Summerhayes – Open – 4th May 2025
On Sunday it was back at Summerhayes for a match on Sellicks which I haven’t fished for ages. There were 14 anglers booked in for this one which is a good number for the lake as we’d all have a …
Elitism and Snobbery in Match Fishing
I never get involved in spats on Facebook, it’s what they want and you’ll never change anyone’s opinion so it’s a pointless exercise, but recently a very well known and respected angler posted something and after grabbing my popcorn and scrolling through the replies, it got me thinking it would make for an interesting post. Basically the crux of his post was …
River Parrett – Huntsman Cup – 26th July 2020
I’d really enjoyed the last match at Kingsbury although drawing an end peg was obviously a massive bonus on what was a hard day for most. For breakfast this week we were going to Southfork Caravan Park which had recently reopened their cafe although even with the draw being pushed back an hour, it still meant setting my alarm for 5:15! I …
Hybrid Elastic Review
I’ve been using Daiwa Hydrolastic for the majority of my fishing for many years, yes it’s expensive but it lasts me several seasons and has never let me down so I think it’s worth every penny. I have flirted with other brands along the way and they’ve been fine but I always end up going back to Hydro. People who know me …
Hebditch’s Pond – Charity Match – 19th July 2020
Even though we’re slowly getting back to normal, some clubs and commercials are still not holding many matches and I was struggling to find somewhere to fish again. After talking to James and Chris they said they’d be up for another charity match at Hebditch’s Pond and when Harry gave the go ahead, it filled up in no time. I realise not …
The Sedges – 12th July 2020
For the next Stoke away day we were at The Sedges on Brick lake which I hadn’t fished for around 18 years! Looking at the recent results on the Facebook page, big weights would be required to do well and 50lb+ of skimmers regularly wins the silvers – nice! I tried to find out as much as possible beforehand and I have …
River Parrett – Novice Shield – 5th July 2020
In the Stoke vs Ilminster match last year we fished the Parrett Works stretch and it was a really enjoyable day, the weights weren’t massive but plenty of bites and you had to really work for your fish. I saw in the club book they had a match this weekend but on their Kingsbury stretch which was another section I’d never even …
The Archives – Part 21 – ‘Isle Be Back’ (2002)
For the first match of the year and with the top end of the Isle not fishing very well at all (to this day, I don’t really know what happened to cause the decline, people will say pollution or predation, I’m not so sure but whatever happened it signalled the end of Chard fishing their stretch of river in matches), we fished …
Dillington Pond – 28th June 2020
Due to the Corona Virus, this years Summer League would be a shortened six match series and I was quite looking forward to it, hopefully it would fish a bit better than the last time pleasure session when I only had one chub! Even though Terry ‘The Toast’ was off zoo creature hunting at the Viaduct, Cafe Morgan was open for business …
Covey Fisheries – 21st June 2020
I’d really enjoyed my first match here a couple of weeks back and was looking forward to another go, the other good news was that Cafe Morgan was open again! The Breakfast Club assembled bright and early and once again Terry ‘The Toast’ had outdone himself, this week the Full English also had black pudding, I’ve never had it before as I …
The Archives – Part 20 – The Ides of March (2001)
Firstly, apologies for the title but I was struggling to come up with one for this instalment! New Year’s Day was supposed to be the teams of four on the Isle but it was flooded once again so Mark Leahy suggested we go to Stoford Mill near Yeovil for a sweep. It was my first visit and I had an enjoyable day …