Summerhayes Fisheries 3rd March 2019

So today we were at my local venue of Summerhayes Fisheries and with the forecast being that of gale force winds and heavy rain with the emergence of Hurricane Freya I'm surprised that anyone even bothered to get out of bed.

It was just unfortunate that  the last time out at this venue the conditions were also very windy and the lakes were more like the Bristol Channel with the choppy waves, albeit then we were on Sellicks but today we were on Longs Match Lake

I got there nice and early and hoping the forecast was going to be wrong and already there was an abundance of anglers in the car park. There was also a match on Sellicks today so twice the amount of foolish anglers braving the conditions. With the wind in a S-SW direction the most comfortable swims would be roadside with the wind being from behind.

I unloaded my car to try and get a quick cuppa only to find that I hadn't loaded my rods. A quick phone call to the one indoors but with no answer, I had no option to scoot back home and collect them.

So back to the hut and still without my cuppa and with Pete cooking bacon baps which smelt fabulous, the Guru Tart asked me to round up the troops for the draw. On my way to round them up I was subjected to some unwarranted banter about my local venue and with more wind coming out of Queenies gills than Storm Freya could offer the 15 brave anglers who were waiting in anticipation commenced with the draw.

Peg 4 -Eric, 7 - Lord C, 9 Mario Tony, 11 Danny, 12 Queenie, 15 T Fry, 17 Tax man Brian, 19 G Sparkes , 21 - Sharp Shopper Shane, 24 Me, 27 Last Hour Dave, 31 The Guru Tart, 35 Dave Allen, 37 Kev, 39 Mutant George

As per every week and confirmed by Lord C and Queenie - everyone had the winning peg apart from Sharp Shopper Shane who was on Golden Peg.

So Me, Dave Allen, Last Hour Dave, were on roadside and Sharp Shopper Shane on 21  were relatively comfortable with the others up against it. Shane called me over and asked if I would like a little side bet to which I duly obliged. I couldn't see too many fishermen to see what was happening around me but I could see Shane, Geoff and Tax Man. The hooter went for the all in and It wasn't The wind stayed behind us for a couple of hours then changed direction and was blowing form right to left so after fishing 14.5m dobbing bread and losing 2 carp I then had to revert to the tip ( not a good silvers peg this one). Shane got off to a flier on the tip with 2 fish in the first hour then went quiet for the rest of the day and after losing the second carp it took a bit of time to get anything else but I ended up with a good spell in the middle of the match landing 3 carp and then packed up 45mins early after throwing my dummy out of the pram when my line broke when into another carp. I could see Last Hour Dave having a few good tussles and landed a few decent carp but he also lost a few and I could see Tax Man playing a few fish. Geoff was having a reasonable day for the silvers on 19 as he always manages on this lake.

Just after Lunch the Guru Tart starting packing up and he stopped behind me to tell me he snapped a section of pole and he had enough. I could see Mario packing up followed by a few more and I was just happy that I had not broken my pole and glad when the all out was called.

Out of the 15 who started, only 9 finished the match with only 7 weighing in and the others DNW.

Having packed up early myself Danny and Lord C started the weigh in. The rumour was D Allen smashed it, but was then told Brian was close along with Queenie for the overall weights. The rumours were actually spot on that the weights were a close call with Dave on 41-08, Tax Man - 42-01, Queenie 42-01 however Tax man had caught a 2 oz Rudd and Dave Allen had 2-01 of skimmers.

The silvers was a bit different affair with not a great amount showing.

So the results were follows

Overall

1st - Dave Allen  43-09
2nd  - Tax Man Brian 41-03
3rd Queenie 41- 01

Silvers

1st - Geoff Sparkes
2nd - Mutant George
3rd - Danny

So Dave Allen form is still bang on In form and with quality anglers Queenie and Taxman also constantly framing, its time to up our game.

On Georges 68th birthday he managed 2nd and more importantly his beloved £1 nugget from Danny.

My reward - well I also got my nice shiny nugget from the Sharp Shopper - no doubt hell be out to find more bargains this week as he has £1 less to spend this week.

Well done to everyone for their perseverance and we look forward to seeing you at The Sedges on Sunday on Tile Lake. For Info the long range forecast for next week - yes more windy weather.