MFS 2-Day event. Viaduct Fishery. Campbell and Cary Lakes. 15th and 16th May.

A quick overview of my 2 days at this awesome fishery.
It was a 2 day affair with 34 participants, 17 on each lake the alternating the lake so you get a go on each.
With there being many venue regulars/experts in the form of Roy Worth, Ben Hagg, Dan White, Mark Poppleton, Scott Russell, Fred Roberts, Steve Tucker and many many more, a very good draw both days would be needed to entertain any chances of a 'pick-up'.

Day One.
Most people wanted to be on Campbell on Friday as the wind was generally gonna be little to light, Saturday's was due to be somewhat windier, thus suiting Cary's beasts better.
Needless to say I plucked peg 99 on the diagonal bank of Cary, it'd only weighed a single small carp and a skimmer or 2 on Thursday's match. (it also dnw'd on day two I believe).
For company I had Alex Nadin on peg 98, Dan White on 97 and Callum Craig on the other side of the tree on peg 100.
I set up a topkit for silvers, a shallow stalking/slapping rig (no fish caught on this), a rig for full depth at 14.5m using pellet (no fish caught), a lead rod (no fish caught) and lastly a short meat rig for 6m in front.

Cary p99 - front view



Cary p99 - left hand edge

To cut a short story shorter I had 2lb 12oz of bits on the topkit and 2 carp for 27lb or so in the last half hour to come last in section, possibly across both lakes on the day.
My section struggled (relatively speaking) with Jon Martin winning the section from p102.
Ben Hagg won Campbell lake from p135 with 215lb-ish, a peg he reckoned prior to the event shouldn't be in. He caught mostly in the 2nd half of the match down his left edge.
Elsewhere Mark Poppleton had 200lb or so from peg 81 on Cary and Chris Fox 178lb-ish (I think) from peg 123.

Day 2.
The draw saw Ben Hagg pluck another bang on draw, p85, he was expected to do well, but Mark Poppleton had 118 on Campbell, Chris Fox was on 86 and Jon Martin on the peg I fancied peg 121.
The top end of Cary and Campbell was expected to be the favoured areas as we had a decent wind blowing up there and overnight on Friday, the fish do follow the wind.
Back to me, I didn't draw a great peg in 111, but at least I should catch a few fish.
To my right I had Steve Tucker and he had Dan White next to him.

Campbell p111 - front view

Campbell p111 - right edge towards p112

In short it was a tricky day with the wind being a bit of a pain in getting good presentation, plus the bulk of fish had moved up towards 114 and beyond.
I managed a few fish on the lead, a couple on the topkit down to my right and a handful on a short meat line. I didn't finish last on the lake or in my section, but my 95lb was the result of lots of effort with less reward. Plus I had lots of baby carp compared to others 6lb to 12lb fish.....those little commons seem to be my nemesis at the minute.

Elsewhere Ash Tompkins on peg 131 had a brilliant run of fish in the 2nd half of the match to weigh 160lb. The lad on 110 had a torrid time with the brambles down his left edge but still managed 130lb or more. Tucks had 120lb+ and he too had an issue with elastics and section. But a late run of lumps boosted his  net.
Dan White fished his usual decent tidy match to end nr 200lb I think. Mark Pops had 220lb from 118. Jon Martin won the lake and day with 240lb+ from peg 121, mostly on pellet.
On Cary it was Ben Hagg who won from p85, 215lb I think he weighed, mostly on meat over pellet down his margin. Chris Fox did well from p86 as Cary fished generally better.

Results overall (on weigh with 2pt each)
1st, Ben Hagg
2nd, Mark Poppleton
3rd, Jon Martin
4th, Chris Fox.
Top silvers aggregate was Stuart White 63lb 8oz

Top single weight went to Jon Martin 238lb 9oz p121 Campbell
Top single silvers weight was Scott Russell 37lb 12oz p129

So despite a couple of poor draws cost me, but very well done to the top guys who drew well and fished just as well. Well Done.

