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)!

Psv Christmas Extravaganza 11 December 2011

 

As you are probably aware, this years hotly anticipated Christmas Match is booked for Sunday 11 December at Westerleigh on both lakes.

The match format will generally be the same as last year with payouts for the top three overall and three section payouts (by default) on each of the lakes.

The winner will also have free membership* for next season *(not transferable).

There won't be a silvers pool unfortunately as I have enough to sort out already!

As before the match will cost £40 in total with £20 up front which covers the generous tackle prizes and £20 on the day to cover peg fees and pools.

By now I should have had all the money in for the tackle prizes however I am still waiting for a few which I need as soon as possible in order to get the prizes organised, so please bring your £20 along to Boyd this Sunday (if you are fishing) or to the meeting on the following Tuesday at the absolute latest thanks!

Likewise, anybody who is booked in but can't make it please let me know as early as possible so that I know exactly how many bait boxes and disgorgers to get!

And it wouldn't be a bad idea for everyone to confirm their place either by text or by using the comments box below (include your name)! as you probably already know that I can be a bit flaky when it comes to writing things down.

If the numbers booked-in remains unchanged the payout will be as follows or thereabouts:

First Overall: £55

Second Overall: £50

Third Overall: £45

Section 1: £40 x 2

Section 2: £30 x 2

Section 3: £20 x 2

The important bit!

In a change to previous years Mugger Shanks has kindly arranged for breakfast for everybody in the New Inn at Westerleigh which will be open from 8 and cost a fiver (I think). Also the draw will be at the pub and unlike our normal Sunday morning free-for-alls which so often in the past have resulted in general chaos,  redraws, and a suicidal match organiser, this will be a far more civilised affair run with military precision as follows:

• Order your breakfast
• Pay your £20
• Draw your peg and record it
• Eat your breakfast
• Fuck off to your peg 

This way, those of you who like to set up ten topkits and do your hair / nails / make-up before the all-in can get there nice and early and have all the time in the world to get themselves sorted! Special thanks to Derek Lucas for that bit of inspiration no doubt born from the frustration of watching me make a hash of things first thing on a Sunday morning as a result of Saturday night fever (alcohol abuse)!
Fishing time will be from 10 till 3, all the pegging will have been done in advance and there will be a set of scales and a board on each lake (maybe even two pens as well). Moaning about the pegging, or anything else for that matter, is strictly forbidden.
Naturally, the festive fun and frolics will follow at the Midland Spinner where we will be having the results, payouts and tackle prizes followed by a generous buffet (thanks to Chris Gay), raffle and maybe one or two alcoholic drinks.
Feel free to bring plenty of money for the raffle as no expense has been spared on prizes (I've had to forego my spray-tans for the last month to pay for it)!

If anyone is interested, last year's winner was Paul Elmes with 18-8 from peg 19 on the old lake followed by Adam Caswell with 17-2 from peg 1 (also on the old lake)
Sections were:
Old lake 1. Ryan Jordan ... peg 2 ... 15-0
Old lake 2. Trigger ......... peg 10 ... 14-10
Old lake 3. Stevie Wynne ... peg 15 ... 13-12
New lake 1. Neil Mercer ... peg 26 ... 15-6
New lake 2. Simon Belcham ... peg 33 ... 13-13
New lake 3. Eddie Wynne ... peg 21 ... 13-6
The lakes had been frozen for a fortnight previously hence the low weights!


The previous year Neil Mercer won with 43-5 from peg 2,  2nd was venue expert Darren North with 38-3 from peg 15  and 3rd was Ryan Jordan with 31-0 from peg 1
Sections were:
1. Tony Rixon (who)? ... peg 23 ... 17-0
2. Mark Radford ....... peg 31 ... 16-12
1. Paul Elmes ....... peg 9 ..... 15-6
2. Bob Warren ...... peg 5 ..... 13-12


In our most recent matches Alan Healy won by a whisker on the old lake (9 October) with 64-6 from peg 1  followed by Mike Wilson on peg 17 with 33-4.
And on the new lake (30 October) Paul Elmes won with 15-11 from peg 22  followed by Alan Healy with 13-6 from peg 25