Viaduct Open, Campbell Lake, Peg 115.

This was my first time to Viaduct for a while so my first port of call, post 2^nd breakfast was to get the low down on how it was fishing in the shop, and to pick up my bait. This was an interesting conversation as most of the carp had been coming from the top end for the last few weeks and everywhere else had been struggling, so it looked as though the caster I had ordered would come in handy.

At the draw peg 115 was in my hand and I was reliably informed that it would be a struggle as it wasn’t really fishing well for silvers and the carp may not be that far down the lake. On looking at the lake I decided to set up a bomb on my  Series 7 Carp Feeder, with 8lb mainline a ½ oz lead and an 0.19mm hooklength to a 14 Guru QM1 and a quick stop. I set up two waggler rods, a 13ft C Series to fish on the deck with an 8grm Carraluso Rocket with 5 no8’s above a 0.17mm hooklength and a 14 Pr 36 with a bait band (for pulling into meat) and the second had a 1.5grm Drennan crystal loaded insert waggler with a 0.14mm hooklength to an 18 B911 for fishing maggot in mid water. I also set up a margin rig to fish to the point in the reeds 8m to my right and this was on 0.17mm mainline to 0.15mm bottom and a 16 B911, the float was 0.2g as at the time the wind was not too strong (for the time being).

At the all in I fed a full pot of hemp, caster and corn on my margin swim and then cast out with the half depth mag wag as a few fish had been turning over in the gaps between anglers, it took 15 secs then buried but the strike met with very little resistance and I nearly caught the Rudd as it was catapulted towards me. Not the start I was after, I persisted for another 2 casts and Rudd were the result both times so up the bank it was thrown. Out went the bomb with a 10mm cube of meat on the hook, 20 mins later it went out again this time to the right hand limit of my swim and then 20 mins later back to the left. Throughout the first hour I had 2 line bites, everybody pegged to my left had had at least a carp and some had 6 or more, even the guys pegged to my right had caught fish on the running line so things were looking desperate. I put the deck waggler rig out for the next 30 mins but due to the steadily increasing wind it had been impossible to feed further than 20 meters out and there were no bite forthcoming on that. On the two hour mark I put the margin rig out in desperation and the float buried instantly as it settled with a 2lber stuck on the end but despite trying again that was it. I really needed to find a way of putting some weight in the net so I set up a whip rig and started feeding caster next to the reeds on my left, this saw me instantly catching small Roach and Rudd but at 10 to the pound I was still going nowhere fast so went up the shop for a bite to eat.

Upon returning I chucked’ the bomb out but had changed the bait to corn, within 8 mins the tip rapped a couple of times and a 1lb skimmer graced the landing net, recast and tried again and 5 mins later the tip went round positively. Upon striking I could tell it was no skimmer and a couple of minutes later an 8lber joined its little mate in the keep net. That was it again for a while and over the next couple of hours I would spend 10 mins catching a few Rudd before going out on the tip for an hour to try and snag a couple of carp and it worked to a degree with me taking a further 4 carp over the next couple of hours. With 30 mins left to go I decided to have a look down the edge so in went a grain of corn and carp number 7 can into the net without too much of a problem, within 5 seconds of the corn being in position on the next put in and again another carp was soon in the net. That was it though; despite re feeding and sitting on it for the remainder of the match I only had a little Roach to show for my efforts down the edge this was possibly due to the wind preventing me from holding the rig still for any length of time as it was bordering on a gale!!

The all out was called and I was only interested in beating the guys either side of me, this was made easier by the guy to my left packing up before the end and not weighing in and Mayo to my right weighed in 26lb of  mostly Tench, job done as I weighed in 43lb 6oz. This gave me 5^th overall and a much better insight as to how to approach the venue on this weds AAF group match there. Till the next time.