River Parrett – Evening Cup – 21st June 2025

I absolutely love the Stoke matches on the Parrett and I was like a kid at Xmas when I woke up Saturday morning! As it was the Evening Cup, the draw wasn’t until 2:30pm but a few of us met at The Ranch for lunch (thanks to Terry ‘The Toast’ for arranging), I went for ham, egg and chips and it was bloody lovely! More people began arriving and it was soon time for the bucket of doom, sixteen anglers fishing today and we’d be split into two sections for the Memorial Shield trophy which is decided over the six matches.

Pegs on my wish list were 8, 16, 28 and 29 which are normally really good and I would have fancied 1 or 2 but they weren’t being used today. Nick P went in early and got 28 so I followed suit and pulled out 21, not one of my first choices but I have drawn it once before and had a decent result catching some nice roach, so was fairly happy. We were able to drive down the first field thanks to the club members who have worked hard making sure we had access and clearing swims etc, it’s very much appreciated.

My swim looked nice and there was the odd small fish topping but it was blisteringly hot so I was thankful we were fishing into the early evening when it would hopefully cool down a bit. We got underway and I cupped in some hemp and caster down the middle and started inching a rig through with single maggot on the hook, two small dace quite quickly was encouraging but then I was getting minnows, double maggot didn’t help and I couldn’t get a bite on caster!

A tried a little light rig across and down the middle but after an hour all I could muster was the occasional minnow on maggot, the Grand Wiz was next door on 22 and he was really struggling as well and reported it was a similar story for Cliffy down on peg 23A. Last year I’d done really well fishing for eels in two of the matches at Parrett Works and it was always in my plans for today but I was a little apprehensive doing it so early as it tends to be all or nothing and once you’ve fed the chopped worm and caster, there’s no going back!

To be honest it would be quite interesting as when I drew peg 2 the previous season I had eight eels and lost two in the second half of the match which got me wondering just how many eels were present! Now I’ve only been fishing this stretch of the Parrett for five years but 3lb seems to be the magic number, now that weight doesn’t win many matches but it’ll normally get you in the frame and crucially earn good section points in the race for the coveted Memorial Shield.

I chopped up some worms and fed them via a bait dropper at the top of the swim where it was deepest and went straight over it with the head of a dendra on a size 16 Guru Feeder Special to 0.125mm Colmic Teck Stream (awesome combination). Quarter of an hour passed and just as doubts were beginning to creep in, a little dig on the float got me interested again. After a few more minutes, the float sailed away and I got a bit excited and struck too early (story of my life!). Next chuck, I lowered the rig in and it went straight under, this time I waited a few seconds before striking, plenty of elastic came out and there was no mistaking the characteristic fight of an eel.

It wasn’t a big fish but around 4oz it was very welcome and more than doubled my weight! I put another dollop of worm in via a small bait dropper and thought I might have to wait a little while for the next bite but it didn’t take long and a 12oz eel was safely netted. For the rest of the second hour, I was getting regular indications and added another four eels between 3-12oz to put me on around 2lb 8oz, I was feeding after every fish and it felt like there were a lot of eels there.

Of course, then the float just sat there but I wasn’t unduly worried and with more than half the match remaining, I was sure I’d get another couple at least. An hour went by without a touch and just as I was thinking I’d had my lot, the float sunk from view and I struck into solid resistance, this felt like a big fish only for the hook to pull out! I was gutted and felt sure that would cost me. Next put in, the float dipped and then began moving along the surface so I struck and again, this felt like a sizeable eel and the old butterflies were going in my stomach, it came to the top but wasn’t actually as big as I’d thought and something wasn’t right.

At one stage it snagged me and I had to put some sections back on to get it moving again, I could see it was hooked underneath and not in the mouth and was sure it would come off. I got it half in the net at one point only for it to reverse out which did nothing for my anxiety levels but thankfully it stayed on and I managed to land it safely. It was probably a pound so I’d hit my target and there were still ninety minutes to go. I really thought I might get another but despite feeding again, trying caster, feeding it twice and leaving it while I tried the lighter rig down the middle, I never had another fish or indication.

After packing up I walked down to watch the weigh in and get some photos and by all accounts it had fished hard with most people only admitting to ounces. That lasted until we reached the final few pegs where it was a different story and Mike Goad on 29 had a cracking net of chub and roach for 8lb 8oz and he’d lost several as well, Nick P weighed 3lb 1oz of quality roach and then Norts on 27 had 2lb 4oz which included a decent perch and he’d lost a big 2lb+ eel which he’d had in the landing net at one point!

Parker ‘The Pole’ on 25 was next and had 4oz (mainly small fish), Wayne C didn’t weigh on 24, Cliffy had 8oz and the Grand Wiz weighed 6oz. My seven eels, two dace and a few minnows went 3lb 9oz which was second in the section so a good start to the series.

Back at the results and there were some decent weights in the top section, Dave Pope had 5lb 9oz from peg 18, Danny Blunn weighed 3lb 12oz on 16, Dave Hilton did well on peg 5 with 2lb 14oz and Chris Deedee had 2lb 8oz from 10.

Section A
1 – Dave Pope (Stoke) – 5lb 9oz
2 – Danny Blunn (Stoke) – 3lb 12oz
3 – Dave Hilton (Stoke) – 2lb 14oz
4 – Chris Deedee (Stoke) – 2lb 8oz

Section B
1 – Mike Goad (Stoke) – 8lb 8oz
2 – Jamie Rich (Bait-Tech/Colmic) – 3lb 9oz
3 – Nick Payne (Ilminster) – 3lb 1oz
4 – Chris Norton (Stoke) – 2lb 4oz

I picked up £25 for second in the section and had really enjoyed fishing for eels again although after catching six in an hour I couldn’t believe I’d only had one more in the second half of the match. It’s interesting fishing and it feels like there are quite a few there as in my last three matches at PW I’ve had 19 eels in total although I’m still not sure they can be relied on and fishing for them all match could result in a serious blow out!

Norts very kindly picked up some bait for me and said to stick the £6 in the pot (cheers mate) and along with donations from Chris White (£2), Nick Payne (£2) and me (£2), The Nugget-O-Meter total moved up to £367.

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 – River Kenn

Coming soon – Lots more match reports

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