Mathern Mill Silvers Open

 After a couple of days off work with a really sore back I wasn’t sure if going fishing as a good idea. I did it somehow packing up the caravan on Tuesday to come home after a weekend break. Moral of the story, don’t pack up to come home. Stay on holiday. No spasms since yesterday so off I went. All 23 pegs in today and a good draw was suppose to be on the bottom bank. Into the bag and I draw peg 11, right in the middle of the bottom bank. Trouble with that peg it’s on a point and it’s a carp haven. Started the match on the short line, top two used as a whip, and was getting regular perch on maggot and the odd Rudd. It kept going quiet so I think the odd carp was moving through, and I did hook one. After an hour I went to the two plus three line where I’d been feeding micros and maggot. Again the odd perch but nothing else. So it was out to 13m where I didn’t really want to be as I didn’t know if my back would last long but it was ok. Had bites on maggot over micros straight away but it was perch. But I stuck it out and after 10 minutes I had my first skimmer. I had a good half hour and put 7 skimmers in the net to about 3 pound. Then unfortunately the carp moved in and it was a struggle to get a bite from anything but big wobbly lumps. The second half of the match I hooked 14 of them and never saw one break the surface. They just tore off and either straightened my hook or snapped my hook length. The last hours I managed 4 more skimmers including a 3 1/2 pounder last drop in. I caught nothing all day on the shorter line and the perch disappeared completely after the first hours. Come the end I was guessing I had 25lb. Mark Hale was winning up to me with 31lb of skimmers and a few bits from peg 1. Rob Skellet on peg 8 had 27-3 again skimmers and mainly perch. I managed 25-3 and a section win. But winner on the day was Marc Savigar from peg 16 I think with a nice bag of skimmers going 42-1. He caught from the off  steadily all day. A pretty good match all round with plenty of skimmers showing. The bonus was my back held up, but getting pretty stiff now. A good curry might sort that out lol . Full results below.