Revels Fishery – Open – 26th August 2025

I haven’t been to Revels for absolutely ages so booked a Tuesday off work to make a long weekend even longer! It’s one of my favourite venues and I just wish I could get down there more often.

There was the usual great turnout of 22 and we would be on Main and Dead Tree lakes today with the latter the place to draw for silvers at the moment although I’d also settle for peg 20 on Main. When my name was called there were quite a few good ones left in the bucket only for Dean to pluck out number 15 for me. It’s not used that often and is one of the pegs around the island (and also a corner) which aren’t normally great for silvers and I was really disappointed until somebody said it occasionally produces some decent skimmers.

When I got there, it was a big peg and I quite fancied it, there were a few tiny fish topping which hopefully was a good sign. On the whistle I fed a top four swim and three lines at 11.5 metres in an arc with little nuggets of groundbait and a few maggots before starting on a top kit down the edge. I was hoping to catch some small perch but after ten minutes the float hasn’t even wobbled which was a tad worrying.

Going out to 11.5 metres it took a while to get a bite and I hooked a skimmer only for it to come off as I shipped back! I finally put something in my net when the next indication resulted in a small perch and then I had a nice 8oz skimbob but it was short lived. Moving to the next line I had a perch and thought it would be a case of rotating round the swims nicking a fish or two from each but it was a real struggle. Woy was opposite on peg 13 and getting a few carp and Mark Sheppard on my right had landed a couple of big fish.

With two hours gone, I’d only added a few more fish including a 3oz skimmer but I was going nowhere fast and already hooking more carp than I would have liked. I went through the motions a bit over the next hour or so putting very little in the net so had a look on the short line and the float buried before I lost another carp. I’d also been feeding maggots by a bush on my left after seeing a couple of small fish top and you can probably guess what’s coming, first drop in I got snapped by a carp and then landed the next one.

I was at a bit of a loss at what to do, with only a couple of pounds of silvers in the net, it was pointless carrying on trying to catch the 10lb needed to frame so I decided to get some heavier kit out and fish for the carp, knowing that rarely ends well for me! A top kit with black hydro in and a slightly beefier rig with 0.15mm hooklength to a 16 Kaizen was assembled and I went in by the bush with three maggots on the hook.

It didn’t take long before I was into a big fish and it wasn’t doing a lot, it looked to be around 8lb but wasn’t hooked in the mouth, I thought I had a chance but after much faffing, the hook pulled. Things continued to go downhill, there were obviously quite a few fish present and a decent carp angler would have put a good weight together. I managed to land three carp but lost several including two big fish that I thought I had under control before they tore off and snapped me as my hooklength just wasn’t man enough and I didn’t have anything heavier.

At the all out, I’d finished up with a couple of pounds of silvers and five carp but had lost enough to probably frame and possibly even win it! When the scales got round to me, John Bass was leading the silvers with 10lb 13oz from peg 51 on Dead Tree followed by Neil Saxby who had 9lb 6oz and Roy had done well on 12 weighing 57lb 2oz and was looking good to make it two wins on the bounce. My meagre silvers catch went 2lb 4oz and my carp weighed 17lb 12oz and then Mark had some lumps for 38lb 2oz which put him second so far.

John had the top silvers weight with 10lb 13oz* (note the JB Tackle Transfer System – Patent pending!)

Neil Saxby on peg 46 had 9lb 6oz of silvers*

Brian Hayes on peg 7 was third with 36lb 14oz*

Roy made it two wins in as many days with an excellent 57lb 2oz from peg 13*

Mark Sheppard had some big carp for 38lb 2oz and second place from peg 16*

Rich B didn’t weigh on 18 and the Bob Crisp came close on 20 with 10lb 1oz of silvers and last to weigh was Terry Dell who had 8lb 12oz on peg 21. Photos courtesy of Revels*

Bob Crisp was second in the silvers with 10lb 1oz from peg 20*

1 – Roy Worth (Yeovil) – 57lb 2oz
2 – Mark Sheppard (Revels) – 38lb 2oz
3 – Brian Hayes (Revels) – 36lb 14oz

Silvers
1 – John Bass (Revels) – 10lb 13oz
2 – Bob Crisp (Revels) – 10lb 1oz
3 – Neil Saxby (Revels) – 9lb 6oz

Always a close frame at Revels and I’m looking forward to my next visit already although hopefully I’ll be on Dead Tree or Middle!

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