Sunday 18^th August – West Sedgemoor Drain (Stathe Drain), Langport, Somerset – An End Peg Advantage Pays Off

Here’s another 2-match report again this week starting with the Windmill Fisheries Thursday Costcutter 500. There were 22 names down on the list for this one so it was going to be a bit cosy. Before the draw, I knew the main consideration today would have to be the wind. We were expecting a South West hoolie to blow down the lake all day and so I definitely didn’t want to draw either peg 11 or 12, that’s for sure.  As it happened, I drew peg 25 to a few moans and groans from the disgruntled side bank contenders. On peg 25, I’d have the wind off my back but would that help the fishing?

Not necessarily! I may have had what looked like a millpond in front of me but the wind was swirling from left to right and back again. A few fish were topping out in front but as I’ve learned from experience, that meant diddly squat. However, there were some reed dwellers in the bed to my left, or at least what was left of it, after a brutal swim-clearing session by that ruthless reed hacker, Andy Gard. So, I took a little while to decide what to do today, although Paste would once again feature highly in my tactical action plan. I ended up setting up a slapping rig to try and coax a few early carp out of the reeds.

Next, I set up a paste rig for fishing at 7 metres, with a couple of extra inches on the depth to counteract the swirling wind. I also thought it would be a good idea to set up a silvers line and have a go for them early so that I had a few fish in the net by half-time. This was a full-depth rig at 8 feet and a 4×14 (0.4gram) Chianti-style float. The Mainline was 0.15 Guru N-Gauge and the hook was a size 20 to 0.10 hooklength. Maggle and caster would be the baits of choice for this line. My right-hand edge was quite deep but still worth setting up an animal rig, for much later on in the match. Finally, I set up a small method feeder. Not for chucking out toward the island, it was for flicking out down the edges.

So, on the all-in, I began slapping as close to the reeds on my left, as I dare. I did get a couple of quick snatches but nothing positive. So I lowered the rig in really close to the reeds and… bingo fooking bongo! A fish hooked and another rig lost. FFS! I’m losing hundreds of pounds worth of rigs in these fooking reeds week in and week out! Well, that was enough of that mullarkey. I just couldn’t be bothered doing with it, not today. So, I cupped out some groundbait and casters onto the silvers line, which was at 11 metres and slightly to my left. I also dumped in some Scopex groundbait on my 7-metre paste line and dropped in about 20 kernels of corn to the left and right margins.

I attacked my silvers line with a single red maggle. Well, when I say ‘attacked’, I mean I gently lowered in my rig. It wasn’t long before I had a small perch of about half an ounce if that. I plodded away on that line with maggle and then caster for about 30 minutes before it finally gave up a small skimbo of around 5 ounces. I was obviously getting nowhere fast, which was typically normal during the first 2-3 hours of these matches… but my clean-up early plan was just about to be launched. I picked up my feeder rod, baited the size 14 Kaizan hook with an 8mm banded pellet, loaded the method feeder with a generous helping of Scopex and micros and then…

I dropped it into the right-hand margin quite close to the reeds. I didn’t have to wait long before the tip shot round and the rod bent double as I played a hefty 9-pounder. Well alright! A result! We were just into the second hour of the match now and I had a carp in the net already. I hadn’t seen anyone else catch anything in that time and I could see a lot of anglers from my vantage point. So it was a case of rinse and repeat, only the next time I had a foul hooker, which came off after a 5-minute tussle. I then noticed lots of fizzing on my 7-metre line so I abandoned the method feeder in favour of the pole and paste. The float indicated the presence of carp and the bubbles confirmed it but hooking one seemed nigh impossible.

I kept getting some lightening fast bites, which was fooking frustrating, to say the least. Something definitely wasn’t quite right but I wasn’t exactly sure what it was, so I began experimenting. In the meantime, I kept topping up the swim to keep the carp interested. I tried varying the size of my paste offering, I tried corn, worm, caster and maggle on the hook. I tried 8mm pellet and 6mm Robin Reds but nothing seemed to work so I decided to rest the swim for a while and go back onto the silvers line. I must have spent another 20 minutes on this line without so much as a dip or a dink on the float. Meanwhile, everyone is now catching and I’m lagging well behind. It was all going so terribly wrong.

