For my last match of 2024 I headed to Revels and was hoping my recent good run of draws would continue. There was the usual good turnout of 19 anglers despite the forecast of strong winds (just for a change!).
The draw got underway and I was fairly near the top of list, Dean pulled out 49 on Dead Tree which I was happy with. I haven’t been on this lake for ages but it produced some decent silvers weights in the Xmas match. Steve P got 25 on Trendles and Rich Chave was on peg 12 behind the island on Main, an area he seems to frequent a lot and he wasn’t overly impressed!
There were only three of us on Dead Tree and I quite fancied it although the lake was gin clear and there was nothing topping which was a tad worrying. I set up a couple of 0.2 and 0.3 gram rigs for a short swim and three lines in an arc at 10 metres as the depth was virtually the same all across the peg. A nice simple side tray with lots of maggots, disco pinkies and some Bait-Tech Special G F1 Dark groundbait.
On the whistle I fed a little groundbait and a few pinkies at top two plus two and the three 10 metre lines. Starting short I gave it ten minutes but no bites and I was soon out on the longer lines. Rotating around the the longer swims, I was still waiting for my first indication with an hour gone and it was the same for my neighbours Derek P on my right and Dave S on 51.
Rich phoned and reported he was getting a few small perch but Mark Sheppard on 7 had caught a couple of decent skimmers already. I did have a quick go across to the far bank at 14.5 metres but still no signs of anything fishy and with the wind getting worse it was nigh on impossible to hold the pole. Derek was the first to catch on our lake with a couple of small perch up the edge and then Dave S began catching some tiny fish by the reeds on his inside.
I followed suit and plumbed up a top kit swim to my right and finally with two and a half hours gone, I opened my account with a waspy perch. A slightly bigger one followed but the next fish was a motherless minnow and with half the match gone and less than an ounce in the net, I was going nowhere fast.
Back out at 10 metres, I’ve had my first bite there and a carp tore off but the hook pulled out. Another lost carp that snapped me and then two little perch before I landed a carp and I was getting a few indications now. Dave S was still catching small fish and had a carp down the edge as well.
With just half an hour left, I had my first roach of around 3oz and then had a couple of smaller ones before landing my second carp. With the light starting to go, I was getting a few bites and it’s frustrating that those fish have been there all day but not feeding! Two more roach and then a carp which I landed after the whistle and my final tally was five roach, four perch, a motherless minnow plus three carp.
The scales arrived from Trendles where Casey Rodber had a nice day catching 40lb 5oz of small carp, Roy weighed 12lb 1oz, Terry L had 10lb 13oz while Steve P and Iain both chucked back. Derek DNW’d, my carp went 8lb 3oz and my silvers weighed 11oz (mainly small fish!) and then Dave had 24 silvers for 13oz and his carp weighed 4lb 1oz. Photos courtesy of Revels*
Casey had 40lb 5oz on Trendles*
On Middle, Jamie B weighed 2lb 6oz of silvers on 54, Hugh chucked back and Bob C had 1lb 9oz of silvers and took a nugget off me. Steve Crowford had the top weight from peg 16 on Main with 56lb 6oz, Andy Miller on peg 9 was second with 41lb 1oz and the top three silvers weights all came from Main, Mark Sheppard had some decent skimmers for 5lb 7oz, John Bass weighed 3lb 2oz from peg 6 and Rich was third with 2lb 9oz.
Steve Crowford had the top weight on the day with 56lb 6oz*
Andy Miller weighed 41lb 1oz on peg 9 for second place*
Mark Sheppard won the silvers with some decent skimmers for 5lb 7oz*
John Bass was second in the silvers with 3lb 2oz from peg 6*
1 – Steve Crowford (Revels) – 56lb 6oz
2 – Andy Miller (Revels) – 41lb 1oz
3 – Casey Rodber (Revels) – 40lb 5oz
Silvers
1 – Mark Sheppard (Revels) – 5lb 7oz
2 – John Bass (Revels) – 3lb 2oz
3 – Rich Chave (Colmic) – 2lb 9oz
So a really tough day to end the year on but on the whole it’s been a great one and I’d like to wish anyone who follows the blog a Happy New Year and Tight Lines for 2025.
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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