After the disappointment of Perry St last week I was really looking forward to getting back on my favourite venue, Dillington pond. We had a fairly large turnout of 16 anglers too, including Scott Russell and Ashley Tomkins who don’t fish the pond much but have enjoyed plenty of success when they have. I drew peg 11 on the road side and when I got to the pond, there was a tinge of colour following the heavy rain we’ve had and plenty of fish topping.
I had Roger Russell on my left and Terry Morgan on my right although I couldn’t see him due to the trees. Initially I had intended to set up a waggler but couldn’t because of the overhanging branches. Also with time short before the whistle I set up a Drennan Roach float for fishing at 10 metres plus a Drennan Squatt float to fish up in the water. The former had 0.12 mm bottom and size 18 Kamasan B611 and the latter 0.08 mm and size 20 B511. I mixed up a bag of Dynamite Roach groundbait and was ready for the off.
Neil Dring blew his whistle for the start and I cupped in two balls at 10 metres in front of me and another two at the same distance at an angle to my right. Starting with caster on the hook I was soon into small roach and the odd perch. I could see most people catching the odd small fish and Roger had an eel on the waggler. After an hour I had 19 fish and from comments around the pond it seemed the fish fest we had anticipated wasn’t going to happen. Ashley opposite me had landed a couple of eels but Scott on the hot bush peg was still biteless.
I tried my light up in the water rig as there were plenty of fish topping and quickly had a couple of small roach and a better one of around 8oz. Then it just died and I was struggling to get a bite as were most people. Richard White and Martin Heard had both caught a decent perch each and then Scott latched into a chub followed by another and another. When he reached seven chub we all knew nobody was going to catch him. The only break in his rhythm (if you’ll excuse the pun!) was when a fish snagged him and he snapped a section of his £3000 Daiwa Arity pole. Nobody laughed (much!). He was soon back in action and landing fish.
I had by now tried both rigs and maggot, caster and hemp on the hook but to no avail and was stuck on 33 fish. Roger then had a chub from the lilies by his feet and I reckoned he was now ahead of me. Then Neil Dring on the other side of the bush to Scott starting catching the odd chub as well although he lost more than he caught. I was sat with caster on the hook hoping for an eel or two but never had a bite for the remainder of the match. The whistle went to the relief of everybody (except Scott).
A new chap called Alvin Jones from Taunton had the scales so I went to watch the weigh in. Winner of the last match, Steve Parker had really struggled to weigh in 1lb 7oz, Alvin had a perch around 3lb plus bits to weigh 3lb 15oz. Terry had 2lb 2oz and then I weighed 2lb 15oz which was better than I thought, Roger weighed 2lb 14oz followed by Martin Heard who had 3lb 11oz. Janders only had 1lb 1oz and I pocketed his pound very gratefully. Scotty won easily with 16 chub for a new pond match record of 27lb 8oz – well done mate. Neil had 3 chub for second with 4lb 15oz and Graham Field had a whip caught 4lb 3oz of small fish for third. So apart from Scott’s freakish weight the rest of the weights were pretty close.
Fish never stopped topping all day and I reckon a waggler could have seen me catch those extra fish to get me in the frame. I ended with 3 section points so not a disaster. Next week is the last match of the spring league at Perry St so lets hope my fortunes change for the better.
1 – Scott Russell (Yeovil and District Angling Centre) – 27lb 8oz
2 – Neil Dring (Ilminster) – 4lb 15oz
3 – Graham Field (Taunton) – 4lb 3oz
4 – Alvin Jones (Taunton) – 3lb 15oz
League so far (dropping the worst result)
Neil Dring – 1 point
Jamie Rich – 1 point
Scott Russell – 1 point
Alvin Jones – 1 point
Steve Parker – 1 point
