On Saturday it was Champion of Champions Silvers Final at Summerhayes, they’re great matches with some serious money to be won. Basically throughout the year, a pound from the entry fee of each match goes into the pot and if you win one or the silvers you qualify for the respective final and with pools on the day as well, the pay out is really good.
With 22 anglers fishing, it was a decent size match and along with all the usual silvers stars there were a fair few failed/lapsed carp bashers in attendance! Pete got the draw underway starting with the bonus ball which was 19 (my favourite peg) but it had gone by the time my name was called with Adie the angler in with a shout of a rather large envelope.
I pulled out number 36 which is in front of the hut by the aerator, it can be alright for silvers but is also a brilliant carp peg. Charlie T had drawn 35 and after practising on 34 the day before when he had 20lb of skimmers, he could use the same rigs and wouldn’t even need to plumb up! His mate had fished my peg and caught 60lb of carp on hard pellets plus he also had some big skimmers.
Peg 36
I set up a 0.2 gram Bobbie for 11.5 and 13 metres plus a 4 x 12 Preston F1 Maggot for two lines down the middle at 8.5 metres. The side tray contained maggots, disco pinkies and some Bait-Tech Special G F1 Dark.
On the whistle I fed a little loose groundbait on a top kit line and then a nugget containing a few pinkies on the two middle lines before pinging a few maggots across. I only gave the short line a couple of minutes but no indications (which wasn’t a surprise with the water being very clear) and I was soon out on the 8.5 metre lines.
A bite quite quickly resulted in a nice 4oz skimbob, it’s twin next chuck had me thinking it was going to be better than I’d expected but then the float sailed away and I was into my first carp of the day. Swapping between the two lines down the middle, I was getting some small roach and the very occasional 2oz blade. I tried toss potting in little thumbnails of groundbait and I did have one nice skimmer but then it was back to tiny fish and of course, carp.
It was a similar story for Charlie although he did have a good skimmer when he went across to the far bank. Two hours in and as far as I could tell, it was fishing really hard, I had seen Rob B and Mark S over on 12 and 13 netting the odd better fish but nobody was really bagging. With just odd small fish down the middle, I was going nowhere fast so had my first look at 11.5 metres.
I had two small roach and then third put in, the float buried on the drop and I was into something a bit better, I thought it was going to be a chublet but actually turned out to be a nice hybrid around 8oz. That fish proved to be a false dawn though and I went back to struggling for the odd little fish and playing the inevitable carp. Adding the 13 metre section resulted in a flurry of bites but I just couldn’t catch any quality until late on when the light started to fade and I had two net roach.
As I was first to weigh, Pete soon arrived with the scales and my fish went 5lb 4oz which was a little more than I thought but with quite a few people admitting to between 3-5lb I didn’t think it would be enough to frame today. Martin A on 38 had 2lb 15oz and then it had been a struggle along ‘Cyanide Straight’ with Roger C (peg 1) weighing 1lb 4oz, Paul P on peg 3 had 4lb 5oz, Alex K (peg 5) weighed 3lb 10oz and Nick on 7 had 2lb 15oz.
I had lots of little fish for 5lb 4oz
Then Roy Hughes had done brilliantly on peg 9 to go into the lead with 8lb 6oz, Gabe weighed 4lb 3oz on peg 11, Rob B had some nice skimmers for 6lb 2oz and then Mark Saunders went into top spot with a great weight of 11lb 5oz from peg 13.
Roy Hughes was in the frame again, this time with an excellent 8lb 6oz from peg 9
Mark Saunders was the only angler to break double figures on a difficult day with 11lb 5oz
Jacko had 4lb 11oz on peg 15, Glynn weighed 3lb 2oz and then Adie on the golden peg had 4lb 9oz. Toby B on 21 weighed 3lb 13oz, Alvin had 3lb 6oz, Steve C weighed 3lb 13oz, Rob W had 2lb on 27 and then Lee Smart pipped me by a few ounces with 5lb 9oz. Zooner on peg 30 had done well again and went into third place with 7lb 1oz (and took a nugget off me). Tom R weighed 3lb 14oz and then Hollywood (Ian W) had 4lb 3oz so with just peg 35 left to weigh, I was hanging on to sixth spot but I really thought Charlie had more than me despite his protestations!
When he pulled his net out, it was going to be close and I was relieved when Pete called it at 4lb 5oz so I’d won our nugget side bet and finished sixth and last in the frame, picking up £24. Although it had fished hard, it was pretty tight with eight weights between 4lb 3oz and 5lb 9oz.
1 – Mark Saunders (Summerhayes) – 11lb 5oz
2 – Roy Hughes (Summerhayes) – 8lb 6oz
3 – Jess Jordan (Summerhayes) – 7lb 1oz
4 – Rob Birch (Summerhayes) – 6lb 2oz
5 – Lee Smart (Summerhayes) – 5lb 9oz
6 – Jamie Rich (Against Men and Fish) – 5lb 4oz
Roy Hughes very kindly donated £20 of his winnings to the charity, what a fantastic gesture and with £2 each from Nick and me for the weekends matches plus the pound side bet from Charlie, the Nugget-O-Meter rose to £450.
Also I still have copies of my book available from eBay here or Amazon here
And if you could spare five minutes to leave a nice review on Amazon, it would be very much appreciated.
Next up – Landsend
Coming soon – Lots more match reports
Check Out – My last match
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