Sunday 24 December 2017

Saturday 23/12/2017 - Viaduct Christmas Match - All Lakes

With Bela, Geoff and me booked into the Viaduct Xmas match the first stop as always, Canards Well – not a bad breakfast. Nick the Chef is back.

A nice array of prizes with one guaranteed for everyone fishing irrespective if DNW’d (pictured right). Nice to this tradition kept going.

Arrived an hour before the draw and with the usual car parking spaces occupied we parked up by the cottage. With 98 booked in there was plenty of chatting to do before the draw. I decided to wait until late hoping all the crap pegs would be gone – none of it - out comes peg 117 – which needed a second glance – not usually in. Bela drew peg 85 on Carey next to his mates Des and Ryan Shipp - The Westerleigh Crew. Geoff drew one of the two pegs everyone wanted on Campbell peg 110!

For company I had Kev Newman on peg 118 which is probably 8 metres further out that my peg, 118 usually has the benefit of fishing down to 117 but not today. Kev and I agreed fishing boundaries between us, both knowing we were fishing for a box of biscuits. I didn’t have any intention of fishing towards Kev anyway preferring to fish down to the tree to my Left which was only top-set plus one away and the furthest I could go, where I was foolish enough to think I could catch a Carp or two – too close with the water so clear. No more on this one as I spent most of the day on the waggler and caster catching small Ronnie’s, but because of the tree on my right I had to switch to left handed and forgot to switch three times so some waggler retrieval necessary. I half expected to catch a Perch or two but with the mild weather and the battering they have had recently none showed. I had a mess about short on the 4 metre whip where I did get some slightly better Ronnie’s but it was a long wait for them. The top end of Campbell fished very hard indeed.

I weighed 6lb 9oz for nowhere, but was par for the Silvers on Campbell! I did go home with 20 bottles of larger.

The match was won by Andy Cranston (pictured upper right with his spoils) from in-form peg 132 with 95lb. Andy started slowly then rang team mate Des Shipp and switched to the waggler and meat shallow down to end bank peg 133 where he caught fifteen Carp. Good to see the youngtsers coming through, well done.

The Silvers was won by Paul Greenwood from unfancied Match Lake peg 48 with 22lb 12oz. Paul caught on the pole at 14.5 metres from two swims catching Skimmers over GB and Caster.

Bela had a side bet with the Shipp’s on who could catch the first Carp and to Bela’s delighted collect the spoils. Des beat Bela by 3lb which included a 7lb Carp landed by, lets say unusual methods. Des had accidently caught some broken line which was attached to the Carp! The picture right was Des asking for bottle of red wine the second pictured is his response when I offered him a Preston Off Box Crab Line - coming to a tackle shop near you soon!
Geoff weighed 28lb 13oz for a section win.

Plenty of anglers today may have felt they had a bad day, but think on. The Welsh angler on peg 119 was up most of the night with his daughter being sick, changing bed clothes and on the drive to the fishery his Turbo broke on his van. With the van towed away he decided to fish drawing peg 119 only to fall in at the start. Now that’s a bad day.

Our day hadn’t finished as we had our Team Van Xmas Fish and Chips. However Bela went for the big Kahuna Burger and a mountain of Onion Rings (pictured lower right) – I didn’t know anyone that can eat this many and still don't!

A big thanks to the Long Family for the great fishing and match organisation they provide throughout the year – definitely second to none. It was great to see young Matt taking a big role in this over the year. Today Matt got the full results out 10 minutes after receipt of the last weigh sheet – very impressive. Hopefully next year will see Steve fishing more.

Full Overall Results – Top Ten:















Weigh Sheets (except Lodge – lost in transit):

























































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