Summerhayes Fishery (Longs Lake) Silvers Only.

Making the most of my time off over the festive period I decided to make a trip to Summerhayes as they now run silvers only matches on Fridays & if your fortunate enough to win on the day you go through to a Silvers Final  held at the end of March, Its run on the format that every angler pays a extra £1 on each open which goes in the final kitty & along with the pools on finals day makes for good payouts, It was lashing it down with rain whilst heading down this morning but appeared to clearing up when I arrived but their was a strong wind blowing & most were favouring a draw on the road bank with the worst of the wind of their backs, The match was run in a rover format & I had second choice but didn't chose the road bank instead I went for the top corner as you drive in peg 39 to most's suprize' I felt I might have a few fish down the edge to the dead reeds but had the option of fishing the open water towards peg 1 & across to the island infront of me at 13mts, I set up a 4x12 chanti on 0.13-0.10 & an 18 PR412 for down the deep edge around 3-4ft, Set up a 4x12 malman on the same line to an 18 F1 pellet hook to fish the bottom of the far shelf at 12mts to the island & a swim in the open water the same distance as both were the same depth around 4ft.

I started the day feeding three balls of G/bait in the open water with just a pinch of dead reds & casters added, feed one small ball with some dead pinkees added at the bottom of the far shelf & a small amount of micro of the point off the island, I went straight down the edge with cast on the hook feeding just a few of the same but after 15mins without any signs I went across on pinkee to the bottom of the far shelf expecting bites even from tiny roach but nothing' I had Mark Lehay next to me who was hoping for a better day after fishing with his wind in his face at Shiplate on Weds but already we were getting buffered around by the wind & now it had started to rain again' After 30mis of trying across even having a look over the micro fed line with small expander on the hook I still couldn't get a bite, It was time to try the positive fed line starting with dead red maggot on the hook, I was surprized to get a bite straight away which turned out to be a 4oz skimmer so at least I had caught" Terry Taylor came down to watch me for a few hours but I didn't have much to show him really' The wind was playing havoc & I was having real difficulty seeing the float, I switched to fishing the lighter Chanti rig over the top on a longer line which got me two more small skimmers in the next hour along with a small roach but it seemed every time I had a fish I had to re-feed a nugget of G/bait & leave it, I did eventually get a bite at the bottom of the far shelf netting a skimmer around 6oz but nothing followed.

I fed two new lines, One at 12mts back in to the slack water to my left & at the same angle across to the far bank reeds at 14mts with a handful of casters, This did get me two fish after I had left it to settle for 20mis but both were carp!" It was a real gruller to say the least & at the halfway point I estimated around 1lb in the net but Mark & Jeff Sparks around from him on peg 35 were yet to catch so I wasn't doing that bad by the look of it".

With a couple of hours to go Mark had had enough & started to pack up & just to make things worse as he was doing so one almighty gust from nowhere deposited two trays of mate up rigs into the lake which opened in the process & sinking out of sight!" Poor Mark lucks not with him at the moment..'

It was a case of switching lines constantly looking for bites, I couldn't get a sniff back in the calmer water to my left or down the edge even on maggot or pinkee, when I had indications they were on the open water line but they were few & far between, I managed a couple more hand size skimmers mainly on single maggot but did get one on the caster, I managed two more skimmers at the bottom of the far shelf late in the day again on maggot, A couple of roach in the open water & in the dying seconds hooked a better skimmer which I landed after the whistle around 10oz'. It had been a hard day, Mark & Rob Birch had called it a day & Jeff packed in before the end with just a small roach & a Blade skimmer.

I was first to weigh & thought I may have around 2lb which turned out to be 2lb 14oz, I had heard most had struggled for bites but apparently Bruce Hunt had around sixty small roach but how small? I didn't follow the scales choosing to get the kit back in the van before it rained again so met up back at the hut. I was surprised to here Bruce's roach net went 2lb 10oz & Apart from this the next best weight was 1lb odd so the hard days fishing had paid off" £57 in the pocket & a place in the silvers final" Result Lol. oddly even though it was rock hard having faith paid off for the extra few fish I caught & I did quite enjoy it', A free brew with Owner Pete & the guys after was very welcome though!

Full Results -

1st Dom Sullivan (Mosella) Peg 39, 2lb 14oz.

2nd Bruce Hunt (Tiverton) peg 31, 2lb 10oz.

3rd Gary Butler (Summerhayes) peg 17, 1lb 13oz.

4th Pete Curnow (Summerhayes) peg 29, 1lb 8oz.

Full

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