Something a little bit different on Saturday, with the Viaduct fishing really well for silvers, I booked in for only my third match there in 11 years! Trying to get some info, I messaged Sam Williams who has been doing really well there and he couldn’t have been more helpful, cheers mate!
After a frosty start I met Nick for breakfast at Cartgate before heading to Somerton, we got there early and picked up some bait from the shop. The draw was announced and when I opened my little card I was on 126 which was the same peg I had last time. I asked a few people what it was like and nobody seemed that excited for me! Nick was on 130 and I had regular neighbour Glynn on 127 with Dick Bull the other side.
I set up two 4 x 14 Preston Innovations F1 Maggots for two lines at 14.5 metres which were different depths and a little 0.3 gram Guru F1 Carbon for a short line at six sections. Today’s side tray contained maggots, casters, disco pinkies plus some Bait-Tech Special G F1 Dark groundbait.
The all in was shouted and I fed the line at six sections with a little nugget and a few casters, the left hand 14.5 metre swim received the same while the other long line was fed more positively with two pots of groundbait and casters. I started short, mainly just to let the longer lines settle and I wasn’t expecting much but had an indication first chuck!
Next put in I had a little 2oz skimbob followed by a decent roach and then a chunky hybrid so a steady start but then I saw Glynn net a two pounder from his short line! I pulled out of what felt like a better fish and then had a lovely big skimmer that was probably pushing 3lb. Dick had caught a couple of skimmers but from what I could see it was fishing quite tricky.
I had a couple more roach but with an hour gone, I was dying to go out long. Shipping out to 14.5 metres, I toss potted in a few casters but it was an anti-climax and I was only getting the odd roach. I did hook a decent fish that tore off which made me think it was a carp so I chucked the pole back and the hook pulled so it may actually have been a big skimmer!
Adding the dolly butt and trying going past the feed didn’t work either, I finally added a second decent skimmer on double dead red maggot but I was now pinning my hopes on the positive line coming good or a run of fish from the short line in the last hour. I did have a quick look on my other 14.5 metre line but after being flat calm at the start, it had got quite windy and I was really struggling to see my float.
Dick was getting the odd skimmer, Glynn had a lovely perch around the 3lb mark and I’d seen McKenzie over on 113 netting the odd fish. I’d refed the short line but despite trying it a couple more times, never had another bite on it. With around 45 minutes remaining the wind dropped and I could actually see the float on the positive line, after a few minutes a bite resulted in loads of elastic coming out and I netted my third big skimmer. Next chuck the float’s buried straight away and this fish was pulling too hard for a skimmer but it also didn’t feel like a carp, shipping back gently, a nice 1.5lb perch was safely netted.
It took a while for the next indication which resulted in a roach so I fed a few casters and went back on the other line. No more bites there so the last ten minutes was spent on the positive line although the ripple was back and being a pain, just before the end, the float disappeared and I landed a second perch, this one about a pound.
The scales started on our side and when they got to Glynn, Mark Wynne was leading with 45lb 6oz from 131 and Steve Denmead had 25lb 6oz which included 14lb 10oz of silvers. Glynn weighed 7lb 10oz and then my fish went 12lb 2oz, Dick had 8 or 9 skimmers for 17lb 11oz, peg 124 weighed 7lb 8oz and then Matt Skyme was the last peg on our bank and had an excellent 22lb 8oz which included loads of roach.
Back at the results and Vic Bush had the top silvers with 23lb from peg 111 and his total weight of 43lb was second overall (they pay double bubble). Photo credit – Viaduct*
Mark Wynne had the top weight on the day with 45lb 6oz*
Vic Bush was second with 43lb (including the top silvers of 23lb)*
So although it had been quite hard going (by Viaduct’s standards), we didn’t disgrace ourselves and I’m looking forward to another go when the weather is a bit more settled!
Nick and me added £2 each to the Nugget-O-Meter for today and tomorrow which saw the total rise to £67.
There’s still a great offer running if you fancy treating yourself to some new fishing gear, use the exclusive discount code AgainstMenandFish10 to get 10% off when you shop online at Somerset Angling
Also I still have copies of my book available from eBay here or Amazon here
And if you could spare five minutes to leave a nice review on Amazon, it would be very much appreciated.
Next up – Summerhayes
Coming soon – Lots more match reports
Check Out – My latest interview
#sponsoredpost #affiliatelinks
