvious fish activity, decided that it was only the section money to fish for, maybe the silvers if I got lucky as silvers ace Ron Stark was on peg 8 and I fancied that to produce. The overall silvers winner and match winners get the same prize and 3 section winners are paid.
At the all-in I was not ready, but I was not the only one. But I got a smallish helping of feed onto the various lines before trying the waggler, hoping for an early carp or 2 should they be in the vicinity.

Within half an hour I had bumped a decent fish, probably a liner, and I had a smallish skimmer fall off just out of netting range. But it was slow. Simon Ryall on peg 20 had lost a carp and landed one. While I could see pegs 10, 11 and 12 all had caught a few carp as expected.
I carried on fishing the waggler as was John on peg 18, he had a couple small skimmers but it wasn't fast and furious. Then he had a moment....He went to sink his line and the top half of the top section of his waggler rod snapped, putting paid to his running line float fishing for the day.

It was about an hour into the match when I had my first few fish, all 2-3oz roach on the waggler, I had 4 of these. A few other peeps I could see had yet to catch, or even have a bite.
In on the pole line and I tried the long pellet line and expected a fish or 2 from here, but it never happened, actually I never caught a fish off that area all day, similarly my banker meat line never saw the float move in all the times I tried it throughout the day.

A couple of hours passed and only the odd roach was entering the keepnet, while the 3 up the far end never seemed to stop catching, Russ Peck and Mark Thorne were even catching on the pellet wag.
For the rest of it, well it was tricky going. Just the odd carp here of there coming out to Emma Drysdale and Matt Culpin on the pegs opposite. Simon on peg 20 was on 2 carp but not seen a fish for a while. Jon Page on p1 was blanking, waiting for his 1st bite, he was not the only one either.

At the halfway stage I managed to catch an eel over the groundbait and then a 12oz skimmer on the feeder, my only bite on that even though I only chucked it out while having a cuppa. Bites on the waggler had stopped.
John had a couple decent skimmers on the pole but was getting missed bites but went on to catch an eel and lose a foul hooked one.
Paul Berry came around and chatted for a while and he said Saturday was tricky going and only had a couple decent skimmers.
A few rig adjustments thanks to missed bites and liners saw another skimmer find it's way to my keepnet with 2hrs to go, this was followed by 3 more, the largest around 3lb. Then it died again.
Though Jonny on peg 1 did hook a carp, probably foul hooked, his 1st bite of the day.....and he lost it after playing it a while!!

A couple roach on the waggler and another over the groundbait pushed me into the last hour probably just ahead of John on peg 18, but then he had another skimmer of 2lb or so and lost a foul hooked one. Then I managed another 2 skimmers around 1lb each. But with 30 minutes to go John again had an eel and a small skimmer. I never had another bite.
Elsewhere it looked close for the outright win between pegs 11 and 12, Mark Thorne and Russ Peck going fish for fish all day. Adrian Jeffery had 3 and lost 1 carp I think, all in the last 45 minutes from peg 15, Wayne Staples added 2 or 3 skimmers in the remaining 20 minutes to add to his few roach.

The all-out was called, my kit was packed away and put in the car. I reckoned on 8lb of silvers, John said I had a couple pounds more than him, he said he had 8lb.....
I caught up with the scales at peg 11 and 6lb 5oz was top silvers and 70lb was top overall to Peanut on p10. Mark Thorne had 115lb and just edged Russ into 2nd, Russ had 113lb so well done those 2. Adrian had 12lb for his carp.
Not much followed as Wayne went into the silvers lead with 6lb 6oz.
I then chucked my 8lb of fish in the sling and onto the scales and they had grown to 16lb.....oooppss!!
Slightly out there then. John's 8lb was 12lb, so he was slightly out also.
Simon on peg 20 ended with 3 carp and they amassed 24lb and he won the section with that.

