Summerhayes – Open – 3rd May 2026
Longs at Summerhayes was the destination for day two (of four) and I was hoping for a nice silvers peg but my drawing arm needs some new batteries as it landed me on number 9 (I’m blaming Dan T who …
Longs at Summerhayes was the destination for day two (of four) and I was hoping for a nice silvers peg but my drawing arm needs some new batteries as it landed me on number 9 (I’m blaming Dan T who …
As we head into May, another Bank Holiday weekend means lots of fishing with four matches lined up, starting with a trip up the M5 to the lovely Acorn Fishery. When the draw was announced I was near the back …
It was back to Summerhayes the following day for a match on Longs, I was near the top of the list for the draw and pulled out a screamer in the shape of number 30 on the track bank. On …
In a recent post I mentioned that I seem to be struggling to get my head round Sellicks which is mainly down to those pesky skimmers and my inability to catch them! Would that change in the Saturday silvers match? …
I was back at Dillington for the final Summer League match and Jake had one hand on the title as he was over 30lb ahead of Nick in second place but he wasn’t counting any chickens yet as the pond is more than capable of throwing up big weights. After breakfast, Nick announced the draw and I was hoping for one of the …
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 …