29/09/16 - Viaduct - Cary

Weight - 47lb 9oz (20lb 14oz - silvers)
Catch - 66 Skimmers, Hybrids, Roach, Rudd and Perch, plus 3 Carp
Weather - Mostly bright and sunny. Cooler later.
Match - Costcutter - 2nd out of 34 - silvers (1st on Cary)

Today was the last chance for a bit of practice before the all winners final on Saturday and I really wanted to be on Campbell. Well the law of averages has to come into my favour at some point!

Well not today. When I saw 77 on the draw ticket I had to laugh, but as Steve said I'll probably draw Campbell on Saturday - lets hope. Back to my peg and 77 hasn't been great recently although it has produced some silvers, which put me in a bit of a quandary. I hadn't come to catch silvers and being a cost cutter I didn't want to fork out on a couple of pints of caster. A chat with Dave White suggested I could catch on worm over groundbait, both of which I already had, which meant I had a fall back position should the carp not feed.

Plumbing up revealed over 4ft of water by the bush, which was deeper than expected, thanks to the aerators been constantly on and probably the reason why the carp haven't frequented the area of late. It was pretty much the same depth at 13m, before it shallowed up the further right you went.

Because I had spent too much time faffing about I wasn't quite ready for the all in, so chucked the lead with 8mm pellet towards the 2nd aerator whilst I got myself organised. With no bites after 10mins, I switched to fishing at 13m were it started to shallow up, toss potting a couple of pellets with a hair rigged 8mm pellet. My first bite was a small skimmer soon followed by a 6lb carp, before the skimmers returned trying to wittle away the 8mm pellet.

A look by the tree were I fed a few 6s & 8s, produced a tench, then another small skimmer. With an hour gone and only carp in the net, I decided to start feeding groundbait by the tree mixed with a few dead maggots and corn. The 13m was still producing nibbles from those small skimmers, so switched to a skimmer rig fishing 6mm pellet and promptly hooked a sizable carp - how many times does that happen?

Because of the tree I couldn't just ship back, because the carp would have snagged me, so I ended up playing the carp which had gone left with 13m of pole in the air in an attempt to stop it running and hopefully persuade it to move to my right. Eventually it did and after 15mins landed a 12lber.

With no more carp and the skimmers only averaging 4-6oz which I wasn't catching quickly enough, it was time to try by the tree. Fishing a segment of worm and regular top ups with a small ball of groundbait, I caught mostly small skimmers. Dead maggot only produced a tiny roach, so stayed with the worm.

When ever the swim slowed the swim was topped up with a large ball of feed and switch to the 13m line which was still only producing small skimmers. Down the right hand margin I only caught 1 perch.

I was a little surprised I had so far only caught 1 tench and the none of the better sized skimmers. Fortunately the better fish turned up in the last hour with a big hybrid and big skimmer to boost my silvers weight.

Overall an enjoyable day, with plenty of bites and winning the silvers on Cary. Since the payouts were the same for each lake I didn't need to worry about Nigel Bartletts 42lb from Campbell. However this is the 4th time this year I've come 2nd overall in the silvers missing out on the silvers all winners final, but you really need to be on Campbell for the better weights.

1. Nick Merry (Colmic) - 204lb 11oz - peg 74
2. Byron Woodsford - 192lb 2oz - peg 132...
3. Chris Fox (Bristol) - 171lb 13oz - peg 116
4. Ian Williets (Wiltshire Angling)- 151lb 9oz - peg 119
5. Roy Worth (Viaduct) - 148lb 6oz - peg 130
6. Paul Bowyer - 148lb 6oz - peg 105

Silvers
1. Nigel Bartlett (Sensas) - 42lb - peg 111
2. Ken Rayner (Colmic) - 20lb 14oz - peg 77
3. Titch Williams - 20lb 6oz - peg 126