Results-rounded to the nearest lb:
1st, Mark Thorne, p11, 115lb
2nd, Russ Peck, p12, 113lb
3rd, Steve Howell, p10, 70lb

Silvers:
1st, Lee Williams, p17, 16lb
2nd, John Dursley, p18, 12lb

So sixty-odd quid in the pocket on a tricky day was a decent result, but as expected it fished hard for the majority, and I made the right choice targeting the silvers, though I didn't expect to top the pegs I did. I learned a few things during the day which will defo come in handy.
I fed nearly 2kg of groundbait, 1/2pt of caster and 1pt of maggots through this.

Next up for me is Viaduct Silvers League round 5......though I may go somewhere Saturday.

Until then, enjoy yourselves.
Lee

Viaduct Silvers League, 4th Round. 12-11-17

Another round of this series came and went on Sunday, between my pants drawing hand, my obvious lack of capability to catch a few decent skimmers at the venue in comparison to those who fish there regularly and the fact the quality of the angler is pretty high means I am languishing near the bottom of the league.

Anyways back to Sunday, after the usual chatter and putting the world to rights I was discussing where I fancied, well Cary will do for me, preferably on the Campbell bank as the wind would be off my back over there. Otherwise Campbell's pegs 123-127.
Lodge, well if you are on the decent skimmers which usually inhabit the rope pegs and back towards the car park. There also doesn't seem to be the numbers of 3-6oz skimmers that Cary is producing this season, but maybe the roach could show?
Well I did get on Lodge....surprise. Peg 68, the next peg along from where I drew in round 1. Not the best area going by weights over the last few rounds. But you never know.
For company I had Dave Chidzoy on 69, he used to avoid silvers, now he loves them and is a dab hand at catching them too. Another decent angler was down on corner 66, not a great peg, that was Sam Powell. Opposite me was another decent silvers angler and one who I could gauge myself against, Steve Kedge. I could also see Trig, who had won 2 of the previous rounds, he was down on peg 59 and that's not a bad peg for a formidable angler.

No pics of the peg, forgot to take some.
So to keep things short and sweet I will give a basic run down of the day.
I fed 2 13m lines, one with a couple balls of groundbait, one with a mix of caster and dead reds (no bites here all day).
A short 2+2 line was fed with a ball of groundbait holding dead reds and lastly I fed a margin line for roach...........that line never gave a bite all day.
A waggler was set up for corn or caster at around 18/20m.

It took 20 mins to get my 1st fish, a 2oz roach from the long groundbait line and then a 4oz skimmer followed soon after. But that first 20 minutes before I caught my first fish saw me lose 3 foul hooked decent skimmers, that probably didn't help my peg for the day.
Dave had a couple skimmers on a small feed cast along the rope, something he managed on and off during the day along with some on the pole caught fish to 2lb-ish.

The following 5hrs was very slow, I managed 5 or 6 small skimmers off the longer groundbait line, 1 on the waggler and a 8oz hybrid on the waggler also.  I also had a few roach off the long pole line, mostly on the drop. And I did bump a couple better fish during the afternoon. But I never felt for one minute I was going anywhere.
Sam on peg 66 did manage a couple decent skimmers but had a fair few small skimmers and totalled 10lb 8oz come the all out.
Kedgey was struggling too and his bit of luck came when he had a decent skimmer foul hooked and never came off near the end of the match. He ended with 6lb, the 2 to his left had 6lb 11oz and 6lb 12oz respectively.
Talking of being a pain in the butt to land, Trig hooked a huge common or around 22lb and couldn't land it in his silvers net.....it didn't stop him winning the match after a slow-ish 3.5hrs. He ended up with 28lb on the long pole using caster over groundbait.

My bit of luck came with 30 minutes to go when I had a decent eel on my short line, probably 1.5lb, it was an arse to land though. My total at the weigh in was a not too weighty 5lb. Second last in section. I don't think I would have managed the 23lb needed to win the section. 22lb was second and 13lb (to Dave) was 3rd in the section and scooped the section money by double default.

