A random phone call from Pete Thompson inviting me to stay at his brother's house in Cullompton, Devon, could only mean one thing, a couple of days fishing. In the past we have fished a few waters around the area, including Stafford Moor, South Fields Farm, Goodiford Mill, Ki-Ora and Viaduct Fishery. All have been kind to us with regards to the fishing. Shame it is so far away really.
We had planned to go the weekend of the 6th and 7th but with me being able to book some holiday we were able to grab an extra day and leave on the 5th. Troy Hillyer was also coming along after juggling his workload.
A 6am start on the Friday saw us all loaded up and heading for Viaduct Fishery, hoping to fish Cary Lake and the big carp that reside there. However after a couple of hours driving we were pulling of the A303 into the local services at Amesbury for the Harvester "all you can eat" Breakfast.
With plenty of sustenance we soon back off and running.
Arriving at Viaduct we found out that Cary Lake was closed for a match so we settled into Lodge Lake. We had asked if we could have a knock up on the lake, which was agreed to, although carp had to be returned immediately and only silvers were retained. I decided I was not going to compete with both Pete and Troy on silvers, and with carp only counting as a pound weight, I could perhaps catch enough carp and a few silvers to make it interesting. I opted for two lines for silvers, one at top two straight out the other at top four. Both rigs were NG Mini Diamonds to .16 Stroft and a size 16 B911. Bait was expander on the top two line and corn at top four. I also set up a margin rig for carp. A NG Mini Diamond to .20 Stroft and a PR36 for corn on a top three.
At the "all in" I cupped in half a pot of micro onto each line and within 5 minutes was getting a few hand sized skimmers on the corn line. A switch to corn coated in GOT Baits Gel-It saw a couple of better skimmers but I was already behind Pete who was catching proper skimmers on expanders. A switch to the expander line saw a couple of small roach before a hungry carp took me for a run around. After 5 minutes the leviathan was succumbing to the power of the soft black elastic and headed into the landing net. At around 10lb it was a lovely fish to catch but was only worth a pound.
I carried on fishing and feeding the silver lines to no avail. With every put in Pete would come back with a decent stamp skimmer and odd carp. Mine were all too small. Troy was getting odd fish and again seemed a better stamp, so I decided to pick up my margin rig and have a go for some carp. The match was beyond me, time for some fun.
I had feed the line with some corn and micro's from the start and with a Gel-it grain of corn on I lowered the bait around a foot from the baited area. All too quickly the float dipped and Mr Carp was on. The red hydro soon had the fish wallowing in the landing net and at around 15lb a good fish. I followed this up with another 9 to end up with over 100lb of carp (11lb in the match) and 15lb of silvers. Troy had suffered a bit worse than me with 2 carp and 16lb of silvers for 18lb total whilst Pete had battered us. 54lb of silvers and 10 carp for around 90lb.
After settling into Pete's brother's house, we were soon up again and treating Tommy to a day at Goodiford Mill. Tommy is a pleasure angler and is just happy to catch fish, be it a one ounce roach or a 10lb carp. It was no surprise to hear that within ten minutes of our start that we were 10 fish behind him. Only small roach and skimmers but a fish is a fish. I wanted to practice the pellet waggler so picked a swim where I could comfortably cast and feed to around 40m. I also fed a margin line for later on. Troy was next to me and was just going to fish the margin before switching to the pellet waggler later in the day. Pete was targeting the silver fish in the lake and was trying to catch different species and a pound plus crucian carp.
I started off on the waggler fishing tight to the far bank trees. Pinging a few pellets every 10 seconds soon had them boiling on the surface as each pouch hit the water. After a few depth adjustments I was soon into fish, all around the 2lb mark and all falling to an 8mm coarse pellet on a hair rig. I was catching well and pinging just three pellets every cast and the float would go as soon as it hit the water, if not I would just twitch it around a foot and get a bite. After an hour I reckoned I had caught the twenty fish target and was happy with the set up and technique.
A move to the margin saw me catching straight away and it was really a fish a chuck before again the twenty fish target was reached. The fish on this line were around the 5lb mark and with over a ton easily completed I was back on the waggler line. Troy was catching a few on the waggler and it would be interesting to see how it fished with two of us going for the same fish. I found that feeding 3 pellets every 10 seconds saw fish competing for the hookbait, whereas Troy was feeding heavier and getting more line bites.With 3 hours gone I was getting a bit bored to be honest and needed something different to pass the time. Pete and Tommy were enthralled in their own head to head battle for amount of species with them tying on 9 apiece. Troy was still catching but was now catching by his feet on a top section in 6 inches of water and was in need of a change. We set about having an hour where we would not feed anything at all and see what could be caught. I opted to fish my margin rig at top two and slap an 8mm hard pellet. Troy opting to fish top three. In the hour challenge I managed another 27 fish for another 100lb on this tactic. Troy also managed 24 fish for another ton.
At the end of the day I reckoned on a good 350lb of fish with Troy having had about the same. Pete and Tommy drew their match 10-10 and were both happy with their days achievements, with Pete getting 3 crucians over the 1lb mark and an 18lb mirror on his last put in.
Back at the house it was our treat to take both Tommy and his wife out for a meal. A nice setting was chosen as it overlooked the River Exe.
Sunday saw us say our goodbyes before travelling to Wootton Bassett to fish Ivy House lakes for the first time. Unfortunately, we could not get on the match lake so had to settle in on the canal lake. We had been told there were plenty of silvers to go at with a few carp and tench. I decided to fish it the same as I would have fished a canal, a long time ago and not knowing any difference. I opted for 5 lines, one just down the margin shelf to my left, a left hand swim down the track, a right hand track line at 10m, a line just down the margin shelf on the far bank at 14.5m and a tight line across to the far bank. I fed the track lines heavily with 4mm sinkers dampened down with a pinch of corn in for good measure. The other lines were fed via a toss pot, again with 4mm sinkers. Bait was to be expanders, corn or GOT Ghost 6mm Soft Hookers and 6mm GOT Rippers.
Pete was first in to action with a carp around 2lb followed by a small perch from down the edge. I slowly worked my way across the canal with only one bite on a single grain of corn from the left hand track line. A look across to the margin shelf saw my fortunes change, with a run of small carp to 2lb and a few skimmers to a pound all falling to a 6mm expander. However I was soon searching the far bank reeds to further bites. By moving along the bank I would get a few fish including a foul hooked 8lb fish which took an age to land on light gear. A few more carp and tench followed before we decided to pack up and make our way home. I reckoned on having caught around 30lb of fish on a day where everyone else struggled for bites let alone fish.
Overall it was another good weekend with good company, both on the bank and off, the banter is always great and good fishing.
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