Viaduct Holiday - Day 4

Tuesday morning I awoke feeling jaded, more tired than anything, didn't feel hungover but a bit crabby I would say. We were off to Avalon today which I had really been looking forward to all holiday. However, it was deemed to be a "float only" despite the forecast of strong winds and rain, and despite my protests the night before this was kept. Travelling again with Glenn I left my lead rod reels etc in my car. Rather rash but I decided on short pole. At the fishery the water was a horrible grey colour, and in the past when it has been like this it has fished badly. This did nothing to improve my mood.

The wind was blowing towards the car park end, but the pegs on the bank from 1 to 23 were a lot better then the other side. The pegs were going to be less windy down at 23, so I go and draw out peg 5 which was the end peg. I asked Glenn to give me the van keys in case I wanted to go for a nap during the match. Very much a case of negative nelly due to far too much pop the night before!

Setting up rigs was easy, an old 4x18 Preston yellow float for hard pellet, and a paste rig both to be fished at 8m, as far as I cared to fish. A rig to fish paste in the RH margin which was only just shallower than at 8m, i.e. nearly 7 feet deep. It was a cold day, no rain as yet, but the Northerly wind was chilly, I had seen a couple of carp top by the island and wished I had brought some rods. On next peg 7 Geoff offered me a spare made a pellet wag rod, it was in Mark Tanners van, so I walked down to Mark on peg 20 to get his van keys. This did not improve my mood as his peg was very calm whilst on 22 Glenn had virtually no wind and was going to fish paste at 13m.  I got the rod and changed the waggler to a 3.5 swan version, I did mention to Geoff that the reel line didn't look great. My view with the gap where the carp were seen topping now and then.

On the all in I cast the waggler towards the gap, it landed some 10m to the right, but still went under! I landed a little 3lb carp. Another 10 casts, no bites and the wind was killing it. Onto the pole at 8m where I fed some 6mm pellets, a quiet 10 mins and then two missed bites before getting one in the mouth and a carp in the net. From now on little fizzes began showing the presence of fish in the swim and it was looking better than I thought! Geoff had started on paste and hooked 5 carp loosing 4 foulers. I was not getting as many bites or hooking as many fish but still got ahead of Geoff with a good carp of 8lb. The lake was towing against the wind, and the hard pellet rig was working well keeping the bait still, However, my lack of confidence in paste fishing (and knowing that in reality I couldn't beat Glenn fishing his game) meant I persevered with hard pellet a bit too long, suffering a few foulers and the odd one in the mouth. In the end I picked up the paste rig and gave it a go, and all of a sudden it was like being acquainted with an old friend.

Fishing the paste was by no means the answer to the missed bites and foulers, but I would say the foulers were much less. I landed a nice commons up to about 12lb, and then had another close to double that as I had its head over the net spat the hook out and swam away, I may have swore. When bites went a bit iffy and the wind dropped again I decided to have 6 casts on the waggler and no more. On the 5th cast the float buried, I struck and the main line snapped, "sorry Geoff that line is fooked" I said or something similar. Back on the 8m pole line the tow was really bad now right to left and fishing the paste trying to keep the float visible was trcky, both Gordon and Martin were catching well, but we were all playing catch up to Glenn who was a long way in front. I caught on the pellet rig but was still missing bites / getting liners. Whilst one of Vic Bush's helpers was behind me I hooked a large fish which ended up doing me in the margin, not long after a large ghostie swam out, guess that was it then! I did manage to catch three carp in the margin on paste but it was a wait and I kept going back to 8m.

As the match was coming to an end I hooked another good fish on paste, I looked at my watch and there were 5 mins left, so just take your time I said. With 2 mins to go up came a near double common, and same as earlier hooked pulled out just before netting it. Hot head I was I took the pole apart quick to go in the margin, and in my haste the number 4 section slid into the lake, I dived for it, missed it, hit my head on the platform and broke a top set. Match over. Those last two minutes were to prove costly in more ways than one.

As expected Glenn won from peg 22 and the paste master was back on form with 170lb, the night before Martin said he would win. Second was Gordon on peg 9 with 151lb and third was Martin Rayet with 132lb from peg 11. Top 3 paid out, I was 4th with 127lb, ouch!

Chris Ollis had a great day on skimmers / bream to end with 41lb of silvers for the win. Geoff had struggled next to me on carp in the end but he took a lovely 6lb 1oz bream. One amazing thing today it never rained on us, but it was cold and I really felt a chill and could not get warm for hours.

The last 2 minutes of the match were as far as I am concerned the only bad part of the holiday and a more positive attitude would have I'm sure got me into third if not second, losing 20lb at the net was though bad luck. I was dog tired from the night before and feeling cold and after only 2 beers I went to bed early, a good decision as I needed a mid week battery recharge and was feeling great the next morning. The view from the lodge bedroom even when raining is a pick me up.

Four days, three pick ups, four tons.

Viaduct Holiday - Day 3

Monday morning and lie in as we had a 10am draw for the residents match on Lodge lake, 12 anglers fishing. We have breakfast in a cafe in Somerton called M&M, and the friendly owner opens early for us to have cooked breakfast. Only Chris Ollis did not join us, he is a veggie and tucks into his own made porridge in the Lodge. I was glad of the extra time in bed and it was nice getting everything ready and in place without rushing, I took 2 litres of water with me to the bank and made sure I drank it every day to rehydrate.

It was a lovely dry, still day to start with though once again showers were forecast. Lodge lake and me have history, I either seem to do really well or really shite, last time here I was on peg 73 and Glenn was on 53, we both endured a long spell without fish that time until the last hour or so. Into the famous Viaduct coffee tin and out comes corner peg 53, had this one before and kind of guessed it would be an early fish and late fish match.

Right in front is a willow tree which is extending out from the opposite bank, carp could been seen swirling here and there under it.

Down to your left is another tree where the water is very shallow next to the bank (or as close as you can get. I have caught a lot of fish here in the past by feeding groundbait in this shallow water. There is also the far end bank where you can try with a wag or a lead.

With so many carp showing I set up a mugging rig, also a meat rig to fish to the front right of the willow tree, a rig to fish hard pellet on a 4x12 with 16 KKM-B to 0.17, and a shallow margin rig. Also the lead was set up but other than one liner it will not be mentioned.

On the whistle I began with the mugging rig, and within seconds was attached to a lump. It came in far too easy and I had more trouble lifting it out of the water. No more carp left in the open water so up to the willow trying meat. First drop in and a bite and a fouler, a longer wait then a carp hooked fairly and landed. When I put this fish in the net I noticed the first carp was laying sideways at the bottom of the net, 10 mins later it was the same. I decided to inform the owners and Mat Long came down and weighed it so I could put it back. The fish weighed in at 17lb 10oz, and Mat was not concerned for it but said better safe than sorry. It lead in the the side for 15 mins but then swam off strongly. Me and my best fish of the trip...

Back in and the meat line was dead apart from a small skimmer. Next option try hard 6mm pellet at 13m inline with the base of willow tree. This was just a waste, no bites or indications at all and as I had been pinging pellets I was a little shocked. I sacked this line off and decided I had to feed and fish further in and would feed about 15.5m. I went back to the meat line to let this settle, the meat line produced a little run, couple of skimmers, a hybrid and a rudd. However three and a half hours into the match and I had only added one more carp and it was very quiet. Well when I say quiet, not quite... a little further up the lake I heard a bang and looked up to see Geoff Francis top set and part of his number 4 being towed across the lake, and then next to him Woody snapped his top set! Geoff tried to retrieve the sections with a lead rod but no good, so he had to go for a swim!

Fair play to Geoff he was a strong swimmer, and than had to get himself dried out after a quick pose in his boxers lol!

