T.A.C Match

As a Thames regular for many years I thought it only right to join the Thames Angling Conservancy. The T.A.C. are a group of anglers who want to protect the River Thames from the many challenges the river faces and improve it for the future.

Entirely free to join up to it is definately worth a few minutes of your time to sign up and be part of the rapidly expanding club who are trying to make a difference to the River Thames.

You can join here - http://www.rivertac.org/

On the forum there is a variety of topics, from litter picking to arranging of matches, meet ups etc, It was the clubs first match which I attended on Fri 27th Aug 2010 at Walton bridge.

Promising to be a good evening with a laugh, prizes, trophies and maybe even some fish it was well worth attending.

The draw for pegs was at 17:30, I arrived a few minutes late, and was the last fisherman to arrive. This meant I was last to draw out of the hat!!

As only 6 anglers were present at the draw, it didnt really matter as there was plenty of space along the stretch, people obviously thinking it was better to stay indoors after the recent downpours over the past few days.

I picked out the last ticket marked 2, so even though I had arrived last, I walked off second and picked my swim. Seeing as there were only 6 people fishing, I decided to stay close to the HQ, ensuring a chat with the others and being able to keep an eye on what else was caught.

My mainline of attack was pellet feeder with a mix of scalded pellet/boilie in the hope of snaring a bream or two, with the possbility of a barbel or carp also.

The match started at 19:00 and ended at midnight for the first match, the other one running from 19:00 til 07:00.

The first fish caught was to the guy next to me and turned out to be a gudgeon!!

He had a few more little fish before news filtered through of a 3.11 perch being caught a little downstream, well done to Paul for that fish. He actually went on to win the 12hour match by adding a 6lb bream also.

Winner of the 5 hour match was a guy called luke who had a 1lb2oz roach, followed by the guy next to me who weighed in 7oz I think, 3rd place went to Mark with a lone gudgeon, leaving me fishless in 4th place!!! Still 4th place in my first ever match aint too bad, at least it doesnt sound to bad when I tell people where I finished, I might just not add the part where there was only 4 entrants, lol

I even got the pike rod out an hour from time and put a spinnerbait around the swim in the hope of a pike lurking around the margins, but to no avail.


The midnight finishing horn sounded all too soon and the gear was dispatched to the car. The Gazebo was alive with tea, the smell of bacon rolls and chocolate biccies!
As the fishing had been quite poor, but the turn out had been ok, plus the amount of tackle that had been donated as prizes everyone that had fished got something, myself getting a FOX evolution x rucksack which will join my small mountain of fishing gear I already have!!

All in all it was a very good evening, my own fishing limited by the tackle that I had, I couldnt really change tactics, but I fished on regardless. I will definately be attending any future events arrange by the club.
There is talk of pike tuition days which I really fancy, as I have so much self written material on pike fishing, it will be good to pass this information on.

Once again make sure you Join - http://www.rivertac.org/