Summerhayes Fishery Longs Lake.

Back to summerhayes today to fish the open on longs lake which reports say its been fishing well of late, with fourteen of us present it wasn't a bad turn out for a Wednesday and at least the sun was out for a change' after a nice free cuppa and a chat with a few others it was time for the draw and for a change I was happy with my peg 35 on the road bank near the hut, The swim was around 14mts to the far side in front of the rushes though as you can see by the pick I had a few hanging out into the swim which could make things awkward? 

 Far bank swim.

Pluming up I found about 4ft in-front of the rushes as tight in as I could manage which was a bit deeper than I wanted as I felt the fish would come up in the water with regular feeding but where it was shallower to my right I couldn't see a float tip of any kind due to sun and light so had to make do with my chosen line for starters using a 4x12 chanti on 0.13-0.11 and an 18 808, An open water swim at 13mts where I would use a 0.3g pencil float to fish 4mm expanders over micro pellet for the silvers, And another 4x12 chanti to fish next to the empty pallet on the same line to a size 16 PR478 hook. This rig would double up to fish to my right at the bottom of the shelf at 5mts to my right with the depth being the same at around 4ft.

   At the all in I cupped two balls of fishmeal groundbait onto the 13mt line as my silvers line, A palmful of hemp and 6mm meat next to the pallet and the same on my short 5mt line, Starting over against the reeds with a single grain of meat and just cad potting a ball of squeezed damped micro pellet over the top I soon had a small carp off 2lb followed by 3 more and a 1lb skimmer in the next four put-ins  before I started getting bites I was missing so I cut out the feed for a while but it took longer to get a bite and by now what a surprize" the wind had picked up and I was struggling to hold the pole still, Fish were taking the bait on drop the after the float settled and I lifted it again but I wasn't connecting with anything so tried a shallower rig at half depth for ten minutes without success, I was going to start firing some 4mm pellet across with the catty but struggling to hold the pole still I felt I would be on a losing battle, I do remember trying this last year and all I did was push the fish back into the rushes so I had a re-think and decided to cup around 15 cubes of meat and a palm size ball of micro and try to pin the fish on the deck and only feed again when I couldn't get a bite, I left it to settle and tried a 4mm expander on the 13mt silver line, Ten minutes later and this line was to be forgotten about as I didn't have a bite, and I would concentrate on the carp which were averaging around 2lb a piece.
By putting a larger amount of bait in seemed to work as I would catch a couple before it went iffy and I re-fed the same again, After a good start it was now over 2hrs in and I had around 12 small carp but the wind now whipping down the lake I just couldn't hold it any longer which was a shame as I'm sure I could of keep um coming and some bigger fish would of turned up so I fed it again and left it.

I decided to try the pallet swim with double meat on the hook where I had been topping the swim up with a small amount of meat and hemp every 40mins and also using the catty to fire a few cubes over the top at regular intervals, No sooner had the rig settled I had a carp of 3lb followed by a 2lb fish 5mins later the nothing so cupped some more feed in and left it, A try on the 5mt line didn't produce and I only managed two fish off it for the rest of the match again both on meat. I did keep trying the far line thinking I could beat the elements but I just couldn't present it and all that was happing was I was bumping fish and getting frustrated so most of the remaining match was spend pinching a couple of fish at a time from the pallet line before trying the other swims, I ended the match with around 28 carp averaging 2lb a piece and a few silvers, From what I could see down from me not that much had been had but I didn't know how the pegs the other side of the lake had fished?
First to weigh was Steve Kedge on peg 1 which also happened to be the bonus peg and after 2 weighs added to his silver his total went 87lb which was going to be very hard to beat catching across to the island at the start then down his inside edge on meat, After a few lower weights Scott Russell on peg 12 put 72lb on the scales followed by Mark Hannon on peg 14 who weighed 57lb, No other weights before I was last to weigh and I was pleased to put 64lb on the scales for 3rd on the day, Only picking up £28 but Pete as I've said before likes to spread the winnings out which can be a good thing, Its a shame the wind ruined it again for most of us but the lake still fished well overall and the good thing here is you always here how many different ways anglers have approached there swims and caught fish. Just a mention Pete has erected a great BBQ area for anglers to use during the summer as well as having an area for junior anglers to be taught how to fish in there own private lake along side with coaching from Steve Jackson among other so I'm sure we wish them the best of luck as there low in numbers on the bank nowadays.

 The New BBQ and Coaching Area.

 

 Winner Steve Kedge.

Part of my catch.

 

Full Results -

1st Steve kedge (Somerset Angling) peg 1, 87lb 9oz.

2nd Scott Russell (Tackle UK) peg 12, 72lb 10oz.

3rd Dom Sullivan (Maver/Cadbury Angling) peg 35, 64lb 13oz.

4th Mark Hannon (Summerhayes) peg 14, 57lb.

Silvers -

Gary (Summerhayes) peg 31, 11lb 5oz.