It is always nice to get away for a few days and if you can combine new surroundings and good company then all the better. Pete Thompson had asked if I fancied a few days stopping at his brother's house in Cullompton in Somerset. Fishing tackle was a must, as his brother, Tommy goes fishing.
With the plan to go on Bank Holiday Monday, stay Tuesday and Wednesday and return on the Thursday. Pete duly arrived and after loading the car with Pete's gear we were soon off and running. That was until the Engine Management light came on the Peugeot and would not allow me to rev over 2000 revs. A faulty fuel filter was diagnosed and a return to Milton Keynes ensued. Still nothing we could do about it on a Bank Holiday, so it was a case of switching the gear from my car to Pete's and off we went again. We were now three hours behind plan but at least moving in the right direction. We had decided to fish on the way down and had targeted Lands End Fishery near Wedmore in Somerset to break up the journey. Surprisingly the roads were clear and even the M4 around Bristol caused us no problems. Arriving at the fishery though caused our second disappointment of the day. All three lakes were closed off for matches. So a decision was made to try Viaduct Fishery at Somerton as it was a bit closer to Collumpton and not taking us away from the area. A trip along the country roads and within 45 minutes we were there. Day tickets purchased we settled into 2 pegs 62 and 63 on Lodge lake.
I decided to fish the edge as I had a nice little cut out in amongst some reeds with around 2ft beneath the float. I also set a line at 9m in 5ft of water and would hope for a few skimmers. Pete opted to fish long at 11m and was targeting skimmers with paste. I started off long and caught a few nice skimmers around 2lb before the bites got a bit iffy on stinky corn. A switch to GOT Rippers brought another couple of skimmers. Pete had caught well and was getting a few carp over his paste up to 12lb 7oz amongst his skimmers. I had a look down the edge and had a few carp to 12lb 6oz and as we had daily challenge to see who caught the biggest fish, Pete won day 1. Still we had a good day and an estimated 80lb each in just a couple of hours fishing. We also found out that they run a match on the Thursday and seemed a good idea to finish the week off so booked in.
After a good night's sleep, Tuesday brought Tommy's day at Kia-Ora fishery in Collumpton. This is Tommy's local venue and although I have fished here before we let Tommy choose where he wanted to fish before settling into our pegs nearby. Again Pete would fish pellet and paste, I would fish corn and Tommy the humble maggot. I had an island in front of me at 12.5m and two nice looking edges, however I decided to start off at 2+3 as I could throw the corn this far. Bites were coming and fairly regularly and it was not long before I was getting into a rhythm of feeding, dropping a bait in, feeding again, striking, feeding, landing and feeding again before repeating the process. I was only feeding corn but using Stinky Corn on the hook. After a couple of hours I had caught around 25 fish for about 120lb. I had been feeding down the edge, one side with corn the other 4mm GOT Sinkers and I decided to switch to the edges to see if I could tempt some larger fish that inhabit Kia-Ora. A good decision as in the next hour I had 12 fish for another 100lb with the best around 14lb. Pete was catching well down the edge but was struggling out and still reckoned on well over a ton. Tommy was catching small roach and the odd carp, so I went over with some corn and pellet and showed him how to fish it. As soon as my back was turned, he was into his first corn fish and after around five minutes he landed a nice common around 8lb. As time was running out I decided to have a look long by the island and by lifting and dropping a grain of stinky corn at 12.5m I was getting a fish every put in. These fish were smaller than those down the edge and even smaller than the 2+3 line but in ten put ins I had 9 fish averaging 3lb each. I reckoned on having around 280lb in the 6 hours we were there, with Pete close behind with 200lb, Tommy once he started fishing corn had around a ton. I had won day 2.
Day three saw the three of us lining the banks of Goodiford Mill. Settling in on some early pegs to avoid any long walks. Again, my plan was to fish stinky corn over corn at 2+3 and down the edge. Pete was going to fish pellet and paste before switching to expanders. Tommy would fish maggot and his newly learnt corn tactics down the edge. After a slow start on my long line I soon had skimmers and odd carp queuing up for a grain of stinky corn, however I noticed a few swirls whilst feeding and thought the fish were off bottom. A change of rig and after a few nice roach to 12oz I was getting carp shallow lifting and dropping. Tommy was getting a lot of blade roach on the maggot, and was quite pleased to have caught 20 fish after the first hour for about 2lb in weight. Not my cup of tea but each to their own. I had around 50lb on my clicker, mainly carp but a few skimmers and roach. Our target today was to catch a crucian and a tench. Pete although struggling on the paste had secured one of the species, a crucian of around a pound. I just kept plugging away alternating between up and down in the water and was bagging. After three hours I reckoned on 150lb. However fishing was disrupted by a guy fishing further round. He had lost his rod in the water and wanted help to get it back. It had lodged it self against the island and was stuck fast. He decided to swim over with a lifebuoy round his waist to retrieve it. Attached to the buoy was another of his carp rods with 10lb line to help drag him back if he got into difficulties. It was definitely a sight to see but the mission was accomplished, rod retrieved and the guy, although wet and embarrassed it had happened in the first place went away happy. Back to the fishing and it was if we had not been away. Fish were queuing up again and by the end of the day I reckoned on 83 carp for around 320lb plus approximately 25lb of silvers plus a tench of 1 1/2lb which drew the daily challenge. Pete had decided to fish the whip and in 45 minutes had 69 fish on expander, all roach and crucians at half depth on a topkit straight out.
Our last day would see us compete in the Viaduct costcutter match before returning home. After breakfast at the fishery we drew for pegs, opting to leave it to the last 2 in the bag. Pegs 130 for me and 132 for Pete. So next door to each other (peg 131 was not in). I had open water in front of me and an overhanging willow tree to me right. Pete was tucked away in the corner with good looking margins and open water. I had a local next to me who set up a couple of bomb rods plus the pole for fishing up and down and margin rigs. Me however, decided to fish corn at 11m, feeding a 2+2 line and one edge by the tree late on. I did not take any rods with me due to space in the van being limited. At the all in I potted a pot of pellet with around 30 grains of corn at 11m and threw some bait regularly in the edge and 2+2 line. I started on 11m and first put in, I had a foul hooked carp of 4lb which after a struggle came in. A few skimmers and tench followed before the bites tailed off. This time I fed with a far larger percentage of corn to try to get the carp going. This seemed to do the trick as I snagged a few carp to boost my first hour weight to 35lb on the clicker of carp. I was still getting some nice skimmers and odd tench and roach but was not keeping a track of them. Hours two and three flew by and although odd fish came, I realised that you needed to keep the peg fizzing to get constant bites. I was now feeding a large pot of pellet and corn every hour. Topping up occasionally with a toss pot. Going in the fourth hour my clicker said 64lb and with a 70lb net limit I started a new net. The fifth hour was harder, with only 10lb in the carp net but feeding heavier(every half an hour) brought the fish back. I thought that with a good last hour I was in with a shout. I had a look down the edge for two roach so gave that idea up quickly and at 2+2 only had a small skimmer, so it was 11m or nothing. By lifting a dropping the stinky hookbait I was able to add another 4 fish. I was a bit adrift of my neighbour who had caught well throughout, a couple of fish on the bomb then up and down and then the margin before going back to the bomb for a total of 161lb. My carp nets went 107lb and with 28lb of silvers I ended up third overall with 135lb and a brown envelope. Pete had caught in bursts and weighed in 10lb of silvers and 65lb of carp.
So that was it, four days fishing and over 800lb of fish, a brown envelope to end with. Will help with the car repairs and news that my fridge freezer at home has broken down. Still better than working, I suppose.
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