Boyd Valley, 04 December (9 pegs)

It was a shame that only nine fished this one as it was originally fully booked with a waiting list so it does help a great deal if I get plenty of warning if someone can't make it to give others a chance to fish (it can be difficult to get hold of bait at times on a Saturday night)!
Anyway, fortunately there were no major disasters at the draw although strangely, having decided to leave out peg 5 (too muddy) and peg 11 (restricted by pegs 10 and 12) and to put the other 10 pegs in the bag I managed to find myself drawn on peg 11!  I wasn't too disheartened though as I hadn't brought any rods so had no intention of throwing things in the direction of the island even though the most recent match there had apparently been won with carp caught on the method with 10mm pellet.
At the off it soon became clear that the carp weren't going to respond to depth charges in the shallow water around the island and most turned their attentions to the roach, which were very obliging,in close and in the margins and odd skimmers. The occasional carp did make an appearance to boost the top weights although former male model-turned-ambulance chaser Paul Reed on peg 4 was having problems avoiding them. Despite losing 7 foul hookers he did manage to extract four which, along with some good skimmers and roach, gave him a comfortable win, well ahead of Alan Healy on peg 2 and Darren North on peg 1.
For the record, Paul (pictured below) caught by alternating worm and single or double caster on the hook over chopped worm and caster feed and a bit of micro down his left margin in 10 inches of water towards the reeds.  He found it was easier to wait for a gap to appear between the backs and tails of the feeding fish in his peg to lower his bait into the water!
If you're wondering why I know quite so much information about Paul's impressive win it's because I was fortunate enough to give him a lift home so if you draw next to Paul at the Christmas match make sure you ask him how he caught, in fact, don't bother because he will tell you anyway!

Full Result:

1. Paul Reed ... peg 4 .... 28-10
2. Alan Healy .......... 2 .... 18-10
3. Darren North ...... 1 ..... 18-6
4. Steve Burgess .... 11 ... 17-15
5. Bob Warren ........ 10 ... 16-8
6. Chris Gay ........... 6 ..... 15-8
7. Simon Belcham ... 7 ..... 10-8
8. Derek Lucas ........ 8 ..... 9-15
9. Mike Welling ........ 12 ... 7-0

Please note that eveyone is welcome to come along to the Midland Spinner on Sunday evening for the PSV Christmas festivities