After this commotion rain started to fall heavily but I started to hook into carp on the long pellet line, as soon as I hooked one I shipped back quickly to keep them away from the tree base, the hollo 15 elastic was just right for this. I had to wait for bites but fish were now venturing out it seemed. I could also see Martin Rayet catching on 61 as well as Woody on 68. Geoff managed to lose a topset and number 4 again as it came apart this time, but he got it back without another swim. As I was laughing Karma pounced, I had a bite hit a carp shipped back quick only for the 13m section to part company with the 14,5m section, oh bugger.. I put the two section in my hand down and watched as the pole headed into the far bank. I ran round and found the pole close to the tree, borrowing Chris Ollis's landing net I managed to grab the top set, then with help from Geoff we carefully pulled all of the pole in, phew!

Back under my brolly I attached another hook length and carried on fishing long. I took the odd carp till the end and managed just the one from the LH edge which I had seen boiling the water. Match over I thought I had 105lb to 110lb, but had no clue if that was any good. I was going to be the last to be weighed in as Steve and Mat Long began with Chris on 73. I got round to see Gordon weigh in on 64 with 70lb. Martin Rayet went into the lead with 117lb 12oz, then Glenn had 108lb. My turn and all tallied up I had 115lb, so second place and another pick up.

Silvers was won by Mike Nichols with an excellent 28lb 13oz from peg 32, and Glenn got his first pick up with second in the silvers. Martin won and qualified for the all winners final. I missed out by under 3lb, that one fish caused by the pole coming apart bugger.

We hit the town hard that night and I opened my bottle of whiskey, mistake PMSL.

Three days, three pick ups, three tons.

Viaduct Holiday - Day 2

Sunday morning and it was an early start as myself, Glenn, Martin, Gordon and Mike were off to Landsend fishery for Tony Rixon's float only league. I was standing in for Mark Jefferies. Mike suggested we go to the Bear in Street for breakfast, myself and Glenn agreed but Martin and Gordon went on the longer route to Shipham.  Glenn drove me in his van which was a great help, but when we got to the Bear at 7:25 they were not serving until 8am. The lady working there was most helpful though and said help yourself to cereal, toast and fruit and she also made some lovely porridge. I was stuffed!

It was great to be back fishing the float only league, I always like fishing it but it clashes with other stuff so I have not entered it for a while. Tony always runs good matches and tries his best to make it fair for all with pegging. Speci, Match and Lake 3 were in. If I had a choice I'd like a peg on match between 15 and 21, and would like to avoid lake 3 as I never seem to do any good on that one. I was in the draw early and pulled out a decent peg on Speci, peg 40 in the corner. This peg is a struggle in winter and nobody said to me it was a flier but that I should catch carp on the end bank.

Glenn told me he fancied my peg for a few but that I would need to do some serious gardening to be able to fish next to the end bank. He was not wrong! Grass, nettles, hogweed etc was extending into the lake at least 6 feet. I cut out the area around 14.5m (path to lake gave it away) where I found a little cut back in the bank, went back to my peg and sat on my box to view my handy work. Ummm I couldn't see the cut out. The "foliage" on the bank below the cut out extend so far out it hid the cut out, so I spent another 15 minutes clearing that back as best I could. Result shown below.

I set up a 4x10 float for fishing the depth by the end bank, about 18 inches (lake was down a foot on normal level) and a dibber for fishing half depth. Both featured 16 KKM-B hooks to 0.15 powerline. A 4x12 with 14 PR478 to 0.15 for meat at 6m, and a pellet rig for the left hand margin. I did set up a mugging rig but nothing came close. To be honest I was pinning all my hopes catching carp in the end bank.

The forecast today was for some showers, I hoped that they wouldn't be too bad as I had left the brolly behind. The match started at 10:30 and it was dry and warm. I looked for an early carp on the meat short, after 25 mins I had a roach and a small skimmer and a crucian. Opposite me on peg 25 Leon Hubbard also had a quiet start, but Lee Williams on peg 38 had 3 carp straight off from the far bank. I had been feeding 6mm pellet to the end bank and was happy to see some tails coming up. I like to give it a bit of time before going in, but as many people down at the other end of the lake were catching carp I had to go in. It was a good move and I had 4 bites 4 carp all hooked in the mouth and in the net in no time, I was expecting to foul a lot so this was a great start. I caught the odd carp and of course inevitably fouled a few in the next hour whilst Leon opposite could hardly catch. Then my peg died and Leon started catching, clearly they had moved. On peg 31 Paul Elmes was catching well as was Shaun Townsend on 36, but Neil Mercer on 34 was doing best by all accounts.

