Boyd Valley, 08 January 2012 (12 pegs)

For the first match of the new year it was a return to Boyd Valley and after a week of gale force winds and rain it was a welcome relief to be greeted with mild temperatures, sunshine and a light breeze.  It was hoped that as a result of this  the lakes' larger inhabitants would be spurred into feeding, or at least the skimmers would show as they had been noticeable by their absence in the previous two matches (perhaps something to do with the cormorants that have been paying regular visits)
Unfortunately though, as before, the skimmers turned out to be few and far between and the carp rarer still which meant it was roach all the way for most with the few carp that were caught (three of them) deciding the framing weights.


For the second time running peg 4 produced the goods with a (marginally) tidier-looking Simon Belcham being the fortunate soul to draw it.
The bearded wonder fished at 3m with single maggot on the hook for a total of 13lbs 6oz of roach boosted by a decent skimmer and the biggest carp of the day.

Mark Radford, having managed a reserve place at the last minute, took second spot from peg 9 with 12lbs 11oz.  Fortunately for him 5lbs of that came "Alan Healy style" in the last five minutes of the match when, after moaning that the roach were too cold for five hours, he decided to chuck the lead across to the gap between the islands (where the carp were swirling and boshing about) and snare one at the death which comfortably knocked match secretary, Steve Burgess on peg 10 back into third place. (no bitterness there whatsoever)!
Steve spent half the match in a comfortable second spot courtesy of a 4lb carp and four skimmers caught on white maggot over micro at 13m which accompanied the obligatory roach caught on caster at 4m for a well-earned total of 11lbs 5oz.

Rich Britton, having yet again pulled out the golden peg, completed the frame with an all roach weight of 8lbs 8oz from peg 11 caught on single maggot at 3m.

*pictures courtesy of Roy Garland @ BEP

Overall Result:

1. Simon Belcham .... peg 4 .... 13-6    special hat for the cameras
2. Mark Radford ....... 9 ........ 12-11   braved the cold
3. Steve Burgess ..... 10 ....... 11-5   providing the takeaways
4. Rich Britton* ....... 11 ........ 8-8   f**ked up a flier
5. Bob Warren ......... 8 ......... 8-0   as above
6. Kev Jefferies ........ 2 ......... 7-1   beat Chris Gay
7. Chris Gay ............ 5 ......... 5-9   beaten by Kev
8. Derek Lucas ........ 12 ....... 5-8   not last
9. Keith Ray ............ 1 ......... 5-7   playing Grandad
10. Darren North ....... 6 ......... 5-4   what happened there???
11. Steve Wynne ....... 7 ......... 4-8   back to usual form
12. Paul Reed ............ 3 ......... 3-2   see above

*golden peg again

Footnote:

If you've ever wondered what a guinea pig would look like on a lead .....