After fishing nine matches in eleven days, it was back to work for a couple of days before the weekend arrived again and we were headed back to Todber for a silvers match on Ash. Of course the weather was forecast to be pants with 40mph winds and as Todber is pretty exposed at the best of times, this could be brutal!
After getting some bait and paying our pools, it was time to draw and I was hoping to see number 75 on my ticket or perhaps one of the middle pegs which had produced some good weights in the last match. What I didn’t want to see staring back at me was the number 63 which is one peg off the near end. I showed Guy and he basically just laughed, which is never a good sign!
A lot of fish have been coming out on the feeder and with the wind already horrendous I set up a little plastic cage feeder to fish across plus a little 0.3 gram Guru F1 Slim for the top two plus two line. I also got a Preston Innovations F1 Maggot out to fish two lines at 11.5 metres but I couldn’t see it getting much use. On the side tray were maggots, casters, worms, micros plus some Bait-Tech Special G F1 and Dark groundbait.
We got underway and after feeding all my lines, I started short and was getting bites on maggot straight away from small roach with the odd better one. Switching to caster, I began getting some lovely roach and also had a decent skimmer. Steve and Nigel Purchase either side of me both started on the feeder and were getting the odd fish while Nick up on 66 was getting some big skimmers on the pole.
With an hour gone I probably had 4-5lb in the net but felt that was off the pace as in the last match, you needed around 30lb to frame. I decided to have a look on the feeder line and first chuck, the tips gone round resulting in a decent 1.5lb skimmer. A couple of smaller ones followed and I thought I was in for a nice steady day but then I couldn’t get a bite.
The wind was getting worse and two hours in, both my neighbours decided to call it a day and packed up. Jonny Grey on 65 and Nick were starting to catch well on the feeder whereas I wasn’t getting many indications at all but stuck with it as I was sure you’d need skimmers to frame today. I did pull out of one at the net and then hooked a fish that felt like a big skimbob all the way in but then woke up and snapped me!
With two hours remaining, I was going nowhere fast so had another look short where I’d been feeding casters and started getting some lovely roach along with the odd skimmer. I hooked a big fish which didn’t feel like a carp and a big perch around 1.5lb was a welcome bonus. When it’s twin followed shortly after, I was left wishing I’d just fished caster short all day.
On the whistle I was playing a fish which I was hoping would be a tench but turned out to be a small carp. The scales team arrived and I was first to weigh, my 76 fish went 16lb 12oz, Jonny had 23lb 10oz and then Nick had done well again with 24lb 8oz. Photos courtesy of Todber Manor*
I weighed 16lb 12oz of roach, skimmers and perch*
Jonny had some big skimmers for 23lb 10oz*
Nick was third on the day with 24lb 8oz*
There were a few low double figure weights and then Mark Harper on 72 had caught some big skimmers on the feeder for 36lb 2oz and second place behind Pete Neate on 74 who had the top weight on the day with an excellent 39lb 12oz on the feeder.
Mark Harper weighed 36lb 2oz of big skimmers*
Pete Neate had the top weight on the day with 39lb 12oz from peg 74*
So a nice days fishing with plenty of bites but I was left kicking myself a bit as I’m sure 25-28lb was possible today if I’d just fished the short pole all day.
Nick and me both stuck £2 in the pot for today and tomorrow and along with a pound kindly donated by Jenny, the Nugget-O-Meter climbed to £137.
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
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