Coombe Farm – 25th May 2025 – Against Men and Fish

I didn’t manage to get in for IAA’s Summer League this year which was being held at Coombe Farm so limited to nine pegs but when Jake messaged asking if I could stand in for him, of course I said yes as it’s really nice silvers fishing. It’s a six match series and at the halfway point Jake, Dave Pope and Part Time Priv were leading the way with two points (dropping the worst result) so the pressure was on a bit as I didn’t want to let him down. The rotation of pegs put me on 7, 8 or 9 which is probably the best section for silvers although I was hoping to avoid 7 which is the end peg on the far bank and to do well you normally need to catch some big carp.

We met at the bowling club for breakfast and it was nice to see the Grand Wiz who was fishing as a super sub for Priv. When it was our turn to draw, Dave Phillips got peg 8, then Les pulled out 9 which meant I was left with 7 – bugger! After a short drive we arrived at the pond which looked lovely with quite a few fish topping. I set up rigs for lines at top kit plus two and 11.5 metres plus a heavier rig for up the edge to my right in case I needed to fish for carp.

Rob shouted the all in and I fed the short line with a little nugget of groundbait and a few maggots before feeding two swims at 11.5 metres, one negatively and the other more positively. First put in on the top kit plus two line, the float settled, there was a little dig before it slid away and a 6oz skimmer was great start. Next chuck I had a lovely crucian and was getting regular bites so fed another top four line to the left so I could swap between the two. I did hook what felt like a better fish (tench or small carp) but it snagged me in some weed and I added some pole sections to change the angle but the hook pulled out.

The first two hours were lovely catching skimmers and crucians plus an eel although I did get snapped by a carp and lost another decent fish in the same weed as before. Dave P and Les to my left were catching well, the Grand Wiz on 5 landed a nice tench but had been beaten up by a couple of carp, Dave Pope was fishing the waggler and netting some decent skimmers along with a couple of eels. Leighton on 3 had landed a couple of small carp and some skimmers on the feeder, Rob was fishing short and catching crucians and then I couldn’t really see how Norts on 1 or Fieldy opposite on peg 10 were doing.

Normally here, you catch well for 2-3 hours before it slows and it’s a case of trying to keep putting something in the net but today I was still getting enough indications on the short line and it was nearly 4 hours before I had a look at 11.5 metres. It wasn’t frantic but being patient I was getting the odd skimmer and crucian by swapping between the longer lines although I did also pull out of two skimbobs shipping back.

The Grand Wiz did well to land a big carp and when he added a second he was probably winning the match. I had another eel of around 10oz but bites at 11.5 metres were now very sporadic so I had another go on the short lines but they’d died a death. Just before the end, I hooked a better fish which felt like a small carp and I carefully shipped back wanting to make this one count only for it to snag me in the same place as the two fish I’d lost earlier. I stuck some more sections on to try and push the fish out but the poxy hook pulled and I was sure that was going to cost me as Les had caught well.

At the all out, I’d finished up with 43 fish plus some very small skimmers I hadn’t clicked. Les was admitting to 20lb+ and I was sure I’d be just shy of that. I had the scales for our side so I went up to weigh Fieldy first, he had a big carp of 11lb 10oz plus 13lb of silvers, Les weighed 21lb 12oz, Dave Phillips had 11lb 8oz and then it was me, I pulled my net out and this was going to be very close, Les called it at 23lb 8oz – phew!

Fieldy weighed 24lb 10oz which included a carp of 11lb 10oz

Les had a nice net of silvers for 21lb 12oz

Dave Phillips weighed 11lb 8oz on peg 8

I had a lovely day catching skimmers, crucians and two eels for 23lb 8oz

The final score for the Grand Wiz was 6-3 to the carp but he weighed 36lb 10oz (including 9lb 7oz of silvers) to win the section for Priv (and it was the top weight on the day). Dave Pope had 15lb 2oz, Leighton weighed 17lb 2oz to win his section, Rob C had 9lb 12oz and Norts weighed 18lb 10oz which included several tench. Photos courtesy of Leighton Cox*

Chris White weighed 36lb 10oz including three big carp*

Dave Pope had 15lb 2oz of skimmers, crucians and eels*

Norts had 18lb 10oz which included several nice tench

Section 1 (Pegs 1, 5 and 10)
1 – Chris White (Stoke) – 36lb 10oz
2 – Graham Field (Taunton) – 24lb 10oz
3 – Chris Norton (Stoke) – 18lb 10oz

Section 2 (Pegs 2, 3 and 4)
1 – Leighton Cox (Ilminster) – 17lb 2oz
2 – Dave Pope (Stoke) – 15lb 2oz
3 – Rob Cox (Ilminster) – 9lb 12oz

Section 3 (Pegs 7, 8 and 9)
1 – Jamie Rich (Bait-Tech/Colmic) – 23lb 8oz
2 – Les Braunton (Chard) – 21lb 12oz
3 – Dave Phillips (Taunton) – 11lb 8oz

So I won the section for Jake, picking up £40 in the process and had a lovely days fishing but with the Wiz also getting maximum points for Part Time Priv and two rounds remaining, it’s still all to play for. If I remember (and ever catch up with the back log of posts), I’ll try and get the final results and put them on the blog.

Two amazing gestures in the morning as the Grand Wiz gave me a very generous £10 at breakfast while Norts picked up some bait for me but wouldn’t accept any payment and told me to stick the £8 in the pot as the Nugget-O-Meter shot up to £292.

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

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