Summerhayes – Open – 16th November 2025

Talking to Russ after yesterdays match he said I’d probably draw 39 today (as it seems to be a recurring theme that I end up on pegs soon after he’s fished them) and I was hoping that wouldn’t be the case as it’s not my favourite swim for silvers. I stopped off at McDonalds in Ilminster for a breakfast wrap and bumped into Hoffy who I haven’t seen for ages so it was nice to have a natter and a catch up before we headed our separate ways, he was fishing a Chard match and would have the dubious pleasure of spending the day with the Torquay Tart (rather him than me!).

When I arrived, there were 14 of us fishing today, including Bill ‘The Paste’ who was keen to show off his new sponsor! All too soon it was time for the draw and I was fairly near the bottom of the list, as people were called up, quite a few of the pegs I fancied were taken early and even more worryingly, 39 still hadn’t come out. Of course when it was my turn, I grabbed a ball and that was to be my home for the day (written in the stars wasn’t it!). Although Russ did well on it the previous day, catching 6lb 14oz of silvers and framing, I didn’t fancy it at all.

Bill ‘The Paste’ was showing off his new sponsored gear!

On the whistle I fed a short swim, a couple of lines at 10 metres in the open water to the left and also pinged a few maggots across to the island. Starting short I couldn’t get a bite which was a tad worrying and with thirty minutes gone I was still blanking! It was the same story at 10 metres so I had a look by the island a lot sooner than I would have liked. Finally a bite and I hooked what felt like a slightly better fish only for it to come off as I shipped back, next chuck I missed a bite and the rig spangled round the pole tip, this was going well!

Mystic Russ’s prediction came true!

After getting that untangled, I’ve gone back out and when I had a roach quite quickly, I thought I might start getting a few fish. Well, I was sort of right when I hooked four carp in as many chucks, landing two of them. Back to 10 metres I had two roach but then couldn’t get a bite and didn’t know what to do next. Another carp straight away by the island led me a merry dance on light elastic and there were obviously a few there so I set up a heavier rig but then of course I couldn’t get a bite on it!

Back across with the lighter rig, I hooked four more carp, getting two of them in but this was getting ridiculous and I didn’t know whether I was coming or going! From what I could see, nobody was catching much with the exception of Steve Collins down on 29 who had landed quite a few carp and I thought there might be a chance of sneaking in the frame if could find a couple more.

The odd carp was moving by the pallet to my left so I tried starting a new line there and also down the edge to my right but never had an indication from either. There were some lilies in the corner just down to my left and when I saw a carp swirl, I flicked the rig in there and the float buried straight away before I netted a decent carp. I decided to feed some loose groundbait there and leave it. Carp number seven came from the island and was foul hooked, a look down the edge yielded nothing so back across and I had two ide but it was short lived.

With quite a few carp moving off the point of the island, I was thinking of starting a new line at 14.5 metres but decided to have another quick look over the groundbait to my left. Three carp in quick succession to put me on ten and all of a sudden with 45 minutes still remaining, winning the match seemed a possibility! Another carp swirled by the lilies and I couldn’t resist having a go for it which almost worked when it tried eating my float! It disappeared from view and the float went under but it wasn’t on long and I think it may have been foul hooked.

With ten minutes to go, I’ve hooked another and really wanted to make it count but it came off and one of the pinkies had gone over the point of the hook. That was the last of the action and I ended up with 10 carp and just a few silvers. Glynn asked how I’d done and reported that Steve C had 45-50lb of carp and also that Alex on 15 had caught silvers along with quite a few carp and I was sure those lost fish were going to cost me.

Pete soon arrived with the scales and my silvers weighed a massive 13oz before my carp added 41lb 2oz, Kev had chucked back on 11 and McKenzie weighed 3lb 7oz of silvers on 13. Then we got to Alex who had 7lb 7oz of silvers and then when he pulled his carp net out, I could see it was going to be close, Pete called it at 34lb 9oz for a total of 42lb and I’d been ounced! I was praying he’d win the silvers so I’d have a chance of sneaking second by default but there was still Roy and Zooner to weigh and apparently they’d both done well.

A rare photo of me with some carp!

Roy was next and he had 6lb 5oz which put him second in the silvers so far, Glynn had packed up and Big Bad Bob on 25 chucked back. Dan T weighed 23lb 10oz which included 5lb 6oz of silvers (so I paid him my pound) and then Steve C had 47lb 13oz to go into the lead. Bill ‘The Paste’ chucked back, Hollywood had 37lb 13oz, Zooner got ounced on 33 with 6lb 4oz (but did take a nugget off me), Adie weighed 23lb 9oz and Roger C had 34lb 12oz on 36.

Steve had the top weight on the day with 47lb 13oz

1 – Steve Collins (Summerhayes) – 47lb 13oz
2 – Jamie Rich (Bait-Tech/Colmic) – 41lb 15oz

Silvers
1 – Alex Kerr (Summerhayes) – 7lb 7oz
2 – Roy Hughes (Summerhayes) – 6lb 5oz

I picked up a very welcome £40 for second (by default) but an opportunity missed really as somebody who knew what they were doing with carp would have won off my peg today.

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