Viaduct Fishery Open Campbell Lake

Another chance to practice for my upcoming trip to Viaduct and to have another crack at the silvers. I was a bit tired Saturday morning after an evening watching Glos v Kent in the T20 cricket, it was a good evening out with family and a few beers.

The drive down on a Saturday always takes a little longer than a Sunday I feel, there was also the Royal Bath and West Show going on which added to the traffic. I still arrived in good time and got my pools paid and chatted to the other anglers, one of which was my Thatchers team mate Nick Ewers who told me he was fishing for silvers and reckoned that 115 was the draw. It was good to see Tom Thick who’ve I’ve not seen for ages, he hasn’t changed when it comes to banter lol. Got in the draw queue just behind Nick, and was soon putting my hand in the coffee tin. 112 was my home today, checked with Nick and he had got his choice 115! 

On my peg and I was quite happy to have anglers either side fishing for carp, a lad from the Southeast was on 113, Tim Martin on 111. Tom Thick was on 110 and so however the fishing went my entertainment was guaranteed… and it was. Nick was kind enough to tell me how he was going to approach his peg, he said he didn’t fancy my peg for silvers so much at the moment. My approach was much the same as last week, a couple of short lines, a couple at 11m, and a couple in the margin. 4x12 and 4x14 rigs with 16 SFLB to 0.12. 

Started at 10:30 and I fed my short lines and one long line to begin. It was Thatchers Green for gbait again, with micros, casters and maggots. I started short as last week, but this time I had a small skimmer first drop in. A bit more of a wait but then was into more skimmers, and at the end of the first hour I had 10lb, much better than last week. The second hour was more of the same really, although I did have to try my long lines to rest the short ones. For some reason the lines to my right were by far the better. Again like last week I did get a problem with losing the odd fish, but only one where the maggot went over the hook.

Hour three was slower, and my short line was no longer yielding bites. The long line had signs, I fouled two big skimmers and got them out, then fouled two more on the trot that came off. Frustrating but that’s just how it is here at the moment as the fish seem to be off bottom but not really feeding. I had about 28lb after three hours and was quite happy but was definitely a bit behind Nick. 

The wheels then came off, and the skimmers just shut up shop for everyone. I tried everything but nothing really worked and it was just random bites, a few little perch, an eel and a couple of skimmers from the margin. Lost two carp and landed one, but again they were not a problem. Nick was able to get the odd skimmer and I knew he would beat me, but I was not sure how the other silvers anglers had faired when the match was over, I had clicked 38lb. On the carp front it seemed Howard Webb and Martin Preston had done well. 

As the scales start weighing from 132 I had plenty of time to pack up and put the gear back in the van. By the time the scales got to me Nick was top silvers with 49lb and Rocky had 31lb,  and then with my fish going 37lb 6oz I was going to be second again. 

A nice little pick up.

Final results 

Overall

1. Howard Webb - 214lb 6oz - peg 127

2. Martin Preston - 163lb 14oz - peg 125

3. Tim Martin - 150lb 12oz - peg 111

Silvers

1. Nick Ewers - 49lb - peg 115

2. Tim Ford - 37lb 6oz - peg 112

3. Rocky - 31lb - peg 128

Well that’s it for the practice, certainly the silvers fishing is a bit tricky, and my two matches here have been quite different in how the fish fed. Just one final thing to practice for now…. Cheers!

Viaduct Fishery Open Campbell

Back to Viaduct today after no fishing last weekend due to a big family getaway to Westbay in Dorset. We had gorgeous weather and a lovely time with a few beers and a frisbee. Thought I had better get back to Viaduct to get a little practice in before my annual fishing holiday there. Throwing out a lead with a “teabag” is not something I have ever done and at this stage I would prefer to fish for the silvers. That said I’ll keep an open mind depending on the peg drawn.

I got to the fishery in good time and it was good to Steve and Helen Long again. It was a sold out match and with the top 2 silvers weights being paid I would need a bit of luck to get the better of the venue regulars. When I drew peg 125 I was quite happy, it’s usually a good silvers area and the strong wind would be blowing away from me helping my presentation. My only real trouble was Rob Eagle who’s one of the best silvers anglers here was on 127. 

My peg looking across to 117, that bank was really windy, they were all wrapped up whilst we sat in t shirts on our bank.

To my left on 124 was Bela Bakos, and on 123 was Roland Lucas.

