Matches 2026

19 September 2026 8th Aggregate - Grove Pond

What happened to Cheriton?

This match was scheduled for Cheriton farm and it was only by chance that Peter Powell phoned the fishery during the week to check on water levels that he was told there was no booking for W&G. It appears that person A thought person B had booked it and, yes, you've guessed it, person B though that person A had done it. Doh! So back to the pond it was.

Fourteen anglers attended and it was a generally low weight event with a total of just 63lb, averaging four and a half pounds each.

It was a very windy day which made pole control difficult and it almost seemed to be a winter style days fishing.

Taking honours on the day was Ian Ottaway, the paste master, taking two carp and a tench from peg 1 for 13lb 3oz. Second was Tony Dixey from the usually reliable peg 16, with a mixed bag for 8lb 10oz and third was Pete Powell, just 3 ounces behind Tony, helped along with two bream, taking 8lb 7oz from peg 2.

There was the odd carp caught but most weights were silvers, at least everyone caught and there were no dry nets, even if Rob Wilkinson managed just 2oz.

It remains tight at the top between Pete Powell and Matt Andrew with Pete ahead by 5 points on 139. Tony Brooker is in third but his 119 points are 15 points off the pace.

Nathan Steele didn't fish this match and after a blistering start in the first few matches has slipped to 5th on the leader board being overtaken by Tony Brooker who now occupies fourth spot.

6 September 2026 7th Aggregate - Grove Pond

Low Water and feeding fish

Yet another heat wave arrived although this one was only "mini" and up to mid twenties with crystal clear blue skies and bright sunshine. Conditions did not appear ideal, especially given the very low water levels, which just goes to show that fishing can throw strange results at us all. The pond fished really well, all anglers caught with an average of over 13lb.

There appeared to be a good distribution of fish although the low peg numbers (1, 2, 3 & 4) produced the lowest four weights.

The winner on the day was match sec Peter Powell who was on peg 19 with 9 carp for an unassailable 31lb 14oz and picking up 22 points for his troubles. Rob Wilkinson was second with a lovely bag of carp from peg 9 for 24lb 3oz. Unfortunately for Rob all his carp were last year's stockies and none of the older, bigger fish came his way.

An 18lb 15oz bag of bream filled third place for Matt Andrew from peg 21. Matt did manage to hook a number of carp but they all found the loving embrace of the lilies before Matt could stop them.

Special mentions should go to Derek Wilby, fourth with a real mixed bag for just over 17lb and to Pascal Hogan who, despite taking a tumble before the match started, managed to hook 10 carp, 5 of which were landed.

After dropping points at Stacey's last time Nathan Steele had another poor match, coming one place off last and picking up 13 points for the second match running, leading him to fall to 4th place on the leader board.

It's nip-and-tuck at the top with Matt Andrew and Peter Powell sharing top spot with 119 points each (if it stays this way at the end then weight is taken into consideration but there's only 3lb between them at the moment).

Rob Wilkinson has had a couple of good matches recently and that has lifted him into third

spot with 108 points

22 August 2026 6th Aggregate - Stacey's Whitehouse

From hero to zero.

This was the first of two "away" matches this year (the next is to the prolific Cheriton Farm on 19 Sept) and ten anglers turned up for this one on an out-and-out big carp venue. Although there are silver fish present it's got to be carp if you want to frame!

With little to show after most of the match gone Rob Wilkinson had a storming last ninety minutes to put an impressive 43lb 12oz on the scales.

Second place was taken by Peter Powell with 36lb 8oz who just sneaked in a couple of pounds ahead of Matt Andrew with 34lb 5oz.

As seems to happen with big-carp dominated venues many anglers caught well towards the end of the match. Jonathan "Robbo" Roberts and Danny Dance both added a few fish late in the day.

Joe Bowman managed to lose a few big fish and a special mention should go to Tony Brooker for his skilful playing and landing a duck!

The hero-to-zero mentioned in the sub-heading refers to Nathan Steele who was storming the leader board but had a lamentable 4lb 2oz from just half a dozen bites and propped up the day's results getting just 13 points, this sees him slip to third place on the leader board. He has been replaced by Matt Andrew who now has 99 points, just 2 points ahead of Peter Powell in second.

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.