The silvers fishing is lovely at Todber but loads of different methods and baits seem to work and it changes from week to week while I just confuse myself and chase my tail in ever decreasing circles! So this Saturday I was going to keep things relatively simple (famous last words!), the waggler and feeder rods were staying at home and I just had corn, maggots, casters plus Bait-Tech 2mm Micros for the side tray.
There was a full house of 14 anglers and the Somerset Raiders were well represented with Nick P, Norts, Duffers and me behind enemy lines in deepest, darkest Dorset. John C was in charge of proceedings today and as per usual, I hung back and had one of the last cards in the bucket. When I looked I was fairly happy with 67, Nick was on 64 while Norts got 70 and Duffers had 72.
I set up a little 0.3 gram Guru F1 Slim for the top two to hand, a 0.2 gram Guru AR for top kit plus two and a Preston Innovations F1 Maggot to fish one line at 11.5 metres. Unusually for Todber, it was fairly calm and with quite a few fish topping, I thought it was going to fish well.
On the whistle I fed casters down the edge to my left and micros and corn on the top four and 11.5 metre lines. Starting on the top kit to hand, I had a couple of roach but then lost what felt like a big skimmer when the maggot folded over the hook point, I did have one around a pound not long after. It wasn’t solid though and after half an hour I’d only added a couple more small fish. Sean on my left had kicked off on the feeder across and had several decent skimmers while Martin on 68 was catching well on the short pole.
I’ve gone out to 11.5 metres with corn and began getting the odd indication but only had a couple of roach and it’s taken nearly 45 mins before I’ve had a decent skimmer from the long line. Matt on 62 phoned Sean and when I heard him say somebody had 15lb already, it felt like I was well out of it already!
In a bid to try and make something happen, along with toss potting corn and micros, I started loose feeding corn over the top as well. To be honest I don’t think it really helped and my catch rate continued to limp along at a disappointing rate. I tried fishing past the feed at 13 and 14.5 metres, then had my first look on the top kit plus two line but it just wasn’t happening.
Before having another go on the top two up the edge, I big potted corn and micros again at 11.5 metres. The short line was a waste of time, back long I’ve had a couple of decent skimmers in quick succession and I began getting the odd fish without really bagging. I did have a go shallow, feeding casters and when I had an 8oz skimbob, I thought perhaps that was the answer but apart from a couple of small roach that was it.
It seemed like being patient and waiting for bites was best but it felt like an age between fish, I did pull out of one good skimmer and missed a few bites but at the all out, I only had 26 fish on the clicker and was sure I’d be well down today. The scales team were soon on their way and when they reached next door I was amazed that Nick had the top weight so far with 18lb 4oz followed by Matt Skyme with 16lb 14oz and it had fished hard.
Sean weighed 15lb 14oz and I thought he had a lot more than that, then my fish went 16lb 2oz which was third so far but I knew it wouldn’t last. Martin had 11lb 12oz, Dave G on 69 weighed 12lb and then Norts just pipped Nick and went into the lead with 18lb 6oz. Stu White had 11lb 8oz, Duffers weighed 12lb 6oz, Timmy on 73 had 7lb 2oz, Nick K weighed 11lb 6oz and then Adrian Dew on 75 made it two on the trot with a 21lb 10oz. Photos courtesy of Todber Manor*
Adrian Dew had the top weight on the day with 21lb 10oz*
Norts was second with 18lb 6oz*
Nick P took third spot with 18lb 4oz*
Jordan on peg 63 had a lovely tench*
1 – Adrian Dew (Todber) – 21lb 10oz
2 – Chris Norton (Stoke) – 18lb 6oz
3 – Nick Payne (Ilminster) – 18lb 4oz
As always it’s a close match at Todber with just one skimmer between fifth and second, I wasn’t far away in the end and was left kicking myself a bit. From early on I felt I was chasing it and kept trying to make things happen when I should have just big potted after every couple of fish and waited for bites (it’ll probably be all different again at the weekend!).
Norts, Nick and me all added £2 to the Nugget-O-Meter which now stands at £284.
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 – River Parrett
Coming soon – Lots more match reports
#sponsoredpost #affiliatelinks