Next up will be my blog from the PSV v Carpenters match on Sedges Tile and Brick lakes.

Cheers.
Lee

The year that was 2014........Part 1.

Well I wish all my readers a Happy New Year and hope you all stay healthy and enjoy the coming 12 months.

So I am just about to give you all a quick overview of the last 12 months on the bank, how my match fishing went and ending with what I am hoping to look forward to in 2015.

January, February and March
The year started off by mostly fishing the Avalon Teams of 3 series, my Woolavy Wanderers had began the series well enough and were towards the top of the pile. Myself, James Withers and Paul Wharton had all picked up some money in several rounds, but as the series went on things got tougher and my side drifted down the table to somewhere more 'realistic'. It was an enjoyable though and the winning side were The Sedges (Jamie Cook, Phil & Keith Clapp). My best individual result was a 3rd overall.
In the meantime I fished a match, my 1st and only match in fact, at Summerhayes. I dnw'd on a tough day on Sellicks.

My Sellicks peg at Summerhayes

Other notable matches came in the form of a 3rd placed finish at Lands End, mostly perch and F1's caught on prawns, plus the odd bonus carp in my 47lb net. This qualified me for the Silvers Winners Final with Pawlett Legion AC..
A February match on Shiplate's Main Lake with Clevedon AC was enjoyable and went to plan, catching 13lb+ of skimmers on soft pellet and added 3 margin caught carp to this, securing 2nd spot in the match. Shiplate Main Lake is one of my favourite venues.
Pawlett club also had a match on the Bridgwater/Taunton canal, where I didn't weigh but it was won with over 66lb of mostly tench.
March ended with a PSV match on Plantation's Main lake, where an enjoyable, but sort of frustrating day saw me string a run of edge caught lumps boost my pellet waggler caught bag to 66lb 8oz to secure 2nd spot but take the 1st money prize by default.
Here's my post of the match Plantation PSV Match, March 2014.

April, May and June
The month of April started off with a week at White Acres for the Dynamite Baits Festival, my 1st ever experience of such an event. Myself and Withers were in the caravan next to Keiron Rich, and plenty of 'names' were fishing as well as a good influx of Somerset based anglers including Dan White, Jamie Parkhouse and Ben Hagg to name a few.
I could go into loads of details of the week, but simply I found it a massive learning curve and learned loads throughout the week, especially with F1 fishing and the need to catch silvers in quiet spells.
I did manage a pick-up during the week, at what I thought may be my strong card, Porth Reservoir.
You can read the daily updates from the drop downs on the right hand side of this page.
I do hope to get onto a festival in 2015.
On returning from the festival I had a few matches over the following weeks, starting with a Clevedon match on Trinity Waters' Woodland lake, only half a dozen of us fished but we averaged over 82lb per man with myself taking the honours with 117lb+ and my 1st Clevedon match win.
I then picked up section money during the Pawlett Silver's match at Sedges before a few blow outs at the same venue.
A trip to Larford Lakes for a Fishomania qualifier was a new experience for me and I did ok from a not-so-great area, just missing out on a pick-up due to an angler bagging a last gasp munter from his margin. A similar story at Viaduct for the MMT and Fisho qualifiers, drawing non-competitive pegs hindered further progress in the competitions.
May began with a Clevedon match at Avalon, I drew peg 1 and true to form I didn't trouble the opposite end of the lake where the warm wind was heading.
I redeemed myself on Shiplate's Westpool during a blind pairs match with the same club, 2nd on the day and 1st on the lake was how it ended with myself and partner Adie Baker securing 3 points, though we lost out on weight!! Here's how.....
An MFS 2-day event followed, with me winning my section from peg 86 on Cary on the 1st day with 142lb 3oz. The 1st day was won with nearly 300lb by Dan White from peg 110 on Campbell.
The 2nd day gave me a nice 90lb bag from Campbell, but that would never compete with the top 5 catching over 180lb each on the 2nd day
The last 2 matches of the month were PSV matches at Trinity Woodlands and Landsend Match + Speci lakes. The 2 matches gave me good draws and I somehow managed to convert them into successive wins.
June was a busy month with plenty of matches including a MMT match at Viaduct, but I didn't draw any good at that match, but did get suntanned feet!!

