Clivey Fishery – Ruthie’s Cup – 29th June 2025

For the penultimate round of Ruthie’s Cup it was our turn at Clivey, a cracking little venue (which I last visited in 2011!) that I used to fish quite a bit with Les and the Chard boys. We went to ‘Spoons in Warminster for breakfast which was really good before heading to the fishery. Chris’s better half, Helen (or Val according to Craig!) met us and showed us the four pegs reserved for us, apparently number 8 is the flier (it won the last match with 42lb+) and 6 is the one to avoid (although Norts did win the first match off it with 22lb of mainly silvers).

Of course with my now broken drawing arm, I pulled out 6 while Craig got the one everyone wanted and I’d have to listen to him all day (not sure what I’ve done to deserve this form of slow torture!). To be honest I really liked the look of my swim, a corner peg with an island opposite, open water to my left and a few lilies on the inside, so lots of options. It always used to be chopped worm and caster for quality silvers along with the odd carp and that was my plan today. After finishing last in the section at Dillington, any chance of doing well in the league had long gone so I was just hoping for a nice days fishing.

I set up a rig to fish top kit to hand and another for a couple of lines at top four plus a further two at 11.5 metres (one towards the island and the other in the open water to my left), the depth was virtually the same on all the lines so I set up another similar rig incase of breakages.

We got underway and I fed little sloppy balls of groundbait containing chopped worms, casters, maggots and a few micros on two lines at top four plus 11.5 metres towards the point of the island and to the left in open water. Starting on a top kit to hand, it was a bite a chuck from roach, rudd and small skimmers along with a couple of decent hybrids and a 12oz carp.

I caught well for an hour or so but with Craig starting to catch a few carp, I probably stayed short a little too long so had my first look on the top four line. First put in I had a nice 8oz skimmer and it was lovely fishing, lots of decent skimmers, quality roach and the odd small carp. Feeding a little blob of the choppie mix after every couple of fish and swapping lines was working really well. I was bumping a few fish though due to using heavier elastic (a compromise to try and give me a chance with any carp I hooked) but still felt I was doing okay although every time I thought I was ahead of the ‘Scouse Sensation’ on the next peg, he’d land another carp.

What’s so nice about this kind of fishing is that you’re never quite sure what you’re going to hook next, I had a nice crucian/brown goldfish thingy around a pound, a big skimmer getting on for 3lb and then struck into something that felt a bit weird and turned out to be a 1.5lb catfish! Basically I swapped between the two top four lines for the rest of the match apart from a brief look at 11.5 metres an hour before the end but only had two small fish there.

I couldn’t really tell how ‘Parker The Pole’ on 10 was doing and Rob was on the opposite side behind the island so I couldn’t see him but it sounded like he was getting a few. Although I bumped/lost quite a few skimmers due to the elastic, I did land six out of the seven carp I hooked. By the all out I’d had a fantastic day, really enjoyable (even with Craig next door!) and I had 100 fish on the clicker but no real clue to what weight I had (nothing new there then!).

After packing up, we started the weigh in with Rob who had 11lb 7oz, ‘The Pole’ weighed 4lb 6oz and then we got to Craig, his silvers (or rather ‘greens’) went 4lb 15oz, the first carp net weighed 7lb 11oz and then his big net added 27lb 10oz to give him a total of 40lb 4oz. My carp went 10lb 13oz which was a little less than I thought so I needed my silvers to go 30lb and I knew I didn’t have that, it actually wasn’t far off though and 27lb 14oz saw me fall just short with 38lb 11oz, still a brilliant day’s fishing though.

After we’d loaded the cars, Helen supplied coffee and cake and then one of the day ticket anglers gave us all a piece of delicious home made flapjack to round off a thoroughly enjoyable day. I picked up £20 for second in the section but it did leave me wondering if a lighter elastic and more skimmers landed would have outweighed any lost carp, but then again, one more carp would have been enough. I’d love to fish that match again but that’s what makes it so addictive, no two days are ever the same.

Rob had 11lb 7oz on peg 12

Craig made it three out of three with 40lb 4oz

I weighed 38lb 11oz and loved every minute of it

Group 1 (Clivey)
1 – Craig Lyttle (Stoke) – 40lb 4oz
2 – Jamie Rich (Bait-Tech/Colmic) – 38lb 11oz

Group 2 (Private Pond)
1 – Nick Veale (Milo) – 44lb 8oz
2 – Terry Morgan (Stoke) – 29lb 8oz

Nick V had a stunning net of fish for 44lb 8oz

Terry ‘The Toast’ was second in the section with 29lb 8oz

Nick P weighed 27lb 11oz which included some lovely tench

Group 3 (Hebditch’s Pond)
1 – Harry Hebditch (Stoke) – 132lb 6oz
2 – Chris Norton (Stoke) – 74lb 8oz

Group 4 (Dillington)
1 – Chris White (Stoke) – 11lb 3oz
2 – Roy Worth (Stoke) – 7lb 14oz

So with one round remaining, Craig is the last remaining angler on a perfect score with Nick Veale just a point behind and three anglers (Norts, Grand Wiz and Burnsey) all on 6 points.

Another great weekend for the Nugget-O-Meter as Rob Cox generously donated £5 and Craig Lyttle gave me £10 of his winnings as the charity total shot up to £390.

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