With the temperature dropping it was questionable how the pond would fish.  Pegging for the match was much improved this week, with club favourite Craig Logan taking charge.  After the draw there were a lot of questions:

Could Ralph Marshall make the most of Peg 18? (peg 18 is a flyer of a peg and has won our last 4 matches at the venue)

Craig Radford had won the previous two club matches and was desperate to make it a hattrick of wins, but could he handle the pressure?

And could the Golden peg be won for a second week running?

The match got underway with Danny Gaetto getting off to a great start on Peg 11 catching 3 Carp fishing pole and feeding pellets before anyone else had a bite.  Craig Logan was next to catch – fishing on unfancied Peg 26 – again fishing pole and feeding pellets.  However, the pond was fishing hard for most.  In the second hour Danny had a quick go down his margin feeding pellets and corn on the hook and was quickly into a big Carp – this turned out to be the start of many as he caught brilliantly for the next three hours.  Ian Bradley on Peg 23 and Pete Swainston on Peg 24 were having a good battle catching the odd carp.  Ian Moon on Peg 5 was catching occasionally but looked to be losing more than he caught.  If you don’t know Peg 5 it has a margin that cuts back behind you, looks awesome but is snaggy.  It’s like an attractive woman – it draws you in then causes you nothing but pain and you wish you hadn’t bothered… 😉

In the final hour Craig Logan was starting to put a run of fish together instead of winding up Mick Burke, who’s blood pressure was rising with every lost fish 😂.   Danny’s peg was starting to slow down but it didn’t matter as he had done more than enough to win the match.

Answers to the earlier questions:

Craig Radford was packed up as time was called with having only to small carp to his name – pressure or peg….?

Glen Holmes had drawn the golden peg but was up against it being the only person without a spear peg and as it turned out the best bite he got all day was the one from his breakfast.

And Ralph did the impossible and turned out to be the only person never to frame off peg 18 this year – that’s fishing for you…

1st  Danny Gaetto –  135lb

2nd  Craig Logan –  55lb

3rd  Ian Bradley –  41lb

Section 1  Ian Moon – 16lb

Section 2  Pete Swainston  – 29lb

Another good turn out this week with all anglers hopping for a great days fishing.  Due to the popularity of our matches sometimes the pegging can take some working out to give everyone a good chance of catching.  Unfortunately, due to club favourite Craig Logan not fishing this week, it was left up to others to arrange the pegging – much to the disappointment of everyone.  It’s unknown who pegged the match but I’m guessing they own a Labrador and a white stick as they seemed to miss out a number of pegs… This meant pegging was tight in places and left room for the fish to back off.  At least people now had an excuse as to why they didn’t catch 😉.

Craig Radford had the lucky Golden Peg this week, which was bad news to the rest of the competitors as Beechwood is one of Craig’s favourite venues.  We just had to hope he would forget to weigh in again!  The pond fished a lot harder than normal with only three anglers catching well; Jonathan Leivers on Peg 25, Ian Bradley on Peg 13 and Craig Radford on Peg 18.  Jonathan fished maggots at 14m and Ian fished hard pellets at 14m.  Craig got off to a great start, catching well in the first hour then his peg just died and he couldn’t get a bite for the next three hours. However,  in the final hour the fish turned up and he made the most of it to win the match and the Golden Peg – well done Craig!

1st  Craig Radford – 79lb 14oz

2nd  Ian Bradley – 72lb 11oz

3rd  Jonathan Leivers – 71lb 13oz

4th  Mick Burke – 39lb 14oz

Section 1  Ian Moon – 34lb 6oz

Section 2  Rob Agent – 19lb 4oz

Aldercar hasn’t fished very well on our recent visits so we were hoping for better this time as all anglers had plenty of room with a spare peg either side.  Dave Perry had drawn the Golden Peg for a second time in as many weeks.  Club favourite Craig Logan drew Peg 26 and was hoping to make it three wins in a row.  Craig got off to a good start catching Carp on hard pellet tight to the far bank before switching to fishing paste.  However, as the match progressed a couple of lost fish meant his catch rate started to slow.  But as Craig’s peg was slowed down Sue Read on Peg 28 was catching well, fishing hard pellets short and her peg was getting better as the match progressed.  Craig Radford loves this venue and was beside himself with excitement when he draw Peg 8.  Craig fished pellet shallow for most of the match, catching carp and the odd big Ide.  Sue’s son Danny was on Peg 14 – we think – as the pegging was wrong on the bank!  Danny was catching really well down his margin.  As always it came down to the scales to decide the winner and it was Craig Radford who came out on top, with Craig Logan having to settle for second.  Well done Sue for getting one over Danny again 😉.

No photo this week as the winner is ugly…

1st  Craig Radford – 71lb 2oz

2nd  Craig Logan – 63lb 4oz

3rd  Sue Read – 62lb

Section 1  Danny Gaetto – 57lb 9oz

Section 2  Ian Bradley – 45lb 9oz

The match this week was on our own waters, on the popular Roughs pond, which meant for another good turnout.  As always there was some good banter at the draw – some directed at club favourite Craig Logan for drawing a good peg for the second week running – but mainly at Ade Knighton for his amazing tactics on the previous day’s team match, getting his team to fish for Ide when there wasn’t any in the pond!

Shaun Fogg drew the golden peg this week but unfortunately as he was on Peg 7 it looked safe for another week.  Craig Logan was on Peg 13 and his brother Adan Logan was on the next peg 12 – both got off to a great start, matching each other fish for fish but as the match went on the fishing slowed for both,  Tony Males had drawn Peg 1 and was fishing long catching big F1s and Carp until disaster struck when his pole came apart when shipping back and got stuck to the far bank meaning he had to go into the water to get it out.  Unfortunately this killed his peg and he struggled to catch after.  There was talk of getting him disqualified for wading 😂

With an hour to go “The Treble” John Lowe on Peg 14 was starting to catch on paste and looked to be putting a weight of Carp together. It was another close match with most anglers catching good weights. First to weigh in was Tony on Peg 1 and he looked have won the match, putting 29lb on the scales.  The next good net of fish came from Adam Logan weighing 26lb but could his brother beat him….  With a fantastic weight of 31lb Craig not only beat his brother but had enough to win the match for the second week running.

1st  Craig Logan  – 31lb 10oz

2nd  Tony Males – 29lb 10oz

3rd  Adam Logan – 26lb 8oz

4th  John Lowe – 19lb

Section 1 – Ralph Marshall  – 10lb 5oz

section 2 – Ian Bradley – 18lb 1oz