Sun Tanned Feet.......

The rest of the month saw me not pick up at Sedges, Viaduct and Trinity (Pawlett all winners final) as well as on Hawthorns lake at Shiplate.  My draws were not the best, maybe my luck had run out in the previous couple weeks?
My last match of the month gave me an envelope at Avalon, with PSV, where the defaulted 3rd place money helped top up my holiday funds.


So that was the first 6 months of the year briefly covered.

Lee

MFS Two Dayer, Day 2, Campbell Lake, 17.05.14

Saturday saw me fishing Campbell lake, I was hoping for anywhere between 123 and 127 as I didn't feel the fish would be along the car park end of the lake in the same numbers as on Friday when the 2 end pegs put over 450lb on the scales between them.

At the draw I pulled out peg 116, not the best peg, 115 being a better option as it's a good few metres further out in the lake. Anyways I had to try and catch some fish.

Campbell peg 116.

Opposite me on peg 125 I had venue regular and good all round chap, Fred Roberts.

I set up a pellet wag and a lead rod for around 25m out in front.
I also set up a few pole rigs, one for 6m and meat, one for banded 8mm pellets at 14m.
I also had a shallow rig and a margin rig, but other than 2 tench on the margin rig I wont mention these.
Bait was simple 8mm and 6mm pellets, hemp and 8mm meat.

I started on the waggler, then switched to the lead, while the pole lines settled
I had to wait an hour or so for my 1st fish, in that time Fred had mugged a good few fish and the welsh angler on 118 had began to land most fish he hooked by fishing back to the empty peg of 117, the fish could be seen and heard down that edge. Peg 119 had done ok too.

Peg 115 had to wait 20 minutes more than me for his 1st fish.

I wont go into much detail now about how it went, but I struggled, pulled out of a few fish and got broke a couple times, lost a rig from the elastic connector and generally seemed to be going round in circles and not adding much to my nets, p115 seemed to be struggling more so, and it was a matter of picking fish up on the lead, wag and shorter line. It wasn't until the last hour that the fish arrived when I maybe added 8 carp to my net.

At the weigh in I guessed I had 70lb, peg 115 had tipped back and 118 (Neil Morgan) had bagged up and I said he'd done 200lb+ (I was a little out, he weighed 180lb...plenty of smaller fish).
Fred had weighed 190lb and the angler (Martin Fisher) on 123 had 73lb of silvers,

My silvers and carp combined weighed a 'lowly' 90-odd pounds. I am not sure where I finished, it wasn't last on the lake and Cary had produced a few lower weights too.
The lake was won by Fred and the overall match was won from my peg on Friday, peg 86, with Pete Bailey weighing in 283lb 11oz.

Results:
1: Pete Bailey 283.11 peg 86
2: Roy Worth 199.04 peg 81
3: Fred Roberts 192.00 peg 125
4: Ken Rayner 191.03 peg 94
5: Neil Morgan 181.00 peg 118
6: Mark Poppleton 167.05 peg 112

Silvers

1: Martin Fisher 73.01
2: Dan White 40.00 peg 97

Overall it wasn't the best draw on Campbell, but I enjoyed myself.
It was a great 2 day gathering and the banter was great and I met some really nice guys, but it did show my lack of venue knowledge and my reluctance to mug fish, I should really get myself over there more often.

My next blog will be the PSV match on Trinity Woodlands, which was today (18/05/14).
My next match is next Sunday at Landsend with PSV.

Cheers.
Lee

MFS Two Dayer, Viaduct Fishery, 16th and 17th May 2014 - Day One.