I had a tough hour and then the showers arrived, but soon after I once again had signs of the odd carp coming into the cut out. It was literally one at a time, but just as I felt I was getting them lined up I lost a fouler, had one snag me up solid, and another put the rig into a root or something in the bank. This co-incided with some real heavy rain which had me feeling damp, and it lasted for 2 hours which had me feeling wet! I did try my left hand margin a few times but only had a 12oz chub there. It was a tiring match fishing just over 14.5m for most of the time, and it was made tricky when two of my sections got stuck together so shipping was awkward. I did have a spell where I fished shallow with the dibber, this was because I couldn't hit a bite on the deep rig, I caught a couple of carp on the dibber but when the indications ended I went deep again.

It was an enjoyable match, I landed a couple of foulers, and didn't lose more than about 6. However, my section was in with Paul and Neil and both of those guys were going to beat me based upon their estimations and mine of having maybe 100lb.

Leon and Lee my nearest neighbours both had 60lb, but their section was won by Towner. I weighed 104lb 15oz which was 3rd in the section, Neil having 159lb 10oz, and Paul 123lb 2oz.  Luckily for me they were 1st and 3rd overall meaning I picked up the section money, yay. In second place was Landsend master Tony Rixon with 140lb off match lake peg 15. Clayton Hudson won the silvers with just 16lb 15oz.

The sun came out as we packed up but was too late to dry everything out, my phone was damp and not used for more photos. Glenn had struggled on peg 1 until late in the day when the fish showed up. When we got back to Viaduct the lads there told us they had only had rain for 20 minutes and they had avoided the soaking I had endured! It was decided to stay in and get a takeaway, the doner kebabs some of us had were not the best and Mike Nicholls claimed it was his first and why would anyone eat this shit, safe to say it would be his last!

Two days, two pick ups, two tons. Happy days.

Viaduct Holiday - Day 1

After missing this holiday last year I was back in the club this year, but instead of 6 of us we had expanded to 10 people, and would be 5 people in each 6 berth lodge. Attendees this year Mike Nicholls and his son Steve, Martyn Woodington, Mark Tanner, Geoff Francis (1 lodge) and Gordon Cannings, Martin Rayet, Chris Ollis and my room mate Glenn Bailey. I was travelling down early Saturday morning and so took the Friday off to finalise all of the gear, rigs, top sets etc, I  even packed the car the night before as it would be stuffed with not only all the gear and bait for 6 matches but also of course clothes, food and cider.

I was late getting away Saturday morning, this was due to our old cat deciding to take a crap on one of the daughter's bed, hope this was not an omen for the week ahead lol! Some of the lads were still in Canards Well when I arrived for breakfast, and we discussed the week ahead and mostly what the weather was going to do. Our first match of the week was a 13m maximum pole only on Campbell lake, 10 of us, 2 other lads who stay in a lodge every year same time as us, and some of the viaduct regulars. Not fished Campbell for a while and so didn't mind where I drew or if I fished for silvers or carp. I pulled out a peg that I do like, 116, though the tree cover on the inside is reduced after it was pruned a while back.

I got to the peg and the view was nice and it was good to be back on this lake again. Nobody on 117 gives you that bit of extra room, on 118 was Woody, and on 115 was Adrian Jeffery who had fished my on the Thursday and said he struggled for 50lb.

I decided to give myself a chance of catching both carp and silvers and so set up a number of rigs. A 4x12 F1 pellet with spread shot with 18 KKM-B to 0.13 for hard pellet, a 0.4g handmade job for fishing hard pellet also, but this was for getting the bait down and stable as it was predicted to be windy. I did not set up shallow rigs as I felt the heavy rain Friday would have put the carp down. A meat rig with size 12 PR478 to 0.17 and a margin rig for hard pellet were also set up. No paste rigs as I haven't done it for a while.

