Bank Holiday Monday it was back to Summerhayes for another match on Longs, it was also match number 8 in my fishing marathon. So far, it was going ok, despite lots of early starts, loads of driving and mainly crap weather, I wasn’t feeling too bad and I’d picked up in four of the seven matches.
After a disappointing Greggs for breakfast we headed to the fishery, 16 fishing today so we’d have plenty of room. When Pete announced the draw, Roy was first on the list and only pulled out peg 30 which is in probably the best area for silvers at the moment! I was next and got 13 again, a great peg I’ve drawn a few times lately (and not really done it justice).
The weather was gorgeous to start with (notice I said to start with!)
I set up rigs to fish expanders on two lines at 11.5 metres and maggots across to the island. On the whistle I fed all three areas before starting with a 4mm expander, I hooked a decent skimmer quite quickly but it came off, I bumped another before getting off the mark with a 12oz fish. When I lost another I switched from a pingy five elastic to a softer number six. This helped as I landed two more skimmers but I just wasn’t getting that many indications.
I could see Roy catching well and he has supreme confidence in his approach whereas my resolve with the pellet was wavering already and with an hour gone, I only had three fish and stuck a maggot on to try over the micros. Normally good for a few fish, it was a magnificent flop today and with two hours gone, Roy was already out of sight and I was itching to get over on the maggot line. Nick was on 17 which is the widest peg on the lake and fishing expanders long, he was getting the odd fish but pulling out of a few as well.
Also, typically, after being lovely weather early on, it’s lashed it down in the afternoon although I don’t think anyone was surprised. I’d been feeding two areas across and began getting odd roach but not the skimmers I needed so I got the old faithful dolly butt out and went a little further over. This worked to a certain extent and I had a couple of decent skimmers but was also having a few carp problems. I did hook a fish that tore off to the left but then stopped and after initially thinking it was a foul hooked carp, it actually turned out to be a 1.5lb eel which was much more welcome!
With an hour to go, I bit the bullet and got the 16 metre section out which resulted in a couple more decent skimmers and then in the last fifteen minutes, it felt like some fish had got their heads down (or time of day?) as I had two skimmers and a carp in as many chucks. With just five minutes left, I missed a bite before bumping a fish and it felt like I’d missed my chance, then the float buried and I was into another skimmer, shipping back the whistle went and I safely netted it just after.
The scales started with Dan T on 38 who had done well with 9lb 9oz of skimmers, then Charlie T weighed 100lb 8oz from peg 2 but his lead only lasted until Hollywood on peg 7 who had 106lb 12oz. Young Logan on peg 10 weighed 19lb 11oz, Rob B next door had 6lb 15oz of silvers and then my 28 fish went 13lb 2oz.
Dan T did well on 38 with 9lb 9oz of skimmers
Charlie T set the bar with 100lb 8oz on peg 2
Hollywood weighed 106lb 12oz to go into the lead
I had 28 fish (skimmers, roach and an eel) for 13lb 2oz
Martin A on 14 had 57lb 4oz of mainly carp, Nick P weighed 6lb 8oz of skimmers, Ian Townsend on 19 had 81lb, Adie on golden peg 24 weighed 6lb 2oz of silvers and then Steve ‘World Traveller’ Collins had 54lb 5oz. Steve Kedge on 28 had caught Brian the 5lb bream and weighed 10lb 11oz of silvers and then Roy did what he does best by winning the silvers with another cracking net of skimmers for 20lb 10oz.
Kedgie in full specimen hunter photo mode with Brian!
Roy with another 20lb+ winning net of silvers
Sam on 32 once again showed his class and made it a Williams one-two with 147lb 5oz of carp to win comfortably on the day. Matt V next door had 57lb 7oz and then Mark L chucked back on 36.
Sam won comfortably with 147lb 5oz of carp
1 – Sam Williams (Summerhayes) – 147lb 5oz
2 – Ian Williams (Summerhayes) – 106lb 12oz
Silvers
1 – Roy Hughes (Summerhayes) – 20lb 10oz
2 – Jamie Rich (Against Men and Fish) – 13lb 2oz
So I ended up second in the silvers and picked up £30 but once again was miles behind Roy who is on a great run of form.
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 – Revels
Coming soon – Lots more match reports
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