Going into the last round of the IAA Summer League, Big Frank was leading the way with four points followed by a chasing pack of Andy Saunders, Jake Woodard, Les Braunton and Rob Cox who were all a point behind him. In previous years you’ve needed six points to win which means you need to win you section four times to stand any chance. My rather limp challenge ended by round four with only one section win to my name meaning even if I managed one pointers in the remaining rounds, the best score I could achieve would be seven points.
My section of three anglers would be on pegs 7, 9 and 14 at Dillington for the final match and were all hoping to avoid the latter which hasn’t done very well in the league. After the usual cracking breakfast at the bowling club (thanks Charlotte), it was time for the all important draw. For once my drawing arm behaved and I pulled out number 9, Andy Saunders got 7 and Max (standing in for Bish) was on the dreaded 14.
I set up my Guru 11ft N-Gauge rod with a little cage feeder, twizzled boom and a size 14 Guru Pole Special to 0.14mm plus a 4 x 16 Chianti with a size 16 Guru Feeder Special to 0.14mm for the pole at 13 metres just off the lilies to the left. Loads of bait on the side tray today, 2 pints of casters, maggots, hemp, corn plus Bait-Tech Pro Nat Bream Dark and Special G F1 Dark.
With Andy on my right (although I couldn’t really see him because of the tree), the obligatory pound side bet was placed. Part Time Priv was opposite on peg 18 and given his recent attendance record, we decided to instigate ‘Priv Watch’ and check in on him every hour to make sure he was okay and still with us! At the all in, I had ten chucks on the feeder line to get some feed in before cupping in some groundbait followed by two pots of casters, corn and hemp on the pole line. I didn’t see any point in fishing for small fish today as I couldn’t do any good in the league so it was big fish or bust!
Before I had finished feeding the swim there were ripples coming from the direction of Andy’s peg as he netted his first skimmer. I baited up with three dead reds, hit the clip, tightened up and was expecting to wait a while, but after only a few minutes, there was a little knock on the tip and then it pulled right round. A lovely big 2.5lb skimmer was a great start and hopefully a good sign.
The rest of the first hour didn’t live up to the hype for me and I only added a nice roach to the net while Andy landed another four or five skimmers and I began shining up my pound already!
Priv Watch – Still here!
As the second sixty minutes began, my resolve was starting to wane a little and I was just thinking I might need to have a look on the pole line when a positive bite resulted in my second big skimmer. Again it was a bit of a false dawn and while Andy forged further ahead, I only had a couple of small 4oz skimbobs (hopefully a good sign for the future). I decided to have a look on the pole so had five chucks on the feeder to keep that line topped up.
Priv Watch – PTP2 still in the house!
I could only really see a few anglers, Max on 14 who looked to be struggling, Nick Veale on 16 had landed a couple of decent fish, Fieldy next door to him was catching a few small fish and then Priv was on 18 and hadn’t had much. I shipped out with corn on the hook and toss potted in some casters and hemp. After a couple of minutes, the float buried and a modest amount of green hybrid elastic emerged from the pole tip, I knew what the culprit would be and a 3oz pastie wasn’t the result I wanted.
When I had another one next chuck, I was hoping it wouldn’t set the scene for the rest of the day but thankfully when the float sunk from view again, the strike was met with solid resistance and I safely netted another skimmer. Three more little carp and my fourth decent skimmer rounded off a fairly busy period as we reached the half way point, I was still miles behind Andy who was now bagging on the pole.
Priv Watch – Present!
Bites slowed on my pole line so I fed it again and tried the feeder but only had one more small skimbob on it. Andy was swapping between the method feeder and the pole and catching on both while I was only getting odd bites.
Priv Watch – Wavering…..
Back on the pole, I had my fifth big skimmer quite quickly and was still hopeful for a good last couple of hours. Priv came round to see how we were doing but soon got bored watching me catch nothing so went to watch Andy for a bit. On his return he reported Andy had two more skimmers while he was there and then said he was going to head off home.
Priv Watch – Going……
I stuck with the pole for the remaining sixty minutes as quite often, the chub can turn up late, I missed a couple of really good bites (much to Andy’s amusement!) and then with just a minute or so left, the float buried and I managed to connect with this one, it wasn’t a big fish but a 1.5lb skimbob was a nice end to the match.
Priv Watch – Gone!
