We were back at Summerhayes on the Sunday but it was Longs this time and I must admit I wasn’t particularly looking forward to it as it’s been the tougher of the two lakes recently with 5-6lb winning the silvers. After Sellicks fished hard the previous day, I thought 4lb would be a good weight, especially with 23 anglers fishing and another cold, bright, still day on the cards.
As we waited for the draw, I said to Nick I really fancied pegs 12 or 13 as they’re wide swims and you don’t have to worry about shipping back over fences or the track and they’re normally really good for silvers too. Pete got the draw started and the breakfast club were around two thirds of the way down the list.
When my name was called, I delved into the bucket and only pulled out number 13, that’ll do! Nick was next and got 33 which was one away from where he won the silvers the last time we were on Longs, Parker ‘The Pole’ was on 10 and Les drew 35, both can be good pegs for silvers. After two trips I got all my kit to the peg and for company I had Martin Addicott on 12 and for the second day running, Glynn was on the next peg to my left.
I set up my usual 0.2 gram Bobbies to fish two lines at 11.5 metres, straight out and angled to the right, a top two line and then across at 14.5 metres. The side tray for today contained the usual maggots, disco pinkies and some Bait-Tech Special G F1 Dark.
On the whistle I fed all my lines before starting on a top kit to the left, mainly just to let the longer lines settle. I missed a bite first chuck, then had another indication before hooking a fish that pulled out a fair bit of number six elastic. It wasn’t a carp and was too energetic for a skimmer, I was thinking roach but it was actually a 3oz chublet! The next two fish were miniscule motherless minnows (at least I think that’s what they were) so it was time to move out to 11.5 metres.
Martin had a carp first put in, dobbing bread across, I could also see Nick swinging in some small fish and James Cooper on 32 already had a couple of carp. On my negative 11.5 metre line, I’ve had a nice run of roach, including a couple of 2-3oz fish before it died. Switching to the other line resulted in some small blades along with three hand sized skimbobs and then a better one of 6oz or so.
Although I wasn’t bagging, I was getting a few bites and probably halfway to my 4lb target after two hours. From what I could see, nobody was bagging up on silvers so if I could keep putting odd fish in the net rotating round my lines, I wouldn’t be far away. Typically I then couldn’t get a bite on either of the 11.5 metre lines, so I refed them with a little marble of groundbait and dropped in on the top kit swim but no more indications there.
I’d been feeding maggots across for three hours so it was time to have a look at 14.5 metres, I was expecting maybe another flurry of chunky roach but first put in, the float buried and loads of elastic came out. I shipped back very carefully and netted a very welcome bonus skimmer around 12oz. Next chuck I had another followed by one of 6oz and I’d doubled my weight with three fish in less than ten minutes!
When I had a 1.5lb skimmer a few minutes later, I was sure this couldn’t last but the bites kept coming with another of a pound and I was getting quite a few fish between 4-8oz. I did pull out of one decent fish and began having real trouble seeing my float because of the sun’s glare on the water. After I bumped a decent fish and came back with a silver scale on the hook and then Glynn had a decent skimmer fishing long to the point of the island, I was hoping I hadn’t spooked them.
Martin was still bagging and on for a big weight, he’d even caught a decent skimmer on bread and had to chuck it back as he needed his nets for carp. I was still getting odd skimmers but Glynn was now catching well and with around thirty minutes left, I was thinking of getting the 16 metre section out and going right across to the island but then had another decent skimmer. Not long after I hooked and landed my first carp but crucially Glynn didn’t have anymore skimmers while I was faffing around, I did manage one more skimmer and a little roach before the all out.
Adie on 37 was first to weigh in and had done well with 6lb 11oz of silvers, Zooner was next on 39 and had 5lb 2oz, then it had been hard going along Cyanide Straight and round to pegs 9 and 10 before we got to Martin, his nets totalled 106lb 13oz, a brilliant weight on the day. My fish went 12lb 12oz and then Glynn had 8lb 3oz.
Adie had 6lb 11oz of silvers (and has taken up imaginary weight lifting!)
Martin had the top weight on the day with a brilliant 106lb 13oz of carp
I had a really enjoyable match catching skimmers, roach and a chublet for 12lb 12oz
Glynn had 8lb 3oz of mainly skimmers from peg 15
Hollywood on 17 had 16lb 15oz of carp, Nigel Bartlett weighed 4lb 10oz of silvers on 19 and then Dick Bull had 12lb 8oz on 21. The early pegs on the track had struggled before Martin Heard on 27 weighed 53lb 14oz, Alex Kerr had 24lb which included 4lb 15oz of silvers and then Big Bad Bob on 30 had done well catching 51lb. James Cooper was next on 32 and went into second place with 81lb 5oz. Nick had 5lb 2oz of silvers, Les chucked back on 35 and last to weigh was Steve Collins who had 38lb 15oz. Photo credit – Steve Collins*
James Cooper on 32 was second with 81lb 5oz of carp
Steve Collins weighed 38lb 15oz on peg 36*
1 – Martin Addicott (Summerhayes) – 106lb 13oz
2 – James Cooper (MAP) – 81lb 5oz
3 – Martin Heard (Tiverton) – 53lb 14oz
Silvers
1 – Jamie Rich (Against Men and Fish) – 12lb 12oz
2 – Glynn Wickham (Summerhayes) – 8lb 3oz
3 – Adie Bishop (Summerhayes) – 6lb 11oz
I had a nice pick up of £70 and it had been a really nice day, fishing has a habit of surprising you, this morning I would have bet good money on 4-5lb of silvers being enough to win today.
Craig Lyttle donated a pound and along with one from Zooner, the Nugget-O-Meter total climbed to £42.
There’s still a great offer running if you fancy treating yourself to some new fishing gear, use the exclusive discount code AgainstMenandFish10 to get 10% off when you shop online at Somerset Angling
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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