I began the match short on meat looking for any early carp, but after 20 mins 2 roach and a perch were not a good sign, Adrian started like me and also never had a carp. I went out to 13m with pellet and had just one skimmer and a couple of missed bites. Looking around the lake at my end nobody was catching any carp, and I took the early decision to fish for silvers best I could. Fishing top set plus two sections I started feeding 4mm pellets and fishing either 4mm or 6mm in the band and whilst it seemed slow I began to get bites and catching the odd skimmer. I wasn't catching many, but the ones I did were a decent stamp I thought, I also had a nice surprise in the way of a perch of about 1 1/2lb. I fed some 4mm pellets by toss pot out to 13m and fished out here when I felt I needed to rest the 4m line, but it was not that great on the longer line.

After 4 hours my end of the lake was still very quiet with some very good anglers struggling to get carp, for example Mike Nicholls on 121 and Joe McMahon on 123. I was pleased with my silvers catch and had only had one carp, but the last two hours the silvers disappeared and I only had a handful. What did happen was that the carp started to feed on both of my lines when I did get a bite on them it was normally a carp. I couldn't do anything so carried on, and caught them all on 6mm hard pellet. The Preston Dura hollo green 10 elastic was a little under gunned but it was a good comprise when catching the silvers, In the last 30 mins I changed to size 12 elastic. I did not bother with the margin or try the meat again as I was still trying to find the odd skimmer.

With the match over I had no clue how I had done on the silvers front, I thought I had maybe 25lb. Gordon Cannings and Chris Ollis opposite me on 125 and 126 had quite a few silvers too. The scales started on peg 132 and worked round to 110. When they got to my peg Gordon was top silvers with 24lb 7oz, my estimation was way out and I comfortably went into the lead with 33lb 2oz, and as it turned out that was enough for the silvers win. My carp went 70lb 14oz, and my total weight was 104lb, nice to start with a ton. My silvers catch below.

Back at the results and by Campbell standards and recent matched it had fished hard, I'm sure the drop in temperature and rain in the previous days had something to do with this. I was pleased that I had read the conditions right , fished with an open mind, and felt I'd fished a good match, it was a confidence booster.

1st Phil Hardwick 176lb 10oz peg 111
2nd Bob Gullick 119lb 2oz peg 112
3rd Me     104lb  peg 116
4th Joe McMahon  101lb  peg 123

Silvers
1st Me 33lb 2oz
2nd Gordon Cannings 24lb 7oz peg 125
3rd Chris Ollis 24lb 1oz peg 126

It was great to get a pick up on the first day and qualify for the silvers all winners final, shame other than Gordon the rest of the boys had not managed to get in. I drove to the lodge and got myself settled in and all of my gear had stayed dry. We had a great night out as you would on a Saturday.

June / July 2000

Decided mid week to not go fishing this weekend for a couple of reasons; 1) I need to get my gear up together as much as possible for the annual holiday at Viaduct, as 6 matches in 6 days needs some prep. 2) It was my eldest daughters birthday and a nice family Sunday lunch was planned.

Going back to June 2000 I went pleasure fishing on Saturday 3rd, I fished a venue which I really liked, though it took some getting to and getting used to, Witham Friary. There were two lakes here as I recall, crucians and carp with some roach were the main targets. I fished the the top lake which basically was full of little lilies and you generally fished up to them to get bites. I fished maggot for a while trying to catch the wily crucians, but I ended up fishing meat catching small carp. 35lb was my lot on the day.

