Viaduct Fishery Teams Of Five, Round Four (All Lakes).

Back for this penultimate round of this popular league, It looked to be perfect weather wise with little wind overcast skies & a touch milder so at least we didn't have to battle the elements today. My Turn to be on Lodge Lake today with an overspill onto the low end of Cary Lake, Obviously I fancied peg 53 which has been consistent so far in earlier rounds but the top corner pegs can produce as well as a couple of pegs on Cary, Peg 53 was soon taken by none other than Mark Poppleton, surprize, surprize Lol, Before Trig came back with are draw sheet, Who's on Lodge He Said' Then informed me I was on peg 66 in the top corner of Lodge so happy with that" It can be hit & miss & I drew this a few years ago in the same league & only took one carp so was determined to make up for it! I felt confident I could hook a few carp so just hoped if I did I would get then out!??

I didn't take the camera but for those who don't know the peg basically there is an unused pallet to my left at 12mts with a tree which lies in the water just past it around 14mts, It always looks very carpy" but its not for the faint hearted! the depth here is around 4ft close to the bank & the same at the end of the tree stump a metre or so off the bank, I set up two 0.2g floats, one on 0.15-0.13 & an 16 F1 pellet hook & the other on 0.17-0.15 with a size 16 hair rig hook length, Apart from this I set up one silvers rig to fish at 14mts to my right but didn't really use it so forget that". I had team mate Vince Brown right behind me on peg 97 Cary so at least we new how each other would be doing' I had Nicky Ewers opposite me on peg 64 by the monk which can also produce some fish.

I started the day feeding three balls of G/bait with casters at 14mts on the silvers line & began the day down the edge starting at 12mts by the pallet leg with a hair rigged cube of meat, I had the rig set with the bait a few inches off the deck to start with to avoid & debris on the bottom but didn't feed anything, I gave it around 15mins before inching further towards the other pallet leg. Five minutes & the float shot under" I quickly shipped back relying on the softer elastic do the work & soon netted a 5lb fish so twenty minutes gone & one in the net' a good start"  I went back to the same area & 15minutes later had a better fish around 7lb after shallowing up a couple of inches more, I couldn't get a bite in the next 20mins even when switching to bread on the hook, I didn't want to go right in at 14mts until I new I had to so decided to try further off the bank at the end of the tree stump. Back on the meat a few inches off the deck after a few minutes of lifting & dropping I was in again & netted another decent fish, By now we were just over an hour in & I had around 19lb so things were going well, Nicky had managed a couple of carp on the waggler casting to the back of the tree but I hadn't seen much else caught although Colin Sandford had netted a few on the wagg from the rope peg on the opposite bank. It took quite a while for my next bite which came 45minutes later closer to the bank this time on bread but a bit smaller around 5lb, Then disaster struck" I hooked a good fish & despite shipping back as fast as poss it managed to snag me, I did get the rig back along with a decent load of twigs only for it to flip out at the last second wrapping the rig in a ball to the branches on the bush next to me trashing the lot..!. I soon had another rig assembled but it seemed the fish had disappeared as I couldn't get a bite anywhere in the next hour, Just as I went back closer to the bank on bread the phone rang, It was Trig to see how things were going & This man can tame fish with his voice as within seconds the rig shot under" Thankfully after throwing the phone down I was quick enough to react & steered it out in time & soon after netted a near 10lb fish" Thanks Trig" Lol. The last couple of hours I just continued to try different areas from 13-14mts & different depths, I did manage another at half depth on meat further off the bank & ended up taking two more close to the bank at 14mts, One on bread & one on meat, I did start to drip a bit of meat with a cadpot at the end of the stump but it only produced a small hybrid, I did lose one more decent fish with around 20minutes to go but apart from this I missed just one bite all day, I wasn't suffering with liners which told me they weren't their in numbers & it just seemed to be a case of being sitting & waiting for bites. I was happy to end the day with Seven carp Which I hoped would be good team points but I didn't know how the other end of the lake had fished or Cary for that matter? When the scales arrived Colin Sandford was leading with 42lb odd, I had this on my clicker but the fish were bigger than I though as I finished with 58lb odd, Last to weigh on are lake was Mark who finished with 66lb from peg 53 to win the lake meaning I was second but well happy with that as I wouldn't have expected to beat it at the start.

Back at the results Vince finished with 10pts, Shaun Townsend Had 13pts, Paul Elms 8pts, Trig 9pts & Me 17pts to finish with 57pts on the day, Garbolino Blackmore Vale easily won the day with 72pts but we didn't do to bad finishing 4th on the day with a few teams having a blow out, Its now very tight at the top with the Colmic side leading the way ahead of us by just 3pts so all to play for with one round to go" The match was won today by Ben Broxon from inform peg 110 on Cambell with a massive 186lb catching down the edge on the pole dobbing bread so well done to him ahead of Ron Hardiman on 118 with 99lb, There were so better silvers weights today with Luke Sorikin leading the way with 43lb of skimmers of peg 129 Cambell, Some sad news over the weekend with the passing of Legend Charlie Barns, I've known this guy for over 30yrs & a lot of us have & even longer for some, He was well known to everyone for the bait business in his early days & loved to fish the waggler on the Huntspill many years ago' Thanks to John Barker who was still picking him up to spectate in the better weather when possible, He will be sadly missed but well remembered....

Unfortunately Steve Jackson Was taken ill at the end of the match & for safety a paramedic was called & well as an ambulance but hopefully all ended ok & get well soon. I was pleased how the day went & felt I worked the peg a lot better to produce the odd bite today, Frustrating to lose a couple of fish which could of seen me in the frame but still had the bonus of the £40 mini section monies. Back in two weeks for the final round when Its my turn for match lake with a couple of pegs on Middle, Spring included so looking forward to it, Keep that hand going Trig"..

Full results -

1st Ben Broxon (Guru Viaduct) peg 110 Cambell, 186lb 7oz.

2nd Ron Hardiman (Future Networks) peg 118 Cambell, 99lb 11oz

3rd Dave Roper (Somerset Angling) peg 77 Cary, 79lb 2oz.

4th Mark Poppleton (Colmic) peg 53 Lodge, 66lb 2oz.

5th Dick Bull (Team Amigos) peg 119 Cambell, 66lb,

6th John Moody (Garbolino Blackmore Vale) peg 102 Cary, 61lb 4oz.

Silvers -

1st Luke Sorikin (Thatchers Gold) peg 129 Cambell, 43lb 3oz.

2nd Rob Jones (Thatchers Gold) peg 98 Cary, 27lb 3oz.

3rd Gary Etheridge (Thatchers Gold) peg 68 Lodge, 24lb 12oz.

Teams On Day -

1st Garbolino Blackmore Vale, 72pts

2nd Somerset Angling , 66pts

3rd Team Amigos 60pts

4th Thatchers Gold 57pts

4th Mosella Bathampton, 57pts

6th All Stars 50pts.

League To Date -

1st Colmic South West) 253pts

2nd Mosella Bathampton 250pts

3rd Thatchers Vets 226pts

4th 2nd Time Lucky 219pts

5th M5 Angling 208pts

6th Thatchers Gold 207pts

7th Guru Viaduct 204pts.

Individuals To Date -

1st Martin Preston 65pts

2nd Mark Poppleton 61pts

3rd Paul Elms 59pts (Weight)

4th Nick Ewers 59pts

5th Ben Broxham 58pts (Weight)

6th Dom Sullivan 58pts.