Well, eventually I found out what the problem was… I had been rolling my paste in the Scopex groundbait, as before, because that seemed to work really well… but not today. So, I decided to offer my paste without groundbait and bang! A carp on and netted but bites were still very finicky and very slow to come. I did manage to catch 7 carp in total but was well beaten in the end. However, every cloud… (and a bit of Karma because I had to do the weighing-in)… I managed to win my section with 32-14-0, beating John Smith by a measly 3 ounces. With more beer tokens in my pocket, I’m so glad I went for silvers early lol. Now here’s a strange thing… In the last match, I lost a carp on light gear while fishing maggle for silvers. I lost the rig… the elastic… the lot. But it was somehow magically retrieved by Shay Gillman who hooked it, minus the fish. How he did it is anyone’s guess.

Stathe Drain

I positively love Stathe Drain. Not so much for the quality of fishing, as that can change in a heartbeat. It’s more for the sheer peace and tranquillity of the place. No boats, no paddle boarders, no bikes, no dog walkers… just a couple of swans and moorhens. So, it’s always nice if the fishing is good too I suppose. Well, we had 10 club members who had made the 40-mile journey for this one and everyone arrived on time. I wasn’t at all bothered where I would be drawn but as luck would have it I drew the end peg… Peg 10. The last time I drew an end peg I won quite comfortably.

When I got to my peg, I was happy to see I had drawn a wider-than-normal peg, which looked like it might hold a big fish or two. I wanted to keep everything simple today so I set up a bomb rod for fishing right across with maggle and worm. I also set up a 13-metre line although the wind would dictate whether I actually fished this line. My main line of attack would be at 9-metres, where it was 5 feet deep and relatively weed-free on the bottom. My rigs for both lines were very similar in that they were both made up with 0.3 gram pencil floats and 0.11 (3lb BS) Guru N-Guage main line. On the 13-metre rig, I had a size 18 hook to 0.10 hook length and on the shorter, 9-metre rig, I had a size 20 hook to 0.9 hook length.

My groundbait today was Sensas 3000 Super Black, to which I added a few dead red maggles and a few casters. This would only be used on the shorter line. On the 13-metre line, I fed chopped worm, casters and a few grains of sweetcorn. I did have a 5-metre whip set up but I didn’t use it because the wind was a bit swirly. So, on the all-in, I cupped out some groundbait and dead reds to my 9-metre line and dumped a small potful of choppy and bits to the longer line. Then I cast my straight lead and single maggle offering right over. It took all of 10 seconds before I hooked a nice rudd of about 4 ounces, followed by a few more smaller specimens.

So, we’re now 30 minutes into the match and it was time to look over the 9-metre line with a single maggle on the hook. Bites came in flurries. I’d catch 3 or 4 fish and then they would back off. So, I began fishing and feeding both lines in order the keep the fish coming, which worked well. I was catching mainly roach and rudd with the odd perch and then I started catching small skimbos on the 9-metre line. At one point and for over an hour or so I was getting a bite at every put-in before it all died down. After about 15 minutes without a bite on either line, I went back onto the straight lead and managed to find a couple more small fish. Then I changed the hook on the 9-metre rig to a size 22 to a 0.8 hooklength. The elastic in this top kit was a size 8. 

So, I dropped the newly changed rig with single red maggle onto my shorter line and within a minute the float sailed away and I was into a much better fish. It was a tench. At first, it didn’t put up much of a fight as I slowly coaxed it toward me and then all hell broke loose as it woke up and came to its senses. It made a couple of long runs including out toward the far bank and then way down to my left-hand side where it found a weed bed. I couldn’t put too much pressure on it but I held firm until it came out for one last tango before I finally managed to net it. What a relief that was! After that, the swim came alive again and I began catching steadily once more. Then into the last hour, I hooked into another good fish. This one was a bream.

As before, I took my time and very gently pulled the fish toward me. A lot of elastic was out and I needed to pull it back very gently. When I felt I was getting the upper hand, I raised my pole and the fish came to the surface. It was a lovely gold and bronze colour, with dark fins and was about 3 lbs. As I reached over to grab my landing net, which had been blown onto the ground, it somehow slipped the hook and was gone… forever! FFS! I wondered whether that loss had just cost me the match. However, I needn’t have worried. On the weigh-in, I put 9-13-0 on the scales and my nearest rival was Adrian Dennis on peg 9 with 7-1-0. Adrian fished a blinder so well done to him. Next was Leigh Wakefield with 6-1-0 for third. So, a few more beer tokens were added to the kitty this week.

I really enjoyed that match but sadly I don’t think we’ll be going back to Stathe Drain due to the distance and travelling time. Well, next week I’ll be at Windmill again on Thursday and then I’ll be fishing an Alcove club match on Georges Lake, Whitehouse Farm on Sunday 25th. Keep you posted!

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