Results:
1. Craig Edmunds - 28lb - peg 59
2. Stu White - 23lb 2oz - peg 70
3. Gary O’Shea - 22lb 6oz - peg 73
4. Matt Parsons - 18lb 11oz - peg 98
5. Nigel Easton - 18lb 3oz - peg 100
6. Paul Greenwood - 18lb 2oz - peg 129
7. Alvin Jones - 18lb 1oz - peg 123

So Lodge gave the top 3 overall but it was a struggle for most, the cold northerly/north-westerly didn't help matters and by 3pm it went noticeably colder. But I am learning each round which isn't always a bad thing.
Trig fed quite a decent amount towards the 2nd half of the match and maybe I was a little too negative, who knows, and again I never set a small feeder up, maybe I should?

Next round in a couple weeks, I must be due a go on Campbell (not pegs 130, 131, 132 please)...

This Sunday I am at Sedges, covering in Matt Culpin's series. On Brick, looking forward to that....I think. Some new rigs needed to be made.

Until then, have fun.
Lee

Landsend Lakes 1 + 2, Matt Culpin's Series, 5-11-17

A chance to cover came up for this round of Matt Culipin's series, he has ran over the last couple of months and as seems to be the case there have been no-shows and anglers unable to fish the rounds for various reasons.
So I duly accepted my invitation, purely because I haven't fished for carp for what seems like months and fancied a change.

Down to the fishery in plenty of time, chatted to a few people I hadn't seen for a while.
I didn't mind where I drew, but to be honest if I had to be pushed then 31 round to 33 on Lake 1 may have been my choice as I could have tried to catch some perch....failing that pegs 11, 13, and 15 up at the far end of Lake 2 would be a better pick on that lake, but I wasn't too fussed to be fair.
We had seen loads of overnight hail showers and there was likely to have been a fair amount of cold water going into the lakes, so I was not expecting a baggin session on anyone's part, certainly it would be harder than usual no doubt.

Into the draw about 5th in line and I plucked peg 19 on Lake 2, a decent enough peg, but the cold north/north-westerly wind would be cutting through the gap in the islands and right in my chops. But I was pleased enough with the peg.
Steve Howell was on peg 11, Mark Thorne on peg 13 and Adrian Jeffery on peg 15 would be on the favoured pegs, peg 11 had won the Saturday open.

Peg 19, Landsend

Bait for the day was live maggots, some girly 6mm meat, a few wetted micros and some expander pellets. I had mixed a little So Simple BMG groundbait just incase the skimmers/roach were my option of a few bites.
Rigs for the day were a silvers rig, a small DT F1/Silvers float to fish in front at 2+2. A meat rig to fish slightly to the right at the same distance using a 0.3g DT RBS open water float, this rig was also suitable down to my left beside the tree that is in the water.
Lastly I set up a DT Pellet Pinger float in 0.1g for fishing at 14m to the left edge of some reeds where I found slightly deeper water. This rig also covered an area off to the right at the same distance but involved moving the float shallower by 6 inches. Mike Duckett said there was a nice area to fish there using 8mm pellets, maybe 6''s.
The carp rigs were on 0.14 hooklengths as the water still looked like it was not too clear, KND white laccy was used. The silvers was my usual 0.10 hooklength and middy solid 5-8 elastic.

At the all-in I popped a small ball of groundbait at 2+2 and maybe 20 pieces of meat went in over that area. I would feed to my left by the tree with maggots in small amounts during the day.
I began over to the left of the reeds using a 4mm expander on the hook and a small amount of loose fed micros.
It took maybe 5 minutes for my 1st indication which I missed, but duly dropped back in and was into a carp, foul hooked and soon came off. A few minutes later I repeated the process as another foul hooked fish was lost, I shallowed up a few inches and indications stopped.
Then I did manage to foul hook a couple more before landing one hooked fairly, a nice ghostie looking carp of around 6lb. I hadn't seen anyone else have a fish yet, some had not even had a bite after an hour.

