I’ve fished quite a few Fish South qualifiers at various venues and although I’ve not disgraced myself (even managing to frame a few times), you need to win the match to qualify which is a lot easier said then done with some of the best silvers anglers in the country fishing. I met Scotty for breakfast and it was nice to have a catch up as I haven’t seen him for ages. Then it was a short drive to the fishery and after paying pools, getting some bait etc it was soon time to draw. I pulled out 36 which I was happy with as Dave Wilmott had won the silvers from it last weekend, Scotty drew peg 1 while Paul ‘Treasure Island’ Faiers was on peg 2 yet again and Martin Rayet was in close proximity to his favourite swim on peg 4.
Peg 36 faces the island
As I was setting up, there were quite a few silvers topping and I really fancied it, I set up rigs for various swims in the deep water and across to the far bank. On the whistle I fed all my lines before starting by the island pinging maggots, I was expecting to catch ide quite quickly but couldn’t get a bite while young Ben on 38 and Paul F were getting a fish every chuck. I did hook two carp but it was an hour before I put my first ide in the net and the writing was already on the wall.
Moving to the 11.5 metre line in the open water to my left I had four ide in fairly quick succession but it was short lived, Scotty was now catching well and I could see Martin regularly landing fish. Another try by the island was fruitless and similarly the swim in the middle where I’d been feeding maggots since the start resulted in no bites despite some fishy looking bubbles coming up.
In recent matches I haven’t had much from the short line and today was no different, I did pull out of a decent fish and came back with a scale on the hook but only managed an ide, a decent roach that was foulhooked, a small one and then just before the all out, I had a nice 2.5lb tench. With several people admitting to around 20lb there was no point in me troubling the scales so I chucked back around 7-8lb.
The early leader was Vince Brown on 31 with 20lb 12oz, Alvin Jones was just shy of that with 20lb 10oz on 23 and Stu White did well with 19lb 3oz from 19. Dave Wilmott then went into the lead with an excellent 21lb 3oz from peg 9 which was top until the scales reached the island, Scotty had 19lb 13oz, Paul weighed 22lb 5oz and then Martin had 24lb 8oz of tench, skimmers and ide to win on the day and qualify for the final. Photos courtesy of Acorn*
Dave Wilmott was third with 21lb 3oz*
Paul Faiers finished runner up with 22lb 5oz*
Martin had the top weight and qualified for the final with an excellent 24lb 8oz*
1 – Martin Rayet (Acorn) – 24lb 8oz (Q)
2 – Paul Faiers (Acorn) – 22lb 5oz
3 – Dave Wilmott (Acorn) – 21lb 3oz
As always it was a really close match with seven weights between 19lb and 24lb although I’ve really struggled and didn’t feel I was ever at the races today. To be honest, I’m not even sure what I’d do different if I could fish it again, I’ve obviously not made a very good job of it and I’m sure the peg was worth a lot more.
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 – Summerhayes
Coming soon – Lots more match reports
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