On Saturday it was the Champion of Champions Silvers Final on Longs at Summerhayes, it’s one I really look forward to and would love to win but so far, fourth is my best finish. There were sixteen anglers fishing so we’d all have plenty of room although a few more had qualified but were unable to make it today.
Pete announced the draw and when my name was called I dipped my hand in the bucket and was hoping for a decent silvers peg like 9 to 15 on the far bank, the low thirties (33 and 31 were first and second in Wednesday’s match) or I even thought there was half a chance on Cyanide Straight. What I didn’t want to see were the numbers 25 staring back at me, the bottom end on the track side which has no recent silvers form at all, Nick didn’t fare any better either as he was on 27!
I joked to someone in the week that I hoped I hadn’t peaked too early last Sunday but I knew I wouldn’t be winning today especially as in that last match, pegs 24, 25, 27 and 28 all didn’t weigh in! The lake was flat calm and although the temperature had dropped midweek, it was mild today and there were quite a few small fish topping. The general consensus was that you’d need around 10-12lb to win and probably 7-8lb to frame.
Not the view I was hoping for!
Rigs for today were a 0.1 gram Colmic Elsa for two lines at top four plus 11.5 metres and a 0.2 gram rig for across to the island at 13 metres. The usual side tray with lots of maggots, disco pinkies plus some Bait-Tech Special G F1 Dark groundbait.
Pete got us underway and I fed a little loose groundbait with a few pinkies on the two short lines and 11.5 metres before pinging a few maggots across to the island. As expected it was a slow start and it took a little while to get my first indication, I missed a couple of bites before getting off the mark with a nice 4oz skimbob.
I had a couple of small roach but swapping to the other short line was a complete flop with just a missed bite first put in. With half an hour gone, I started a new line at five sections and left it for ten minutes before going on it. Although not fast and furious I had a decent little spell catching four skimmers along with a few roach. With two hours gone I probably had 2lb 8oz so on target for 7lb+ if I could keep a few bites coming.
From what I could see nobody was really bagging, Nick was getting the odd small fish as was Stu White on his left and Adie down on 19 had landed a few skimmers. Pete came for a walk at the halfway point and reported that a few people were admitting to 3lb so I wasn’t million miles away.
With my bites dwindling on the shorter lines, I’ve had my first look at 11.5 metres and it was a massive anti-climax, I waited ages for a bite only to bump a half decent skimmer and that was it! I started a new line at the same distance angled to the right but that was equally unimpressive and from being cautiously optimistic, my catch rate was definitely going in the wrong direction.
With a couple of hours to go, I was hoping the 13 metre line would be good after feeding it from the start but it was a similar story with bites very few and far between and I only had very occasional roach and one 3-4oz skimmer (and began hooking a few carp). My match just basically fizzled out and I knew I hadn’t done very well today.
As we fished until 16:00, the light was fading fast so while we packed up, Pete started the weigh in and when the scales got round to us, Alex was leading with 5lb 15oz from peg 9 with Zooner (peg 13) and Adie on 19 in joint second with 5lb 3oz. My fish went 3lb 10oz, Nick had 2lb, Stu weighed 4lb 4oz and Roy on 30 had 2lb 4oz so it had been tough going down our end.
Dan P on peg 32 had some quality skimmers along with a cracking roach getting on for a pound for 8lb 2oz and then Toby next door had a nice net of fish including several little tench and crucians for 8lb 11oz which was the top weight on the day.
Dan had some quality fish for 8lb 2oz and second place
Toby was crowned the Champion of Champions with 8lb 11oz of skimmers, roach, tench and crucians
1 – Toby Burrell (Team Army) – 8lb 11oz
2 – Dan Pinther (Summerhayes) – 8lb 2oz
3 – Alex Kerr (Summerhayes) – 5lb 15oz
4 – Adie Bishop (Summerhayes) and Jess Jordan (Summerhayes) – 5lb 3oz
The top four (well five as there was a tie for fourth) all had nice fat envelopes, it fished harder than most expected and I wasn’t that far off framing in the end but to be honest if I could have the six hours over again, I’m not sure what I’d do differently! I still drove home seriously gutted as I’d been so looking forward to it but as always I will be trying my hardest to qualify for next year.
In the morning Stu White gave me £10 for The Nugget-O-Meter which was very generous and then with £2 each from Nick P and me the total has hit £518 which is just fantastic.
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 – Summerhayes
Coming soon – Lots more match reports
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