I enjoyed my first match on the newly revamped Ash lake a few weeks back and was looking forward to having another go this Saturday. Nick, Parker The Pole and Norts also booked in so we assembled at Cartgate for a hearty breakfast first. Guy was in charge of proceedings today and deprived us of our pools money whilst proving his multi-tasking excellence by dishing out the abuse at the same time! Full house today with some fantastic silvers anglers including Stu White, Jack Stamp and Nicky Collins to name a few.
On my last visit the far end had produced the top three weights so when the draw was announced, that was where I was hoping to be. Nick got 62 which is the first peg while PTP and Norts got 71 and 72 respectively. There were only a few tickets left when I drew and Nick asked what peg I had, I hadn’t opened my little card yet and joked I had 75 and when I ripped it open, that number was staring back at me! Probably the best swim on the lake, although last Saturday, the top two had come from the middle pegs.
As is normal at Todber, it was pretty windy but thankfully it was off our backs, I set up a Preston Innovations F1 Maggot to fish two lines at 11.5 metres plus a little 0.3 gram Guru F1 Slim for top two plus two. The side tray contained maggots, disco pinkies, casters, worm, micros plus some Bait-Tech Special G F1 and Dark groundbait.
At the all in, I fed the short line with a little nugget of gb and a few casters, a longer line straight out with gb and chopped worm and lastly another 11.5 metre swim angled to the right with half a pot of micros and a few maggots.
I started short but after ten minutes without a bite I went long and first drop in had a 2oz roach on double pinkie, switching to maggot I had a nice run of fish including some decent roach and skimmers before it slowed. Moving to the micros line, the float buried first put in and I had my best fish so far, a 2-3lb skimmer. Another of a pound followed and I had a brilliant spell nicking two fish from each line.
Around two hours in, I pulled out of a good fish and when I checked, I’d suffered the dreaded maggot folding over the hook point. By being patient on the other line I had a couple more skimmers but after a brilliant start it felt like it was fading. I fed both the longer lines and came back on the short swim where I’d been feeding casters since the start. A roach first drop in was encouraging and although not bagging, I was putting some fish in the net, mainly roach along with a nice 10oz perch and a couple of decent hybrids. I also hooked a fish that gave me the run-around before the hook pulled, it felt like a small carp but could have been a tench or perch.
Guy came for a wander and I asked how they were doing at the other end and he said it was fishing well with several people admitting to mid to high teens. I probably had 15-20lb so was in the mix but was sure I’d need skimmers to do well so went back on the longer lines. The rest had done it some good as I started getting some big skimmers although I did lose a decent perch at the net.
Towards the end of the match, I concentrated on the groundbait line and was feeding a little nugget with some maggots every chuck and it just got better and better. As the five hours came to a close, I had around 70 fish and thought I must have 40lb+.
The scales began at the other end while we were packing up so when they reached a couple of pegs to my left, I went to have a look at the weigh board. Stu White was leading with an excellent 33lb 10oz from 65 and Lee Woodhouse was not far behind with 31lb. Nick had a nice day on 62 weighing 22lb 2oz but the middle of the lake had been quite hard, PTP chucked back and Norts had 10lb 14oz. I pulled my net out and it was closer than I thought but thankfully my 35lb 10oz was enough to win on the day. Thanks to Todber for the photos*
I had a brilliant day catching skimmers, roach, rudd, hybrids and a perch for 35lb 10oz*
Stu White was second with a lovely net of skimmers, roach and a bonus tench for 33lb 10oz*
Lee Woodhouse had some big skimmers in his third placed 31lb*
Jack Stamp weighed 22lb 8oz which included a cracking tench*
Nick had 22lb 2oz of skimmers on peg 62*
Nicky Collins weighed 19lb 12oz*
Leo Marriott had 18lb 14oz of skimmers and roach*
2 – Stu White – 33lb 10oz
An awesome days fishing and a nice pick up of £110, I probably spent too long fishing short and I also wish I’d tried fishing past the feed but I was well chuffed to win my first match at Todber and I’m looking forward to my next visit.
At breakfast, Norts very kindly donated £2 to the pot and with £2 each from Nick and me (for today and tomorrow) the Nugget-O-Meter has broken triple digits and now stands at £102.
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
Check Out – My last match
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