As I hadn’t been to Revels for a while, I booked a Tuesday off work and met up with Parker ‘The Pole’ for a Greggs brekkie before heading over the border into Dorset. There’s nearly always a good number fishing these matches and today was no exception with 22 anglers eagerly waiting to see which lake and peg they’d be on. The silvers weights have been quite low recently although it’s always very close with just ounces in it. If Woodlanders is used, that’s the place you need to draw and as I’ve never been lucky enough, I was hoping today would be the day!
As we waited for the draw, I couldn’t help but notice Bob C in this snazzy little number, check out that catalogue man pose!
As we got there quite early, our names were near the top of the list and Steve got 10 on Main which isn’t one I’d have fancied. Then it was my turn and Dean delved into the bucket and pulled out peg 60 on Middle (only the third time I’ve ever been on there) and although the lake used to be brilliant for silvers, it’s been tough at times this year and my peg hasn’t got much form at all.
After a short walk, things didn’t improve when I saw I had Nicky ‘The Finest Roach Nurdler in the West’ Collins opposite on peg 54 and with some good silvers anglers down on Woodlanders, I didn’t fancy my chances much although there were quite a few fish topping so hopefully we’d get some bites.
I set up a little 0.1 gram Colmic Elsa for fishing down the edges and a couple of rigs for two lines at 11.5 metres, straight out and angled to the right. At the allotted time, we got underway and I fed all my lines before starting down the edge where there’s normally a few small perch to be had. After 15 minutes and no bites, I knew it was going to be a struggle and it was the same story for Nick.
Out to 11.5 metres and after a few minutes, I finally got off the mark with a little roach, a couple of small skimmers and a hybrid followed but as the first sixty minutes came to a close, I hadn’t got a pound yet! The second sixty minutes was better and by swapping between the two longer lines I had a nice run of skimmers with two around the 8-10oz mark although I did pull out of a couple. Then just as I was starting to think a decent weight was on the cards, I couldn’t get a bite again. Around 15 mins passed and then Nicky had a good spell catching skimmers before it died for him and we were both sat there not getting any indications. I couldn’t see Steve C or Terry Dell to my right but Nicky said they were struggling as well.
It was really frustrating as there were still quite a few fish topping and at one stage I could see a large shoal of decent rudd near the reeds on my left, I flicked the light rig in amongst them and had a nice 3oz fish but then they disappeared. I did have a couple of skimmers on the drop including one of a pound so tried the little light rig to see if I could catch through the water but only had one tiny little fish that I didn’t even know was on!
As we neared the end of the match, I kept trying in the edge and did have two little perch and missed a bite, then in the last 10 minutes I had a small skimmer and a net roach to finish up with 31 fish which I thought would go between 4-5lb. The scales started on Main which meant we’d be last to be weighed in, when they reached us, Jon Bass was winning with 41lb 8oz from peg 8 and the leading silvers weights were Jamie Bumby with 7lb 14oz and Neil M who had 7lb 10oz, both from Woodlanders followed by Dave S with 5lb 13oz from peg 14 on Main.
Jon Bass had the top weight with 41lb 8oz*
Alan W was second with 37lb 3oz from peg 2 on Main*
Mark Sheppard on Woodlanders peg 71 had 35lb 11oz for third*
Roy weighed 32lb 8oz on peg 20*
Jamie Bumby won the silvers with 7lb 14oz from peg 73 on Woodlanders*
Neil M was second with 7lb 10oz on 74*
Dave S did well with 5lb 13oz of silvers on peg 14*
I still thought I’d be just short of framing but my fish went 6lb 12oz so I actually wasn’t a million miles away from the top two and as the scales worked their way round Middle, Steve C had 8lb 11oz of carp and silvers, Terry weighed 11lb 9oz and Nicky’s silvers went 3lb 12oz. Photos courtesy of Revels*
I was third in the silvers with 6lb 12oz*
1 – Jon Bass (Revels) – 41lb 8oz
2 – Alan Winsper (Revels) – 37lb 3oz
3 – Mark Sheppard (Revels) – 35lb 11oz
Silvers
1 – Jamie Bumby (Revels) – 7lb 14oz
2 – Neil Mcphillimy (Revels) – 7lb 10oz
3 – Jamie Rich (Bait-Tech/Colmic) – 6lb 12oz
I picked up £20 for third in the silvers and even though the weights are fairly modest, it’s always a close frame which makes for a good match and I love my Tuesday trips, it’s just a shame I can’t go more often.
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 – Todber Manor
Coming soon – Lots more match reports
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