For the second outing of the weekend, in complete contrast to the previous days flat, calm and dry conditions, we were in for torrential rain and 50+mph winds – great! Despite the horrendous forecast there were still 18 hardy souls keen to do battle with the elements.
Pete said it would be a rover on all lakes today so people could pick swims out of the wind. Obviously everyone was hoping for an early number and when my name was called around halfway down the list, choice one was still in the bucket. I confidently predicted I would draw it and after a rummage around pulled out a ball with the number eighteen on it, last choice!
After everybody had drawn it was time for people to choose their swims so I sat down and made myself comfortable. Predictably most of the pegs on my wish list had gone by the time it was my turn to choose so I went for 29 on Longs which would hopefully see me get some bites.
It was absolutely chucking it down and combined with a nasty gusting wind, it was very cold and we were in for a miserable day. I set up a couple of 0.2 gram rigs to fish short (top two plus two) and I left most of the pole in the holdall. The side tray contained lots of maggots, disco pinkies plus some Bait-Tech Special G F1 Dark groundbait.
On the whistle I fed two lines at top four with a nugget of gb and some pinkies before starting on the right hand swim. I had an indication quite quickly only for me to bump a small fish and then couldn’t get a bite. McKenzie on 31 to my left was catching a few and I could see Glynn over on 10 netting the odd skimmer.
I tried the other short line and also going past the feed but I was really struggling and could only catch the very occasional tiny roach. Starting a new line a section further out resulted in a little flurry of fish (a couple of chublets, two slightly better roach and a 6oz tench) but it was hard going and I was already soaked wet through and freezing cold!
McKenzie packed up after an hour or so and then not long after, Nick Veale who was on Longs peg 2 plus Roy and Bill (both on Sellicks) headed off home as well. To be honest I was going through the motions a bit as I knew Glynn was beating me and I was sure Dan on Sellicks peg 4 (his favourite swim) and Toby on 2 would be catching silvers and they’re normally decent fish on there.
As we reached the halfway point I only had 16 fish in the net for around 2lb and wasn’t having much fun. I very rarely wave the white flag but was seriousl thinking about it as I was really struggling to catch and so cold I was shaking like a shi**ing dog! The only thing keeping me there was Pete saying Dan had only caught carp and with several of the silvers anglers taking early baths, there was a chance of sneaking in the frame.
With just over two hours to go it was still absolutely chucking it down but the wind had calmed down a bit so I began pinging a few maggots across to the island and got the rest of my pole out the bag. First chuck I’ve had a small fish and started catching well with some lovely quality roach.
There was the odd naughty gust of wind but it felt a degree or two warmer even though the rain was still relentless. From struggling for half the match I was now doing well and really enjoying it. I did pull out of a better fish shipping back but was still getting some nice roach and then had a 4oz chublet which was very welcome.
From what I could see, Glynn had slowed up and when I had a bonus pound plus skimmer, there wasn’t much between us. Toby came for wander and said he’d packed up as it had been really hard on Sellicks and Dan was the only angler left there and he only had a few carp.
I continued catching quite well although I did start hooking a few carp which didn’t help much but on the whistle I’d finished up with 62 fish which I thought would go around 6lb.
Pete started the weigh in which didn’t take long as there weren’t many of us left! When the scales got to me, Lee Smart was leading with a brilliant 73lb 8oz from Denny’s peg 4 followed by Steve Smith on Longs 35 with 22lb and Dan P had 1lb 14oz of silvers on 33. My fish went 6lb 12oz and then Nick P on 19 continued his journey to the ‘Dark Side’ with 42lb 1oz. Photo credit – Summerhayes*
Lee had the top weight with 73lb 8oz*
I had an enjoyable last two hours catching silvers to weigh 6lb 12oz
Nick finished second overall with 42lb 1oz
Craig L had 11lb of carp, Rob B on 13 weighed 3lb 15oz of silvers and then Glynn on the golden peg had 5lb 10oz of skimmers to just miss out on a bumper payday.
Glynn was second in the silvers with 5lb 10oz
1 – Lee Smart (Summerhayes) – 73lb 8oz
2 – Nick Payne (Ilminster) – 42lb 1oz
3 – Steve Smith (Summerhayes) – 22lb
Silvers
1 – Jamie Rich (Bait-Tech/Colmic) – 6lb 12oz
2 – Glynn Wickham (Summerhayes) – 5lb 10oz
3 – Rob Birch (Summerhayes) – 3lb 15oz
The weigh in didn’t take long!
I had a nice pick up of £56 for winning the silvers and it was definitely a match of two halves. My fun and games continued when I couldn’t get home via Ilminster or Donyatt due to floods and had to try and find an alternative route home.
Thanks to £2 each from Nick P and me plus a pound from Craig L, the Nugget-O-Meter climbed to £109.
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 – Ivy House
Coming soon – Lots more match reports
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