For the next Fish South Silvers qualifier at the Viaduct, heavy rain and strong winds were forecast and it’s just never ending at the moment. Everybody was hoping for a peg on the near side as the wind would be off your back and for once my drawing arm behaved pulling out 112 which is definitely in the right area as Will Raison qualified off 111 in the last match.
When I got to my peg I had Ads Palmer next door on 111 and Chris Danby on the other side, the weather was already horrible (or character building according to Chris!) and I wasn’t envying the anglers on the opposite bank who were in for a torrid time. I set up a rod to fish the bomb and corn for an hour while the pole lines settled (longer if I was catching or the conditions got too grim!).
On the whistle, I fed two pole lines at 14.5 metres (positive and negative) before starting with the bomb and hair rigged corn. I missed a bite second chuck and then next cast, the tips gone straight round and I’ve landed a nice skimmer, I was getting quite a few indications and after an hour I had three skimmers. Going into the second sixty minutes I had my fourth skimmer and at this point I hadn’t seen much else caught apart from Ads who’d had one and lost a couple of carp.
Skimmer number five followed but then I hooked and landed my first carp of around 8lb, Ads started catching well on the pole and went 7-5 ahead. I stayed on the tip a bit longer but when Ads caught a couple more skimmers I had to have a look on my pole lines. To be honest, it was a massive anti-climax and I was really struggling to see the float as there was that horrible mix of white and dark water combined with a ripple. I only managed a couple of little roach and a small perch while my neighbour continued to forge further ahead.
Back on the tip I had another skimmer but was missing quite a few bites and I think the hair on the hooklengths was too long. With the abysmal weather showing no signs of letting up, there was a mass exodus of anglers from the far bank with Callum Dicks, Mikey Williams, Scott Puddy and Andy Power all heading off home. Ads was still catching skimmers on the pole and from people walking about it sounded like Andy Cranston and Andrew Crocker on 118 and 119 were getting a few but as long as Ads could keep ticking over for the last two hours, he would do enough to qualify.
I had another look on the pole for no bites so went back on the tip and started chucking just past my pole lines and had two more skimmers in the last hour and missed a few more bites. Ads slowed up towards the end and never had a fish for 45 minutes but I still thought he had around 30lb.
The scales started on the far side where only two anglers weighed in, Stu White did well on 130 fishing the bomb and corn for 17lb 2oz and Norts had 10lb 9oz on 127. On our bank, Andrew Crocker went into the lead with an excellent 27lb 14oz followed by Andy Cranston with 24lb 11oz and Ben Hagg who had 17lb 6oz on 116. Fordy didn’t weigh on 115, Rob Jones had 7lb 9oz, Chris D weighed 4lb 12oz and then my eight skimmers plus bits went 14lb 13oz. Ads was next and his weight was called at 26lb 9oz, just 1lb 5oz (or one skimmer) short, so close, unlucky mate. Craig Morris on 110 had 13lb and John Harvey caught well late on to weigh 19lb from peg 135. Photo credit – Viaduct Fishery*
Andrew Crocker won the match and qualified again with 27lb 14oz*
1 – Andrew Crocker (Viaduct) – 27lb 14oz
2 – Adam Palmer (Sensas) – 26lb 9oz
3 – Andy Cranston (Daiwa) – 24lb 11oz
I drove home feeling a bit disappointed as I’m sure my peg was worth a lot more today and I’m just not getting it right at the moment. I’ve really struggled on the pole and it would’ve been interesting to see what I’d have caught if I’d fished the tip all day. In the first and last hours I’ve had six skimmers with just two in the middle of the match where I spent ages on the pole for very little. I’ve missed loads of bites which I think was down to the long hair and I also didn’t ping any corn over the top as I didn’t want to attract the carp which seemed to work to a certain extent but then Stu White fed corn and was catching quicker than me towards the end.
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
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Next up – Summerhayes
Coming soon – Lots more match reports
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