Sunday 12/02/2012 - Viaduct Teams of Five Winter League - Round Three - All Lakes

The decision to fish this match was taken on the Friday and I personally questioned whether it should be fished. As it happened it was the right decision, even though there were a few blanks, the venue fished far better than I anticipated. So it was the second day of the year for me breaking the ice, well for Bela, pictured right with our WMD (Weapon of Mass Destruction). However, the ice breaker of the day went to Fred Roberts fishing peg 8 on Spring Lake (pictured right) – who on earth carries a ten foot ladder in his holdall!! It worked for Fred finishing second on the Lake, landing 2 Carp losing 4!!

My turn on Spring Lake and Captain Tom came back with a decent team draw, with me on peg 19. This peg has until recently has great Skimmer form so I was happy with the draw and after a bit of ice crunching by Bela I was able to fish out to the island. Whilst setting up there was plenty of Skimmers rising in pegs 24, 25 and 26. Having set up the pole to be fished at 13 metres and the straight lead for Carp, I subsequently set up my preferred waggler to be fished out to the edge of the opposite tree. On the whistle I fed two lines on the 13 metre pole – 10 o clock and 1 o clock, which was 8 inch deeper. I started on the waggler with treble dead red. Straight away there were some bubbles around the float which I initially thought was from the splash on the waggler, but no it was a Carp responding to the splash and searching for some food. The float soon dipped and I was in to a Carp – happy days – not! I dipped the rod under the water to keep contact with the fish under the ice a only to be broke – bugger. A few casts later I had a similar experience with the Carp taking under the tree – bugger. That was it for Carp. I half heartily tried the straight lead with bread, corn and maggot to no avail. On to the pole but, nothing – it was not to be tried again. After trying the waggler and missing two bites which I was sure was Skimmers a blank looked on the cards as the anglers each side were also blanking.

I have to thank Stu Foal’s for what happen next. On the last league match Stu explained how he fished the two day post Christmas Silvers league. Stu drew behind the island peg 18 I think and didn’t have a bite and it wasn’t until late in to the match that he switched to the feeder fished over to the island when he put a few Skimmers together. So similarly with only 90 minutes of the match I converted the straight lead rig to a very small feeder rig plugging the feeder with mostly Pinkie casting it as far as I could to the island, which was enough to be just holding on the ledge. I then poured a coffee and a I brought it too my lips the tip dropped back as I struck the coffee ended up all over me, but more importantly a 2 lb Skimmer ended up in the net – blanked saved. I followed this up with six more before the wind picked up and blew ice in to my peg making it difficult to fish the same line. Like Stu I wished I had fished this method early, which would have been difficult because on the ice floes. My seven Skimmers weighed in at 13lb 5oz which was good enough for joint third on the Lake and 17 points and joint second in the section with matey Nick Collins who was drawn on peg 25 – who better to draw with on Silvers.

The team did really well with 73 points – second on the day lifting us up to 6^th overall in the league. Fabio was second on the Lodge Lake Monk swim and second overall in the match. Lodge Lake was definitely the Lake to draw today with all the top framing weights both Silvers and Carp coming from it.

The match and Silvers was won by Tony Rixon (pictured right with half his catch of Skimmers) from Lodge disable peg 72 with 72lb 14oz. Tony’s catch included an impressive Skimmer haul of 62lb 2oz – well done matey. Back at the pub for the results Tony also a bought a round of drinks in the old traditional AA style.

Full Result:

1.      Tony Rixon 72-14-0 peg 72

2.      Phil (Fabio) Harding 68-04-0 peg 64

3.      Mash 52-0-0 peg 66

4.      Alex Murray 47-15-0 peg 70

5.      Mark Harper 44-11-0 peg 59

6.      Mark Brennan 29-15-0 peg 15

Top Silvers:

1.      Tony Rixon 62-02-0 peg 57

2.      W Buckingham 22-13-0 peg 56

3.      Alex Murray 21-15-0 peg 70

4.      Andy Lloyd 17-13-0 peg 125

5.      Steve Jackson 16-12-0 peg 116

Top Teams on the Day:

1.      Thatcher’s Youth 78 points

2.      Silverfox TM 72

3.      Maver Red 63

4.      Avon Angling 62

5.      Somerset Angling 58

6.      Moaning Maggots 58

Top Teams Overall:

1.      Somerset Angling 192 points

2.      Thatcher Youth 185

3.      Avon Angling 171

4.      Viaduct Select 169

5.      Toss Potts 168

6.      Silverfox TM 166