The following weekend it was back on an open match and I went back to Fishponds House. I drew a good peg down the arm towards the bowl, in the left hand margin there were lots of brambles creating an inviting margin. I fished solely with meat as the last time I was here I had seen its effectiveness. I started by fishing at 11m and had a few but was priming the margin with meat. When I went down here it was good fishing, but I was losing a few as the line was getting cut on a particularly troublesome piece of bramble. One fish I hooked got tethered to this piece of bramble and somehow my line was still attached. I climbed up the bank with my pole and landing net to try and scoop the carp out, but I couldn't see it over the brambles. Thankfully Martin Alexander, who was fishing opposite me, was kind enough to tell me where to put the net and I managed to get the carp in the net. Then I had to pull hard to get the net and fish back as the bramble was still attached. I got everything out and the bramble was now out of the water too. Of course all of this commotion took its toll and the carp took some time to come back to feed. I finished with 67lb and that was good enough for 2nd overall.

The following weekend and back on the river at Swineford for a Bristol & West open hoping to draw a bream peg. I didn't manage that and drew a decent winter chub peg lol. It was 32C on the day and suffice to say all I had was a handful of bits. Bream were caught on the outfall and just below in the shallow water. Tried the river again on the 25th June on a King Billy open, I was drawn one below the sugar hole at Jack Whites. I had one bite and one bream about 4lb, the pegs that produced that day were just above permanent peg 123, I don't think they are fishable today.

July 1st and I was fishing the FishOMania qualifier on the K&A canal around Devises. I was pegged up at the Willows section which at the time could produce carp, as only the top two anglers went through I had to go for it. I fed, caster and corn across and fished with 0.18 to a 12 with double corn. I had a tench and two small carp but the bites just dried up and bankside talk was it was fishing tough. With two hours to go I decided to put some groundbait in, I threw 5 balls towards the far bank, and this got me one more small carp. I weighed in 11lb 12oz, which I was disappointed with as I was hoping for 20lb+. However, I ended in 8th place and picked up over £100 so some consolation. I remember that Warren Bates was gutted to come third and miss out on qualifying, he lost a tench that day when a boat came down wouldn't stop and it went over his line. Bad luck.

I was practising for a superleague the following week, I fished a match at Woodlands view and caught very little, but then I stayed on and watched another match (they used to run two matches in one day).  Most anglers were feeding huge amounts of baits taking 1 kilo of worm, 6 pints of caster and 2 pints of corn! It brought lots of carp in but foul hooking was an issue. I really wasn't struck on this at all. Luckily I managed to find Grant Albutt, a young angler whom I had fished against in the winter leagues here and at Moorlands. Grant was fishing with meat, corn and caster and I was lucky to watch him fish and he told me he was confident in his approach. That was good enough for me. On the Superleague I drew peg 14 on Arles pool, as I was setting up I noticed that most anglers had two keepnets in, I only had one. Gary O'Shea was fishing next to me (for my old team Thatchers) and he said you needed a second net for any fish that were not carp. Shite! I asked my Avon Angling team if anyone had a spare net, of course nobody did, so I went and saw the owner of the fishery and told him my predicament. He had no spare net, and then asked if I was fishing with worms, I said no just meat and corn. He laughed and said oh well you won't catch a lot so don't worry. OK that's sorted then! I fed everything via a big pot, I had 3 pints of caster, 2 of meat and 2 of corn, and by the end of the match it was nearly all gone. I fed after every carp, or after 15 mins. I didn't have a great deal, but nobody appeared to be catching much in my section. When the owner weighed me in he joked again about me having no worm, when I weighed 36lb 7oz to come third in the 11 peg section he was genuinely shocked and said I thought you'd come last boy. I beat Gary O'Shea off the next peg, don't expect to do that on a carp lake these days lol.

My last match in July 2000 was on the River Huntspill in the then famous "Teams of Four". I drew peg 218 and had just under 3 kilos which was made up of 3 skimmers and a bream. It was tough with blanks in places and very few bites. I won my section of 10 so a bit of coin back on the day.

There will be no blog next weekend as I'll be in a lodge at Viaduct with little or no signal. As mentioned I will have 6 matches to write up on after the holiday. I'll need to draw a few bungholes to compete with the aces, but whatever I will enjoy it and am really looking forward to the craic.