We were in for a rather moist day at Todber on Saturday and as Ade and me waited for the last two tickets in the bucket, I began to mentally prepare myself for a peg at the near end (well it’s got to happen soon!). Adrian opened his card and was on 69 (one away from last week) while I was on 71 which seems to be a regular haunt for me as once again we’d drawn two great pegs!
At the all in, I fed small amounts of groundbait and caster on the top kit lines either side before putting in two lightly squeezed balls at 13 metres. Starting short I had a few small fish before pulling out of a decent fish, I then foulhooked a big skimmer which also came off and then to complete an unwanted hat-trick, I lost another good fish! Tucks next door on 72 was doing a much better job and netted several decent skimmers while Matt Skyme on my left had also got off to a good start, giving me a severe case of neckache in the process!
I did catch a few nice roach but no more skimmers so with an hour gone I had a look at 13 metres and had a nice run of several 8-12oz skimbobs before landing a proper one around 3lb which got me back in the hunt. Back on the short lines I had another decent skimmer but was still well behind Tucks who had landed at least five good fish. It was still chucking it down and by the sounds of it, bites had slowed up for everyone.
When Guy came for his lunchtime wander he reported that Nicky ‘The Roach Nurdler’ Collins had around 14lb and Pete Neate on 75 was admitting to a similar weight although by my reckoning Tucks had a bit more than that. I probably wasn’t a million miles away but needed a couple more of those big skimmers. It was slow going in the second half of the match and Matt decided on an early bath. I was getting the odd decent roach short and even had a couple of lovely little 4-6oz tench although I’m pretty sure I lost another big foulhooked skimmer and just before the end I hooked something large but as it snapped me, it might well have been a carp.
At the all out, I finished up with 48 fish which I thought might go around 20lb, the scales began at the near end and Andy ‘The Noodler’ Akehurst on 64 was leading the way with an excellent 27lb 10oz although a big 6lb catfish that he did well to land was a handy bonus! Nicky was second with 25lb of mainly roach and then Lee Jan got his revenge (and his pound back) when he weighed 11lb 12oz to Mr Dew’s 10lb 12oz. Matt had gone and then my fish went 21lb 2oz which would only be good enough for a nugget from Ade.
Andy ‘The Noodler’ Akehurst was second with 27lb 10oz on peg 64*
Nicky ‘The Nurdler’ was third with 25lb of mainly roach*
I weighed 21lb 2oz which included some decent skimmers*
Tucks then went into the lead with a nice net of fish weighing 29lb 6oz, Parker ‘The Pole’ had some big skimmers in his 12lb 2oz and then a rather moist Pete on the end wasn’t far away with 22lb 2oz which included a couple of nice tench. Photos courtesy of Todber Manor*
Tucks had a nice day to win with 29lb 6oz*
Parker ‘The Pole’ on 74 weighed 12lb 2oz*
A rather soggy Pete had a nice net of fish for 22lb 2oz on peg 75*
1 – Steve Tucker (Garbolino) – 29lb 6oz
2 – Andy Akehurst (Sensas) – 27lb 10oz
3 – Nicky Collins (Todber) – 25lb
After a clean sweep for Ade last Saturday, the pounds went the other way this week*
Another lovely day (apart from the weather) at Todber with some excellent weights and it’s always very close with just a big skimmer (or catfish!) making all the difference.
Ade’s pound helped the Nugget-O-Meter up to £312.
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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