It was back to Summerhayes on Xmas Eve and the match was on Sellicks which is my favourite lake. After a quick stop for breakfast with Parker ‘The Pole’ we headed to Bridgwater. 12 of us fishing today including Bill ‘The Silvers Slayer’ Hopping who had on a very impressive hat!
The wind was howling down the lake so I was hoping to draw the top end where it was a bit more sheltered. Pete announced the draw and when my name was called, I pulled out peg 16 which is towards the top end and one I really like as it’s wide and you can also ship back without having to go over the fence.
I set up a 4 x 12 Preston F1 Maggot with a bulk and two droppers for two lines at 11.5 metres plus top two plus two and a 0.2 gram Bobbie with spread shot to fish across at 13 and 14.5 metres when the wind allowed. The side tray contained maggots, disco pinkies and some Bait-Tech Special G F1 Dark.
On the whistle I fed all my lines with a little groundbait and a few pinkies before starting on the top two for five minutes to allow the longer swims to settle. I’d literally only just started when a strong gust of wind blew my top kits and 14.5 metre section in the lake. The section began to fill up with water and sink but luckily I managed to grab just before it disappeared – phew!
After that near disastrous start, I’ve gone out on the left hand 11.5 metre line with double pinkie on the hook, a positive bite after a couple of minutes resulted in a tiny little carp of less than half an ounce which I put straight back. Next put in I had a nice roach and was getting regular bites, after an hour I had 3 roach and 2 skimmers and was doing okay as far as I could tell, Zooner hadn’t caught yet although Alex over on 12 was getting a few.
By switching between the two 11.5 metre lines I was catching odd roach and skimmers but then Jess hooked a decent fish which he thought was a carp only for a 2lb+ tench to pop up and basically wipe out my early lead in one fell swoop! Not long after he added a nice perch as well. I could see Alex was still catching but I couldn’t tell if it was roach or skimmers.
I was still getting odd fish and a couple of times I’ve toss potted in groundbait and had a bite straight away over it including one big skimmer that was probably 2.5lb, next chuck I had one of a pound and I didn’t think there was much between Zooner and me although he was starting to hook a few carp.
With about two hours left, I’ve had my first look over where I’d been feeding maggots since the start, I was expecting it to be good and had a decent roach quite quickly but that was it. I did try 14.5 metres a couple of times but it was hard work in the wind for little reward and I only had one more roach (and a carp).
Dropping back on the 11.5 metre lines, I now couldn’t get a bite there and with Alex still catching, I had to try something else. It looked like he was getting some fish on the inside towards the corner so I plumbed up against the bank on the inside to my left. The float flew under but a carp tearing off wasn’t the result I wanted. I had it on for ages and when something gave I thought it had snapped me but the rig came back attached to some weed, line and another float so I think I’d actually hooked the other rig rather than the fish.
With only half an hour to go, I went back to 11.5 metres hoping the rest had done it some good but after 15 minutes I hadn’t had a touch but when I went move the rig there was a fish on but it came off so possibly foulhooked. Zooner was into another carp and as I glanced over my float sunk from view only for me to miss it and then Pete signalled an end to proceedings.
I finished up with 19 fish (10 skimmers and the rest roach) plus a solitary carp and I was sure Alex would win the silvers but I was hoping I might sneak second. As always, the scales started round the other side with Rob B the first to weigh, he had 8lb 1oz of carp and a 6oz skimbob, Jim Jenner weighed 6lb 6oz and Bill on peg 6 had 10lb 12oz.
Adie Bishop on 8 went into the lead with 22lb 6oz, Martin Heard had 13lb 13oz on peg 10 and then we got to Alex, he had some quality roach along with a nice crucian but didn’t have many skimmers and weighed a level 9lb which I still thought would be enough. Zooner had 6lb 15oz of silvers plus 11lb 7oz of carp which put him second overall so far.
Adie went into the lead with 22lb 6oz
Alex weighed 9lb of silvers on peg 12
Zooner had 18lb 6oz which included 6lb 15oz of silvers
My single carp was 2lb 8oz and then when I pulled my silvers net out, it was going to be close and I was sure that last fish I lost was going to cost me but the digital scales read 9lb 2oz and I was leading the silvers with four pegs to go. Big Bad Bob and Kev O didn’t weigh, Parker ‘The Pole’ had 8lb 12oz on 22 and Dan T on 24 weighed 11lb.
I weighed 9lb 2oz of skimmers and roach
1 – Adie Bishop (Summerhayes) – 22lb 6oz
2 – Jess Jordan (Tiverton) – 18lb 6oz
Silvers
1 – Jamie Rich (Against Men and Fish) – 9lb 2oz
2 – Alex Kerr (Summerhayes) – 9lb
I picked up £45 for winning the silvers and have qualified for next years Champion of Champions Final in November so a really nice day (apart from the weather!).
Steve P donated a pound and one from Zooner takes the Nugget-O-Meter up to £32.
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
Check Out – My last match
#sponsoredpost #affiliatelinks