Friday and Saturday of this week so myself, and 30 other Match Fishing Scene members embark on a couple days fishing at the prolific Viaduct Fishery. Half  would fish the 1st day  on Cary the 2nd  on Campbell and vice versa.
With lots of venue regulars fishing it was going to be hard to do well in the most part, as although reasonably local to me, I rarely fish the venue.

The Friday saw me on Cary, I had hoped for some nice skimmer fishing but when I pulled peg 86, flyer on the far River Cary bank. I knew I had to fish for carp. 86 has been in pretty good form recently with it winning matches with weights to nearly 300lb including lumps to over 20lb.
With the sun shining and temps in the low 20 degrees the fish probably had spawning on their mind, if not for the next couple days then defo in the coming week.
The surface of the lake was black with fish, especially around pegs 88 around to 94 area, it looked good for mugging fish, not something I do myself.

Cary Peg 86

Bait wise I had 8mm meat, hemp, 6mm pellet and some 8mm pellets.

I set up a lead rod for banded 8mm pellets, a pellet waggler for pellets.
I also set up the pole to fish 2 meat lines, one at 6m in front and one at 5m down to my left in the edge, but other than one skimmer I never had a bite, so no more on them.

The match started at 11:30 and I chucked out the lead and waited, waited a bit longer and before I knew it I had spent nearly 2 hours watching the chap on peg 88 catching a few fish on his lead set up. plus Roly opposite him land a few mugged fish. Other than that it was only the odd fish caught, but I could just about hear that Chris Fox and Fred Roberts on pegs 74 and 77 were hooking a few fish.

At around 1:30 I had my 1st fish, this came on the lead and was around 13lb, this was followed up by a couple 3lb fish.
Another blank half hour saw me try the waggler, this bought a run of fish to 18lb, I was feeding 6mm pellets to try and get a response from the skimmers and roach, hoping they'd attract the carp.

By now it was about 3pm and I had possibly 50lb in the net, slightly less than Ron on peg 88 and a similar weight to the guy on peg 85.
A look on the lead saw me have a couple more fish before a switch back to the float saw me add odd carp to my nets. This is how I spent the remainder of the match.

I ended up with around 18 carp, but the majority were not the usual Viaduct stamp, with the majority being of 3-5lbers, I guessed I had maybe 125lb, well that's what my clickers showed, plus a few silvers. I had pulled out of maybe 7 fish, some were definitely foul hooked as I bought back a few scales.
It looked like the fish had moved further down the lake with the pegs from 81 down to 74 doing well.
I was sure I had more than pegs 85 (just as he had a decent stamp of carp) and 81, but unsure what Ron on 88 had caught as he had better sized fish. So I was doing ok in my section.

I packed up and waited for Steve and Sarah to come along with the scales and a brief look say that the diagonal lodge lake bank had been tricky with a few 60-80lb nets and one of 110lb. Though Steve M. on p99 had 50lb of silvers (mostly skimmers).
I went and saw peg 88 weigh and saw Ron put just over 98lb on the board, I began to think I had over estimated my catch.
Anyway, my silvers were 4lb and ounces, before my three well spread nets weighed a combined total of 137lb and a few ounces, giving me a total of 142lb 3oz which won me the section.

Further around the lake, peg 81 had 143lb 13lb, Fred on p77 had 199lb 4oz and Chris Fox had 175lb 12oz from his peg 74. So I was 4th on the lake overall. This turned out to be 7th on the day, I think, with Dan White bagging nearly 300lb from peg 110 on Campbell to take the win ahead of Fred and Foxy. Ben Hagg had 169lb from p132 opposite the winner.

Results:
1: Dan White 291.11. Peg 110
2: Fred Roberts 199.04 peg 77
3: Chris Fox 175.12 peg 74
4: Ben Hagg 169.06 peg 132
5: S. White 143.13 peg 80
6: Nick Merry 143.12 peg 116

Silvers

1: Steve M 50.07 peg 99
2: Alex Murray 45.12 peg 123



So it was a decent day and although I struggled for around half of the match, I was pleased with my weight and the section win. Maybe I should  have tried mugging at 16m with a long line.....nah. Maybe I should have fished for silvers in the 1st hour or so? All hindsight.