After packing up, I went to give Leighton a hand with the scales and get some photos, Nick P on peg 1 had a nice net of mainly skimmers and one chub for 24lb 6oz, Terry ‘The Toast’ on 2 weighed 12lb 2oz of big skimmers, Leighton also had a similar net for 11lb 6oz and then Andy had fished a great match catching nineteen skimmers which went 34lb 14oz.
Nick P was second with 24lb 6oz from peg 1
Terry ‘The Toast’ weighed 12lb 2oz of skimmers on peg 2
Leighton had 11lb 6oz of skimmers and perch
Andy won the lake with a lovely net of skimmers weighing 34lb 14oz
My six skimmers plus odds and sods weighed a level 15lb, Max had gone, Nick V on 16 weighed 12lb 2oz which was four big skimmers and two eels, Fieldy had one decent skimmer plus bits for 3lb 1oz but had lost several fish in the reeds.
I had six skimmers and some bits and pieces for 15lb
Nick V weighed 12lb 2oz of skimmers and eels
Fieldy had 3lb 1oz on peg 17
Dillington
1 – Andy Saunders (Sharp MG) – 34lb 14oz
2 – Nick Payne (Ilminster) – 24lb 6oz
3 – Jamie Rich (Bait-Tech/Colmic) – 15lb
4 – Nick Veale (Haines Angling) – 12lb 2oz
4 – Terry Morgan (Ilminster) – 12lb 2oz
Coombe Farm
1 – Jake Woodard (Ilminster) – 35lb 12oz
2 – Chris Haines (Haines Angling) – 23lb 8oz
3 – Dave Pope (Stoke) – 17lb 4oz
4 – Ian Burton (Taunton) – 15lb 7oz
As the anglers from Coombe started arriving back, it had fished quite hard with odd big carp making all the difference, Jake Woodard had the top weight with 35lb 12oz from peg 9 which included a carp of 13lb 4oz, Chris Haines was second with an impressive 23lb 8oz which was all skimmers and crucians, Dave Pope had 17lb 4oz for third from peg 8 and Bagger Burton was fourth with 15lb 7oz. Thanks to Rob Cox for the photos*
Jake was top at Coombe with 35lb 12oz*
Chris Haines was second with 23lb 8oz of skimmers and crucians*
Dave Pope had 17lb 4oz for third from peg 8*
Bagger Burton was fourth with 15lb 7oz from peg 10*
Neil P had 13lb 14oz on peg 4*
Parker ‘The Pole’ had one carp for 10lb*
Big Frank weighed 8lb 4oz on peg 7*
Dave Phillips had 7lb on peg 3*
With Andy, Jake and Nick V (fishing for Les) all winning their three peg sections it meant there were four anglers tied on six points with Andy Saunders winning the league on weight. Jake was second, Les third and Frank was fourth. Congratulations to Andy who fished a brilliant series where he set a new match record at Coombe with 100lb 10oz (which also helped somewhat with his overall weight!) and a section win from peg 7 at Coombe was a great result from probably the worst peg on the lake.
Andy Saunders – 6 pts (dropping 2) – 233lb
Jake Woodard – 6 pts (dropping 2) – 149lb 14oz
Les Braunton – 6 pts (dropping 2) – 102lb 9oz
Frank Woodard – 6 pts (dropping 3) – 80lb 6oz
Chris Haines – 7 pts (dropping 2) – 100lb 10oz
Rob Cox – 8 pts (dropping 3) – 124lb 11oz
Nick Payne – 8 pts (dropping 2) – 97lb 13oz
Leighton Cox – 9 pts (dropping 3) – 204lb 2oz
Jamie Rich – 9 pts (dropping 3) – 107lb 3oz
Chris Norton – 10 pts (dropping 3) – 111lb 2oz
I picked up £25 for third place at Dillington today but ended up a disappointing ninth in the league, I really enjoyed the fishing at Dillington although I made a right hash of peg 1 when I lost enough fish to have won the section.
Thanks to the following who all donated today, Rob Cox (£3), Nick P (£2), me (£2), Chris Haines (£1) plus the pound Andy Saunders took off me and stuck in the pot, the Nugget-O-Meter reached a new total of £324.
The club and all the anglers would like to say a massive thanks to Laurie McKinnon and family for their continued, generous sponsorship, Charlotte at Ilminster Bowling Club for looking after us in the mornings and to Rob and Leighton Cox for all their hard work organising and running the league.
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 – Revels
Coming soon – Lots more match reports
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