Summerhayes – Open – 11th May 2025

It was back to Summerhayes the following day but on Longs this time so hopefully plenty of bites. I was near the bottom of the list and by the time my name was called, most of the pegs I fancied had already gone and I wasn’t overly enamored with 14 which is one of the few swims where the island is out of pole range. Dan T was my right hand neighbour on 12 so of course we had a nugget on it.

On the whistle I fed two lines at top four and 13 metres with little nuggets of groundbait and a few maggots before starting short. The first hour was lovely with plenty of bites from roach, ide, skimmers, two crucians and a nice little tench. Ant P on 17 was catching carp on the method feeder and Dan was getting some bigger skimmers but having to wait for bites.

Swapping between the two shorter lines I was still getting regular indications and as we approached the half way point, I had 38 fish for probably 8lb although annoyingly I’d pulled out of several skimmers as well. Things then began to go pear shaped when all the scum and floating crap (willow fluff etc) that had been sat in front of Alex on 21 got blown our way and I was struggling to get a rig in the water at 13 metres. The top four lines had died a death so in a bid to keep putting something in the net, I started a top kit line down the edge.

I was getting a few bites from very small fish but most were dropping off as I went to swing them in and hooking several carp didn’t help my cause much either! From doing really well for three hours, the second half of the match was a complete disaster and I only added another 10 fish to finish up with 48 (plus some tiny roach I hadn’t counted).

Rog on 37 weighed 16lb 5oz, Shane Lee on 39 had 36lb of carp plus some big skimmers for 8lb 10oz, Oscar on 2 had a nice net of silvers for 10lb 14oz, Rob B weighed 7lb, McKenzie had 18lb 11oz of mainly carp, Tom R on 10 had 8lb 6oz and Dan T weighed 6lb 8oz. My fish went 9lb 14oz which put me second so far but I knew it wouldn’t last as Alex and Zooner were both admitting to double figures.

Oscar had a nice net of silvers for 10lb 14oz

Ant P had fished a great match to go into the overall lead with 93lb 6oz but apparently Toby had caught well on golden peg 31. Rich S chucked back on 19 and then Alex ounced me for the second day on the trot with 10lb 2oz before Zooner went into second place with 10lb 10oz and took a nugget off me. Kev ‘O had 27lb 6oz of carp on 28, Paul Smith weighed 8lb 3oz of silvers next door and then Toby had a bit less than he thought with 80lb 1oz.

Ant P had the top weight on the day with 93lb 6oz from peg 17

Glynn didn’t weigh on 33, Alan J had 15lb 2oz of carp and then last but not least was Adie on 36 who weighed 54lb 14oz which was third overall.

1 – Ant P (Summerhayes) – 93lb 6oz
2 – Toby Burrell (Team Army) – 80lb 1oz
3 – Adie Bishop (Summerhayes) – 54lb 14oz

Silvers
1 – Rob Wylde (Summerhayes) – 10lb 14oz
2 – Jess Jordan (Summerhayes) – 10lb 10oz
3 – Alex Kerr (Summerhayes) – 10lb 2oz

Really close weights in the silvers again but it was definitely a match of two halves for me and after such a good start, it was really disappointing to fall just short, the scum didn’t help either but it was the same for others as well.

Oscar gave me a £1 in the morning and a pound off Dan T helped the Nugget-O-Meter to £255.

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