On Sunday, it was that time again when the two piscatorial giants, Ilminster AA and Stoke AC, go head to head in the first leg of the battle for the Isle & Parrett Challenge Shield. It was at Kingsbury again and I must admit it’s a stretch I really struggle to get to grips with so I was hoping to get a bunghole to compensate!
Dave P announced the draw and I pulled out 17 which was one off the end, a decent area where some good weights have been recorded by pleasure anglers and it did 2lb 8oz in the last match so hopefully I’d get a few bites.
When I got there, it looked lovely with loads of cover across along with a bit of pace after recent rain and I really thought it was going to fish it’s head off today. As I was getting my kit out the car, a couple of fish topped and I was looking forward to this.
I set up the usual 1 gram bodied float to fish down the middle and a 0.5 gram DH16 for fishing across to the far bank cover. Today’s side tray contained maggots, casters and Bait-Tech Super Seed Aniseed hemp.
On the whistle I fed some hemp and casters down the middle and was also flicking a few across, starting down the middle with single red maggot on the hook, I was expecting to catch quickly but it’s not happened. Dave Nash above me was into roach and gudgeon from the off but it was around ten minutes before I had a bite but it came off shipping back!
I got off the mark with a chunky gudgeon but it was really hard going and I only added a few more gobies along with a couple of small chublets. With an hour gone I had very little in the net so had a look across, poking the rig as far into the lions den as I dared. I had a positive bite quite quickly, I struck and flung the pole back but with number 8 Slip, the fish had already snagged me and I thought there was no chance it was coming out of there.
Then there was a little bit of give and it started to come, it was only an 8oz chublet but very welcome. I upped the elastic to black Hydro and the hooklength to 0.14mm Teck Stream with a size 18 Feeder Special but no more bites. Back down the middle I only added a couple more gudgeon and I wasn’t even being pestered by minnows. I tried going further down the peg with double maggot and the float buried, as I was shipping back it felt a little odd, almost eel like and when I came to the top, it was the biggest ruffe I’ve ever seen, getting on for 3oz and I actually used the landing net!
Although Dave was still catching well but it looked like Mike G below me on 18 was struggling and I now couldn’t get a bite anywhere. Bank walkers reported it was fishing hard for most in my section. Nick P had apparently caught an eel (the first one I can recall being caught at Kingsbury) so with nothing to lose I fed some worm down the middle and put a big pot of hemp and caster across and would swap between trying to catch eels and chub for the last couple of hours.
After putting the worm in I was expecting to wait a while for bites but after only ten minutes, the float dipped before sliding away. I let it go for a couple of seconds before hitting it, I don’t think it was an eel and it didn’t fell particularly big but I’ll never know as it came off! Still, an early bite was encouraging and hopefully I’d get another chance or two before the all out.
Well, famous last words and all that, I did have a little dig across on caster but that was it and I ended up with just 11 fish (three chublets, seven gudgeon and that ruffe). The scales started with Mike G (Stoke) who had 1lb 5oz, my fish went a level pound, Dave N (Stoke) had a nice net of fish for 5lb 15oz which included some quality roach.
Mike G weighed 1lb 5oz on peg 18
Dave N had the top weight on the day with a nice net of fish for 5lb 15oz
Dave P (Stoke) on 15 weighed 11oz, Nick P (Ilminster) had 13oz, Dave Phillips (Ilminster) weighed 7oz before Ian Brister (Stoke) had a good net of fish for 4lb 3oz from peg 12 and Paul Smith (Stoke) also did well with lots of small fish for 2lb 6oz.
Dave Pope had 11oz on peg 16
Nick P had a rare KIngsbury eel in his 13oz
Dave Phillips weighed 7oz (mainly small fish)
Ian Brister weighed 4lb 3oz which included some nice roach
Paul Smith had lots of small fish for 2lb 6oz
Back at the results and Cliffy (Stoke) had the best weight in the other section with 4lb 8oz followed by Parker ‘The Pole’ who had Ilminster’s best weight with 4lb 1oz, John Dursley (Ilminster) weighed 1lb 2oz and Rob Cox (Ilminster) was fourth in that section with 12oz.
Section A
1 – Cliff Gaylard (Stoke) – 4lb 8oz
2 – Steve Parker (Ilminster) – 4lb 1oz
3 – John Dursley (Ilminster) – 1lb 2oz
4 – Rob Cox (Ilminster) – 12oz
Section B
1 – Dave Nash (Stoke) – 5lb 15oz
2 – Ian Brister (Stoke) – 4lb 3oz
3 – Paul Smith (Stoke) – 2lb 6oz
4 – Mike Goad (Stoke) – 1lb 5oz
A tough match for most and I must admit I was at a complete loss as what to do to get a few more bites. Stoke gave us a bit of a spanking and take a healthy 11 point lead into the second leg.
Stoke 54 pts – Ilminster 43 pts
Thanks to very kind donations from Jenny (£4), Nick Payne (£3), Norts (£3), Rob Cox (£3), me (£3), Dave Phillips (£1) and Ian Burton (£1) the Nugget-O-Meter rocketed up to £381.
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 – Summerhayes
Coming soon – Lots more match reports
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