It was back to Summerhayes the following day for a match on Longs but with only 7 of us fishing it would be a rover. My drawing arm continues to malfunction as I pulled out choice 6 and I was sure all the pegs along the track would go before it was my turn. Steve ‘Golden Arm’ Collins had first choice and went for 13 which has been great for carp recently, McKenzie chose 33, Rob B had 35, Craig L decided on 37 and Nick went for 31 which meant I could squeeze in on 29 (you don’t really want to be any further down the track for silvers). Glynn had last choice and went for 3 on ‘Cyanide Straight’ which could be feast or famine today.
As per usual, I fed all my lines before starting short at top four but no bites after twenty minutes (apart from a foulhooked carp that came off!) saw me move out to 10 metres. I missed a bite first chuck, then had a small roach followed by a pound skimmer and was getting quite a few indications. By the end of the first sixty minutes I’d added three more little skimbobs and was up to around 2lb.
Nick was catching some small tench but at this early stage it was close between us. I was still doing okay at 10 metres and toss potting in a smidge of loose groundbait after every couple of fish I had a nice hour and a half catching odd skimmers and some decent roach including one of 8-10oz.
With half the match gone, bites down the middle were fading so I had my first look at 13 metres where I’d been pinging maggots and was expecting it to be really good but it was a resounding flop and I only had one bite which I missed. Adding the 14.5 metre section resulted in a few fish but Nick was still catching tench steadily and I knew he was ahead of me.
Then out of nowhere, the wind got up and it was brutal! I was struggling to feed and presentation went out the window, while we were all getting battered, I only managed a couple of roach before it calmed down again. The last hour was quite good and I had a nice 8oz perch, a decent hybrid and a cracking roach plus a couple inevitable carp. I finished up with 41 fish and had really enjoyed it (apart from that wind!) but with Nick admitting to 10lb, I knew I didn’t have that.
Mr Lyttle on 37 was first to weigh and had 21lb 8oz of mainly carp, Glynn chucked back as ‘Cyanide Straight’ lived up to its name and then Steve C on 13 went into the lead with 39lb 8oz which would be enough to win as the rest of us had fished for silvers!
Steve Collins with his winning catch (apologies for all the shadows, I should have taken the photo from the other side!)
I was next and my fish went 9lb 2oz before Nick had a nice net of tench and skimmers for 11lb 9oz, McKenzie on 33 also did well with 8lb and Rob B weighed 3lb 13oz on peg 35.
I had a nice day catching 9lb 2oz of silvers (you can’t blame me for the shadows this time!)
Nick won the silvers with 11lb 9oz of tench and skimmers
McKenzie on 33 had 8lb of silvers
1 – Steve Collins (Summerhayes) – 39lb 8oz
Silvers
Nick Payne (Ilminster) – 11lb 9oz
Craig L kindly gave me a pound as the Nugget-O-Meter went up to £195.
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
And if you could spare five minutes to leave a nice review on Amazon, it would be very much appreciated.
Next up – Todber Manor
Coming soon – Lots more match reports
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