So day 2 would see me on Campbell, I was hoping for anywhere between peg 123 and 127.

27/7/13 MFS match - Viaduct Campbell.

I had 2 matches this weekend, both on Viaduct fishery. Here is the write up of the 1st.

1st match was a MFS match on Saturday and with a few regulars to the venue, I had only fished it twice before, but have gleaned plenty of info and learned that the foul hooked fish go like rockets and are tackle busters and those hooked correctly don't give up easily!!

I arrived at the draw in plenty of time, the weather was ok but was due to turn in the early afternoon, bringing persistent rain later in the day. Luckily it was warm.
I said hello to Chris Fox and let Ken Rayner put my name to my face, and after some chit chat with a few guys the draw was made, 18 of us were down to fish.
I pulled peg 112, an ok draw, but perhaps a few pegs away from where I wanted to be ie 115/116 or the pegs opposite them 126/127. But the venue is rammed full of fish, but the change of weather may affect their feeding habits. There had been a lot of fish caught shallow recently, which doesn't come as a surprise given the weather.

Arriving at my peg I kept it simple-ish, bait was 8mm meat, 8mm pellet and some 6mm pellet in case I want to target the silvers. I also had some paste made up.
Rig wise, I had a shallow pole rig for banded pellet, a margin/meat rig and a rig for 6m and meat. All on 0.20 mainline to 0.20 hooklengths. Solid middy 20 for the margin/depth rigs and 14/16 for shallow fishing.

My peg for 27/7 -- Peg 112

 





I also set up a pellet wag, but other than a couple casts I never bothered with it.

The all in sounded, I cupped in various baits into the varying spots and then I went out on the shallow line at 13m, there were lots of fish about, but other than foul hookers I struggled to get positive bites. A few people were fouling fish, but the 1st hour saw me land a single carp, but Mark Poppleton had landed  a few shallow from p115 and Callum on p135 also was into a few. Rich on 110 was spear fishing (foul hooking every put!!) but did land a couple. Also the guy on p126 was into a few on the wag.

 

After 90 mins I ditched the shallow rig and went out to 6m and tried meat, again all I got was liners and a few lost foul hooked fish. So this meat line was changed to a pellet line and 2 big pots of 8mm baits went in over the top in the hope of forcing fish to the deck. A quick look down the edge on the top kit bought a couple carp before they did the off.

 

A look over the new pellet line with a banded 8mm bait just touching bottom bought me another couple fish, but each time I fed they'd come up in the water but not feeding, like they were attracted to the noise but not interested in consumption.

 

For the next couple hours I kept trying the edge and 6m lines and had the odd fish, but by now I knew I was miles behind Mark on p115, p126 was bagging, Alex Murray on p132 also had landed a few.

Rich on p110 and Callum on p135 were catching consistently. So it was trying something new.

With the guy on p111 having more positive bites and landing more by switching to paste, I put a bit on the hook at 6m and had 3 within 20 mins, then the rain came and turned my paste into soup, my luncheon meat was swimming and my pellets were dissolving!!

By now a few had left and the pegs opposite were struggling. Rich on 110 was getting loads as was p111. Mark on 115 had slowed, but still picking up more than most.

 

With an hour left I had around 50lb in the nets, which was not great, but I could see that my margin had fish visiting it regularly, in fact they were taking pellets off the folded grass. So the last hour was spent mostly on the top-kit in my right hand edge (but I was only fishing 2ft from my platform) coupled with a couple looks at 6m, my last hour was decent with a carp most drops on banded 8mm.

 

The end of the match sounded and all the sodden anglers packed up in readiness for the weigh in.

The last hour had been really good for me, rich on p110 and the chap on p111. The overcast and wet conditions had bought the fish onto the feed.

 

The scales arrived at my peg after Rich had put 170lb+ on the scales and p111 had topped 130lb.

