Private Pond – Ruthie’s Cup – 14th June 2026

Round three and my group were at a little syndicate lake that we’ve kindly been allowed to fish again. Last year I drew the far end and had a cracking day winning the section with 31lb which included some lovely tench and crucians although in the previous two matches the near end has been the place to be with some big bream being caught.

After breakfast at Cartgate it was time for the draw and I had the last ticket which turned out to be the same peg as last time so I was happy enough with that. The lake looked lush although there was quite a bit of weed about, Stu Aplin was on my right with Nick V in the middle then Dave H was on peg 4 and Nick P had drawn the other end peg.

On the whistle I fed lines at five sections and 11.5 metres with chopped worm before starting on a top kit to hand. I caught a few roach, rudd and perch plus a little tench but it wasn’t particularly frenetic. Stu was catching lots of small fish on the whip and I could see landing nets being used further up the pond.

Moving out to 8.5 metres, it took a little while to get a bite and I started getting some chunky perch and then had a nice big 2lb skimmer. Regularly feeding a little dollop of chopped worm via a toss pot I began catching quite well and had a small tench, a decent crucian and then had another bream around the same size as the first. Swapping between two lines at 8.5 metres it was lovely fishing until bites began to slow with two hours to go so it was time to have a look on the longer line which I’d kept topped up.

I’ve caught some cracking roach and two more crucians but also rather annoyingly pulled out of two as well, then with only five minutes remaining I hooked and safely landed a lovely 2.5lb tench. I finished up with 84 fish (4 decent tench, 2 small ones, 6 crucians, 2 bream plus roach, rudd and perch). After packing up I took my kit back to the car before starting the weigh in with Nick P, his two nets went 27lb 9oz, Dave had 15lb 1oz and then Nick V came close with 25lb 3oz which included a big eel of 2lb 15oz, Stu had loads of small fish for 8lb 14oz and then my fish went 22lb 15oz.

Nick P’s 27lb 9oz included some cracking bream and tench

Dave H weighed 15lb 1oz of roach, rudd, perch and crucians

Nick V was second on the lake with 25lb 3oz which included a big snake

Stu had loads of fish for 8lb 14oz

I had a lovely days fishing to weigh 22lb 15oz

Group 1 (Private Pond)
1 – Nick Payne (Ilminster) – 27lb 9oz
2 – Nick Veale (Milo) – 25lb 3oz

Group 2 (Coombe Farm)
1 – Steve Chant (Stoke) – 69lb 15oz
2 – Chris Norton (Stoke) – 54lb 10oz

Group 3 (Stoke Pond)
1 – Andy Burns (Stoke) – 103lb 9oz
2 – Rob Wylde (Stoke) – 47lb 15oz

Group 4 (Dillington Pond)
1 – Dave Nash (Stoke) – 36lb 14oz
2 – Mark Twist (Stoke) – 23lb 10oz

Dave Nash had the top weight at Dillington with a brilliant 36lb 14oz of bream and chub (photo credit – Terry Morgan)

The WhatsApp group soon started pinging as the results came in and Yorkie on Stoke Pond had recorded the biggest weight of the series so far with a massive 103lb 9oz, Supersub Chanter had done the business at Coombe with 69lb 15oz of mainly carp while Dave Nash topped the lake at Dillington with an excellent 36lb 14oz of bream and chub.

In the league, it’s all very tight at the top with Nick V still leading on 4 points with the chasing pack of Norts, Dave N and Nick P all just a point behind with only weight separating them (as for me, my slide down the table is gathering pace!).

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