On Saturday we headed down to Todber for a silvers open on Ash and was really looking forward to it as they’ve just stocked 500+ ide up to a pound. You don’t really see them in the South West which is a shame, I’ve only caught them at White Springs in Wales and they were lovely big fish to over 2lb. After another cracking breakfast in the Lakeside Kitchen, it was time for the draw and I was hoping to be in the middle of the lake and was fairly happy with 65 as I had an empty peg to my left.
I set up a Preston Innovations F1 Maggot for two lines at 13 metres and a little 0.2 gram float to fish through the water. On the side tray today were disco pinkies, maggots and some Bait-Tech Special G F1 Dark.
On the whistle I fed one line at 13 metres straight out with a small amount of groundbait and a few pinkies and then began loose feeding maggots at the same distance angled to the left. I had a quick go on a top kit but only gave it a few minutes as the water was pretty clear and I just knew I wouldn’t catch short.
Moving out to the longer gb line with single pinkie I had a very small roach quite quickly but after 15 minutes it was already obvious it was going to be really hard going as I hadn’t seen anybody else catch yet! After an hour and a half I only had three tiny roach along with a couple of little 3oz skimbobs and everybody at our end was struggling with just odd tiny fish being caught.
I was still loose feeding maggots on the left hand line and kept having a look but no bites yet. Rich Chave turned up to see how we were getting on and while he was with me, I missed a couple of bites over the groundbait before catching a 4oz skimmer and also had my first indication on the maggot line.
Back over the gb I had a tiny roach but with nearly half the match gone, I probably didn’t have a pound yet! For the umpteenth time I flicked the rig in on the maggot line but this time it buried on the drop and on the strike a fair bit of elastic came out and when a decent fish came straight to the top, twisting and turning, I knew it would be an ide. I shipped back carefully before netting a lovely fish around 8oz.
Swapping to the little light through the water rig, I’ve laid the rig in and just as it settled, it’s gone again with another nice fish. The next hour was just lovely fishing and I had another nine ide, two decent roach and a 4oz skimmer. Thanks to Rich Chave for the photos*
Netting my first ide*
I had a couple of decent roach as well*
Just as I was thinking a good weight was on the cards, my bites just stopped and despite going past the feed and to the left and right of it they’d disappeared as quickly as they’d arrived! I probably spent too long flogging that line hoping they’d come back but I just couldn’t get a bite there now.
Back on the gb line, I had a couple of tiny roach but it just wasn’t happening and I basically just went through the motions for an hour or so. With about ninety minutes remaining, Kev H next door had a couple of ide on the pole and Joe on his right started getting the odd fish tight across on the feeder. I picked up the lighter rig and went back on my maggot line and was getting the odd indication again, a couple of chunky roach were followed by another ide and I was hoping I still might have a decent finish.
Just before the all out I hooked what felt like a good fish but it came off as I shipped back and that was my last bite. The scales started with Adrian Dew on 62 who had 3lb, Lee had chucked back and then my fish went 9lb 3oz. It had fished hard and only two others weighed in, Andy Akehurst on 71 had the top weight with 10lb 5oz which included a couple of nice tench and Graham Potter on 74 only needed 3lb 4oz for third. Photo credit – Todber Manor**
I had 25 fish (including a dozen ide) for 9lb 3oz
Andy’s the man to beat on Ash as he won again, this time with 10lb 5oz**
1 – Andy Akehurst (Todber) – 10lb 5oz
2 – Jamie Rich (Bait-Tech/Colmic) – 9lb 3oz
3 – Graham Potter (Todber) – 3lb 4oz
I had a nice pick up of £55 for second but was a bit gutted not to win after catching 8lb in an hour and not very much for four hours! As some ide were caught on the feeder across, a waggler might have been worth a try although I’m not sure you’d be able to feed it any sense. Also I probably should have fed a chopped worm line long and left it alone until the last hour as Andy has been doing well fishing 16 metres and waiting for bigger fish.
£2 from Nick P and £2 from me took the Nugget-O-Meter to £21.
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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