Christmas Match, Westerleigh, 11 December (22 pegs)

Apparently the coffin-dodgers had fished a match on both lakes the day before and also on the Thursday and with the water being cold and clear a tough day's fishing was anticipated. And with the new lake having been fishing poorly this year the bottom lake was the place to be and sure enough this was where all of the top five weights came from.
Leading the charge (and entertaining everyone within earshot) was Craig Trigger Edmunds on peg 9 who took full advantage of the fact that his peg was stuffed with feeding fish.  Craig alternated white maggot and soft pellet on the hook and only fed 15 micros and 3 maggots to get them interested at the start.  He landed a carp on his first put in and followed this with a steady run of small roach, carp, f1's and crucians plus a mutant goldfish for a total of 33lbs 7oz which won him £55 in pools plus a free membership and a Mosella Kompact4 rod holdall!
   Just missing out on the rod holdall was match organiser, Steve Burgess on peg 6 who landed five carp and a few silvers for 21lbs 10oz.  Steve fished at 9 metres with maggot and caster hookbaits over micro pellet feed and later with double red maggot over caster four feet off the platform of peg 5.  In an ironic twist to last week's result at Boyd Valley, and much to the amusement of Trigger,  Steve managed to loose seven foul-hookers which cost him the match (and the rod holdall) but he remained chirpy and not bitter in any way, shape or form and was more than happy with a stink bag, keepnet and fifty notes!
    Third on the day went to Rich Britton on peg 8 (you may have noticed a pattern developing here) with 16lbs.  Rich caught 12lbs of that in the first ten minutes with one fish that took his white pinkie hookbait.  He spent the rest of the match catching tiny roach on pinkie and watching Trigger catching quality fish 8 feet away from his float. Rich took home a power net handle and £45 for his efforts.
    Paul Elmes couldn't stop smiling when he drew peg 1 and was witnessed running to his van from the pub carpark to get to his peg. Normally you would expect Paul to be heard across the entire lake, especially with Trigger in "abuse range" but today he was very quiet indeed, no doubt wondering why he hadn't easily won the match from the best peg on the lake.  Despite at one point going off to buy more fags and a length of rope from B&Q (to hang himself), he eventually weighed in 13lbs 12oz for fourth place which earned him a Preston pole support and £40.

Overall Result:
(Results in red are on the top lake)

1. Trigger ........ peg 9 ... 33-7
2. Steve Burgess ... 6 ... 21-10
3. Rich Britton ...... 8 ... 16-0
4. Paul Elmes ....... 1 ... 13-12
5. Kev Jefferies ..... 2 ... 11-3
6. Jamie Brown .... 21 .. 10-7
7. Andy Bush ....... 4 .... 9-3
8. Rich Jones ....... 14 ... 8-3
9. Chris Gay ........ 19 ... 6-15
10. Stuart Riddle ... 26 ... 5-9
11. Alan Healy ....... 31 ... 5-4
12. Dave Tippet ..... 23 ... 3-13
13. Mark Radford ... 24 ... 3-4
14. Stuart Ashton ... 12 ... 3-3
15. Mike Welling ..... 32 ... 2-10
16. Eddie Wynne .... 28 ... 2-0
17. Paul Reed ........ 33 ... 0-13
18. Darren North ... 35 ... 0-5
19. Steve Wynne ... 11 ... 0-1
20. Neil Mercer ...... 15 ... 0-2
21. Derek Lucas ..... 21 ... 0-1
22. Simon Belcham .. 17 .. dnw

Many thanks to all who turned out and made it a thoroughly enjoyable day and to all who have supported the club throughout the year.
Thanks also to Tony Rixon for his help with the tackle prizes which were much appreciated and also to Dean Malin.
Thanks also to Mugger Shanks for doing the pegging and organising the breakfast.
And thanks to Chris Gay (and wife) for organising the food which was excellent and also to Sam and Sonny Burgess for heating it up!
Finally, hope everyone has a great Christmas and see you all in the New Year at the next meeting on Tuesday 3 January (which may possibly be a curry night if anyone's interested)!