Summerhayes Fishery (Longs Lake).

A couple of days off whilst my truck go's for its Mot so I planned to make the most of it, I was a bit late to get in on the silvers only match on Viaduct so decided to try Summerhayes Wednesdays open match, I skipped breakfast today arriving in plenty of time, It looked to be a pleasant day ahead with no wind although quite cool to start with,

 

 

Chatting to Andy Hembrow before the draw he told me the lake had been fishing quite well of late with a lot of carp being caught dobbing bread across to the far bank where their is a bit of cover, Unfortunately it wasn't a good turn out with only seven fishing so the match would be run in a rover format, I had choice number four but didn't really know the best areas so opted to fish by the hut on peg 36 next to the aerator,

Andy had fifth choice & was beaming when he went on peg 32 further down the road bank in the wider water so I felt I was already missing something??.

My swim was just over 13mts to the far bank reeds & the depth against it was around 4ft deep so set up a 0.2g float on 0.13-0.11 & an 16 F1 Pellet hook to fish on the deck, next up was my dobbing" rig set around 3ft deep on 5ft of line again with a light float on the same line with a 16 808 hook & I had a rig to fish on the deck by the aerator in 5ft of water, 0.3g, 0.12-0.11 18 F1 maggot hook so this would do for starters.

I began the day feeding a few hard 4mm's at 13mts slightly left infront of the reeds & fed a nugget of damp micros by the aerator, I started the day dobbing along the bank infront of me starting around 6 inches off the deck with bread on the hook, I worked my way along the bank before shallowing up working back towards the aerator wires. Thirty minutes gone & things weren't looking good as Andy seemed to have made the right peg choice as he was into fish from the off, again fishing across on bread. I decided to try soft pellet on the deck rig where I fed 4mm's at the start, I had my first fish straight away around 3lb then nothing so started to feed a few 4mms with a cadpot attached, I managed a couple more but was having to wait ages for a bite & Andy was still catching well so I had to try something else.

I went on the deck rig next to the aerator & had an 10oz skimmer straight away then a smaller fish before it went dead, Back on the bread across I managed one fish around 3ft deep but just couldn't get it to work, After a couple more on the soft pellet line & a couple of hours gone I got up to go for a wee & popped to see Andy who was still putting fish in the net, He was fishing across at 16mts in a very similar style to me so new I couldn't be doing much wrong, Back at my swim I had another try for silvers after feeding a new line in the open water but that didn't happen'. I decided to add another section at fish over 14mt off to my right between myself & John baker on peg 34,

First drop in with the dobbing  rig set between 2-3ft I had a fish, then another, then another" I couldn't believe it, I had worked my way around 4mts either side the bank directly infront of me & it seemed the fish were sat just a metre or so further along".

I would catch a couple then have to change depth a few inches, Things were going well but the sun came out & I had a real job to see the rig in the reflection of the reeds, I managed to pinch the odd fish but with around 90mins remaining things slowed right down. I had been topping the pellet line up at odd intervals so it was time to give it another try as I sensed the fish had dropped down, I took three more carp 2-3lb in a ten minute spell before they backed off again, I gave the aerator swim another try & took another skimmer but that was it, The dobbing line had finished completely despite trying a few other areas so I had to put my faith in the pellet line across, I managed a couple more fish in the last hour but again had a hell of a job to see the float anywhere along the far bank with the refection, I had fed in the wrong place to begin with really not expecting the sun to affect it as much so lesson learnt there" I had an enjoyable days fishing but felt I hadn't really made the most of the swim today, I should have gone further along the bank to begin with as I'm sure I would have caught a lot earlier in the day, I was first to weight & was surprized to end up with 36lb of carp topped of with 2lb of silvers, John had 6lb of silvers before Andy put 72lb on the scales which would easily be enough to win the day & also took the top silvers weight with 8lb odd of skimmers later in the match with expander over 4mms & micro pellets so well done to him. Back at the results & as expected Andy went onto win but it turned out my weight was just enough for 2nd so at least I had my £20 back, Learnt a lot with the bread today & the fact how important it is to find the fish, when I was getting regular bites every fish came from the same small area, if I went 1ft either side I wouldn't get a sniff". It was a pleasant day though & enjoyed the change, We were greeted to a nice sunset whilst putting the gear away,

 

Full Results -

1st Andy Hembrow (Clevedon A.A) peg 32, 72lb 13oz.

2nd Dom Sullivan (Mosella UK) peg 36, 38lb 9oz.

3rd Bill Hopping (Summerhayes) peg 29, 37lb 1oz.

Silvers -

1st (Defalt) Ray Wickham, (Summerhayes) peg 13, 7lb 6oz.