After a brief spell of slightly milder weather it was back to having to defrost the car at the weekend which I thought might make the fishing a bit harder at Todber on Saturday. Another lovely breakfast and then it was draw time with everyone hoping the avoid the near end, once again I hung back hoping those pegs would be gone by the time I braved the bucket of doom. Matt Skyme got 63 and with just a few tickets left, 62 was still in there and I was beginning to worry my masterplan might have backfired but then Nicky Collins was the unlucky angler and his drawing arm has been woeful of late.
I grabbed one of the remaining tickets and was slightly disappointed to see I was on 65 which has been okay but hasn’t been featuring in the frame recently. Nick P was on my left and Mike H on 66 while Parker ‘The Pole’ was up on 73. Adrian Dew had drawn 74 and asked if I fancied having a nugget on it. After the frosty start and with a bitterly cold wind blowing down the lake, I thought 20lb would be a good weight today but Andy A was still confident you’d need 30lb.
I set up the usual rigs, a Preston Innovations F1 Maggot for 13 metres plus a 0.2 gram rig to fish through the water. On the side tray I had a few disco pinkies, lots of maggots and some Bait-Tech Special G F1 Dark.
We got underway and I fed straight out with a nugget of groundbait and began pinging maggots on the left hand line. As I alluded to earlier, I was expecting a slow start so a bite after a couple of minutes took me rather by surprise and of course I missed it! Next put in I’ve had a nice roach and then an ide and it was a bite a chuck. Nick had a skimmer and then his next fish was a 4lb bream while Mike was catching across on a maggot feeder.
For the first couple of hours it was really nice fishing swapping between the two lines and rigs catching quality roach and ide along with odd skimmers and some nice hybrids. When Guy came for his lunchtime walk, he reported most people were catching with the exception of the two ends so I was doing well at this early stage but Andy on 67 was beginning to catch some big skimmers fishing his usual 16 metres.
As we approached the halfway point my bites began to slow, fishing past the feed resulted in odd fish but Mike and Andy were now catching really well and after a brilliant start I was falling behind. Topping up the groundbait line and being patient added a few skimmers but I was waiting ages between fish. In a bid to try and make something happen, I fed a new line at 14.5 metres with three pots of groundbait and leaving it to settle, fished at the same distance to the left past my loose feed. I had a nice little run of fish there including a tench of a pound and then when I went over the new line for the first time, I’ve caught quite well with some skimmers and a perch of 8oz.
The wind got up towards the end of the match which made fishing long difficult and Andy slowed up although Mike was still catching really well with some big skimmers along with loads of ide, giving me a severe case of neckache in the process! I finished up with 50 fish and it had been another cracking days fishing but I knew I hadn’t done any good today.
The scales started at the far end and it had been relatively tough going, Tucks didn’t weigh on 75, Adrian Dew had 16lb 10oz, Steve P struggled for 3lb 14oz and Nigel Bartlett had 14lb on 72. Pete Neate had an excellent 37lb 2oz mainly on the feeder and Andy W weighed 15lb 12oz on 70. Photos courtesy of Todber Manor*
Adrian Dew had 16lb 10oz on 74*
Pete Neate had a lovely net of fish for 37lb 2oz and second place*
Andy Weston weighed 15lb 12oz on 70*
Dave Griffiths had 25lb 11oz which included some big skimmers, Martin Rogers weighed 18lb 8oz and then the ever consistent Andy Akehurst had 30lb 1oz before Mike’s two nets of silvers took the scales round to a brilliant 46lb 4oz, a lovely day’s fishing. My fish went 25lb 3oz which actually wasn’t a million miles away from third place, Nick P had 18lb 8oz, Matt Skyme weighed 18lb 10oz and Nicky Collins did well with 13lb on 62.
Dave G had 25lb 11oz which included some big skimmers*
Andy Akehurst was third with 30lb 1oz*
Mike had a lovely day on the maggot feeder to win with 46lb 4oz*
I had 25lb 3oz (and neckache!)*
Nick weighed 18lb 8oz on peg 64*
Matt Skyme had 18lb 10oz*
Nicky Collins did well on 62 to weigh 13lb*
1 – Mike Hunt (Todber) – 46lb 4oz
2 – Pete Neate (Todber) – 37lb 2oz
3 – Andy Akehurst (Todber) – 30lb 1oz
Some fantastic weights again today (my 20lb winning prediction was only slightly out!) and although it was still tough on the ends, the signs are there that the fish are beginning to spread out which will hopefully continue when the weather finally warms up (if it ever does!). What makes it such a nice venue is that there are always loads of close weights with just a fish or two making all the difference. Adrian handed over the nugget and recorded it for posterity although I’m sure he’ll be getting it back soon! Photo courtesy of Adrian Dew**
I did have a pound off Adrian**
£2 from Nick P and me plus Adrian’s nugget saw the Nugget-O-Meter hit £180.
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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