The last few matches have been won on the waggler and corn so for this one, I made sure I had mine with me (not that I’ve used it for years mind!). I met the others for the usual breakfast pit stop before heading to Todber.
Guy announced the draw and per usual I hung back and had one of the last two tickets. I knew 63 had already gone as Parker ‘The Pole’ had it so I wasn’t too worried when I opened my ticket and was happy with number 73.
As always seems to be the way at Todber, there was a horrible, gusty wind which would play havoc with my rookie attempts at fishing the waggler but I would set one up anyway! After failing to find the instructions to put it together, it all ended up being a bit of a rush and I was only just about ready in time.
Along with a 3 gram insert waggler, I also set up a little 0.3 gram Guru F1 Slim for the top two to hand, a 0.2 gram Guru AR for top two plus one and a Preston Innovations F1 Maggot to fish one line at 11.5 metres. On the side tray were maggots, casters, worms, micros, corn plus some Bait-Tech Special G F1 and Dark groundbait.
At the all in, I threw a few casters short, cupped in the usual wormy groundbait mix at 11.5 metres and then fed some corn on the waggler line via the catty (or tried to as it was already obvious I was going to struggle to achieve any semblance of accuracy!). Starting on the top kit I was catching roach, the odd little 3oz skimbob, a 6oz perch and after an hour I had 30 fish for approx 3lb. I knew I’d need some bigger fish if I was going to do any good today so it was time for the waggler.
To be honest, the 3 gram float was a bit under gunned, my casting was all over the shop (I’m blaming the wind) and not having fished the waggler for ages was certainly showing! Despite my rather feeble attempts, I was getting bites and actually putting some decent skimmers in the net. I then hooked a better fish which turned out to be a lovely 2lb tench and I was really enjoying myself.
Steve P came for a walk and said he was really struggling and had packed up, he reported that it was fishing quite hard. While he was with me, I had a couple of skimmers but was also missing a few bites. Priv turned up to see how we were doing and then Guy came for his lunchtime wander, I was catching in spells and would get two or three fish before it would go quiet for a bit. Lee Jan on 74 was fishing corn on the pole and getting the odd big skimmer and Matt Skyme on the end was fishing short and catching really well.
I’d been feeding corn and casters on the short line all match and as the last hour arrived I had my first look with corn on the hook, the float buried straight away and a nice 1.5lb skimmer was the result. Next chuck I had one of 12oz but any thoughts of bagging up for the remainder soon dissipated when I was getting indications but no positive bites. Jordan on my left had a cracking tench that was probably 5lb on soft pellet.
I tried double caster and had a nice perch of 12oz and then hooked a big fish that I had on for ages before it straightened the hook so probably a carp. For the last half an hour I fished single caster and caught some more roach and little skimbobs to finish with 67 fish.
As the scales headed up the lake, I went to have a look at the weigh board, Stu White was leading with 23lb from peg 67 and as I was sure Matt would win it, I thought I’d fall just short because they were only paying the top two today. When I pulled my net out, it felt like a decent weight though and I was well chuffed when it was called at 24lb 10oz. Lee had chucked back and then Matt had an excellent 31lb 14oz to win on the day. Photos courtesy of Todber Manor*
Matt had the top weight with 31lb 14oz of mainly skimmers*
I weighed 24lb 10oz which was second on the day*
Stu White had some big skimmers for 23lb on peg 67*
Adrian Dew weighed 21lb 8oz on 68*
Alfie on peg 65 did well with 20lb 11oz of skimmers*
Sean weighed 14lb 8oz on peg 64*
Jordan on 72 had a cracking tench*
1 – Matt Skyme (Todber) – 31lb 14oz
2 – Jamie Rich (Against Men and Fish) – 24lb 10oz
Guy finally let me have that cake he’d been promising and very nice it was too!
I picked up £60 for second and had really enjoyed fishing the waggler, it’s always nice doing something a bit different. Admittedly there was much room for improvement, a bigger waggler would have helped hugely, hair-rigging the corn with a bait spike probably would have seen me hit a few more bites and the ability to land the waggler and feed in the same spot would have been handy too!
It’s always close at Todber and although Matt won comfortably, there was only 5lb between second and sixth place which is just a couple of decent skimmers, great fishing.
Nick P and me both added £2 each (for today and tomorrow) to the Nugget-O-Meter which is now at £253.
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 – Hebditch’s Pond
Coming soon – Lots more match reports
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