Summerhayes – Open – 23rd November 2025
It was back to Summerhayes the following day but on Longs this time and after my drawing arm had misbehaved yesterday, I was hoping it would buck its ideas up for this one. My name was near the top of …
It was back to Summerhayes the following day but on Longs this time and after my drawing arm had misbehaved yesterday, I was hoping it would buck its ideas up for this one. My name was near the top of …
Saturday it was a silvers match on Sellicks which had just received an injection of quality roach and skimmers from Big 8. I was really looking forward to it even though a few had fished it mid-week with just one …
Talking to Russ after yesterdays match he said I’d probably draw 39 today (as it seems to be a recurring theme that I end up on pegs soon after he’s fished them) and I was hoping that wouldn’t be the …
I say it every year but this is one of my favourite matches that I’d love to win although my record in it is quite frankly, pants! 19 anglers fishing today and when Pete announced the draw, he called up …
It was a few weeks into the year before I had a match worth talking about here, it was a Chard AC fixture on February 18th and I pulled out peg 37 at Donyatt where Scotty Russell had the big weight last year (see Part 10 – 1995). I got there and it looked lovely with the odd fish topping, I only set …
After really struggling in my last three outings, I was just hoping to catch a few fish in todays match! I got to the bowling club nice and early and another excellent breakfast set me up for the day before I paid my pools and waited for the draw. With all the anglers fed and watered, Nick put all the balls in …
Something a bit different today, the specimen lake at Summerhayes used to be called Perch Pit but it also held a decent head of silvers and occasionally on a rover match somebody would pick a swim there, I remember Bruce Hunt having just shy of 20lb which included loads of little roach and a decent crucian. Fast forward a couple of years …
During the heat wave and with the pond really low, two of the league matches were postponed so with one rescheduled for this week, I booked in as I’d enjoyed the last match. At the draw there were a few different faces from last week, it was lovely to see Paul Homewood and Terry ‘The Toast’ Morgan again and Dave ‘Dumbo’ Phillips was fishing …
For my second match of the weekend it was back to Summerhayes and another match on Longs, on Bank Holidays, Pete always splits the pools money in half and pays the same to carp and silvers which I think is a great idea. Jess ‘Zooner’ Jordon phoned me yesterday to see if I wanted to meet him at the Toby for breakfast …
My first visit here this year, I had booked in a few weeks back but during the hot weather the water level was so low the last two matches have been cancelled. I’d also been chatting to Nicky Collins at Todber a while back and he loves his silvers fishing so I was telling him about Dillington and he said it sounded right …
After a really enjoyable day last week, it was back on Longs again for this match and as I pulled into the carpark, I could tell it was going to be well attended if all the cars were anything to go by. I got some nets and as I paid my pools, Pete said there were twenty anglers booked in for this …
I’d fished Ilminster’s stretches of the Isle since I’d first picked up a rod in 1980 so knew that part of the river really well but I’d only been fishing Chard’s waters for a couple of years so there were loads of swims I hadn’t fished. There was the Horlicks stretch with 23 pegs which covered three fields and meant some long walks if …
If you’ve been following the blog, you’ll know that after a really good first six months of the year where I was framing regularly and catching lots of fish, things went rather pear shaped in July and this downward trend seems to be continuing into August. Now with fishing, you’re always going to get good and bad runs, peaks and troughs and you …
Following on from Part 1 where I had a look at the latest Bait-Tech groundbaits and the new Stick Mix Liquid flavours, I’ve since had chance to use some more of the products released for 2018. First up were the Special G Gold, Green and Dark soft hookers, now I have to say I don’t tend to use shop bought soft pellets very often …