Summerhayes Fishery Weds Open, (Longs Lake).

After A couple of days extended holiday from the Easter period I decided to travel down to Summerhayes from the midweek match, After a breakfast on route at hilltops I arrived in plenty of time. It wasn't the news I was expecting to here, But sadly local angler and venue regular Clive Cunningham suffered a heart attack on the premises yesterday and despite the efforts of owner Pete and the air ambulance he lost his fight for life, Very sad news for everyone.

Back to the match and despite everyone being a bit subdued it was decided to go ahead as Clive would of wished for us to fish I'm sure, There were 18 of us today with a few faces practicing for the big match this coming Saturday but having not fished this lake yet this year I wasn't to bothered were I would end up. into the draw and I found myself on peg 11 which is a swim I've never had before but was looking forward to it. It was a fair distance to the far bank at 15mts but with the sun already out and conditions nearly perfect this would be my starting point.

 

As norm I set up two chanti rigs to fish on the deck were I found about two and a half feet of water on a flat spot near the bank, one being a 4x12 on 0.13-0.11 and an 16 63-13 hook the other being a 4x10 on 0.13-0.10 and an 18 808 hook. I ony set one other rig which was another 4x12 chanti on 0.13-0.10 and an 18 808 to fish in the open water at 13mts with the main target being silvers as the lake has seen a recent induction of some bream to 6lb so I plumed up at the bottom of the far shelf to find 5ft of water. this rig would double up to fish meat at 6mts of to my left.

I started the match by feeding 2 balls of fishmeal on the 13mt line with micro pellet and 4mm hard pellets added with a few loose offerings over the top, and fed a few cubes of meat by hand onto the 6mt line. Starting over at 15mts with a 4mm expander on the hook, feeding a few 4mm pellets and micros via a cadpot on the end of the pole. It didn't take long before I had a pasty carp of 12oz followed by a few more to 3lb in the first hour, the second hour was a bit slower only adding a few more smaller carp and a bonus 4lb bream when I switched to meat on the hook. I felt things were going ok as those around me were struggling to catch anything although I could see Andy Hembrow over on peg 4 putting a few in the net and noticed he was feeding pellets over to the far bank via a catty and with things slowing right down I chose to try the same route which was ok for 20mins until the breeze picked up meaning holding the pole and feeding was proving difficult and with my catch rate not improving I fed a larger amount with a bigger pot and rested it for a while. A look on the 13mt line saw me take 4 small skimmers on expanders again but it was slow here and felt I had to take the chance to catch some more carp to do any good.

halfway through it was time to have a look on my 6mt line with a cube of meat on the hook were I had been feeding by hand from the off, 10mins later I had a better fish of 4lb then couldn't get a bite, I had been flicking a few 4mm hard pellets by hand down my right hand margin but after having a quick look without any sign I switched to feeding a bigger pot of 6mm meat and leaving it till later in the day. the next coupe of hours I rotated from the far bank and the 6mt line taking odd fish off of each by waiting for bites after feeding, Andy had already gone for another keepnet but apart from people catching the odd fish their didn't appear to be anyone else putting a weight together. Going into the last hour it seemed to be a case of getting a fish off each line before re-feeding a small amount switching swims. I did manage a few fish from both sides on the short swims to 4lb again on meat and a coupe of similar size from the far bank on soft pellet before the all-out.

I was pretty pleased how the day went as I enjoy working around picking fish off different swims, A busy bit of fishing'. As expected Andy went on to take the top weight with 89lb all taken from the far bank on the deck with hard 4mm pellets where he found a shelf of around 2ft so well done mate.

 Winner Andy Hembrow.

 

Working hard at it today did pay off for me as I managed to finish 2nd with just under 10lb of silvers added to my 55lb of carp picking up £44 winnings,

 My Catch.

 

Top silvers on the day went to Janders' On peg 14 with 20lb odd including a few of the lakes new bream,

 Jander's top silvers weight.

Well it made a nice change for the weather to be pleasant and I certainly picked the right couple of days to have off' It was a very quiet match today due to the circumstances as I'm sure as most would agree you start to get a clearer picture in your minds just how cruel times can be when least expected, Clive will be sadly missed as he has been part of the match scene for as long as I ever remember fishing the venue every week, God bless You.

Full Results -

1st Andy Hembrow (Clevedon. A.A) peg 4, 89lb 9oz.

2nd Dom Sullivan (Maver) peg 11, 65b 9oz.

3rd Steve Kedge (Somerset Angling) peg 34, 47lb 10oz.

4th Paul Homewood (Sedges Fishery) peg 2, 38lb 7oz.

Silvers -

1st Jander's  Peg 14, 20lb 8oz.

2nd Steve Jackson (Garbolino) peg 26, 14lb 5oz.

 

 

I cant go without giving a mention of yesterdays stint at Shiplate Farm hawthorns lake with my wife Yvonne who has been itching to get out on the bank and have a fish herself now she has my old Seatbox, I have to say she did really well as she managed 4 carp to 6lb and around 10lb of silvers all on her own without any help bless her"

 Yvonne's silvers net.

I had a cracking days fishing ending with around 80lb of carp and 30lb of silvers down the track on soft pellet over hard 4mm pellets and the carp coming from the far bank mainly, mostly on hard pellet.