Todber Manor – Silvers Open – 12th July 2025

After spending the previous two Saturdays at the near end, I wasn’t sure whether to stick with having one of the last tickets or go into the draw bag earlier. In the end I decided on the former as it had been working pretty well. So once again Mr Dew and me waited until just two pegs remained. Ade got 65 which wasn’t really where you needed to be while I ended up with 70, slap bang in the epicentre!

I set up a waggler, short pole (6 metres) and a little rig for down the edge and on the side tray I had some Bait-Tech Sweet Sticky micros (which smell amazing), casters, maggots and lots of corn. We got underway and I fed the pole lines before pinging some corn across. Starting on the top kit I had a couple of roach while Andy A on 68 had several better skimmers on his 6 metre line so I switched to the waggler with corn on the hook.

It took a little while to catch on the wiggler but I began getting some decent skimbobs along with a lone ide, Pete Neate next door was also landing some big skimmers. Despite having my corn in water, wasps were a bloody nuisance (for everyone) and they were even trying to get at it while I was putting it on the hook and I just knew I’d be lucky not to get stung today! I’ve caught pretty well for half the match although was missing loads of bites so I had a look on the 6 metre line and had a nice run of 8-10oz skimmers but both Pete and Andy were also catching well.

Back on the wiggler I was landing some big skimbobs and then reached for the catapult and there must have been one of those yellow and black critters on the underside of the handle and it let me have it! I returned the favour and made sure I checked my catty before picking it up for the rest of the match. They really were a pain and I hate them with a passion, I wonder if any of the tackle companies make a bee keepers suit? I reckon there’s a definite gap in the market for one!

I continued catching odd skimmers and at the all out, I’d finished up with 53 skimmers, an ide and a few roach, a lovely days fishing but I didn’t really have a clue how I’d done and thought both Andy and Pete might have beaten me. The scales started with Norts on 75 who had 11lb 2oz, then Glynn and McKenzie had really enjoyed their first visits and both weighed 26lb 14oz. Photos courtesy of Todber Manor*

Glynn had 26lb 14oz on 74*

McKenzie did really well and had exactly the same weight as his dad*

Pete had another fantastic net of fish for 37lb 4oz and I was sure I didn’t have that, I pulled my second net out and thought it might be 15-16lb, the first net felt a little more although I still thought it would be just short only for my weight to be called at 45lb 12oz! Andy also had a cracking catch of skimmers for 32lb 4oz, Martin on 67 weighed 13lb 6oz, Ade had 14lb 8oz and last but definitely not least was Woy on 64 who weighed 21lb 2oz.

Pete framed again, this time with 37lb 4oz for second place*

I had a lovely day (apart from being attacked by that jasper!) to win with 45lb 12oz of mainly skimmers*

Andy on 68 was third with 32lb 4oz*

1 – Jamie Rich (Bait-Tech/Colmic) – 45lb 12oz
2 – Pete Neate (Todber) – 37lb 4oz
3 – Andy Akehurst (Sensas) – 32lb 4oz

Ade’s sexy new headwear finally made an appearance (not so sure about the legs though!)*

Pounds from Ade, Roy Worth and Norts took the Nugget-O-Meter to £406.

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