I fished my first ever short pole match at Acorn last year and really enjoyed it so was looking forward to this one and the 30 spaces filled up in no time. Chris explained the rules (top kit plus two sections) and the payout which would be the top two overall and then three sections and also the top silvers in each section, there would also be optional superpools for overall and silvers which I think is a great idea.
Draw time arrived and I was obviously hoping for a nice silvers peg and hoping to avoid the new bit after struggling on it a few weeks back. Going in the bucket late has been working well for me in recent matches so when I saw 27 had gone I thought it was safe to go for it but pulled out the peg next door which wasn’t in the script! When I got to my peg, Bunghole Bob was setting up on it but after going and checking, he relocated to 27.
Peg 28 for me
He was cautiously optimistic after doing well on 29 recently and he had 25lb of silvers that day but he did say he had plenty of room while most pegs were in today. I set up two Preston Innovations F1 Maggots to fish the top two plus two straight out and then another line a section shorter angled to the left. Nice and simple side tray with two pints of casters, maggots plus some Bait-Tech Special G F1 and Dark groundbait.
On the whistle I fed both lines with groundbait and maggots before starting on the top two plus two line. I had an indication quite quickly and it felt like a decent skimmer before it woke up and turned out to be a 3lb carp hooked in the cheek. The next bite followed not long after and as soon as I struck, I knew it was a tench and a lovely fish around a pound opened my silvers account. Bunghole had his cameras set up and as he hadn’t caught yet, I was hoping my hair looked alright in case he needed some action footage for his next YouTube video!
It was actually fishing really hard at our end with nobody really catching much and after an hour, I hadn’t added to my two early fish and Bob had one decent skimmer so went for a walk to see how it was fishing on the fancied pegs. On his return he said the whole lake was fishing trickier than normal although odd carp were being caught and somebody already had 15lb of silvers.
I tried the shorter line and had a hybrid, a decent roach and a skimmer in quick succession but then couldn’t get a bite again. After an hour and a half, Bob packed his cameras away along with the rest of kit and headed home so I’m guessing there won’t be a video of this match anytime soon and my five minutes of fame will have to wait!
To be honest, he probably had the right idea but I stuck at it as the eternal optimist in me kept thinking it would only take a couple of those big tench to give me a chance of winning my silvers section. Paul Faiers was on my left and getting some nice skimmers and Tony Rixon next to him began catching carp quite well shallow.
I’ve not had another bite on the shorter line and at top two plus two, if I just sat and waited, eventually it would go under but I was having to wait ages and I’ve only added four more skimmers and a 2lb tench during the remainder of the match. I probably should have started a new line on the inside or tried fishing shallow but I must admit I was just going through the motions somewhat and wasn’t too upset to hear the final whistle.
Nick had drawn 24 over by the new concrete bridge and caught 10lb of silvers but had lost two big tench which was costly as I think Jerry Salisbury won his silvers section with 11lb+. Tony had done well weighing 90lb and Paul had a nice net of silvers for 13lb, I chucked back the carp and my silvers weighed a lowly 7lb 5oz.
1 – Lee Masey (Acorn) – 135lb 9oz
2 – Martin Rayet (Acorn) – 125lb 10oz
3 – Glen Calvert (Acorn) – 113lb 15oz
Silvers
1 – Tony Thick (Acorn) – 36lb 5oz
2 – Tom Thick (Tom Thick Baits) – 24lb 5oz
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 – Todber Manor
Coming soon – Lots more match reports
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