Summerhayes – Open – 19th April 2026
If you’ve followed the blog for any length of time you’ll know I fish Summerhayes a lot as I really enjoy the fishing on both the match lakes. Over the years I’ve gone through periods of preferring one over the …
If you’ve followed the blog for any length of time you’ll know I fish Summerhayes a lot as I really enjoy the fishing on both the match lakes. Over the years I’ve gone through periods of preferring one over the …
Ten of us fishing silvers Saturday on Sellicks and I pulled out peg 8 which wouldn’t have been my first choice although as I was setting up there were lots of roach topping and I quite fancied it. First put …
Thankfully I managed not to oversleep the following day and was able to enjoy a nice breakfast before heading to Summerhayes for the match on Longs. 17 fishing today and when I was called up to draw I pulled out …
My Saturday trip to Todber didn’t get off to the best of starts when I woke up at 7:37 and I should have been sat down eating breakfast at 7:30! After rushing around, things didn’t improve when I arrived to …
I was really looking forward to this one as I haven’t fished Longs for ages, speaking to Scotty who has been doing really well with silvers in the last two matches (weighing 46lb and 67lb), he had been catching on paste really short and said that my usual expander approach would just get ragged out by small fish. I decided to give …
Anybody who knows me or reads this blog regularly will by now have realised I’m a big fan of Bait Tech products. Their expander pellets in my opinion are the best in the business and I’ve enjoyed a lot of success with the 4mm’s at Summerhayes. They are a company that doesn’t rest on it’s laurels and they are continually bringing out new …
A little while ago I did a review of the Fishing UK app, which can be read here http://www.againstmenandfish.com/2013/05/fishinguk-app-review.html/ and I am delighted to announce that they have asked me to become part of their blogging team and of course I said yes! My first post on the site was just a little introduction about myself but in the coming weeks I …
The last match of the series arrived and everybody knew which peg they’d be on, my home for the next six hours would be peg 19. My peg is nice and shaded which I was really glad about as another scorching hot day was forecast. The Hoff won the silvers off my peg last week with 6lb 8oz so my plan today was …
This weeks focus is on Dillington pond, a lovely lake on the Dillington Estate, it’s an irrigation pond with 24 pegs and I’ve been fishing it since it opened in 2006. It’s an Ilminster AA water and you can find the details on the website address listed below. It’s absolutely stuffed with fish and the main species are roach, rudd, perch, chub, eels and …
Well summer has finally arrived and the last few days have been scorchers, I headed to the pond knowing I had either peg 11 or 19 to come. I got there and said hello to everyone and it was nice to see Bish’s face had gone back to normal size and he was wearing a rather fetching t-shirt today. As I went …
This weeks Fishery Focus is on Ilminster Canal and it’s a venue that’s very dear to my heart. Although my first ever fishing trip was to the Isle, I spent most of my younger years down the canal as it was only a short walk from where I lived. I’ve seen it go from a stagnant pond to a cracking little wild …
I thought the match was on Longs this week but I phoned Pete to book me and Janders in and he said it would be on Sellicks and Lily again. I spent the rest of the week convinced I’d end up on Lily but on arriving, Pete said all twenty of us would be on Sellicks – phew. I pulled out peg 15 …
I haven’t done a ‘Hit Parade’ for a while so today I thought I’d take a look back at some of those days when it’s a real struggle. We’ve all had them where you’ve drawn a duff peg or the fishery seems to have switched off or the weather’s so cold you just can’t buy a bite but it’s worth hanging on …
With three matches left in this league I had pegs 11, 15 and 19 to go, 11 is a decent peg, 15 has been pretty poor and 19 has been dire to be honest. As we all gathered for the draw I felt really sorry for Bish who has an abscess and looks like he’s sucking the worlds biggest gobstopper! Les did the draw …