Matches 2026

9 August 2026 5th Aggregate - Grove Pond

A tale of two halves.

Temperatures soared and half the anglers on the lake baked in unremitting sunshine whilst the other half relaxed in the cool of the shading trees. It was also a match of two halves for the eventual winner Nathan Steele, who was nursing a monumental hangover. The first half was purgatory before he was able to relieve his symptoms with an old-fashioned emesis and he eventually managed to weigh in a mixed bag for 17lb 11oz from peg 8.

There was a tie for second place between Matt Andrew (peg 16) and Tony Brooker (peg 7) who both weighed 13lb 10oz. Matt's weight would have been considerably higher had he not lost so many fish, his language growing worse with each loss.

Special mentions for Andy Earl who took 9lb from peg 1 after a very slow start, also for Rob Wilkinson on peg 22 who had "carp-soup" and hit more fish with his method feeder than he actually had bites.

It is very tight at the top of the aggregate after four matches, Nathan Steele remains in pole position with 81 points. Matt Andrew dropped a point on Nathan and is now on 79 points. Third is Peter Powell on 76 points. However, it is early days and all could change.

26 July 2026 4th Aggregate - Grove Pond

Bumper weights.

Despite only ten members turning up for this match the pond produced the best total weight for a number of years. 195lb 6oz went to the scales with an average of 19lb 8oz. Only one angler caught less than 10lb (never mind Phil Mansbridge).

Top honours on the day go to Nathan Steele with a highly commendable 30lb 7oz from peg 10, he was just over one pound ahead of second placed Matt Andrew at the other end of the pond on peg 18 with 29lb 1oz. Matt managed to land "a lump" at the whistle. In third place, despite moaning about his swim (peg 20) was Rob Wilkinson, he managed to lose the big koi, breaking his number 3 section in the process, he also managed to land a big fish that he was still playing at the all-out. His 27lb 7oz would have been boosted enormously had the koi been netted.

After 3 aggregate matches just 3 points cover the top three anglers, Nathan Steele heads the leader board with 59 points, Matt Andrew is second and Peter Powell is third.

28 June 2026 3rd Aggregate - Grove Pond

12 July 2026 Vs The Plough - Grove Pond

Oh! The heat!

Too hot, in fact. With high water temperatures and low dissolved oxygen it was decided to postpone these 2 matches as fish could become unduly stressed in a keepnet for up to 5 hours.

They will be rearranged for later in the year.

14 June 2026 2nd Aggregate - Grove Pond

Battles fought and battles lost.

The weather gods smiled on this match, the wind eased (although not dropped entirely) and the sun shone through hazy cloud. Fourteen anglers turned out and the fish responded. Steve Ferris hauled out a mixed bag of 17lb exactly from peg 16 to take top honours, he was closely followed by Peter Powell with 15lb 10oz for second and Matt Andrew was third with 13lb 10oz (from pegs 20 and 2 respectively).

Most weights consisted of mixed bags, congratulations go to Cruz Powell who, despite being too young to enter the pools) caught his first ever match carp and he weighed in 3lb 7oz. The battles fought and lost crown on the day goes to Joe Bowman who managed to weigh-in 8lb 10oz but lost at least half a dozen carp (the number lost increased with each telling of his tale of woe).

Matt also managed to lose a few carp and the whole pond learnt that the volume and vocabulary of rude words has not diminished in the last few years.

One angler tipped his fish back without weighing. During the aggregate series the club likes all anglers to weigh-in as it can affect the points total of anglers who caught less.

Although it's early days for the aggregate Peter Powell heads the board with 41 points, followed by Steve Ferris on 38 and Nathan Steele on 37.

New matches organised

A single match against The Plough AC has bee organised for Sunday 12 July. This is invitation only teams of 8, normally this is a two-legged affair but this year there is just the one match arranged.

New matches organised

A set of home / away matches for teams of 8 has been organised against Sutton Courtney AC.

The home match will be on Sunday 29 November at Grove pond. The return leg will be on Sunday 21 February 2027 at a venue to be decided. Sutton Courtney AC have assured us that they can find a suitable, fishable river stretch.

17 May 2026 1st Aggregate and Blind pairs - Grove Pond

Two matches for the price of one.

Crikey, with a bargain like this we should be in the supermarket business, get two matches and only buy bait for one. Not that much was needed as the fish didn't really want to play ball.

Fourteen anglers fished and there were four dry nets.

For the 1st aggregate match the winner was Nathan Steele with a mixed silvers bag for 9lb 9oz from peg 20. Nathan made sure that all who would listen knew of his misfortune (and no one could ignore his despair) as he lost a number of carp in the process. Two pegs away in peg 22 was Danny Dance who moaned a few fish onto his hook for second place with 9lb 2oz. You have to feel for Steve Ferris pegged between these two.

In peg 3 was Peter Powell taking third place with 7lb 11oz, Peter lost a match-winning bream in the closing minutes as it jumped across the aerator rope ....twice.... breaking free and completely trashing his rig in the process.

This match doubled as the blind pairs match and the trophy went to Steve Ferris & Danny Dance (so Steve had some reward from having to listen to those each side of him all day). Between them they amassed 37 points.

There was a draw on 31 points from two pairs, Phil Mansbridge & Derek Wilby, and Matt Andrew & Rob Wilkinson. It is usual to separate those on equal points by weight but unusually both pairs took a combined total of 7lb 8oz so honours are awarded equally.

3 May 2026 Committee Cup - Grove Pond

There's method to the madness......or maybe not!

The inaugural match of the year saw 11 invited members descend on the pond. This was also the first use of a later draw and extended setup time (there's now 90 minutes from draw to all-in). This was appreciated by most anglers and did allow a more leisurely setup.

Matt Andrew  drew the flier peg 1 and won the match with a mainly bream haul of 24lb 6oz, his catch included a small carp and a couple of decent roach/bream hybrids.

Second was Steve Ferris in peg 3, his 23lb 1oz total was boosted by a 10lb carp, taken on a size 18 and 0.12 (3lb) hook length, so either very skilful or a jammy so-and-so (your call). Steve was 10lb clear of Tony Brooker in third place with 13lb 14oz from peg 7.

As to the method in the madness, your esteemed correspondent decided to fish the method (and nothing else) through the match, not a single bite was forthcoming! It galls me to say that young Mr Dance was quite correct when he said that the method doesn't work in matches. Lesson learnt - it'll be the pole next time.