Sadly these weights were plenty ahead of me, and my 3 weighs went 108lb exactly (inc 6lb of silvers), a bit more than my 80lb estimate. Luckily I suffered less foul hooked fish than most by feeding less, but maybe I did not bring too many into my swim?

 

The match was won with over 200lb from p126. The results are below. So 10 weights over 100lb from 17 anglers (1 chose not to fish after his draw). Good fishing? I came mid-table, I only trashed 6 hooklengths on fouled fish and killed a couple floats (which died when the rigs came back through the water)

 

Results MFS - 27/7/13

 



 

Next up was 28/7/13 again at Viaduct, would have been either Cary or Campbell, turned out to be Campbell.

I will do that blog soon enough.......

 

Cheers

Lee

 





 



MFS Matches Viaduct 14th & 15th June -- 15th June.

Saturday saw me arrive at the draw a bit later, around 9:45 as the weather was predicted to be wetter and windier, plus I had decided at 8:30am to walk up to the end of the road and buy some Middy 18-20 elastic, which was put through 2 top kits in preparation for Cary's munters.
So I left home at 9:20-ish.

Anyways it would be Cary for me, and after the fee for the day was paid, my hand went into the bag and out popped 77. Not ideal, out of the wind for the best part and unlikely to produce much, given the fact the lodge bank pegs did the damage on the previous day and they had some wind too. There were plenty of fish in the area though, but looked more like cruisers than feeding fish.

Tactics for me would be in most, to try and get the skimmer's heads down and get 30lb+ of these and hope for a bonus carp or 2 early and late on as I knew that the weights would be further up the lake.
Rigs were the same pellet wag and lead set ups as Friday, the same margin and 6m meat rigs, but more importantly a couple skimmers rigs on a slack 14 elastic and lighter 0.14 hooklength to a size 16 B911 hook under 0.4g NG Decker floats.
Baits for the silvers would be a 6mm meat line and a groundbait line for use with 6mm soft pellet.

On the all in I fired a dozen pellets over the wag/lead line and cupped 4 loose balls of groundbait (sensas white cloud stuff) over 1 skimmer line at 7m at 1 o'clock position. A helping of 6mm meat went a bit further out, but this was not used as the wind got tricky on and off and didn't want to play hit and miss with the silvers.

Herbie on peg 74 had hooked a carp, and lost it 1st put.
The 1st hour saw the chap next to me on 78 land a fish or 2, but I couldn't see what as the trees and angle were against me. On the opposite bank 1 or 2 chaps had landed or lost fish in the 1st hour too.
Mark Poppleton was struggling on his peg 105, as was the angler next to him.
There were still a few fish cruising and they were swirling after my pellets, but taking them right of the top, which was a pain, when I fed a bit heavier they moved off.......

After about 80 minutes a proper rain shower came and my waggler rod was bent round, a 6lb fish was duly netted. At least it was a start. I kept topping up my other lines as the wind was not yet up to much, but there were no amount of bubbles. So I tried the lead/wag for half an hour more with only 1 more smaller carp to show on the lead.
Entering  hour 3 (I stayed fishing for carp too long) I tried the silvers lines, 20 minutes in and only 1 little skimmer was all I had, they were not even wanting to play ball.
The lodge bank pegs were now producing fish, but peg 74 and 105 were slow, 107 a little better, but the and Campbell behind looked to be fishing well as each time I looked several lengths of elastic were on show.

The last 3 hours dragged, I couldn't buy a bite on my silvers lines let alone the carp set-ups, and most on Cary were disappointed on the slowness of the fishing, very fits and starts. I did manage a couple more fish on the pellet wag after a blank 2hrs. With an hour left I tried my 6m meat line (using my now scary blue 18-20 elastic!!). 1st drop, bam, skimmer bumped, then a couple landed. Then it died. I re-fed and tried the margin towards peg 75 and bumped another skimmer on the heavy gear, but I did land a couple more on my next 2 drops.
Back over the meat for carp line and a sail-away bite saw me connected to a carp, it tore off towards the aerator, so tip pushed under the surface and hope, well it worked and the fish turned and came back to me, a few seconds later it was netted, a mirror of maybe 12lb, my largest of the weekend, but not as big as a couple Mark and Ken had landed on the opposite bank, a couple of their fish looked real lumps.

