Todber Manor – Silvers Open – 29th November 2025
I haven’t been to Todber for a few weeks so booked in for the Saturday open, there were only eight of us but it has been fishing quite hard. The usual lovely breakfast set us up for the day and …
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 …
Summerhayes – Open – 27th August 2018
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 …
Dillington Pond – 26th August 2018
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 …
Summerhayes – Open – 19th August 2018
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 …
The Archives – Part 10 – Anyone Seen My Stan Bennetts? (1995)
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 …