Summerhayes Pairs Day 2.

Back to Summerhayes for day 2 of the pairs and after meeting Gabriel for breakfast we made are way to the fishery, With the forecast not being promising with rain for most of the day we were already getting a soaking just getting the kit out' It was my turn for Longs lake today and I was hoping to avoid the low numbers judging by the weights from yesterday, Sellicks was first to be drawn so Gab was first ending up on peg 8 which is not the best of draws in his section with a couple of corner pegs as well as peg 1 to contend with.  My turn for longs and we were hoping for a more fancied draw as Gabs was up against it, Nope' (No Surprize there then) as I ended up on peg 5 which was last on the lake the previous day! Well nothing I could do and I new there were better draws in my section on the opposite bank but we all had some room so felt I could temp a few'

I wanted to keep it simple and with no wind to contend with my first approach was going to be as tight over to the far bank as possible so I plummed around until I found 2ft of water which happened to be directly in front of me and the same depth at 14mts a few yards to my left but I didn't plan to feed here to start with. both identical rigs were AS1 0.1g on 0.15-0.13 and an 18 PR478 hook. A rig to fish the bottom of the far shelf around 4ft deep with the same line and hook but an 4x12 chanti, This rig would double up for meat at 5mts and down to the pallets both sides of me where I also was going to try meat on one and feed 6mm pellet on the other. I had young Reech  on peg to who wasn't in my section and although I rate as a good carp peg he was targeting silvers this weekend, At the all in I just cupped a small amount of micro tight to the far bank, fed a small ball of micro and groundbait at the bottom of the far shelf and finished off by cupping some 6mm meat and pellets down my insides by the pallets.

Starting across with a 4mm expander on the hook and cad potting some more micro over the top it took all of a minute to hook my first fish which turned out to be a 6lb common' Great start" and to top it off it was nearly more than the peg had in total yesterday! (So I was right when I said before it can catch the resident mug fish') it wasn't fast but added two smaller samples before I started getting small fish attacking the pellet so switched to a worm on the hook knowing it would stay on there, After 2hrs I estimated to have around 20lb and was doing well from the pegs I could see but things were slowing up, I had been potting in some chopped worm and caster on the 14mt line but after 10mins and two small roach I cupped some more micro to the swim infront of me and left it to settle.

Onto the 13mt line at the bottom of the shelf where I had been topping it up with some maggots and groundbait I had two 1lb skimmers and a small carp in 3 put-ins with dead red maggot on the hook before I had some small fish and felt that I had to sit and wait for my bites tight over as the fish were bigger on average, I did try both my inside swims throughout the day but both were none productive so the rest of the match I kept switching between the top and bottom of the shelf pinching fish off each and going into the last hour some large samples with 3 fish in the last ten mins' , I hadn't a clue how the more fancied pegs in the section had done but was pleased I had ended for what I thought would be 50lb odd and some silvers. Being the first to weigh in my section I had 7lb odd of silvers and 61lb of carp so felt I had made the right choices, My combined weight turned out to be enough to win the section by over 20lb so 1pt for me and the rest was down to Gabs'. As I put the kit in the car he was yet to weigh but felt he hadn't done to well as the pegs we predicted had caught but it was all to play for, Or so we thought! We only arrived at his peg to find one of his carp nets had slipped back in and after hastily grabbing the rake from the shed retrieved the net only to find it empty!" DISASTER!, Well it just wasn't to be and although he still managed to put 40lb odd on the scales we didn't make the main frame missing out by one point, As to whether the lost fish cost us getting in we will never know but I did feel for Gab as he was gutted but its just a silly thing which I'm sure he will be conches off in the future that's for sure. It was a well run friendly weekend and in the end the results were close with good weights recorded, Pairs wise Bill Hopping & Aide Bishop came out on top with a total of 7pts finishing join 1st with Mark Lehey & his partner Rob but taking the win on weight count back picking up £150 between them. Top silvers Pairing went the way of Nigel & Glynn Wickham with a perfect 4pt score also winning the same amount. Overall I did enjoy the weekend and to fish without fighting in the wind was a godsend" My highlight of the weekend had to be on the first day when I was fishing down towards the empty pallet and as I took my eyes of the float for 2 seconds I hooked a carp which shot right around the pallet leg and back towards me! I held the pole In the water praying it wouldn't snap and after a while it swam back the way it came and with keeping the pressure off I eased it slowly back to me and safely in the net as I looked up to see Jamie rich on the next peg shaking his head!.

                                                           Pairs results -

1st Bill hopping & Aide bishop (Summerhayes) 8pts (weight).

2nd Mark Lehay & Rob B 8pts (Summerhayes) 8pts.

3rd Matt & Charlie (Summerhayes) 9pts (weight).

4th Martin & Dave (Summerhayes) 9pts.

                                                             Silvers Result -

1st Nigel & Glynn Wickham (Summerhayes) 4 

2nd Reece & Rob (Summerhayes) 8pts.

3rd Charlie & John (Over 50's) 10pts.