So into the last half hour, well nothing happened except being bitted out on meat, no bites on hard 8mm pellets, I really needed 6 or 7 lumps to get anywhere on the lake as the lodge bank were doing decent and most looked good for 80lb each. Peg 74 had packed up with 90 minutes left and Mark on 105 had drawn a few carp/skimmers onto his feed and had a run of fish, as had Ken from his peg.
I even tried 15mm meat with no joy. The all out sounded and I was relieved to pack up. It had been hard work.

I reckoned I had maybe 30lb for my 5 carp and possibly 8lb of silvers.
Campbell had fished well by all accounts and Cary had fished better than Friday.

I loaded the car, had a chat to a couple guys and watched a few nets get weighed in. At this point there were some decent weights, plenty of 100lb+ weights on Campbell and a few decent weights on Cary.
The scales arrived at my peg, both silvers and carp went 47lb odd. Well off the pace and ended up 22nd of 25 overall. Poor.

I packed up and left right away as I was shattered, but it turned out Campbell fished excellent with 4 weights over 200lb and another three over 175lb.

What I did learn was not to stay on the carp tactics too much without a response and that the skimmers like to fall off when they stray onto heavy rigs. Still all the info I gained will help me next time out.

Results:
Overall (all on Campbell)
1st - Adam Mitchell - p110 - 249lb 15oz (the fish weren't there in that number on Friday!!)
2nd - Dave Brittain - p123 - 211lb 10oz
3rd - Richard Wyatt - p132 - 207lb 12oz
4th - Alex Murray - p115 - 200lb 13oz

Silvers (all on Campbell)
1st - Alex Murray - p115 - 69lb 8oz
2nd - Roland Lucas - p125 - 58lb 4oz
3rd - Steve Musitano - p126 - 37lb 2oz

Overall a successful weekend overall was had, despite my results, I learned a fair bit. Everyone seemed helpful and I am looking forward to the next MFS match in july, in which I should be better prepared.

So what a quality fishery. Producing some very decent weights and not one tactic dominating. Which is how is should be.

Next up for me is a match at Sedges next Sunday.

Until then take care and happy fathers day, I spent the late afternoon watching Somerset win in a reduced overs match in Taunton. Also plenty of anglers fishing the Tone too.......good good. Proper fishing.

Lee

MFS Matches Viaduct 14th & 15th June -- 14th June.

This week saw me head to the Viaduct fisheries for a Match Fishing Scene (MFS) organised gathering.
They were held over Cary and Campbell lakes, and having only match fished both only once each, I wasn't too optimistic regarding how I would do. Especially as there were a fair few venue regulars fishing. It is an awesome fishery, and somewhere I should go more often.

The draw on the Friday would dictate your Saturday lake ie Campbell Friday = Cary Saturday.
Payouts were 1st, 2nd, 3rd in overall and silvers pools along with 4 sections paying top 2. No defaults either.

Well I made the 20 minute trip over to Somerton on Friday, getting there at around 9am, the draw would be 10am, fish 11:30 - 17:30 each day. I arrived to the venue with around half the guys already present, a few had stayed in local hotels/b&b's etc as they had travelled from various places.
I didn't know anyone there, but recognised Ken Rayner from his blogs and Alex Murray from a few years back when I was younger!!

I had a quick scout around and decided that the far end of the lakes, or at least halfway would be good, but Campbell would be preferred on Friday as Saturdays weather looked windier and wetter. I had read about Campbell and knew it'd be 8mm meat and pellet, but loads of silvers are in the lake. The fish also pull a bit, even averaging 4lb they fight hard.........which I later found out to be true enough. There are also a decent amount of snags in the edges, branches, brambles, stumps and old pallet footings etc.
Cary, well that is generally bigger fish, the carp average maybe 8-10lb, lots of doubles and odd scraper 20. They go like trains too I was told. Lots of silvers too.

