Bristol PSV Fishing Club: Viaduct, Cary, 03 May (20 pegs)

After what could be best described as a dismal match on Horsesoe at Plantations last week I was really looking forward to this match.

And not just because there had been some good weights coming out in recent matches but also because it would be my first match out of the driving seat.

It all started well (almost) with the usual quality breakfast at Shipham and the new staff creating a bit of a stir.

And arriving at Viaduct the new match secretary team had things well under control and organised like clockwork ... even had envelopes for the payouts!

I hung back for the last two tickets and found 77 (that wasn't part of the plan) and Will was left with 96 which was about right.

77 is one of the early pegs on the thin end of Cary on the bank shared with Campbell. Not a peg I would have run to but at least it was a short walk back to the fishing bus for spare nets (like that was going to happen)!

For Company, yet again it was Matt (2 pegs) Taynton down on 74 who didn't look over the moon about it.

And going up the bank I had Lee Waller on 78 and Lee Williams on 79.

Lee Waller (widescreen)

Lee Williams

Up from them was Chris Szakacs in peg 80 (left side of the spit) which was probably the best draw in this area.

Across from me was the sumo wrestling partnership of Steve Sewell and Paul Preston on 103 & 105 and Chris Gay on 102 who was fishing with a plastic bag on his hand after spending a few traumatic days in hospital after suffering a nasty scratch from his cat (which must be worth an extra sardine)!

Back to my peg then and I'd been hoping for a nice open water peg with plenty of space to chuck leads and floats around so I was a bit scuppered.

And instead the pole was reluctantly drafted into service with a rig for 13m which would also work for up against the overhanging willow tree branches to my left at 5m. That rig was set up with 0.15 to 0.13 and a size 16 808 to fish with corn over 4's and 6's to target anything.

I also set up a waggler for 8mm pellet on the deck out past the pole line and that was it.

No meat today as I'd asked the wife to get me a tin of meat the night before and she came back with a little round tin of "lean ham" so it was corn instead but I was hoping the Viaduct carp weren't too choosy about their dinner.

I won't bang on much about what happened through the match sufficient to say it was frustrating.

I ended up also setting up a lead rod and a shallow wag to tempt fish that were coming to the feed but not having it.

Foul hooked and lost a few on all three rods, managed to land just two (one fouled) on the lead and the shallow wag only produced a big skimmer.

The pole lines produced a handful of silvers before the last hour when the carp finally turned up under the tree and I managed 2 good ones from there before a freak gust of wind took the rig into the tree branches and completely f'ed up my chances of a late charge.

I half-heartedly dropped the wag into the same spot but wasn't concentrating and looked down to find my float wasn't where I left it but was attached to an underwater branch in the margins .... Great!!

And that was that, my unimpressive 4 carp and handful of silvers gave me a grand total of 43-0 which was the top weight for about 10 seconds (Matt had struggled for 23lbs).

Lee Waller had done well on silvers with some nice perch on caster from the other side of the tree for 20-1

Lee Williams whinged out 72-15 see here for the gory details

And then Chris Szakacs took the lead with 123-8 caught partly on the tip and then later catching some Cary "babies" down the edge on meat.

And the leaderboard stayed that way with the closest contender being Alan Healey on 97 with 106-1

Full Result: