Summerhayes – Open – 20th July 2025

It was on Longs for Sundays open which is fishing really well although the water level is still painfully low, 15 booked in for today and when I got called up to draw, I pulled out 30 on the road bank, a brilliant area for silvers.

We got underway and I fed all my lines before kicking off down the edge on a top kit, I had a nice start catching 20 fish (mainly roach along with the odd ide) in the first 30 mins before moving out to four sections. It was really good with more small fish along with two big skimmers. Alex on 32 was catching lots of fish while Adie down on 26 was regularly netting some better silvers but at this stage I felt I was holding my own.

Swapping between two lines at top four I was still getting regular bites and had another decent skimmer, a tench and a crucian but was also hooking a few carp. I was playing one and stripping elastic from the pulla bung when then there was an almighty TWANG and I’d not only lost the rig, somehow the bottom part of the Stonfo had disappeared as well! With that top kit out of action, I picked up the other rig and fished a top kit to hand down the edge and in front. It was a bite a chuck from roach, ide and small skimmers but I was still getting plenty of unwanted interruptions from carp.

After landing one, I’d stretched the guts out of my elastic so dropped the rig in front of my keepnets while I adjusted the laccy at the pulla bung end. I’d just about finished when elastic was ripped from the pole tip and I was about to curse my bad luck when a 2lb skimmer came flying out the water! I safely netted it and decided to stick with it as I was catching really well albeit mainly small fish.

Another carp tore off and managed to snag me solid on the far side and I ended up losing that rig and if I’m honest, the day was turning into a bit of a nightmare, I knew Alex and Adie were both beating me and didn’t really know what to do so I got another rig out and just fished a top kit for the remainder of the match. It was enjoyable fishing with a bite every single chuck and in amongst the roach and small skimbobs, I did have another decent skimmer, a couple of little tench plus a crucian (and hooked more of the inevitable carp).

At the all out I’d clicked 157 fish which I thought would give me in the region of 15lb although that would be way off the pace today. First to weigh was Tom R on 39 who had 72lb 10oz, Dan T weighed 83lb 1oz, Kev ‘O had 48lb 10oz and then Zooner on peg 11 weighed 11lb 7oz of silvers.

Big Bad Bob chucked back, Spud on 15 went into the silvers lead with a great net of fish weighing 23lb 13oz, Hollywood had 63lb 11oz and then Rich Studley went into second place overall with 84lb of carp on peg 19. Bruce Hunt had 58lb 2oz before Adie Bishop weighed a brilliant 30lb 6oz of quality silvers. Alan J on 28 had 36lb 3oz of mainly carp, my silvers went 18lb 2oz before Alex had 26lb 3oz which I thought would be second but then Mark Leahy on golden peg 34 had a lovely net of skimmers and tench for 31lb 5oz which put him in line for a bumper payday. Last but not least was Steve Collins making a rare appearance and he showed he hasn’t forgotten how to catch fish (or draw fliers!) when he weighed an impressive 145lb 15oz to win on the day.

Spud had a nice net of silvers for 23lb 13oz on peg 15

Rich S was second on the day with 84lb of carp

Adie continued his great run of form with a cracking net of silvers for 30lb 6oz

Alex had loads of fish for 26lb 3oz on peg 32

Mark Leahy on 34 took home a big fat envelope thanks to 31lb 5oz of quality silvers

Steve Collins showed he hasn’t forgotten how to catch fish and win matches with 145lb 15oz of mainly carp

1 – Steve Collins (Summerhayes) – 145lb 15oz
2 – Rich Studley (Summerhayes) – 84lb

Silvers
1 – Mark Leahy (Summerhayes) – 31lb 5oz
2 – Adie Bishop (Summerhayes) – 30lb 6oz

A pound from Zooner took the Nugget-O-Meter up to £455.

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

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