Back at the draw I paid my dues, pulled out 110 on Campbell, it never weighed in on Thursday's costcutter, they may have blanked too. Also I had read about the brambles to the left at 14.5m being fish hold and tackle busting.......I didn't want to go there, so didn't. Also there is a tree stump at 6m to my left and the fish run behind it when hooked. Also I had peg 132 opposite, the peg won Thursday with 250lb on wag to the empty pallet peg 133.

Tackle and bait for the day was 6mm pellet, 8mm pellet and 2 tins of 8mm meat. 1 pellet wag for just shy of half way, a lead rod for the same line and for lobbing towards empty peg 134 on the end bank.
A shallow pellet rig for 13m(0.2g preston brand), a meat rig for 6m in front(NG Margin 0.3g) and a margin rig for my left and right margin swims (NG Margin 0.2g).
All pole rigs were 0.22>0.20>size 14 B911x. Running lines were 6lb mainline to 0.20>14 B911x.
I purposely did not get 14.5m or 16m sections out of the pole, just to stop me trying the brambles (I have bought a few sections recently....cant afford more!!).

Anyways on the all in I fired pellets out to the wag line, there were one or 2 fish swirling in the calm waters, but they didn't look into feeding much. Potted some meat in the edge, the same at 6m and just a small amount at 13m.

It took 20 minutes for me to get a fish in the net, during that 20 minutes I had to re-tackle the wag as the float adaptor broke on me. Anyways the 4lb mirror on the wag was welcome, alas the chap on peg 132 was on number 4 or 5, he was fishing pellet wag towards the end bank.

To cut a long story short, I though I did ok at a push, the chap on 132 kept fish coming, peg 130 watch patchy and  Ken on 128 was catching consistently, the guy on 112 was catching odd fish but I was just ahead I thought. These are the only anglers I could see.
I did lose 3 or 4 fish, 1 trashed a shallow rig when it decided to visit the aerator 30yrds away at 1000mph, 1 went around the tree stump as soon as it was hooked  and 1 snapped a hooklength on the pellet wag. Some people lost upwards of 15 fish, no doubt most were foulers, but either way they hang on. So my losses were ok.
During the day I kept rotating the swims as I was struggling to keep them coming consistently, I never had a fish on my r/h margin swim. But meat at 6m was the best bait on the pole, but I had fish on the lead and wag on pellet along with a few shallow at 13m. Not one method stood out, maybe I should have tried 1 or 2 lines, but having read that they could come to any method I had to see what worked best.

Anyways after 6 hours I had 1 net around the 70lb max level and a couple fish in another net. Along with a handful of mad tench, they fight like mad too. I thought I maybe had 80lb of carp and 5lb of silvers. I guessed p132 had 150lb+ as he had caught all day, Ken had a load, p130 caught a lot late including some better stamp of fish. P112 had possibly less than me.

As I was 1st to weigh, I cleared behind me a bit before Steve came along. My 1st net went 4lb 12oz over the limit, so 70lb, my 2nd and silvers nets went 32lb 5oz. Total 102lb 5oz.
Campbell 'only' produced 7 weights over 100lb, good fishing but not the usually high Campbell weights
My weight was ok but was not getting me money (10th of 25 overall), but I learned a bit.......especially a need for heavier laccy than my 14-16 I had in my top kits.

It turned out Cary was not so great and only three 100lb+ weights caught with a lot of weights lower than expected.

Results 14th June
Overall
1st - Fred Roberts - p126 Campbell - 164lb 2oz
2nd - Steve Hutter - p120 Campbell - 160lb 6oz
3rd - Gary Mitchell - p102 Cary - 148lb 1oz

Silvers
1st was Fred again with 44lb 9oz
2nd was Mike Walker with 43lb 7oz from p125 on Campbell
3rd was Alex Murray with 36lb 5oz off Cary peg 86.