Round four and it was back to Dillington and we were on pegs 1, 2 and 5, all great pegs capable of winning although in the last two rounds peg 5 has won the section and peg 1 has struggled. Of course that was the peg I ended up on with Andy Saunders on 2 and Bish on 5. It was also the weekend of the Shindig festival so we’d have live music while we fished and judging by some of the exotic smells coming from the site, all I can say is, it’s a good job there’s no drug testing in match angling!
I haven’t fished peg 1 for years and I’d forgotten how deep it is, I set up the only two rigs I had with enough line on them and plumbed up at 10 metres straight out and off the end of the bush to my left. My side tray was practically creaking under the weight of all my bait today, three pints of casters, two pints of maggots, hemp, corn, dead reds plus Bait-Tech Pro Nat Dark and Special G F1 Dark.
On the whistle I fed two balls of groundbait and a full pot of casters, hemp and corn on both lines before starting straight out with double maggot on the hook. I was expecting to wait a while for bites but the float settled, dipped and then slid under. It wasn’t a big fish but a 4oz perch was a nice start, I did miss a positive bite but then next chuck had a tiny perch which dropped off while Andy got off the mark with a 2lb+ skimmer.
Andy flew out of the blocks on peg 2
The rest of the first hour was pretty uneventful for me and the scores on the doors didn’t make for great reading, Andy had four decent skimmers for 8lb+ compared to my three perch for 5oz! I fed the open water line again and had my first look by the bush with corn on the hook. Half an hour passed without any indications and I was just about to switch lines again when the float buried only for me to miss it! Next put in, it’s gone straight under and plenty of elastic came out on the strike, it didn’t give me any problems and a cracking 3lb+ chub was soon in the net.
No more bites on corn so I tried double caster and hooked what felt like a big skimmer but as I shipped back it came off and the same thing happened with the next two as well! So instead of the score being 4-4 with Andy, I was 4-1 down and then he had another to go even further ahead. Then just to add to the fun, we had some biblical rain and thunder!
The next two skimmers stayed on and it felt like there were a lot of fish there as I’ve missed quite a few bites as well. I had a big chub that was getting on for 4lb but then hooked a fish that has done me under the bush and snapped 0.16mm, so maybe a carp. Another look on the open water line resulted in a bite straight away and as I shipped back it didn’t feel like a big fish, maybe a perch or one of those pasty carp that are ruining the pond but it came off so I’ll never know.
Andy was still catching well and was now probably four or five fish ahead of me, I couldn’t see anyone else around the pond so had no clue how it was fishing. Back by the bush with double caster and the float disappeared again, it felt like a big chub and I had it under control, I was down to the top kit and using the pulla kit as it was slowly coming to the surface, I readied the net and then the poxy hook pulled out – gutted!
I was still getting regular bites and had two more big skimmers that looked 3lb+ apiece but would probably weigh nearer 2lb. Just as I was beginning to think I was gaining some ground on Andy, he was into a big fish which turned out to be a 6lb koi/ghostie carp. My day continued to go downhill when I hooked a big fish and had done all the hard work and was down to the top kit when it tried heading towards the bush and as I attempted to stop it, the hook pulled and on closer inspection, it had straightened out – great!
The next fish I had gave me the run-around and was a 4-5lb carp, Andy had slowed up a bit and when I had two more chub in quick succession, I thought there was still a chance. With around 25 minutes remaining, I felt I needed a couple more fish as Andy was on 13 (12 skimmers and that carp) while I had 9 (4 skimmers, 4 chub and a carp) and those chub weigh heavier than the skimmers. My fairy tale ending didn’t happen though and to be honest I’d had more than enough chances today.
I packed up and walked round to help Leighton with the weigh in, he’d struggled on 18 for one decent skimmer of 3lb, Nick next door had two big skimmers plus several of those pasties for 9lb 8oz and then Terry ‘The Toast’ weighed 9lb 2oz which was mainly two carp. Norts had three skimmers on 14 for 5lb 8oz, Fieldy weighed 6lb 2oz on peg 9 before Les went into the lead and won his mini section with 24lb 14oz which included a carp, skimmers and six big chub he had in the last hour.