We were soon an hour into the match and my indications had stopped across so I came and looked on the silvers line, a couple roach and a couple micro perch were put in the net but bites dried up rapidly. Another small ball of groundbait went in there and it was back across.
2 more carp were landed in short time, one of 8lb on maggots and the other perhaps 5lb on expander. But I was not getting the signs of fish in the area I was in the previous hour.
Things went dead then.....no signs from anything, people were struggling, though I could occasionally see Adrian's elastic being worked.
Jon Page down on peg 21 had landed his first carp down his right edge, I had not bothered with my right side as there was one or 2 overhanging branches that hindered my view.

It was soon the halfway stage of the match and I was on 3 carp, a couple roach and a couple perch.
I decided to put 3/4 of a cup of micros on the 14m area off to the right and leave it, hoping something would settle over the top. I gave this a 20 minute rest before trying it and would you believe it when in had a bite 1st put, a smallish F1 was landed then a foul hooked carp was lost, then one of about 10lb landed. Nice.
Back to the left hand side of the reeds and a couple roach were landed, this told me that the carp were not here.

Another couple hours passed and it was maybe 45 minutes until the end of the match. The tree swim had yet to give me a bite, it never actually did. A couple looks over the meat line saw the float stationary. And the silvers line gave me 1 more roach before the all-out.
JP on peg 21 was up to 3 carp and peg 24 had 1 on the lead earlier in the day and had since got a few from his left margin. He was on 4 or 5 carp but they can be smaller in that corner at times.
I went back over the 14m line to the right and managed a 2lb skimmer that fought like mad, lost another foul hooked carp and netted a nice 8oz skimmer.
Around 20 minutes to go and I saw a couple bubbles over the meat and I dropped in there and was soon attached to a carp, which was netted and probably 7lb. Back in and I missed a bite, but hooked and landed another, 10lber perhaps. With perhaps 5 minutes to go I hooked my 3rd meat fish, landed it after a nice scrap and it too was possibly 10lb. I hoped to get one more before the all-out and promptly missed a bite a few seconds before the whistle.

So the match ended with peg 24 having 6 carp, Jon had 3, I had 6 and from what I could hear 11, 13 and 15 all had a few fish, not loads though.
My clicker showed 36lb but I hadn't clicked the last carp. I also had 4lb of silvers (1x F1, 2x skimmers, 2x micro perch and 8 roach).
I packed up as the rain began, typically it was the heaviest rain of the day.
I caught up with the weigh-in at peg 11 and Steve Howell. He had 11lb of silvers and some carp to give him 50lb and ounces. Mark Thorne had around 48lb and Adrian had 39lb. Peg 17 don't weigh too much, I didn't catch his weight.
My turn to weigh saw a smidge over 4lb of silvers and my 2 weighs of carp added another 48lb to put me to 52lb and winning the lake and section (paying 1st, 3 sections and 1st in silvers on the day). Jonny Page had 20lb before the 6 carp landed from peg 24 weighed 30-something I believe.

Back to the car, car loaded and I found out that Lake 1 had been tricky and that 57lb to Lee Phillips won that, and the match. There was a couple 30lb+ nets I think and Ron Stark had 11lb 14oz of silvers to pip Steve Howell by a solitary ounce to win that pot. I had top weight off Lake 2 and picked up 2nd overall, winning the section money.

Results:
1st, Lee Phillips, 57lb 1oz
2nd, Lee Williams, 52lb 8oz (I think)
3rd, Steve Howell, 50lb 4oz

Silvers:
1st, Ron Stark, 11lb 14oz
2nd, Steve Howell, 11lb 13oz

So a nice day, if not hard going, but I enjoyed it and it was a nice change to catch a few carp.
1 fish would have given me the win, which I should really have done, maybe if a foul hooked fish had not come off etc. Hindsight eh!!

Next up for me, as it stands is Sunday at Viaduct for the 4th round of the silvers league, only sections to fish for now for me.

