Revels Fishery – Xmas Match – 1st December 2024

I was really looking forward to my first Xmas Match of the year at one of my favourite venues. I’ve only fished this match once back in 2021 when I managed to win it from peg 8 (the best peg in Dorset) with four carp on dobbed bread for 24lb+. There was a great turnout of 35 anglers and we’d be spread over all the lakes today.

On arrival all the competitors were met with complimentary bacon rolls and hot drinks which went down well and Bob Chrisp handed out the Xmas hats for everyone. Dean was in charge of proceedings and explained that there would be an overall winner then the top weight and best silvers in each of the six sections. Photos courtesy of Revels*

The draw was announced and after you were allocated a peg, you could choose a prize from the table and one them contained a little bonus envelope with £15 in it. I was hoping for a nice silvers peg on Woodlanders, Middle, Canal, Dead Tree or Main, where I definitely didn’t want to be was up on Trendles as I can’t seem to get away from there this year. Nick and me were near the bottom of the list and as names were being called out, the pegs and lakes I fancied were disappearing at an alarming rate.

When it was my turn, I was resigned to heading up to Trendles and when a ball was drawn, it had the number 29 on it, Trendles – where else! To be fair when I got to my swim, it looked nice as the lake had a tinge of colour and there were odd fish topping. Although it’s my least favourite lake, it’s normally good for plenty of bites as it holds a lot of little carp and crucian/brown goldfish type things plus odd bigger ones along with small roach, perch, chub and even some decent tench.

I set up a couple of 0.2 gram Colmic Elsa’s to fish three lines at top kit plus two and a 0.3 gram Drennan Crystal Margin for dobbing bread across to the island at 11.5 metres. The side tray contained lots of maggots, disco pinkies, some Bait-Tech Special G F1 Dark and a few slices of Warburtons.

On the whistle, I fed three lines at top kit plus two with groundbait and pinkies before kicking off dobbing by the island while the other lines settled. My plan was just to fish for bites, nice and light with maggots and pinkies and hopefully catch enough small roach and perch as I didn’t think it would take much to win the silvers on our lake and most would be fishing for carp.

First put in, I had a little knock before the float buried and a decent amount of grey hydro came out as a fish tried getting under the far bank vegetation. I was expecting a small carp to pop up but instead a handy bonus chub around a pound came to the surface and was a brilliant start. Second chuck I had a little 8oz carp but before I could get any illusions of bagging up all day on bread, the next fish was a tiny gudgeon (on a size 14 Kaizen!).

I was getting plenty of indications but the next two fish I had were another gudgeon and a small roach so with half an hour gone, it was time to try the maggot lines and hopefully add some more silvers to my early bonus chub. Dropping in on the line angled to the right, the float sailed away and a nice little 3oz skimmer was netted. It was a bite a chuck from little gudgeon, perch and roach interspersed with some crucian type thingys to 8oz and the odd small carp.

Terry Lenny next door had a nice chub dobbing bread but as far as I could tell I was doing okay. Scott Cousins on 25 had a couple of little carp followed by an ‘instant win’ and Bob C opposite was catching some small fish. Swapping between the three lines down the middle after every couple of fish, it was going really well and I was catching all sorts including the odd decent roach and even had a couple of pretty little 2oz goldfish! Terry then threw a spanner in the works by catching a second chub on bread and I didn’t think there was much between us in the silvers.

As the day went on, I was expecting either my short lines to fade or that carp would become a nuisance but I was still getting odd silvers and even landing virtually every carp I hooked despite using a size 20 Guru F1 Maggot to 0.09mm.

It was just lovely fishing and (shock, horror) I was actually enjoying fishing Trendles! I had a second chub around the same size as the first and then hooked a chunky 8oz perch which came off at the net but luckily I managed to scoop it. My good fortune didn’t end there when I landed a 1.5lb carp foul hooked in the tail.

I did pull out of and bump a few fish and also got snapped by what felt like a slightly better carp. Bob did well to land a 5lb+ carp on his elasticated whip, Jem on 36 was getting a few fish including a nice chub and Mike on 33 had some small carp.

Towards the end, I’ve hooked a decent fish which felt like another crucian but then a lovely 1.5lb perch came to the top and was an unexpected but very welcome surprise. The five hours flew by and it had been a bite a chuck and I’d loved every minute, at the all out I’d finished up with 57 silvers (2 chub, 2 nice perch, 1 skimmer, roach, rudd, gudgeon and small perch) plus my net of carpy all sorts including four goldfish!

The scales arrived and started with Jem who weighed 14lb 6oz (which included 1lb 15oz of silvers), Bob had 7lb 11oz and Mike weighed 3lb 15oz. My carp net went 18lb 2oz and my silvers added 6lb 9oz, Terry’s two chub weighed 1lb 14oz and Scott had 7lb 11oz.

Back at the results and Damion Townsend had the top weight on the day from 63 on Canal with 27lb 5oz (which also included 9lb 1oz of silvers). There were several close weights, Mark Sheppard had 26lb 13oz on Woodlanders, I was well chuffed to win my lake but actually wasn’t far away from winning it overall and Big Al had 22lb 2oz on peg 11 on Main to win his section but had lost a couple of lumps.

There were some great silvers weights too, Nicky Collins won his section with 13lb 5oz, Duffers had 11lb from peg 20 and on Dead Tree, Andy Millar had 8lb 11oz followed by young Jack Copp who had 8lb 5oz which included a cracking perch.