Nick weighed 9lb 8oz to win his three peg section
Norts had some skimmers for 5lb 8oz on peg 14
Fieldy weighed 6lb 2oz on peg 9
Les had 24lb 14oz which included some lovely chub
Bish on 5 had four skimmers for 8lb on the feeder early on before fishing by the bush and catching six carp for 22lb 8oz to give him a 30lb 8oz total. Andy had 28lb 10oz to go into second place and then my fish went 24lb 8oz for last in my three peg section and effectively end any faint hopes I had of doing well in the league.
Bish weighed 30lb 8oz of carp and skimmers to win the lake
Andy was second with 28lb 10oz of skimmers and a carp
I weighed 24lb 8oz of skimmers, chub and a carp but it had been a really frustrating day
I picked up £15 for finishing fourth on the lake but I was just 6oz shy of Les in third, one fish off Andy and two away from Bish’s weight and I’d lost 6-7 big fish. Of course others lost fish as well (I know Andy lost three) but I came away really disappointed as it felt like I’d fished a bad match but I’m still not really sure why! Only one fish snapped me and maybe I should have tried a different hook pattern, the others I lost may have been foulhooked I suppose and perhaps big potting rather than toss potting might have been better.
Over at Coombe there were some big weights of carp and pegs 1, 5 and 10 all won their respective mini sections again. Rob won the lake with 74lb 8oz from peg 10, Bagger Burton was second from peg 5 with 53lb 8oz, Hainsey on 9 was third with 42lb 8oz which included the best bag of silvers weighing 32lb and Jake had 39lb 4oz for fourth. Thanks to Jake Woodard for the photos*
Rob won his second Coombe match on the trot with 74lb 8oz*
Bagger Burton was second with 53lb 8oz from peg 5*
Hainsey weighed 42lb 8oz which included 32lb of silvers*
Jake was fourth with 39lb 4oz on peg 4*
Big Frank on peg 1 had 37lb 10oz*
Parker ‘The Pole’ weighed 14lb 8oz on peg 3*
Dave Pope had 11lb 8oz*
Dave Phillips weighed 7lb 1oz on peg 8*
I must admit I still struggle with the mentality to keep stocking carp into Dillington, it’s changed the whole dynamic of the pond and once it’s done, there’s no going back, seems very short sighted to me and I hope it wasn’t a decision taken lightly as soon it will be pointless fishing for anything else. At Coombe there are also lots more carp coming out and less silvers so now unless you draw those three end pegs (1, 5 and 10), it’s unlikely you’ll win the section.
Coombe Farm
1 – Rob Cox (Ilminster) – 74lb 8oz
2 – Ian Burton (Taunton) – 53lb 8oz
3 – Chris Haines (Haines Angling) – 42lb 8oz
4 – Jake Woodard (Ilminster) – 39lb 4oz
Dillington
1 – Steve Bishop (Sharp MG) – 30lb 8oz
2 – Andy Saunders (Sharp MG) – 28lb 10oz
3 – Les Braunton (Sharp MG) – 24lb 14oz
4 – Jamie Rich (Against Men and Fish) – 24lb 8oz
With two matches to go, Frank is the only angler with three section wins followed by five anglers on four points with a further four in the chasing pack,
Frank Woodard – 3 pts (dropping 2)
Andy Saunders – 4 pts (dropping 2)
Jake Woodard – 4 pts (dropping 2)
Chris Haines – 4 pts (dropping 2)
Les Braunton – 4 pts (dropping 2)
Rob Cox – 4 pts (dropping 3)
Nick Payne – 5 pts (dropping 2)
Jamie Rich – 5 pts (dropping 3)
Leighton Cox – 5 pts (dropping 3)
Chris Norton – 5 pts (dropping 3)
Rob Cox kindly gave £2 to the Nugget-O-Meter and Andy Saunders had a quid off me which he added to the pot which now stands at £229.
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 – Acorn
Coming soon – Lots more match reports
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