Summerhayes – Open – 16th November 2025
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 …
River Isle – Royal Oak Winter League 6 – 1st January 2017
Firstly I’d just like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and I hope your hangovers aren’t too bad. Before I get onto the days fishing, I just wanted to say a massive thanks for all your support as the blog continues to go from strength to strength and is breaking new ground all the time. December saw the blog exceed 20,000 …
2016 Yearly Review
As the year draws to a close, here’s my look back over the previous twelve months, January 2016 To kick off the New Year, we visited a new venue, Hebditch’s Pond and the weather was hideous with strong winds and driving rain. I tried to catch short and it just didn’t happen, after two hours I was the only person still blanking! I …
Dillington Pond – 28th December 2016
With Xmas Day falling on a Sunday this year and the next scheduled match not until New Year’s Day, I thought I’d put it out there to see if anybody fancied a knock up midweek. I suggested the Weds or Thurs and asked people to let me know their preference, it was a close run thing but in the end Weds just …
Steve Gardener on… A Life in Match Fishing – A Review
Obviously I love my fishing and I hope that comes across when I write about it but the next best thing to actually going fishing is reading about going fishing! I read a lot of angling magazines and there are some excellent blogs out there but when it comes to books, despite there being loads about carp fishing on the shelves of bookstores …
River Isle – V.E.S. Precision League 4 – 18th December 2016
The weather stayed really mild all week and we had a fair bit of rain which put some colour in the river but it didn’t last long. It was a very foggy morning as I headed to the Oak for the draw and all the normal faces were there. Looking at the section boards, I didn’t really mind where I drew with the …
River Isle – Royal Oak Winter League 5 – 11th December 2016
After the Baltic temperatures of last Sunday, it was all change again in the week as the weather turned really mild and some rain on Saturday was very welcome too. All the signs were there for a very good match, we just needed the fish to play ball now. I got to the pub nice and early and it was lovely to …
River Isle – Xmas Fayre – 4th December 2016
It had been cold all week and when I woke up this morning to the hardest frost of the year so far, I knew it was going to be hard going today. I got to the pub in good time and there was a great turn out of twenty anglers as the numbers were swelled by the likes of Andy Welch, Paul …
River Isle – Royal Oak Winter League 4 – 27th November 2016
The river was still flooded at the start of the week but by Wednesday it was fishable again and looked lovely although the temperature has dropped a few degrees and we would be in for a chilly one today! I got to the pub in plenty of time for one of Steve’s sausage sarnies before having a look at the pegs being used today and …
Dillington Pond – 20th November 2016
With Rob away playing darts, organising this weeks match fell to me, towards the end of the week, the temperature dropped and we even had some brief flurries of snow! There was also a lot of rain forecast for the weekend but with landlord Steve off chucking arrows as well, we were meeting down the river, so would be able to see …
River Isle – Royal Oak Winter League 3 – 13th November 2016
After a disappointing match last Sunday, I was hoping my drawing arm would be back on form this week. I got to the pub nice and early and although Rob was there he wouldn’t be fishing today as he’d done his back in, hope it’s better soon mate. After a nice sausage sarnie, I had a quick look at the pegs in …