Match fishing blog, tackle reviews, interviews, South West match results, fishing in Thailand, venue reports
The charity matches run by Stoke are always very popular but with only a dozen swims around the pond, there are always more people wanting to fish than available pegs. In a bid to try and make it as fair …
My third match in four days and I must admit I was starting to flag a little as I struggled to get my ancient aching bones out of bed! I stopped off at Greggs but it wasn’t open so had …
Before I get on to todays blog, we had the awful news in the week that Pete Lonton had passed away, he was an Ilminster AA stalwart who I knew and fished with for many years, very sad and our …
Even though it’s only been three months (just like the old closed season), it’s felt like a lifetime but match fishing is finally back! It was starting to look like matches would resume from 29th March, so with Easter weekend …
Now in it’s third year, Brendon’s Bonus Bash has become a yearly tradition, it’s not really a match, just a knock up between mates and we normally have a right laugh with lots of talk about Oak trees, ghost carp and otter dogs among many other diverse subjects, some of which are far from suitable for publication here! I popped over to …
I always try and fit a few matches in over the festive period so when Chanter contacted me and said he was running another open at Covey, I jumped at the chance. With a fairly early draw, Greggs wasn’t open so I went to Costa and had a less than inspiring bacon roll which wasn’t cheap either! Then it was off to …
The river was nigh on perfect Saturday morning but once again Mother Nature thwarted us as heavy rain pushed the Isle into the fields again. Initially there were a similar number booked in to last week but a few dropped out when it was moved to the pond so more of a knock up than a match. The weather was truly awful …
With heavy rain all day on Friday, the river was in the fields so it would be on the pond, which I wasn’t too worried about as I’m just happy to be fishing at the moment! We couldn’t go to the bowling club for breakfast so I stopped at Greggs in Ilminster which was very nice. As always Rob did the draw …
I always look forward to the Xmas Fayre as there’s normally a good turnout and this year was no exception with 22 anglers booked in. Along with all the regulars it was lovely to see Russell Hilton again, Dylan Moss joining us for the first time and it was especially nice to have Neil Dring back for his first match in ages. …
This match was originally scheduled to take place at Trinity in November and was set to be a good match with 26 booked in but then the second lockdown put paid to that. With plenty of interest in still having the match when the restrictions were lifted, Stoke had to find an alternative venue for the 6th Dec as Trinity was already …
Trevor from the Avon Roach Project did an interview for the blog last year (which can be found here if you haven’t read it) in it he mentioned a book was in the pipeline which was due out this year. I got hold of a copy and it’s a fascinating read, obviously through the interview and the project’s website and blog, I …
2011 Double figure weights were still hard to come by and the majority of the matches were won by anglers fishing the whip. Top weight of the year (in the matches I fished) was Martin Heard with 13lb 10oz, I only managed a single win with 9lb 2oz in May when I fished the whip for half the match before catching some …
Due to the second lockdown and matches off the agenda once again (hopefully only for a month), I wasn’t going to bother going out but with my poor old dad in various hospitals for over six weeks and me being on my own plus working from home, I was starting to go seriously stir crazy. I have to say a massive heartfelt thanks …
2005 I first became aware of Dillington pond way back in 2005, it used to be a small irrigation pond but was dug out, made larger and stocked with a variety of species but no carp which was like a breath of fresh air! (although a few did find their way in from Long Ponds upstream). My first visit in March was …