I set up three rigs today, two were 4x14 with 16SFL B to 0.12 accu power, one was for fish top set plus sections and the other for 13m. I also set up a 4x12 for fishing the margins with same gear. I’d been told that the lake had not fished well the last week and Rob said 30 to 40lb would be a brilliant weight of silvers. I mixed some gbait which was Thatchers Green and Sweet Skimmer, and had pellets casters and maggots with me.

I decided to feed two short lines and two long lines. However, the short lines produced 1 roach all day and the margin 2 roach! I fed a little ball of gbait on the left far line and just some loosefeed on the right, hopefully if one was better than the other I could focus on that. Well it was a very slow start with me having 1 skimmer in the first hour, and by the end of the second hour I had added 2 more skimmers, all from the gbait line, so I fed this now on the right line. It was that tough that I joked with Bela that I could have fished for carp if he had been doing well, but he was not. At this stage Tim Martin and Martin Preston opposite were both catching well on carp.

I took a quick walk to see Rob, he had 7 skimmers but told me he had just started getting them after a blank first hour. I went back to my peg and within 10 minutes had a skimmer, then was soon into another one, both on double red maggot. Over the next two hours I caught skimmers fairly regularly, but topping up and resting the lines was needed and I had to try things out. The last two hours of the match got harder and harder for me. Frustratingly I pulled out of a couple when the maggot doubled over the hook, hooked a couple of carp too, I was hardly catching but I could see Rob was. My match ended with a last gasp skimmer which was nice.

I had 44lb on my clicker, but guessing these skimmer weights I knocked myself down to a possible 38lb. Rob was admitting to 45lb but I didn’t know what else was caught. Rob was soon weighed and he had 50lb 2oz, I knew I didn’t have that, but I was happy to see 45lb recorded for my two nets. Still the master beat me again like last year.

I ended up coming second in the silvers so a nice little pick up for my troubles. Well done Rob on another win, top angler. Overall Tim Martin won on 116 with 240lb on the lead, on peg 118 Martin Preston had 194lb to come second. Full weigh sheet below.

I’ve booked in for this Saturday coming as my last practice before the holiday. Weather forecast isn’t great this week, but some wind and rain might actually perk the fish up.

Tony Rixon Float Only League - Acorn Fishery

Managed to sneak in to this match as a stand in again and was looking forward to fishing Acorn again. Got some prep done Saturday morning and bought myself a few pints of maggots. Thought going out for a meal and a few beers the night before the match with family and friends would be ok, but I got in about 12:30 a tad tipsy. 

Got myself to H&H and a breakfast roll and hash browns was very nice. At the fishery and Tony got the draw underway after going through the rules, one new rule where you have to transfer the fish from landing net to keepnet, in other words you can’t drop the fish in with your hand. I then drew my peg, 32, oh dear! 32 is hardly ever used and I was in what was probably one of the worst sections with peg 31,30, 28 and 27 in with me. Martin Reyat on bridge peg 33 was likely to give me a battering but at least he was in another section.

As you can see I had the standard view of Acorn, goats and all. I’d spoken to venue regulars Gary Bowden and Bob Gullick and so had a bit of a plan. Ordinarily here I would fish for silvers but I thought I’d go for carp at first. Set up a 4x10 rig for banded pellet for fishing across by the boards, a 4x12 for my margin where I would feed maggots, also had a 4x16 for fishing down the middle with maggots.

Match started at 10:30 and I went across toss potting some 4mm pellets with a 6mm in the band. It was a slow start but I did get a couple of small carp but then every bite I got seem to result in a fouler. After an hour I had 3 carp for 10lb, next hour was just as tough and on my right James Matthews had only 1 carp and took a break enjoying an ice cream with his partner lol. I’d been feeding maggots at 7 metres and tried this and caught a skimmer and a couple of ide but no carp. Meanwhile Martin was catching well shallow on casters and had 70lb. I changed from pellets across to toss potting maggots, it got me a decent amount of bites, some ide and a couple of carp plus more foulers. It soon petered out.

Martin carried on catching shallow by the bridge then short and in his edge.

I was now clearly not going to compete in my section thought, as Dom Sullivan and Russ Peck had a few carp. I gave in to fish for silvers and had a good go on maggots at 7m. It wasn’t hectic but I managed to get some ide and a few skimmers before it died. I started loose feeding maggots across now with about 2 hours to go. This was steady and got me quite a few ide, skimmers and perch plus a small tench and a couple more carp. Match was over and I thought I had 25lb of silvers and 30lb of carp.

