Back to Todber on Saturday with the ‘Ilminster Massive’ and there was a full house this week including the Somerset Spielberg, our very own YouTube sensation, Bunghole Bob! As most of us enjoyed breakfast in the Lakeside Kitchen, the mind games had already began as Bob was keen to have a nugget on it and wanted to pay me before the start as he hadn’t fished Ash for years!
Although the middle of the lake (68-71) has been the place to draw for ages, the weather warmed up slightly last weekend and the fish spread out a little more with the end pegs producing some decent weights. Typically in the week, temperatures dropped again and we had several frosts which I thought might bunch the fish up in the middle again. JC called us all to order and held aloft the tray with all the pegs in and I waited until there were only a couple left before delving in.
When I opened my ticket, I’d drawn 68 which is a brilliant peg, Parker ‘The Pole’ was also in the right area on 70 while Nick was down on 63 which wasn’t where you wanted to be. For company I had Pete Neate on my left and Roy Vassie on 69. The last time I’d drawn next to Roy, he fished the ‘waggler’ to win the match and was giving me a battering until I had a decent run of fish near the end and it had been close with just 1.5lb in it.
The lake was flat calm and rather ominously, there weren’t any fish topping and I thought it might be a bit tougher today with around 15lb enough to do well. I set up 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 the usual disco pinkies, lots of maggots and some Bait-Tech Special G F1 Dark.
Gorgeous weather! Looking up the lake with Roy next door on 69
Bunghole had drawn 64 which hasn’t been very good of late and came up before the start trying to give me his shiny pound coin but I refused to accept it.
On the whistle I fed a small nugget of groundbait at 13 metres straight out and then began loose feeding maggots on a line angled to the left. I thought it might take a while to get a bite but second chuck I had a small roach on the drop. Pete had started on the feeder while Roy kicked off on ‘the wiggler’ and both were getting odd indications but it certainly wasn’t hectic at this early stage.
I was getting some lovely roach along with the odd 6oz skimmer and every now and again I tried the maggot line and when I had a nice ide, I picked up the light rig and was expecting it to be really good but only had a couple of fish on it. Steve P was catching some nice skimmers and Adrian next to him was netting fish regularly but with an hour gone I was right in the mix. As far as I could tell the two ends were fishing hard with only odd fish coming out.
I was swapping between the two 13 metre lines but the maggot swim was by far the most productive. Going into the second hour, Roy began catching really well on the wiggler whereas my bites were slowing up and with Pete and Rocky to my left getting some decent ide and skimmers on the feeder, I was now struggling after a good start.
Adding a section and going past the feed only resulted in odd fish while Roy was getting one a bung and giving me a spanking! I even got the 16 metre section out the bag but again it was just very occasional bites and I was regretting not bringing my waggler rod with me as that deja vu feeling was back! Rocky wasn’t getting loads of fish but he had some of the better bream and I thought he was now ahead of me as well.
Norts came to see how we were doing and with around an hour to go, I was back at 16 metres and starting to get a few bites. A couple of times I’ve had tiny roach which was a lot of hard work for not much weight so I put on double maggot and first drop in I’ve had a big ide, then a clonking roach and I couldn’t get the rig in quick enough. I honestly thought Roy was miles ahead of me and was sure Adrian had won the match comfortably and for the second match on the trot, I’m not getting things quite right and my poor decision making has cost me.
That last hour was lovely fishing, with just a couple of minutes remaining I landed a nice ide and didn’t think I had enough time for another but the float settled and went straight under, this time a big roach that I netted after the whistle. I finished with 63 fish that I thought might go around 16lb if they averaged 4oz apiece.
As we were packing up, the scales started at the near end, after he’d been weighed, Bob came up and he’d done brilliantly to catch 20lb 6oz, mostly on the feeder so I paid him my nugget as I was sure I didn’t have that. When the scales reached me, Rocky had also done really well weighing 19lb 4oz and I thought I was going to fall just short. As I lifted my net out, it felt like a decent net of fish and my weight was called at 21lb – phew! Photos courtesy of Todber Manor*
Bunghole Bob did really well to weigh 20lb 6oz from an unfancied peg*
Rocky had some big fish for 19lb 4oz*
I weighed 21lb of ide, roach and skimmers*
So I had to go and see Bob to get my pound back plus one of his and I nearly felt guilty but I really didn’t think I had that much. Roy then pipped me by 8oz and it had been very close in the end, Steve P had 10lb 11oz of mainly skimmers and then Adrian weighed 23lb 11oz to win (which included a bonus 3lb tench) and although a brilliant weight, I thought he’d had a lot more than that. It had been hard going on the top four pegs again but I think that will change in the coming weeks as it begins to warm up.
Roy had another lovely day on the wiggler to weigh 21lb 8oz for second place*
Adrian Dew won on the day with an excellent 23lb 11oz from peg 71*
1 – Adrian Dew (Todber) – 23lb 11oz
2 – Roy Vassie (Todber) – 21lb 8oz
3 – Jamie Rich (Bait-Tech/Colmic) – 21lb
A nice pick up of £50 for third and a cracking days fishing can’t be sniffed at but it was a very close frame with just 4lb separating the top five weights and I was left cursing myself for not going across earlier. That’s twice now I’ve been next to Roy and he’s beaten me but I wasn’t far away today and we had a nice chat and a laugh along the way. Both ends have struggled but it’ll be interesting to see how they fish over the next few weeks as it warms up.
£2 each from Nick P and me plus a pound from Bunghole Bob helped the Nugget-O-Meter climb to £156.
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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