Summerhayes – Open – 1st January 2026

Summerhayes was the destination for my first match of 2026 and after a hard frost there was quite a bit of ice on Sellicks. With only eight of us fishing Pete said we could have a rover and choose where we wanted to go, when it was time to draw, I got choice six which was also the golden ball (although there wasn’t much in the pot after Steve Collins emptied it last match). As people began choosing their pegs, nobody had gone for number 20 (one of my favourite pegs) so when it was turn, that’s what I went for.

There was some interesting headwear on display at the draw!

The lake was flat calm and there was some ice in the margins and across by the island although it was mainly to the right and not too problematic for me although the same couldn’t be said for Bill ‘The Paste’ on 18 who was struggling to break the ice with his pole cup and wouldn’t be able to fish much more than halfway.

On the whistle I fed three lines at 11.5 metres (one with groundbait and the other two with just pinkies) and pinged a few maggots across before starting off dobbing bread by the reeds down the edge. After 15 mins without any indications, I hadn’t seen anyone catch yet and it was looking like we were in for a tough match. Shipping out a little light 0.1 gram float, the rig settled and went straight under as a roach took a liking to my disco pinkie hook bait.

Moving to the left hand line I missed a bite and then next chuck had a lovely roach, regularly rotating round the three 11.5 metre lines and feeding a few pinkies, I was catching quite well, not bagging but really nice fishing. After two hours I had 13 roach and was doing okay but then Bruce Hunt on 25 had four fish in quick succession and I could see Nick P on 16 catching some roach as well. I pulled out of a fish and then couldn’t get a bite on any of the 11.5 metre lines so had my first look across to the island.

It took a little while to get a bite but then I’ve hooked a decent roach only for it to come off shipping back, I was getting a few indications and had two nice roach but also pulled out of another and was having to wait ages for a bite whereas Nick was still catching regularly, Bruce landed a bonus crucian, Dan T up on 13 was getting the odd decent skimmer and it was all getting rather close!

Down the middle I had a roach quite quickly but it was a one off and it was a similar story back across when I had a small fish but then couldn’t get a bite. Then I noticed Nick shipping back very carefully with lots of elastic out before he netted a big skimmer which I was sure edged him ahead. I couldn’t get a bite now at 11.5 metres or across by the island so started a new line at 13 metres and three nice roach and then hooked something that was pulling a bit harder and turned out to be a bonus 8-10oz hybrid.

Just before the all out, I had one more roach to finish up with 23 fish (last time I had 11 fish for 3lb 6oz so hopefully around double that today). Adie struggled for 2lb 15oz on peg 2, Big Bad Bob had caught some decent skimmers for 5lb 10oz on 4, Roy H weighed 3lb 6oz and then Dan T on 13 went into the overall lead with 11lb 12oz (including 5lb 9oz of silvers).

Bob had some big skimmers for 5lb 10oz

Dan T had the top weight with 11lb 12oz on peg 13

Nick had 6lb 3oz of silvers, Bill didn’t weigh, my fish went 7lb 6oz and then Bruce had 5lb 10oz so lots of close silvers weights.

Nick had some lovely roach and a skimmer for 6lb 3oz

I had 22 roach and a nice hybrid for 7lb 6oz

Bruce weighed 5lb 10oz of roach, little tench and a crucian

1 – Dan Taggart (Summerhayes) – 11lb 12oz

Silvers
1 – Jamie Rich (Bait-Tech/Colmic) – 7lb 6oz

I picked up £48 for winning the silvers plus a massive £8 from the golden ball pot and had really enjoyed that, I’ve not hooked a carp all day and those roach are mint fish, lovely catching them on light gear.

Nick P very generously donated £10, plus £2 from me and Dan’s squid saw the Nugget-O-Meter shoot up to £135.

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