Tony came round with the scales and my section was being win by Dom. James had a better last half of the match getting a few carp shallow and in his edge. My silvers went 30lb 1oz and my carp 30lb 14oz. My overall weight beating just Martin Pettifer who had really struggled. Martin ended up with 147lb but got beat by Mat Shepard. Martin had 29lb 11oz of silvers in his weight too.  Picture below of 3 sections.

Tony was paying 2 in the silvers but I was beaten by Ben Brooks with 38lb and Paul Faires 32lb. They had fished for silvers nearly all match. I definitely could have got second but there you go I didn’t lol. Match was won by Paul Elms on rocket ship peg 5, think he had about 211lb . Not sure of the rest of the frame as I got on my way. An enjoyable yet tough day, I fed nearly 2 1/2 pints of maggots as I tried to make something happen, a few decent tench was all I missed. 

Tony Rixon Float Only Series - Plantations Fishery

Ho hum where to start this post… might as well get it out the way the Gas are going down after a complete shit show of the last 9 games. Still it’s only football and I’ll still be there next season at the very least for the social side lol.

I am not booked in for Tony’s series as I have a few weekends where I’m away, but when I saw him looking for a stand in for this match I grabbed it. Not been to Plantation for a long time and so was looking forward to it. I text Tony for any info, and the legend he is he gave me a good idea as did Mark Bromsgrove, thanks to both 😊. Not much time for prep and wouldn’t need much, I was going to use the rigs I had for Windmill last time.

Sunday morning was I feeling rough, my atrial fibrillation had kicked off about 3am in the morning and it is hard to sleep with a racing pounding heart. This condition continued as I drove down and paid my pools to Tony and I was hoping that it would go away. I enjoyed seeing lots of old faces and tried to talk to many as I could. The main lake and the horseshoe lake called Jubilee was in. I had been told Jubilee is not great unless you draw a couple of pegs. Well I drew peg 9 on Jubilee and it meant I could drive to my peg and I got to see a few pegs and the flyer on the point (not pegged).

I was in a 6 peg section and the payout was top two in each section. I had Ryan Jordan on corner peg 1 and through to Bela Bakos on peg 12, I thought Bela was favourite for the section as there were a lot of fish in front of him. My peg had the island just curving round and a lovely looking margin. As set up my heart returned to normal and I felt better again.

I set up a pellet waggler for the island, a 4x14 with 0.15 to 18 KKMB for fishing banded hard pellet at 13m. Also set up a slapping rig

The margin was about 3 feet deep, and I plumbed up in the little cut back which was 11m away. It was nice and flat and despite being reedy it was clean it seemed. 

I set a 4x12 Edge float up for the margin, with 0.17 to 14 XSH. Plan was to fish dead maggots and method mix groundbait. 

We started at 10:30 and I decided to start steady by feeding 4mm pellets via a toss pot at 13m. I tried to feed pellets to the island with the catty but the wind had turned and was now blowing in my face. It was a slow first hour for me with just two 3lb carp in the net. Bela had a few more and my neighbour on peg 7 Shaun Fillingham had 1 lump. The wind blew some scum into my peg and this coincided with me having a better second hour at 13m with a few more small carp, but I also managed to catch a couple slapping in the scum and they were much bigger fish. Unfortunately I lost one as the line had wrapped around the top set and we all know how that ends! However, this activity faded and soon I was failing to get a bite.

Tom Baker on 5 was doing well on the pellet waggler, I tried casting it without any loose feed and didn’t get a bite. But then neither did anything else get me a bite. At 2pm with 2 1/2 hours to go I fed gbait and maggots in the margin. Went back on the wag and had 1 5lb carp and nothing else. I had 45lb on my clicker. But it seemed I was falling behind now and I needed the margin to work. With 90 minutes to go I got a couple of indications and the reeds started to knock. I got one eventually and it was 8lb. A refeed and a long wait but then had another carp nearer the 10lb mark. I was fishing 5 dead reds on the hook, and wasn’t getting small fish problems. I had another carp but then lost 2 foulers. I changed to fishing worms on the hook and got 3 more carp on this. The last 15 mins it went quiet and the reeds had stopped moving, but with about 90 seconds left I hooked another carp. I played it out and landed it after the all out.

I thought it would be close between myself and Bela, but he was admitting to 90lb and I said 100lb, actually had 108 on the clicker..

