Stoneyard, Litton, 08 November (9 pegs)

This week's match was a bit of an unknown quantity as nobody actually knew anything about the venue or even where exactly in the wilds of Mendip bandit country it actually was!
Our collective pool of dodgy information suggested that the lake(s) were somewhere between Chewton Mendip and East Harptree and unfindable unless you knew where they were, contained only carp and crayfish, was 5' deep and was accessed via a heart-attack inducing hill and with an overnight frost forecast, was going to be rock-hard fishing!
In reality, it was reasonably easy to find, approximately 2 to 3 feet deep, nobody caught any crayfish and the fishing was good (if you had lilys in front of you) and the muddy, deeply rutted hill back to the car park was an experience to be treasured.
Chris Gay found himself in the most lily-pad (and carp) infested peg on the lake, peg 2 (a noted flyer) and caught from start to finish rotating between 16m to the island margins and various points around the edge of the lilys fishing with corn over caster / micro feed for an impressive weight of 84lbs 8oz which included a 15lb ghostie and a grass carp of nearish double-figures (pictured below).

Second in the running was Mark Radford on peg 6 which was on the opposite side of the same bed of lilys.  Mark (pictured below with his catchj) fished 16m to the edge of the lilys alternating corn and triple white maggot on the hook for a total of 52-1 

 

Third place went the way of Adam Caswell in peg 3 who also fished to the edge of the lily pads at 8m with soft pellet over pellet feed for 43lbs exactly.

This week's "Expensive Day" award belongs to matchwinner Chris Gay, who is fast becoming a regular for this award.  This time round Chris managed to snap a number 4 while playing an "absolutely monstrous" fish leaving 2½ sections of pole and it's attached zoo creature circling around his peg for several hours like a scene from Jaws.  Strangely though, when he eventually managed to rescue the broken sections and land the fish it must have gone on a crash diet as it turned into a fish of around five pounds!
And the "Hero to Zero" award goes to .... (been looking forward to this bit) .....
Alan Healy who spent the best part of his match moaning about anything and everything and showing a very bitter and twisted side of a person that doesn't like being battered from both (all) sides like the proverbial chip-shop sausage.

Overall Result:

1. Chris Gay (peg 2) .....  84-8
2. Mark Radford (6) ....... 59-1
3. Adam Caswell (3) ...... 43-0
4. Steve Burgess (4) ...... 38-15
5. Alan Healy (5) ........... 34-7
6. Ryan Radford (1) ....... 26-10 
7. Derek Lucas* (9) ....... 18-4
8.  Lionel Legge / Matt Taynton .... early baths

*golden peg