Clive Cunningham Memorial Match (Summerhayes Fishery)

A bit late with these results but still not feeling in the best of health & to be honest when I've returned home from fishing I'm totally drained & its not down to amount of fish" Lol, First up was my trip to Summerhayes For Clive Cunningham's Memorial match, Skipping the fry up today I arrived in plenty of time to have a wander around first. Todays match was to run in a rover format held over Sellick's & longs lakes, As I took a stroll around I decided it would be a good idea to jot some pegs down I would prefer to fish, Although come draw time I did make a few giggle as I had the pegs for Longs scribbled on the palm of my hand & Sellicks written all down my arm!" I had choice number 12 but the rule was you had to have a empty peg in between each angler so I soon found myself wiping away some of my first choices' it was a bit of a dilemma when it came to me but I didn't want a straining day so opted for peg 20 below the motorway bridge on Longs lake, It was an easy reach to the island at 13mts which would be my first choice with the conditions ideal with little wind, When I arrived I wished I had chose somewhere else as its not a noted area for silvers & owner Pete was paying the same to the top three in each the silvers & carp pools, I didn't think Sellick's would produce the silvers frame weights as its been hard of late & some of my other would be choices were still their to give me the option if I wasn't do to well on the carp but we would see.

I didn't complicate things today, I had a rig to fish in the deeper water off the island on 0.14-0.12 & an 18 PR478 hook, A shallow dibber rig on 0.15 to fish tight to the far bank in just over a 1ft of water, A shallow slapping rig & finally a 4x12 Chanti on 0.13-0.11 & an 16 808 hook to fish at 5mts to my left with meat, My shallow rigs would double up to fish shallow down the edge should I see signs of fish later in the day? I started the day in the deeper water with a 4mm expander over some 4mm feed pellet & micros but scrapped that after 10mins & two tiny roach' Gareth on peg 23 just on the bend had hooked one across on hard pellet fishing just inches deep tight to the mud bank, firing pellets in with the catty, I soon followed suit with a banded 6mm tight to the bank & began to ping a few across, I fully expected to catch straight away but it didn't happen, An hour into the match & all I had added was a crucian about a 1lb'. I tried up & down in the water & different areas of the bank but I just couldn't get then interested, I had signs of fish coming into the peg but it would result in foul hooked fish before building it up again, Gareth had taken a few of the island but it had slowed for him & when he changed tactic's I stayed across to see if I could draw some around as their were a few off the point.

Two hours gone I things hadn't improved, I had tried the meat line but Nothing, Tried a new line closer to the bank but no early signs, & even began a new line with 4mm hard pellets at 6mt in-front of me but again it just produced a small roach on pellet but nothing on the paste, Yes Paste" I haven't fished it for a while but its the in craze here at the moment so had to give it ago, I even tried it across feeding a few hard 6mm's over the top with a pot but still nothing. I stopped feeding across whilst I tried the other Lines to let it settle down as I had the odd fish slurping at the bank for loose pellets which was causing the foul hookers, I new after two & a half hours I would need a miracle to get in the frame as I had already heard some pegs on Sellicks were bagging from the start but I was determined to work out how to catch these fish across" I went back over this time fishing a 6mm expanded on the deck in just over a 1ft & was cad potting small nuggets of micros, It took all of 20 seconds to get my first carp just over 2lb' Foowed by another, & another, & another! I couldn't believe it" I went from nothing to bagging in an instant" The fish weren't big with most between 2-3lb but I was soon making inroad on Gareth or so I thought, After about an hour the sun had creped around & I now had a shadow in the shallow water across, Not only was I having a job to get the rig tight in trying to avoid the foliage I now had the sun smack in my eyes" .

Garth had started to catch well on his short meat line & was now defiantly in-front but I was hoping mine would now produce?. No... All I managed in the last couple of hours was two fish off it, Nothing closer to the bank on the inside edge but did manage a 4lb fish shallow slightly further along but the rest soon sodded off" I finished with between 45-50lb which wasn't going to be anywhere today, Gareth was admitting to 70-80lb & I managed to lose out late to him in the silvers side bet as he took two big skimmers on the meat line which he sacked up on in the last hour so I ost out another £2 there' Martin Addicott has got the paste sorted here at the moment & I had him down as the winner from peg 6 on Sellicks & was told he had over 150lb but it was going to be a long affair by the time I tipped back & got the kit back in the van they were just starting the weigh-in & also had an after match BBQ in Clive's Memory to host so I made my way home to sort my kit for Sundays Super-League on the River Huntspill & to keep the wife happy". I will add the full results when I get them through, Should of switch tactics a bit earlier today but I don't think I would of made the frame in the carp pool but I was disappointed I didn't give myself a swim on the lake with more option of silvers as the last couple of matches here I've done well on them fishing expanders over micros & felt it would of been a better option to pick up some coin but that's fishing'.