This year the IAA Summer League is being split between Coombe Farm and Dillington with the anglers fishing both venues three times. Rob did a live draw on Facebook in the week so we all knew which lake we would be on and for the first match it was Coombe for me.
In the morning, the bowling club was busy with the anglers for both sections, enjoying breakfast and waiting to see which pegs we’d be on. The draw for Coombe was first as we had a little way to travel. There was a little bit of confusion when I pulled out number 6 which shouldn’t have been in and I was actually on peg 5 which wouldn’t have been my first choice as it tends to struggle against the pegs on the far side.
After the short drive, the lake looked gorgeous with odd fish topping, for the league, we were in little sections of three and in mine today I had Les on peg 4 and Dave Phillips opposite on number 7. Plumbing it was really shallow to the left (towards peg 6) and I decided on two lines angled slightly to the right at top two plus two and 11.5 metres where I actually had some depth.
On the whistle, I fed two pots of loose groundbait with a few casters on both lines before starting at the longer distance. Les was into a skimmer first put in and then after a couple of minutes, my float submerged from view and a pleasing amount of elastic exited the pole tip before I netted a nice tench of 1.5lb. Next chuck I had a small skimmer, then a crucian and it looked like were we in for a good day with everybody catching fish.
After thirty minutes, I landed a lovely 2lb plus skimmer and then had two more in quick succession and it felt like a big weight was on the cards. Les was catching really well and he said Nick P was bagging next to him as well. I got to 30 fish after an hour and a half but then bites just tailed off, a look shorter resulted in no indications and it was like somebody had flicked a switch.
Les was still getting odd fish while Dave and Bish opposite were catching some lovely crucians and Leighton on peg 9 had landed a couple of carp and if anything his peg was getting stronger with a succession of skimmers, tench and crucians being deposited in his nets. I tried going to the right and left of my feed and then to 13 and 14.5 metres but just couldn’t catch, in the remaining four and a half hours I only added another four fish to my tally. It was a similar story for the rest of the anglers on our side with the exception of Les who kept putting odd fish in the net.
After packing up we started the weigh in with Ian ‘Bagger’ Burton on peg 1 who had 11lb 12oz, Parker ‘The Pole’ weighed 4lb 10oz, Nick had 12lb 8oz and then Les went into the lead with an excellent 27lb 6oz.
Bagger Burton weighed 11lb 12oz
Nick had loads of crucians in his 12lb 8oz
Les had a lovely net of fish for 27lb 6oz
My fish went 18lb 6oz, Dave weighed 11lb 8oz, Bish had 23lb 13oz and then it was Leighton, he had four carp for 14lb odd and then added a brilliant 35lb of silvers for a 49lb 4oz total. Tony C was last to weigh and had 13lb 1oz but had lost several carp.
I had some decent skimmers for 18lb 6oz
Group selfie!
Dave weighed 11lb 8oz on peg 7
Bish had 23lb 13oz for third place
Leighton had the top weight with a brilliant 49lb 4oz
Tony C weighed 13lb 1oz on peg 10
We did the results there and I sneaked into fourth place and picked up £15 but a disappointing day after such a great start.
Dillington had fished really well with Big Frank taking the top spot with 21lb 6oz of skimmers, chub and quality roach from peg 1, on the other side of the bush (peg 23), Dave Pope weighed 18lb 7oz of chub and skimmers for second place and Jake was third with 13lb 3oz of chub from peg 17. Thanks to Chris Norton for the photos*
Big Frank had the top weight at Dillington with 21lb 6oz from peg 1*
Dave Pope was second with 18lb 7oz*
Jake on peg 17 had five chub for 13lb 3oz and third place*
Terry ‘The Toast’ was fourth with a chub and some skimmers for 8lb on peg 20, Andy S on peg 9 weighed 5lb 6oz, Fieldy weighed 4lb 4oz of small fish and Norts had 4lb 1oz which included a decent skimmer. Rob C on peg 7 weighed 3lb 12oz and Danny B had 3lb 5oz on peg 18.
Terry ‘The Toast’ had skimmers and a chub for 8lb on peg 20*
Andy Saunders had some skimmers on the pole and feeder for 5lb 6oz*
Fieldy had lots of small fish for 4lb 4oz*
Norts had 4lb 1oz which included a nice skimmer*
Rob had a chub and some small fish for 3lb 12oz*
Danny B weighed 3lb 5oz on peg 18*
Coombe Farm
1 – Leighton Cox (Ilminster) – 49lb 4oz
2 – Les Braunton (Sharp MG) – 27lb 6oz
3 – Steve Bishop (Sharp MG) – 23lb 13oz
4 – Jamie Rich (Against Men and Fish) – 18lb 6oz
Dillington
1 – Frank Woodard (Ilminster) – 21lb 6oz
2 – Dave Pope (Stoke) – 18lb 7oz
3 – Jake Woodard (Ilminster) – 13lb 3oz
4 – Terry Morgan (Ilminster) – 8lb
After the first round, there are six anglers on one point, you can drop your worst result but obviously this doesn’t come into play yet.
Nick Payne – 1pt
Les Braunton – 1pt
Leighton Cox – 1pt
Frank Woodard – 1pt
Jake Woodard – 1pt
Dave Pope – 1pt
With nuggets from Norts, Nick and me, the charity total now stands at £233.
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
Also I still have copies of my book available from eBay here or Amazon here
And if you could spare five minutes to leave a nice review on Amazon, it would be very much appreciated.
Next up – Summerhayes
Coming soon – Lots more match reports
Check Out – My last match
