Summerhayes Fishery Sunday Open.

After another no fish Saturday, The Help For The Hero's match at this fishery was cancelled, So I managed to book-in at Viaduct through the week only to get a phone call from work early Saturday morning to go into work briefly which didn't leave me enough time to get their' Don't like to drop out at the last minute but did make a call to let them know so onto today.

Last weeks Shiplate farm winner young Lewis Jones also fancied fishing the match and not living far from me offered to pick me up, With a 9.45 draw we had plenty of time for the hilltops breakfast on-route which I enjoyed after missing out the last couple of weeks before arriving at the fishery, Owner Pete & and his Tea Boy" Aide were their usual witty self as the banter was flowing and the weather looked like being a pleasant day with hardly a breeze so all started well' The match was to be held just on Longs Lake this week and on the way down I said I fancied drawing below the motorway but on the narrower end of the straight not an area which would be the first choice for many of the locals but its only 13mts to the far bank which makes for comfy fishing if nothing else, Into the draw early today and I found myself on peg 19 bang on were I fancied" that makes a change!" lol.  And for company I ended up drawing next to Lewis who was on peg 17". 

I had this swim around this time last year and won the match with 90lb odd of mainly carp on worm over caster but seeing I couldn't get to Viaduct yesterday I couldn't get the casters so that wasn't an option today' I decided to plumb up before deciding what to fish on the hook? I set up two 0.3g AS1 floats on 0.15-0.13 and an 16 wide gape pellet hook, One was in 18 inches of water tight over to my left and the other also across to my right in just over 2ft of water but I planned to feed them differently.

A small in-line clear dibber on to fish shallow on a longer line to mug a few fish if I had too as there seemed to be the odd fish swirling up in the water towards the far bank, A finally a 4x12 Chanti to fish down my inside bank on the same line in 5ft of water.

I started the match by feeding a pot of hemp and some 6mm cubed meat down my inside, fed a small ball & some loose dampened micros across to my right, And began the match with meat on the hook on my other far line tight to the far bank feeding some mushed meat via a cadpot. After 20mins I had my first fish of 3lb plus and after an hour I was up to 4 fish all taken on the far meat line. I had been topping the other far line with the odd small amount of micros & Hemp and as things were slow I switched to this line with a segment of worm on the hook. It did appear to be a better option as I soon added another four fish just cad potting a few micros and hemp after each fish. I started to foul hook a few so decided to pot in a ball of micros and rest it to try the other far line again.

I managed a couple more fish but it didn't seem to be as active as where I had been feeding micros but I thought it best to keep topping it up as it could come alive if they switch to it later in the day, I was still feeding my inside with bigger amounts every 30mins or so but didn't feel it was worth trying as I could see a few others had switched to trying without much success, At the halfway point Lewis & Me were pretty much fish for fish from what I could guess and we were both picking fish off the far bank at regular intervals although it seemed his were of slightly larger stamp? It seemed I would catch a fish or two then had to top it up and switch swims, from what I could see around the lake there wasn't that much being caught so kept plugging away as did Lewis, With about 2hours remaining I had noticed Lewis's dad had turned up and had positioned himself on the end bank looking down the lake to us, Now I don't know why it is but the moment someone seems to be watching me something always go's wrong' Over the next 30mins I managed to lose 4 fish near the net as well as some how hooking a fish on each rig across only to end up in some underwater snag which I had managed to avoid all day resulting in two trashed rigs!' Marvellous"..

At this point, probably much to Lewis's humour he had safely added a few more to his nets! With time spent adding new rigs and trying to get them to work as well as the others saw me now playing catch-up to him but time was running out. I began to loose feed some hemp over the top with the catty hoping the noise would pull a few more fish into the swim? I did add a few more before the all-out but knew I would struggle to catch Lewis who had fished a good match on a much wider swim than mine. When I caught up with the scales on peg seven 39lb was the top weight but Alvin Jones Had started like a train putting his second net in after the first hour but it was the kiss of death finishing the day with 73b odd, After a couple of lower weights it was Lewis to weigh and he did well to put 87lb on the scales to take the lead, My turn and it proved my disaster was costly as I finished up with 68lb which turned out to be enough for 3rd on the day at least picking up £28 for my troubles but the lost fish cost me at least 2nd but that's the way it go's. Lewis fished a pretty similar match to myself and got the result so well done to him again,

 Winner Lewis Jones.

 

 Were both planning to travel around a bit next season to the Maver Match This qualifiers together so have that to look forward too. Back here next Saturday for Clive Cunningham's Memorial Match who sadly passed away here a few months ago and with 40 odd already booked in it looks like being popular which is good news.

Full Results -

1st Lewis Jones (Drennan Thyers) peg 17 longs, 87lb 10oz.

2nd Alvin Jones (Country gardens) peg 7 longs, 73lb 7oz.

3rd Dom Sullivan (Maver) peg 19 longs, 68lb 12oz.

4th Gareth Lenoy (Summerhayes) peg 32 longs, 56lb 10oz.

5th Jess Jordan (Summerhayes) peg 26 ons, 56lb 4oz.

Silvers - 1st Glynn Wickham (Summerhayes) peg 12 longs, 15lb 15oz.

2nd Rodger Russell (Tackle UK) peg 2 longs, 12lb 13oz.