Summerhayes Open Sellicks & Lily Pool.

After missing the open at Viaduct fishery yesterday after spending most of Friday night up with a migraine I was keen to get back on the bank so managed to book in at summerhayes with Nick Harvey, After traveling down together for the later draw of 10am we weren't surprized to see another good turn out of 26 anglers meaning as normal the match would be spread over Sellicks and 9 pegs put on lily pool, And as normal I was praying for a peg on Sellicks as its been the better lake of late, After a few good draws down here I was disappointed to find myself on peg 4 lily pool and Nick didn't fair much better drawing peg 10 on the opposite bank but at least I could keep and eye on him for are usual quid, Having only ever drawn this lake once it was pretty alien to me as I had to cut my last visit short so it was a case of suck it and see, After arriving at my peg I had a bay to fish into on my right (After a case of severe gardening) and just open water in front of me so planed to concentrate on just 3 lines, One at 5mts in-front of me to fish meat where I could feed by hand using a 4x12 chanti on 0.13-0.11 and an 12 Pr478 hook in 4ft of water, An identical rig to fish at 13mts into the bay about a metre from the bank at the same depth and an 4x10 chanti on 0.15-0.15 and an 18PR478 hook to fish tighter to the bank on my left at about 7mts in 3ft of water where I planned to fish worm or caster over loose fed casters, at the all in I cupped a whole 250mm pot of casters onto the 13mt line a smaller amount of casters and some dead reds maggots on the 7mt swim and began on the 5mt line with a single cube of meat cad potting around 10 cubes over the top and a few grains of corn, After 20mins I was still without a bite and from what I could see things were slow for most with only the odd fish caught except for Bruce Hunt on next peg 5 having small roach on the whip at regular intervals.

I fed a bit more meat onto the 5mt line and switched to the 13mt line into the bay with half a worm on the hook, Another 20mins and I was still without a fish so had a go on the shorter line nearer the bank with corn on the hook to start with. After an hour of the match gone I still hadn't caught, I wasn't getting worried but I felt I had to try and get something in the net and all the time I had been flicking the odd cubes of meat onto the 5mt line and had seen a few bubbles appear so switched back to it with double meat on the hook, The rig hardly settled before  a carp of 3lb was in the net so at least I was off the mark" Two more fish followed before they disappeared and I had to try my other lines again to let it settle but they just didn't seem to want to be in the bay as I couldn't muster a bite of either line? I had a re-think and decided to feed a good helping of meat and casters onto the 7mt line down the edge as the only thing I had caught on was meat so it made sense to feed some here as I had nothing to loose,

At the halfway point I was up to 6 carp for about 13lb all taken on the 5mt line with meat on the hook but I seemed to get a couple of quick bites then they would move off after you played one, maybe because of the bottom would be stirred up?

 This is how things stayed until the last hour when Harry Muir began to catch a few better fish down his inside on next peg 3 signalled to me to have another look on the swim tighter to the bank with double meat on the hook feeding a cad pot full of meat and slowly lowering the rig in over the top,

 I had a 3lb fish in seconds but missed the next bite and caused a right disturbance so topped it up with another helping of meat and caster, two smaller fish on the 5mt meat line and I had 20mins left and felt if I was going to latch into the some of the lakes larger fish it was going to be closer to the bank and I wasn't wrong with a fish of 7lb first put in and two more slightly smaller before the whistle! (If Only they had turned up earlier") as I had expected nobody on are lake had run away with it and their was 5 of us in are own mini" superpool who could see each other on are lake so it would be close to see who came out on top? When the scales Arrived the top weight was Nick Chedzoy on the fancied peg 2 and despite it being a bit of a rig trashing peg" with all the lily's did well to end up with 53lb odd, My 12 fish totalled 37lb odd before Bob Gullitt over on peg 8 pipped me for are superpool with 45lb. It turned out Sellicks hadn't fishd as well as expected and the were two anglers tying for top spot with 54lb, (Martin Addicott & Steve kedge) so yet again a few fish here and there made all the difference and the results were as close as they could be' 

top silvers went the way off Bruce Hunt with a whip caught 15lb of small roach,

A enjoyable day with the weather staying warm again for this time of the year, I'm on the Sedges brick lake next for an open next Saturday which is another lake I haven't fished for years before the first round of the popular viaduct silvers league starting next Sunday so a lot to look forward too.

Full results -

1st Martin Addicott (Summerhayes) peg 15 Sellicks, 54lb.

1st Steve Kedge (Somerset Angling) peg 23 Sellicks, 54lb.

2nd Nick Chedzoy (Thatchers) peg 2 Lily Pool, 53lb 13oz.

3rd John Dursley (Enterprize Angling) peg 14 Sellicks, 52lb 2oz.

4th Bob Gullitt (Miracle Baits) peg 8 Lily pool, 45lb 11oz.

Silvers -

1st Bruce Hunt (Summerhayes) peg 5 Lily pool, 15lb

2nd Charlie Barns (Over 50's) peg 3 Sellicks, 11lb 12oz. 

 Joint Winners Martin & Steve.