Summerhayes – Open – 23rd March 2025
After a lovely day and lots of bites on Saturday I was hoping for more of the same the following day on Longs at Summerhayes. A great turnout of 25 anglers and it was fantastic to see Zooner who was …
Stathe Drain – Taunton vs Ilminster – 7th October 2018
This match was supposed to be on the River Tone but due to low flows and weed it was switched to Stathe, a venue I haven’t fished since 2007! The matches used to be won with decent nets of bream and tench on chopped worm and caster fished across but judging by recent reports, there aren’t as many bream around now although odd tench …
Match Fishing, The Most Complex Of All Sports?
Whenever I talk about match fishing to people I know who don’t fish, they nearly all come out with the same statement ‘Yeah, but it’s all luck isn’t it?’. Now if you strip match fishing down to it’s basics, that statement isn’t too far off the mark is it?, the person that draws the best peg with either the biggest or the most …
Hebditch’s Pond – Charity Match – 30th September 2018
I always look forward to fishing Hebditch’s pond but because of the hot weather and low water levels we haven’t fished it since February when it was a bit of a struggle so hopefully we’d get a few more bites today. As always we would be donating a proportion of the entry fee to charity and this time the proceeds from the match and …
Fishing In France – Baz Morgan – Part 5
A few years ago, I was asked if I would organise a trip to France to fish the river Loire for barbel, chub, mullet and possibly silure. The deal was that they would pay all expenses, ferry, fuel, digs and food. My job would be to do all the booking, the driving, sort licences and bait, act as guide to the swims …
Summerhayes – Open – 23rd September 2018
With the Ilminster summer league over and the first river match not until 7th Oct, I booked in for the open on Longs. It was looking like being a wet and windy one as I met Jess (Zooner) and Alvin for breakfast at the Toby in Taunton. It was still chucking it down as we pulled into the car park at Summerhayes although …
Dillington Pond – 16th September 2018
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 …
The Archives – Part 11 – Pairs And Shares! (1996)
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 …
Dillington Pond – 9th September 2018
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 …
Summerhayes – 7th September 2018
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 …
Dillington Pond – 2nd September 2018
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 …