Todber Manor – Silvers Open – 4th October 2025

My first match back after Thailand was a silvers open at Todber and despite the forecast being horrendous with 50mph+ winds, I was quite looking forward to it although the weather put a few off as we were down to 7 from the 12 originally booked in. I drew peg 68 which is definitely in the right area and three empty pegs to my left couldn’t hurt either!

The wind wasn’t too bad as we were setting up, so along with a little cage feeder, I also got the pole out to fish a short line at five sections. We got underway and I started on the feeder across with double dead red maggot on the hook, I pulled out of a small fish before getting off the mark with a nice perch around 8-10oz. I was getting quite a few indications and had three ide, dropping the feeder slightly shorter, I had three skimmers from 8-12oz followed by a two pounder quite quickly and then hooked a fish that was pulling a bit harder. I was hoping it wouldn’t be a carp so was well happy when a 2lb tench came to the top and was safely netted.

With ninety minutes gone, I probably had 6-7lb and by all accounts was doing well, I did hook a carp that straightened the hook out and my bites slowed right up. The wind was getting worse and there was lots of swearing coming from the anglers trying to fish the pole so I decided to pack mine away and not have to worry about possible breakages. I lost another carp and after such a good start, it felt like it was going a bit pear shaped but then an ide and perch of a pound settled me down a bit.

A 2lb skimmer put me on around 9-10lb which according to bank walkers was winning although apparently Guy on 75 was admitting to 7lb and with Adrian Dew catching some decent skimmers and over two hours to go, anything could happen. A big 3lb skimmer was very welcome but I also lost another carp and you could see them swimming up and down the far bank. Pete Neate on 70 started catching some nice skimmers towards the end while my bites were now few and far between.

I did manage one more big skimmer and right on the whistle had one of 6-8oz which I thought would give me 12-13lb, possibly a little more. Andy A on 64 said he had 8lb, Ade was admitting to 10-12lb and if Guy had found a few more, this could all be very close. The scales started at the near end where Tim M weighed 5lb 11oz, Andy A had 9lb 10oz, my fish went 16lb 6oz, Pete had 7lb 8oz, Adrian weighed 14lb 6oz, Ade West on 73 had 8lb 6oz and Guy ended up with a level 7lb so I won and picked up £60 plus nuggets from Adrian and Guy. Photos courtesy of Todber Manor*

I had some decent skimmers, ide, perch and a nice tench for 16lb 6oz*

Adrian on 71 was second with 14lb 6oz*

1 – Jamie Rich (Bait-Tech/Colmic) – 16lb 6oz
2 – Adrian Dew (Todber) – 14lb 6oz

Adrian Dew kindly gave me £5’s worth of nuggets he’s claimed in recent weeks and with the pounds I took off him and Guy, The Nugget-O-Meter rose to £573.

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