A day off work on a Tuesday can only mean one thing, Revels! I made a quick pit stop in Yeovil for brekkie before heading across the border into bandit country. 21 fishing today so a fantastic turnout and we would be spread over Main and Dead Tree lakes. Draw time arrived and I was praying for a nice silvers peg, Duffers got a good one in the shape of peg 6 and then my wish was granted when Dean pulled out number 7 for me (and is back on my Xmas card list!). It’s the first time I’ve been on it and one I’ve always wanted to fish.
As it was going to be a hot day, Bob was modelling the latest in sun shade technology
My peg looked lovely, lots of open water although there were loads of carp mooching about as well. I set up my usual 0.2 gram Bobbies to fish two lines at 11.5 metres straight out and angled to the left plus a 0.3 gram F1 Carbon Slim for top kit to hand. The side tray contained maggots, disco pinkies and some Bait-Tech Special G F1 Dark.
We got underway and I fed all three lines before kicking off on the short swim, in recent matches it’s taken a little while to get going. After thirty minutes all I had to show for my efforts was a small perch, a gudgeon and a lost carp. Thinking it might be fishing hard, I asked Duffers how he was doing and he replied he had 21 fish, so I was already playing catch up!
11.5 metres was next and it wasn’t great there either, eventually the float did go under and I had a little 3oz skimbob. A few more followed and by toss potting in a little groundbait and regularly swapping lines, I began catching quite well, mainly small 2-6oz skimmers along with the odd perch, roach, rudd and gudgeon. I thought if I could get to 64 fish, averaging 3oz apiece it would give me in the region of 12lb which is normally there or thereabouts.
It was just lovely fishing and apart from losing one early on, I hadn’t hooked another carp. Around the halfway point, Darren wandered over and said he’d caught small fish really well for the first couple of hours but had slowed right up. If anything, my swim was getting stronger and after my slow start, I didn’t think there was now much between us.
I’d still been feeding maggots short and had another look with around ninety minutes remaining and had two small perch followed by a four ouncer but then lost another carp and I could also see a big tail waving about so that was enough of that. Back on the longer lines, I continued getting the odd fish and then with fifteen minutes left, had two decent skimmers around a pound apiece before hooking a carp that curtailed my big finish somewhat!
I did manage a few more fish (and lost another two carp) before time was called on a really enjoyable days fishing. My final tally was 68 fish which I thought would go 10-12lb, Darren had finished up with well over a hundred fish and was admitting to 8-10lb.
As the scales made their way around Main after weighing in Dead Tree, I went to have a look at the board, Terry Dell had the top weight so far with 51lb 1oz from peg 22 but only 3lb 1oz was leading the silvers and the other lake hadn’t fished well at all. We got to Duffers and he wasn’t far out with estimate when his fish went 16lb 3oz!!! I was next and my fish weighed 14lb 3oz so I lost a nugget but it had been pretty tight in the end. Photos courtesy of Revels*
Terry Dell had 51lb 1oz of carp on peg 22*
Duffers had loads of fish to win the silvers with 16lb 3oz*
I had a lovely day catching 68 fish for 14lb 3oz*
Stuart Randell on peg 9 had 4lb 9oz, Bob weighed 6lb 1oz of silvers to go into third spot and then Andy Miller on peg 10 went into the overall lead with 58lb 2oz before the scales headed off to weigh the last few pegs round the island.
Bob was third in the silvers with 6lb 1oz from peg 10*
The ever consistent (on carp or silvers) Andy Miller won with 58lb 2oz of carp from peg 11*
The new improved Slimline Al, was back in the frame with 39lb 10oz of carp from peg 14*
1 – Andy Miller (Revels) – 58lb 2oz
2 – Terry Dell (Revels) – 51lb 1oz
3 – Alan Winsper (Alan’s Angling) – 39lb 10oz
Silvers
1 – Darren Duffield (Ilminster) – 16lb 3oz
2 – Jamie Rich (Against Men and Fish) – 14lb 3oz
3 – Bob Crispe (Revels) – 6lb 1oz
I picked up £30 for second in the silvers and I love fishing the Tuesday matches, it’s just a shame I can’t get down there 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 – Covey Fisheries
Coming soon – Lots more match reports
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