Until then, take care.
Lee

Viaduct Silvers League, 3rd Round, 29-10-17

3rd round of this series was last Sunday. A dry and bright day forecast with westerly/north-westerly winds, no doubt making float spotting tricky at time.
I was hoping to get on Cary, maybe Campbell, but thankfully I got my wish. Peg 85 on Cary fell into my hand, nice enough peg, tricky section. Plenty of cover guys today across the board.
My section consisted of me on peg 85, Robin Guy on peg 81, peg 80 had Martin Rayet, 78 was Trig, 77 was occupied by Vince Brown. Lastly on peg 74 was Mr Gabe Skarba. No such thing as a weak section in this series.

peg 85, Viaduct Cary

For company I had a good young angler in Geraint Powell on 86, he had Mike Nicholls on peg 87 to his left.
Waggler was set up first to chuck corn to around 20m. 4 pole rigs, a topkit rig for down by the tree to my left using caster over caster. A rig for 13m slightly off to the right where I could actually see the float most of the time, not all of it, I would use maggots or caster over groundbait in that spot.
Lastly I made up a pellet rig (last pellet match before the 'ban' comes into play), this would be for 11m in front, but couldn't see the float at any point in the awkward light so knocked that on the head. So I used it for 2+2 slightly left just off the tree using 4mm hard pellet over micros and odd 4mm as feed. Lastly a rig for 2+2 down the edge to my right.

The match began with me feeding 4 balls of So Simple BMG at 13m, with a few dead reds and casters in. 1/2 a pot of micros at 2+2 and a half pot of caster under the tree, I also wanted to loose feed caster to my right at 2+2 down the edge so a few were lobbed in that direction.
I started on the wag, no bites in 10 mins, but Geraint was getting small skimmers right away.
Over the groundbait and after 5 minutes I had a couple 3-4oz skimmers and kept them coming for 15 minutes before they stopped. Another helping of groundbait went in before trying the other lines, only 1 small roach and a small skimmer fell to the caster under the tree, a 2oz skimmer on the short pellet line.

After an hour I had maybe a dozen fish for 1lb or so.
The following 4hrs went slowly for me, I could hear Geraint catching well but I was struggling as was 81 and most of the diagonal bank from what I could see.
I would get spurts of small skimmers, no quality, the largest maybe 10oz at a push. So going in to the last 60 minutes I hoped for a few lumpy skimmers, but this never happened either, though I did lose a foul hooked skimmer of about 2lb. I initially thought it was a carp and pulled too hard.
The right edge never gave me a bite and all I could hook at this point under the tree was carp, similarly the last 4 fish I hooked on the long pole were carp and another at 2+2 where I had swapped to fishing maggot on the hook.
At the all-out I reckoned I had 9lb or so and was miles behind peg 86, but he wasn't in my section. I would guess that 74 to 80 had done miles better and 81 probably had over taken me with a few late skimmers. So last in section was on the cards.
As we packed up I thought that I pretty much fished like a tit for 4hrs of the 6, over fed the peg and should have really opened a new line at around 8m, but I am too stubborn at times......one day I will get it right, but I am enjoying this learning curve. Roll on the next round in a couple weeks.

Matt came and weighed me in, 11lb 8oz was my dire tally.
Geraint had 29lb something, I thought he must have 30lb!! He confirmed my thoughts I had fed too much when he told me how he had not fed much and figured the fish would drift off but come back a few minutes later, so well done that man.
The rest of my section weighed, from 74-80, 21lb, 31lb, 32lb, 23lb, 14lb and then me. Trig and Vince were 1st and 2nd in the match from their pegs each side of the fallen tree.

Results:

1. Craig Edmonds 32-14-0 peg 78
2. Vince Brown 31-0-0 peg 77
3. Stu White 30-09-0 peg 96
4. Paul Faiers 30-06-0 peg 123
5. Geraint Powell 29-02-0 peg 86
6. Gary O’Shea 28-02-0 peg 56

Of all the 51 anglers, the majority had double figures, so it fished pretty well. (full weigh sheets on Mike Nicholls' blog and Viaduct's Facebook pages).

Next up for me is this Sunday, covering in Matt Culpin's series at Landsend on either lake 1 or 2. Not fished there for a long while so will see how it goes, but it is unlikely I will over-feed this match!!

Until then, take care.
Lee