Clayton Hudson was on scales duty and said Ryan with 64lb was top so far, then my fish went 108lb 10oz a nice bag with a couple of 12lb fish. Off to Bela and he was apologetic after his first net weighed a lot more than he had clicked. Lucky for me he fell just short with 106lb 15oz, and my final fish was the difference.

On the whole Jubilee lake fished well with Mat Sheppard winning the other section with 120lb from corner peg 25. Plus another 2 tons on that side.

My section board..

Well that was a pleasant day and got things mostly right I feel, lovely weather, and £80 for the section win. On the main lake Paul Elms had 140lb for top weight catching in his margin, Tony was a close second catching on pellet wag.  The fishery is in really good condition and the owner was a really nice bloke too, what’s not to like!

Looks like a warm week ahead, but don’t think I can fish as got plans again.

Tight lines!

Windmill Fishery Open

 In case you’re wondering I’ve not emigrated, but I’ve not been fishing for a month mainly because I just had lots of other activities and necessary chores. This Sunday was free though and despite windmill fishery results looking a bit moody I booked in. I did a bit of prep mainly beefing up the elastics as I assumed the fish would be pulling a lot harder now.

I was back in the old routine and had a brekky at Wetherspoons and was at the fishery car park by 8:40. I think there were 16 of us fishing today, and most wanted peg 20 that had won the last two matches. Well the first chap to draw (I didn’t know him) pulled out peg 20 so that was that lol. I drew peg 6 which I was OK with as it has options but hasn’t been great of late. A tough match was likely I thought especially with venue regulars either side of me; Shaun Townsend on 8 and Nic Sanders on 4, I didn’t fancy Nic’s peg and neither did he.

My peg is very shallow across and normally if there are any carp around they are easy to spot. Needless to say there were no signs whilst setting up. Still I set up a shallow banded pellet rig for flicking around peg across. A 4x12 with 0.15 reflo to 18 KKM B. I set a deep rig up for 11m 4x14 with 16 GPM to 0.13. Also set up a straight lead.

I had a left and right margin line but the left one was my main hope as John Osbourne told me he had a few lumps late here last match. A 4 x10 rig with 14 GPM to 0.15 in about 2 1/2 feet. A top set plus two sections got me where the bottom was nice.

We started at 10:30 and I fed my 11m line with some micro meat and corn. Then went over to the far bank with my pellet rig. Well I flicked it around from the corner and worked my way right, it wasn’t until I got to the little area of reeds that I got a bite, but didn’t hit it. In fact over an hour I had 4 indications but no fish. I tried the 11m line but never had a bite and was soon back on the pellet. Nice had one carp hooked in the tail from his margin, Shaun was getting the odd carp by casting a pellet waggler to the thick reed bed. 

My second hour was equally as non productive, a couple more missed bites on the pellet rig was my lot, but 2 1/2 hours in I had my first carp on the straight lead by the corner of the island, it was a one off. I sat behind Shaun for 10 minutes he was fishing the waggler and getting the odd bite and with an estimated 60lb was easily winning the match I thought and smashing me up and Jon Osbourne who was on peg 9 had ounces.

Back to my peg and I fed my LH margin with maggots by hand and tried my pellet rig by the corner where I had been feeding pellets for the lead. I managed to get a carp but it was another one off. With 2 hours left I tried the lead again and had 3 carp in 3 casts, then nothing again. But with about 90 minutes to go I tried my margins for the umpteenth time, RH no good, LH put 3 maggots on and woosh lovely bite and carp on and landed. Next drop in and the float shot under within seconds of landing. Two more followed but then it died so I rested it and tried the straight lead and managed another carp on this. Back in the margin and was pleased to get another quick carp. Match organiser Dave Haines stood behind me and watched for the last 20 minutes and I had a couple more carp including a 10lb common which spat the hook out as I netted it phew! I lost my first fish of the day a fouler 5 mins to go, and missed a bite 2 minutes to go. Match over.

Well like a lot of matches here it’s all about the last 90 minutes to 2 hours. In hindsight I guess I should have started on the lead, but was sure I would catch shallow as Shaun did.

Match winner was Shaun with a 135lb he caught late on meat short and in his margin.

Second Mat Tainton with a little over 73lb from peg 10.

Third was myself with 72lb. Last in the frame so well happy.

Shaun being weighed in by Chris Telling.

Not having fished for a while I thought I might be a bit rusty, so I’m happy today with what I caught and only lost the one fish. The carp seemed to have moved down the lake (wind was blowing away from the car park) as anglers to my right struggled with only a couple getting more than 40lb.

Hopefully fish again next week.