After Toby ‘The Pellet Pro’ Burrell’s dominance at Summerhayes over the last few weeks, there would be some micros and expanders on my side tray today (and a few others as well, I’m sure!). Parker ‘The Pole’, Nick and me met for another of Charlotte’s lovely breakfasts before heading to Bridgwater. 26 anglers booked in for this one I have to say the banter as people waited for draw was brilliant, all good natured, none of it at all malicious and above all, very, very funny. Just how a Sunday should be and it’s about so much more than just fishing (although saying that, a few fish would be nice as well!).
Once again, I was top of the list and would be first to draw with the same pegs as normal on my wish list. The bucket of doom didn’t disappoint and I pulled out number 28 so was on the road bank yet again, to be fair it’s a decent area although I’d have preferred to have been a few pegs to the left. Nick drew 39 which hasn’t been great for silvers and ‘The Pole’ got 21 which he’d struggled on recently and didn’t look impressed.
As for Toby, he drew 18 on the bottom bank, next to where he did 30lb two weeks ago and was the bookies pre-match favourite although he was predicting a lower 15lb winning silvers weight today after all the cold rain we’d had overnight. My neighbours for the day were Alex on 27 while the angler on the other side was of course Glynn, who else????
Looking up the lake from Parker ‘The Poles’ peg on the bottom bank
I set up my usual 0.2 gram Bobbies to fish two lines at 11.5 metres and across to the island at 14.5 metres. The side tray for today contained red maggots, disco pinkies, micros, 4mm expanders and some Bait-Tech Special G F1 Dark.
On the whistle I fed the two 11.5 metre swims with micros and flicked some maggots over to the island before starting on the left hand (negatively fed) line with a soft pellet on the hook. After only a couple of minutes, a positive bite resulted in a decent skimmer and I’d seen Toby land one as well. Next chuck I had a little 2oz blade followed by a better one and was off to a nice start, swapping between the two pellet lines and getting a few bites.
Alex was catching some small fish and Glynn had landed a little 8oz tench but going into the second hour, my bites had dried up and it looked like Toby was now struggling as well. I tried double maggot over the micros and first put in I had a decent skimmer, a couple more followed over the next hour or so and although it wasn’t fast and furious, I felt I was doing ok.
With around two and a half hours on the clock, nobody I could see was catching anything so I’ve gone across to the island with double maggot and I was expecting a little flurry of fish but it’s not happened and the lake had switched right off. Eventually I’ve caught a couple of roach but was really struggling to control the pole in the wind so came back in on 11.5 metres but the rest hadn’t improved things. In a bid to make something happen I added some groundbait to the micros and toss potted some in but the results were underwhelming to say the least!
Back over to the island with double disco pinkie, I had a nice roach and a decent skimmer to keep my modest catch rate ticking over. Going into the last period of the match, it looked like Toby was still struggling and although there wasn’t much between Glynn, Alex and me, I thought I was just ahead. That was until Mr Kerr put a spanner in the works when he caught a 1lb+ crucian down the edge whilst fishing for carp!
Glynn then had three or four nice skimmers on pellet while Toby began to put a few fish together and it was all getting very tight. I had to do something else so started a new line at 13 metres and the first bite resulted in a decent skimmer on double maggot but my next fish was a carp while Glynn had several more skimbobs to finish with a flourish which I thought would see him win the silvers today.
As always the scales started at the top end and it soon became apparent how hard it had fished, Zooner on 37 and Nick didn’t weigh, then Roy had 4lb 14oz of silvers on peg 3 which was the top weight along ‘Cyanide Straight’. Lee ‘The Ice Man’ Smart had 5lb 2oz on peg 8, Oscar on 10 weighed 17lb 8oz which was the top weight so far but it didn’t last long as Hollywood next door had 37lb 3oz.
Hollywood did well again, this week with 37lb 3oz from peg 11
Tiverton’s best double act of Chris W and Geoff on 12 and 13 had chucked back, Steve Collins weighed 27lb 5oz on 14 and then Jim Jenner went into the silvers lead with 7lb 3oz on peg 16. Toby was next and despite me thinking he’d really struggled, he weighed 7lb 13oz and had pulled out of several as well. Kev O and ‘The Pole’ didn’t weigh, Dan on 24 had 2lb 15oz of silvers and McKenzie weighed 17lb 15oz.
Toby had a bit of a ‘mare but still weighed 7lb 13oz of skimmers
Alex’s silvers went 8lb 5oz and then I fell agonizingly short with 8lb 2oz before Glynn plonked an excellent 13lb 9oz on the scales. Big Bad Bob had 10lb 15oz of carp, Martin A on 32 weighed 20lb 13oz, Bill ‘The Paste’ came close with 34lb 6oz and then Craig ‘The Scouse Sensation’ Lyttle stormed into pole position with 44lb 10oz on peg 34, Tom didn’t weigh and Rog on 36 had 6lb 2oz.
Alex had 8lb 5oz which included a nice crucian
I wasn’t far behind with 8lb 2oz of skimmers and roach
Glynn won the silvers comfortably with 13lb 9oz of skimmers, roach and a little tench
Bill was third overall with 34lb 6oz of mainly carp from peg 33
Shy and retiring Craig had the top weight on the day with 44lb 10oz
1 – Craig Lyttle (Summerhayes) – 44lb 10oz
2 – Ian Williams (Tiverton) – 37lb 3oz
3 – Bill Hopping (Summerhayes) – 34lb 6oz
4 – Steve Collins (Summerhayes) – 27lb 5oz
Silvers
1 – Glynn Wickham (Summerhayes) – 13lb 9oz
2 – Alex Kerr (Summerhayes) – 8lb 5oz
3 – Jamie Rich (Against Men and Fish) – 8lb 2oz
4 – Toby Burrell (Team Army) – 7lb 13oz
A close frame again, particularly in the silvers where, after Glynn’s weight, just 1lb 2oz (one skimmer) separated second and fifth place and everybody lost fish. I picked up £25 but it had been a frustrating day after a decent start and this constantly unsettled weather isn’t doing us (or the fish) any favours.
Nuggets from Craig and Zooner saw the charity total rise to £84.
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
Check Out – My last match
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