16/05/14 - Viaduct - Campbell

Weight - 95lb 9oz (10lb 4oz - silvers)
Catch - 15 Carp, 17 Skimmers
Weather - Warm & sunny
Match - MFS - 15th out of 31, 2nd - section

Today was the first of a 2 dayer at Viaduct, fished on Campbell & Cary under the MFS (Match Fishing Scene) banner. With 31 anglers, 16 were on Campbell and 15 on Cary, and then we reverse around the next day. Must admit I do like fishing these matches, because it’s good to catch up with people I hadn’t seen for a while and also meet some new ones. There was also plenty of banter flying around, which makes for an enjoyable day.

I had hoped to have a practice prior today, because there were quite a few local anglers fishing who were in tune with the venue and a battering was on the cards. Tried to book in on Saturday but there were club matches on, then Thursday was the UK champs.  Oh well never mind, it just meant the car was fully loaded with kit and bait.

Fortunately the carp hadn’t yet started spawning, although they had started on Lodge, but it won’t be long before feeding is the last thing the carp want to do.

I found myself on Campbell p128, which was Ok, but walking around prior to the match there was a lot of fish between 110 & 132, so no guesses where everyone wanted to be. The format for the matches was sections of either 5 or 6 and my section ran from 127 to 132. Ben Hagg drew p132 who on a run of form recently at the venue and the feeling was we were all fishing for 2^nd in section. Then the other local draw bag Dan White drew 110.

Next to me on p127 was Barry Richards who travelled from Wales, and we both had a great time winding up Calum Craig, which to be fair was a little too easy at time.

Starting the match, some meat & hemp was potted by the spit, then I started at 14m, toss potting 6s with banded 8s (Carrat 0.2g > .16 > 16 B960). After 90mins I had 5 carp, by continually lifting and dropping, which so far seemed to be doing OK, but was soon struggling for a bite.

The spit only produced nibbles from silvers, in fact I only hooked on e foul hooker all match here despite keeping the swim topped up. Although in hindsight I should have been a bit more positive with my feed.

From the start I had been feeding 4s at 5m to fish 6mm pellet (carbon carrat 0.3g > .14 > 16 B911) hoping for a few skimmers in case the carp didn’t show. Fortunately a few did show up, plus a carp, but action only lasted 90mins or so.

Back out long I tried fishing shallow and deep, but nothing, just liners and a couple of foul hookers. Since my spit swim had also failed, I was relying on my 5m line to come good. Fortunately it did, but after getting lots of  liners on the pellet rig a switch to paste resulted in some proper bites and 6 more carp.

I knew Ben had the section sewn up, but was really hoping for 2^nd, but Barry had 3 late fish on his meat line to make for a close finish. In the end those skimmers proved useful, beating Barry by 2lb. Other the 2 end pegs I had the best weight along that bank, so in the end I was quite pleased with how the match went.

1^st 291-11 – Dan White – p110
2^nd 199-14 – Fred Roberts – p77
3^rd 175-12 – Chris Fox – p74
4^th 169- 6 – Ben Hagg – p132
5^th 143-13 – Stuart White - p80
6^th 143-12 - Nick Merry - p116

Silvers
1^st 50- 7 – Steve Martin – p97
2^nd 45-12 – Alex Murray – p123
3^rd 20- 9 – Neil Morgan – p96