Summerhayes – Open – 26th December 2025

After a brief interlude for Xmas, my next match was at Summerhayes on Boxing Day and it was bitterly cold. There were 11 of us fishing and I was quite low down on the list but by the time my name was called, several pegs I didn’t want had already gone and I was feeling pretty confident when I stuck my hand in the bucket. I was hoping to see 13 or 30 on my ping pong ball and not 25 at the bottom of the road bank which I’d forgotten was in!

It was flat calm with nothing moving and I just knew we’d be in for a tough day, the usual rigs were assembled and on the whistle I fed all my lines very sparingly before starting short. I thought it might take a while to get a bite but with an hour and a half gone, I hadn’t had any indications or seen anyone else catch so decided to go for a walk. Not a lot had been caught, Bill ‘The Paste’ had a couple of carp on 32, Big Bad Bob was probably winning the silvers with one skimmer and when I got round to Adie on peg 7, he was doing the best with three carp. Lots of people were blanking including Alex and Rob B on the bottom bank.

Back on my box I was going through the motions when I had a little dip on the float so I hit it and a decent amount of elastic came out, the old butterflies were going a bit before I netted a chunky roach. Two more roach followed when the float barely moved and along with a couple of fish topping, I thought we might start to get a few in the last hour or so but I only added a little skimmer before the end and that was my lot. I still thought there was a chance I might sneak second in the silvers as by all accounts it had been really hard for everyone.

The scales started with Ian on peg 3 and when he weighed 1lb 11oz, I don’t think he believed me when I said he’d win the silvers with that! Adie had finished up with four carp for 12lb 13oz which would be the top weight on the day, Martin on 13 and Alex both blanked but Rob B had sneaked in a decent skimmer of 1lb 4oz which put him second. My four fish registered a massive 11oz and then the two pegs to my left had chucked back.

Adie had four carp for 12lb 13oz on peg 7

Bill had two carp and a skimmer for 7lb 6oz which put him second overall, Big Bad Bob weighed 15oz of silvers and then Rob D on 36 had 5lb 12oz.

1 – Adie Bishop (Summerhayes) – 12lb 13oz
2 – Bill Hopping (Summerhayes) – 7lb 2oz

Silvers
1 – Ian Walvin (Summerhayes) – 1lb 11oz
2 – Rob Birch (Summerhayes) – 1lb 4oz

So a really tough match but that’s typical winter fishing for you, highs and lows but knowing one bite might be the difference between winning and losing can be very exciting.

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