With the weather threatening to warm up slightly it was time for another trip to Revels, after meeting Parker ‘The Pole’ for a Greggs brekkie we were soon pulling into the car park. It looked like being a nice day with blue skies and sunshine but typically for this particular little part of Dorset, it exists in its own micro climate and there was a bitterly cold wind!
Draw time arrived and after getting an out and out carp peg on my first visit of the year, I was praying for a nice silvers swim this time around. When my name was called, Dean pulled out peg 2 on Main, in my opinion, one of the best silvers peg on the lake and with Middle not in today, I really fancied my chances. ‘The Pole’ was on 7, a great peg for skimmers and my neighbour for the day on peg 4 was Woy ‘The Legend’ Worth who was on a rich vein of form.
I set up a 0.4 gram float for two lines at 11.5 metres plus a little 0.3 gram F1 Carbon Slim with spread shot to fish down the edge on a top kit either side. The side tray contained the usual maggots, disco pinkies plus some Bait-Tech Special G F1 Dark. On the whistle I fed a sprinkle of loose groundbait and some pinkies down the edge and then the two longer lines were both fed with a nugget of gb along with a few free offerings.
Starting short I was hoping to catch some little perch but after a biteless 15 minutes, I knew it was going to be a tough day with probably 5lb a good weight. Moving out to the longer lines, the float still stubbornly refused to go under and my earlier optimism was beginning to wane! It was the same for Roy and Terry Dell opposite on 22 who were both fishing for carp and hadn’t had an indication of any description so far.
With half an hour gone, both of my nets were devoid of fish and I was beginning to think it might be a last hour job but then noticed Steve P netting a decent skimmer. Five minutes later my float sunk from view only for a miniscule perch to fly out the water on the strike! At least I’d avoided the blank and hopefully I’d start to get a few fish now. It proved to be a false dawn though and over the next twenty minutes or so, ‘The Pole’ landed a couple more skimbobs and was bagging.
Finally I had another indication but loads of elastic came out and initially I thought I’d hooked a carp but it wasn’t going crazy and I started to think it might be something else. In the clear water, I could see it was a nice chub around 1.5lb, a proper bonus on what was looking like a tough day. Safely netted and transferred to the keepnet (I still have nightmares about the Trendles escapee!), I shipped back out and the float went straight under, this time it was a carp though and I had it on for ages before the hook straightened.
Sadly things didn’t really improve for me and at the three hour mark, I’d only added another small perch while Steve was now on five skimmers. Roy was still blanking although Terry had landed a decent carp. I went through the motions until we reached the golden last hour and a few more fish started to feed, I had a few roach and little perch plus a carp (and I lost one) while Roy finally landed a carp after five and a half hours and then added a second to finish with a flourish.
Terry was first to weigh and had ended up with three carp for 17lb 12oz, the scales then headed along Canal lake, Jamie G on 63 had done well catching little skimbobs to weigh 4lb 13oz of silvers and the only other angler to trouble the scales was Steve Crowford with 2lb 2oz of roach on 66. Photos courtesy of Revels*
Jamie G had 4lb 13oz of skimmers on 63*
Then it was me and my silvers went 2lb 2oz and my carp added 3lb 6oz, Roy’s two carp weighed 6lb 1oz, Martin on 6 had 7lb 6oz and then Steve P had 5lb 9oz of silvers and 7lb 6oz of carp, well done mate. Bob C on peg 8 weighed 11lb 14oz of carp before Jon Bass next door went into the lead with 18lb 7oz, it was short lived though as Phil M on 11 had an excellent 36lb 3oz which would be more than enough to win today. Dave S was the only other angler to weigh in with 11lb 6oz of carp on peg 16.
Parker ‘The Pole’ had the top silvers weight with 5lb 9oz*
Jon Bass was second overall with 18lb 7oz of carp*
Phil M had the best weight on the day with 36lb 3oz from peg 11*
1 – Neil McPhillimy (Revels) – 36lb 3oz
2 – Jon Bass (Revels) – 18lb 7oz
Silvers
1 – Steve Parker (Ilton) – 5lb 9oz
2 – Jamie Bumby (Revels) – 4lb 13oz
So a tough day for most and I think everyone is ready for some settled warmer weather now!
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 – Todber Manor
Coming soon – Lots more match reports
#sponsoredpost #affiliatelinks
