Summerhayes Rover Match All Lakes.

A match with a slight difference for a change and with a preliminary draw to see which choice order you would pick your peg, After a brief visit to Thyers tackle for a few bits ( which is now back under the realm of Jeff reasons which is nice to see ) The wife and myself made are way to the fishery to be greeted with a good turn out again of 25 Anglers so it proves how popular this fishery is becoming and there were some well know names to boot' Before the draw owner Pete said who ever had drawn choice 3 would also be on the bonus peg and you couldn't believe the amazement on my face when it turned out to be me! Not to complicate things I opted for a swim on Sellicks lake, Peg 3"! , Though it wouldn't of been my first choice as I fancied peg 11 on the same lake but Pete said at the draw you have to have an empty peg between each Angler and after venue regular Steve kedge had drawn second choice he went for peg 12 meaning 11 couldn't be fished".. 

Still happy with my choice as a couple of matches ago I had caught well fishing to the far bank on expander from next door peg 2 so that was to be my first line of attack with a 0.1g AS1 float on 0.15-0.13 and an 16 808 hook, I chose 3 different areas across so I could switch between them if need be,

 I wanted to try not to complicate things so made a 4x12 Chanti on the same line with a 16 PR478 hook  to fish down in front of the empty pallet peg 4 in around 4ft of water,

And I would also use this rig to fish 5mts in-front of me were I would feed 6mm meat by hand as the depth was quite similar. 

At the all-in I cupped a good handful of 6mm meat and hemp down to the pallet and cupped a dozen cubes of the same onto one of my far bank swims and some micro onto another far swim, starting with a 6mm expander on the hook I took 5mins to get a sign but the pellets had pumped up to soft and my preferred 4mm had gone to mush" ( why are no two bags the same! ) I was soon onto the other line with a cube of meat but it just wasn't happening and apart from a few dinks followed by a bow wave I had to try something else as 45mins had passed and I was fish less, I decided to get a rig out on a longer line to swing around into the bay, whilst I was setting it up I had noticed a couple of carp under the surface towards peg 2 so had a quick swing here and had a 6lb common seconds after the bait hit the water! Nothing followed so after topping up my pallet swim and continuing to trickle so meat onto the 5mt line I went out into the bay at 16mts where I had been pinging the odd cube of meat, no bite followed were I had been feeding but when I dropped the rig closer into the corner I had a fish of 3lb before I started to get pestered by small rudd" The fish seemed to disappear with the pole over there heads and after 3hrs I was really struggling with 3 carp and a skimmer which was strange as only a couple of weeks ago I had 13 fish in 2hrs in the same area.

I decided if I was going to start catching it would have to be on the shorter lines, I had a look down by the pallet to start with and had a 4lb fish and a 2lb skimmer in ten minutes before I hooked a bigger fish which took me straight under the pallet into a snag' meaning I had to pull for a break losing the whole rig! DAM IT..! I re-fed the swim with another pot and attached a new rig this time trying the 5mt meat line. I was surprized again to catch two nice skimmers on single meat before another 4lb carp was added, Another look back down in-front of the pallet saw me lose ANOTHER RIG" in the same snag so I re-plumed further down the slope around 2ft from the pallet giving me time to steer them way, Apart from trying the far bank without success a few more times though-out the rest of the match I spent the rest of the day fishing the meat on the 5mt line and down to the pallet swim, Going into the last hour I was catching quite well off both lines with more skimmers showing on the 5mt line

 

 

and the odd better carp down the edge, At the weigh-in that man again Giles Cochrane is having a great run at the moment leading the weights from peg 21 Long lake Catching on worm with 76lb, I was first to weigh and after my silvers went 11lb odd and my carp 58lb I had gone into 2nd place for the time being with 68lb after a few more weighs it was close between a few anglers Steve kedge on his chosen peg 12 did well again putting 71lb on the scales, The last to weigh was Phil (Fabio) Harding on peg 23, Or so we thought" It turned out he hadn't secured his nets (JUST WAT GABS DID"!) and they had slipped back into the lake resulting in him losing most of his fish and deciding not to weigh! Another one who wont do that again" So with this case I managed to end the day in 3rd place just a couple of fish short of the BONUS PRIZE" but I didn't quite get it right at the start which cost me dearly so I will make sure I have good 4mm expanders with me next time but still managed to add £44 to the wallet, All in all the match was a close affair though and apart from those on lily pool not having quite so many fish a few anglers could have taken the spoils.

 My Catch.

 

Overall Results -

1st Giles Cochrane (Newport) peg 21 Longs Lake, 76lb.

2nd Steve Kedge (Somerset Angling) Peg 12 Sellicks Lake, 71lb.

3rd Dom Sullivan (Maver/Cadbury Angling) peg 3 Sellicks Lake, 68lb 6oz.

4th Stewart B (Summerhayes) peg 2 lilypool, 66lb 4oz.

5th Ron Hardiman (Avon Angling) peg 18 Long lake, 65lb 5oz.

6th Mark Hannon (Somerset Angling) peg 8 Sellicks, 64lb 3oz.

Silvers -

Gary (Summerhayes) peg 6 Willow Pool, 20lb 14oz.

John Bradford (Avon Angling) peg 3 Willow Pool, 13lb 9oz.

(Here's me with a few spare nets!")