With nothing on locally, I booked in to fish at Summerhayes and Janders fancied a days fishing too. The match was on Sellicks but the forecast was awful though, with gale force winds and rain predicted. I picked John up and we made good time, I’d even done him some soft pellets (makes a change from Scotty doing them for me!). There was a decent turnout of 18 which would mean most pegs would be in. I pulled out peg 8 which meant I’d have the wind in my face – great! Janders drew 18 on the opposite side so I’d have no idea how the sidebet was looking. Also at the draw was Phil ‘Digger’ Denslow who I haven’t seen for years and it was lovely to see him.
For the third match on the trot I had the owner Pete on the next peg, the score stands at 1-1 and I was hoping to make it 2-1 today. I set up a Carpa 2 for the skimmers at 10 metres and a dibber for down the edge and towards the island at 13 metres (although with the wind I couldn’t see me venturing over there too often). Pete was pinning his faith in chopped worms and casters again and it would be interesting to see how he got on.
Pete blew for the all in and I cupped in half a pot of micros at 10 metres, the same plus some corn at 13 metres and threw some 6mm’s and corn down the edge. Ray Wickham next to Pete was into a carp straight away and a good one as well. I had to wait a while for my first bite and then hooked a decent skimmer which came off, good start! I was getting bites on a 4mm expander but they weren’t coming particularly fast. I had 4 skimmers in the first hour for a pound or so, I stuck with it though as aside from Ray nobody on our side was setting the world alight.
Going into hour two I hooked a carp and was down to the top three when all of a sudden the hook popped out – bugger. I did add a small foulhooked carp and four more skimmers including two good ones of a 1lb or so. Pete had yet to get off the mark and it was looking like it could be a relative grueller. The wind made holding the pole a nightmare, even at 10 metres. I was still getting the odd skimmer but I was also feeding regularly down the edge with it in mind to try it if the wind got too bad or my bites on the long line slowed.
Pete finally got off the mark with a small carp and was getting regular indications but losing a few foulhooked fish. The guy on my left was having similar problems too and even Ray seemed to have slowed up. With the halfway mark approaching I decided to rest my skimmer line and have a go across if the wind would allow. I put some more micros in before going across with corn on the hook. I had two carp quite quickly but the wind was a real pain so next stop was down the edge. I had a good carp of about 4lb on my second drop in but that was the only bite I had there.
Into the final third of the match and I had four carp plus around a dozen skimmers and although I was ahead of the people either side, I knew I was behind Ray so thought my best chance of a pick up today was to concentrate on the silvers. Pete was having a nightmare, the carp he’d caught earlier made a bid for freedom and was successful, leaping out of his net which was now empty again! He then had a run of two or three fish before landing one that leapt out of his landing net onto his bait table, knocking all his bait tubs in before going back in the pond. Luckily the fish was still on only for it to come off at the net – whoops!
I was still getting the odd skimmer but I was having to wait ages for the bites and I missed several along with bumping a couple of fish. The lad on my left packed up with an hour to go and said that the anglers to his left were struggling too. I tried down the edge again but had no more indications so spent the last half an hour at 10 metres. I managed two more skimmers and then five minutes before the end hooked and landed my fifth carp of about 2lb. I packed up and took half my kit to the car, I passed Digger on peg 3 who said he’d had 8 or 9 carp so I was pretty sure he’d beaten me.
The scales started at Digger and he weighed just over 20lb, the next person to put a good weight on the scales was Ray who had 25lb 1oz and I thought he’d had a lot more than that. Pete had 8lb odd but had suffered a real nightmare, my five carp went 13lb 4oz and my seventeen skimmers went 9lb 5oz to give me a 22lb 9oz total and I was sure those lost/bumped fish were going to cost me. Aidy Bishop reckoned I’d easily won the silvers but I wasn’t so sure. Janders conceded defeat and handed over a £1 as he’d only had three carp. I took the rest of my kit back to the car before catching up with the scales again, I was still leading the silvers but there was a weight of 24lb and Glyn Wickham was winning with 30lb 2oz and I was wishing I’d spent longer across as a couple more carp would have put me right up there.
Jander had 8lb something but didn’t bother weighing his solitary skimmer, then Bruce Hunt weighed 30lb 9oz to win his third match on the trot. I won the silvers and picked up £20 and was actually fifth overall. As you can no longer win double bubble, Digger actually sneaked into 4th place although he didn’t hang around for the results.
1 – Bruce Hunt (ALS) – 30lb 9oz
2 – Glyn Wickham – 30lb 2oz
3 – Ray Wickham – 25lb 1oz
4 – Phil ‘Digger’ Denslow (Taunton) – 20lb+
Silvers
1 – Jamie Rich (Against Men and Fish) – 9lb 5oz
2 – Clive Cunningham – 5lb+
So my good run on Sellicks continues, just need to try and crack Longs now! The weather hadn’t helped us today and the weights were a lot lower than normal. Janders said he’d enjoyed it though and wants to come again. Next up for me is an evening match at Dillington on Wednesday so tune in for more blip bashing.
