Staunton Court, Pole only, 4 April (14 pegs)

It was suggested by Psv's chairman, Mike Wilson, that I book up for breakfast at Watersmeet Hotel, which turned out to be an excellent start to the day with a top notch full English for £5.50 and just 5 minutes away from Staunton Court. I'm sure it will become a regular feature of future Staunton matches.
A month ago at the last match, the carp had been reluctant to feed and quality skimmers had been the target but this time round was a completely different affair (for some) with most of the carp action coming from the bottom end of the lake and, in particlar, the early pegs on the concrete bank.
Drawn on peg 3, new Dad Paul Elmes fished 6mm pellet shallow, varying his depth, at 13m to weigh in an awesome 186-11 to take the top spot just ahead of his travelling companion, in-form Neil Mercer on peg 2 who fished exactly the same method as Paul to weigh in 25 carp for 177-5.
Just around the corner on peg 14 Mark Radford made good use of a decent draw (for once) and fished paste up to the corner reed bed for 3rd place with 116-2 of quality carp.
Last in the frame was old stalwart Bob Warren on peg 11 who caught skimmers and carp on soft pellet at 12m before switching to his inside line to take some decent sized carp on maggot for a total of 53-7.
Bob has forgotten more about fishing than most of us will ever learn!
This match also saw a welcome return for Simon "limpy" Belcham, who after his oscar winning fall at the Westerleigh Christmas match, has had to endure the last four months off work and a lengthy spell in a knee brace. Still in a lot of pain, the 38 year old (he's had a hard life) computer programmer had to fish the match in his new Korum disabled chair but despite this he still managed 8th place and a creditable 34-4.

Overall Result:

1. Paul Elmes ...... peg 3 ..... 186-11
2. Neil Mercer ....... 2 .......... 177-5
3. Mark Radford ... 14 ......... 116-2
4. Bob Warren ....... 11 ......... 53-7
5. Adam Caswell .... 1 .......... 40-11
6. Stuart Riddle ..... 9 .......... 37-5
7. Chris Zak ........... 13 ......... 34-6
8. Simon Belcham .. 4 ......... 34-4
9. Alan Healy* ........ 5 ......... 25-1
10. Mike Smith ........ 10 ........ 19-8
11. Yan (Colin) ......... 6 ......... 10-9
12. Paul Reed ........... 12 ........ 10-4
13. Mike Wilson ....... 8 ......... 9-9
14. Steve Burgess ..... 7 ......... 6-0

* golden peg