The drive down on a Saturday always takes a little longer than a Sunday I feel, there was also the Royal Bath and West Show going on which added to the traffic. I still arrived in good time and got my pools paid and chatted to the other anglers, one of which was my Thatchers team mate Nick Ewers who told me he was fishing for silvers and reckoned that 115 was the draw. It was good to see Tom Thick who’ve I’ve not seen for ages, he hasn’t changed when it comes to banter lol. Got in the draw queue just behind Nick, and was soon putting my hand in the coffee tin. 112 was my home today, checked with Nick and he had got his choice 115!
On my peg and I was quite happy to have anglers either side fishing for carp, a lad from the Southeast was on 113, Tim Martin on 111. Tom Thick was on 110 and so however the fishing went my entertainment was guaranteed… and it was. Nick was kind enough to tell me how he was going to approach his peg, he said he didn’t fancy my peg for silvers so much at the moment. My approach was much the same as last week, a couple of short lines, a couple at 11m, and a couple in the margin. 4x12 and 4x14 rigs with 16 SFLB to 0.12.
Started at 10:30 and I fed my short lines and one long line to begin. It was Thatchers Green for gbait again, with micros, casters and maggots. I started short as last week, but this time I had a small skimmer first drop in. A bit more of a wait but then was into more skimmers, and at the end of the first hour I had 10lb, much better than last week. The second hour was more of the same really, although I did have to try my long lines to rest the short ones. For some reason the lines to my right were by far the better. Again like last week I did get a problem with losing the odd fish, but only one where the maggot went over the hook.
Hour three was slower, and my short line was no longer yielding bites. The long line had signs, I fouled two big skimmers and got them out, then fouled two more on the trot that came off. Frustrating but that’s just how it is here at the moment as the fish seem to be off bottom but not really feeding. I had about 28lb after three hours and was quite happy but was definitely a bit behind Nick.
The wheels then came off, and the skimmers just shut up shop for everyone. I tried everything but nothing really worked and it was just random bites, a few little perch, an eel and a couple of skimmers from the margin. Lost two carp and landed one, but again they were not a problem. Nick was able to get the odd skimmer and I knew he would beat me, but I was not sure how the other silvers anglers had faired when the match was over, I had clicked 38lb. On the carp front it seemed Howard Webb and Martin Preston had done well.
As the scales start weighing from 132 I had plenty of time to pack up and put the gear back in the van. By the time the scales got to me Nick was top silvers with 49lb and Rocky had 31lb, and then with my fish going 37lb 6oz I was going to be second again.
A nice little pick up.
Final results
Overall
1. Howard Webb - 214lb 6oz - peg 127
2. Martin Preston - 163lb 14oz - peg 125
3. Tim Martin - 150lb 12oz - peg 111
Silvers
1. Nick Ewers - 49lb - peg 115
2. Tim Ford - 37lb 6oz - peg 112
3. Rocky - 31lb - peg 128
Well that’s it for the practice, certainly the silvers fishing is a bit tricky, and my two matches here have been quite different in how the fish fed. Just one final thing to practice for now…. Cheers!
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