Viaduct Christmas Match, 23-12-17. All Lakes.

Thankfully a day of light winds and little if any rain was forecast for the 97 or 98 of us booked into this match, a very good turn out indeed.
We all had our ideas of where to draw and where not to, 132 and 110 are the hot pegs currently and most expected one of them to win and the other to frame the further up the lake you went the less carpy it became. Match Lake could be ok if things were hard and Middle/Spring had seen a couple hundred new carp stocked between 4 and 7lb, so should they feed then that could be interesting. Cary....maybe but should be at least the most consistent lake for the silvers at least. Nobody really fancied many pegs on Lodge with the exception of perhaps 73 and maybe 64, and 59 for skimmers.

Anyway the car parks were full and a few of us were boxed in up the top car park, but no worries as there was a prize for all and I couldn't see anyone leaving early.
Into the draw after a few natters with people and I found myself with 114 in my hand, I didn't fancy it on either the carp or silvers front as the payouts were top 6 overall and 3 silvers plus 10 sections. But unless I got lucky with the carp moving up the lake I would hope for a day's fishing.
As I walked to my peg it was clear the carp in Campbell were still along the end bank as several fish boshed out of the water....hmmmm
For company I had Mark Bromsgrove on my left on peg 113 and to my right was Phil Cardwell on 115.

I looked at the water, the colour was ok and although a little clear it wasn't too bad really.
A lead was assembled, a rig for silvers at 13m (DT F1.Silvers in 0.4g), a dobbing rig for my left edge (0.1g DT Pinger) and a meat/corn rig to cover 6 and 14m lines (DT RBS Open Water 0.3g)
Bait was dead maggots, pinkies, some groundbait and some meat and corn. Plus a couple slices of bread.

Peg 114 Campbell, Viaduct.

I began on the short pole, just in case of some daft fish playing ball, but nothing happened. Mark began on the lead and within 10 minutes had a carp. I followed suit, more in hope really and to have a cuppa. Across from me Jacko has landed a carp (or tench) and was exclusively fishing the waggler as he tends to do.

My 1st fish came after an hour and it was a skimmer caught on a bunch of twigs, on a rig, attached to my hooklength on the lead. Only a small 4oz fish, but blank saved.
Another 10 mins on the tip never saw a sniff so that was chucked up the bank for the rest of the day.
I could bore you all with the intricacies but the next 4hrs were spent picking off small skimmers on the 13m line feeding odd helpings of groundbait, but I couldn't really get them lined up properly.
Mark on my left was generally getting only small roach on the pole and wag and to my right it was a similar story to me, odd small skimmer and odd roach. Most people were struggling apart from Andy Cranston on peg 132, plus 131 and 130 had a few carp, no doubt 110 also had.

Towards the end of the match Dan White on peg 127 had a couple carp and a couple nice skimmers after a quiet day. Jacko had been catching silvers most of the day on the waggler from peg 128 and looked set for a decent net (he ended with 19lb of silvers).
The all in was called and I was all packed up for the weigh in and when Matt arrived with the scales and put my 2.5lb (actually 8lb 6oz) on the sheet that was 2nd best silvers net on the lake behind Jacko. Turns out it was also 2nd in section behind Geoff Francis on p110 who had 28lb to win the section money.

Presentations and prizes dished out to all after the match and mince pies, sausage rolls and drinks provided by the fishery was a great thing to do and much appreciated by all.
I also managed to be caked in mud and tipped my trolley and box contents all over the floor for the 2nd time in a week!! Thanks to the couple of guys who helped pick stuff up. I should strap my kit to the trolley frame not my side tray, lol.

Results:
Andy Cranston, p132, 95lb
Bob Gullick, p73, 85lb 8oz
Dan Squire, p7, 69lb 2oz
Mark Poppleton, p4, 57lb 8oz
then a few 50lb nets followed

As for the Silvers, Paul Greenwood caught 22lb from the Match Lake peg 46 and won that with Nicky Ewers having 20-03 from p66 and Stu White 20-02 from peg 19.

A nice day though which I enjoyed and I am sure most did even if it fished rather hard for a lot. But it was good to see spring and middle be consistent. The full weigh sheets are on Mike Nicholls' blog (Silverfox).

No plans set for this week ahead of going back to work next Tuesday the 2nd.
So I hope you all had a great Xmas period and enjoyed yourselves.
Take care and thanks for reading my blog in 2017.

Lee