This was the last match of the summer league and like all of our matches this year the turn out was great.  Unfortunately, the same can’t be said about the fishing this week!  Young Olly Flindall drew next to Craig Radford this week – Craig’s probably won more matches on this venue than anyone.  Club favourite Craig Logan thought he would make it more interesting by offering Olly £10 if he could beat him…

The Match got underway and like most matches now on Kingfisher, people seem to be fishing for squirrels more than fish with the amount of lines getting caught up in the over hanging trees.  The pond was fishing incredibly hard with only the odd person catching.

Mick Burk had drawn Peg 4 and decided to fish the feeder and it paid off, catching Carp casting tight to the far side.  John Lowe AKA The Treble  drew Peg 10 and wasn’t expecting much from it but by fishing paste to the far bank he was catching slowly and putting a weight together.  Sue Reid on Peg 20 was continuing her good form catching Carp on hard pellet.  With two hours left Dave Meakin on Peg 13 made the decision to try fishing shallow due to the amount of line bites he was getting and it worked as he never stopped catching for the remainder of the match.

Time was called and as the scales went round the pond it was obvious it had been hard going.  Olly and Craig had especially struggled with both anglers only catching one carp each, but unluckily for Olly, Craig’s carp weighed just 4oz more!

1st  Dave Meakin – 58lb, 13oz

2nd  Mick Burke – 45lb 9oz

3rd  John Lowe – 44lb 14oz

4th  Sue Reid – 30lb 12oz

5th  Ian Bradley – 26lb 13oz

Section 1  Graham Gibbson – 13lb 12oz

Section 2  Ian Shaw – 18lb 5oz

Winter if definitely on it’s way with the bad weather and cold nights and the fishing is definitely getting harder. But at least the banter is still going strong…

We mixed the pegging up a bit this week to try and give the pegs in the shallow end more room.  I’m starting to think some anglers think they can see into the future because as soon as the draw is made their match is over, even before it’s begun…  However, this is a strange time of year as the water temperature is dropping the fish are on the move and starting to shoal up.

Ian Shaw had drawn Peg 30 and wasn’t happy, which meant that those around him would need ear defenders to drown the moaning 😉.  But as it turned out Ian was the first to catch.  He had a good first couple of hours and picked up the odd Carp for the remainder of the match.  I’m not sure which is louder: his moaning or the bragging when he is catching…  Dave Perry on Peg 26 had a slow start but finally had some Carp show up in his margin, catching the majority of his fish in the last hour.

Club favourite Craig Logan was on Peg 9 but was having a nightmare day losing 12 Carp due to under water snags – much to the amusement of others.  Keep your eyes out on eBay for some cheap tackle – he’s thinking of taking up golf.

Talking of tackle Mick Burke had treated himself to a new feeder rod and reel, and was enjoying seeing how far he could cast with it.  Shame the pond is only 40m wide – people needed hard hats fishing opposite him…

On Peg 15 was Sue Reid.  Peg 15 has done nothing all year but Sue was still confident of catching and she was right – catching Carp to 10lb fishing on pole at 11m.  Junior member Olly Flindall was on peg 18.  Olly got off to a great start catching well for the first 3hrs, fishing down both margins but the bites slowed as the match progressed.  As always, it was too close to call who would frame.  It turned out Sue had done enough just pipping Olly for first place.  Massive well done to Sue – she has been fishing great of late and well deserved a win.

Condolences to Olly but I’m sure it want be long before he gets that first win under his belt.

1st  Sue Reid – 61lb 14oz

2nd  Olly Flindall – 54lb 5oz

3rd  Dave Perry – 38lb 15oz

Section 1  Craig Logan 24lb 5oz

Section 2  Ian Shaw 31lb 5oz

Fantastic turn out this week considering the weather – all competitors were expecting a hard days fishing.  The match got under way with Tony Males on Peg 17 getting off to a good start, catching small Roach and Skimmers.  He was quickly followed by club favourite Craig Logan on Peg 4.

As the match progressed most people were catching small Silvers except for June Lowe on Peg 19.  June was fishing chopped worm at 6m and catching F1s and Carp.  It is was clear that June was running away with it and a bonus fish was going to be needed to frame.

In the final half hour it was incredibly close.  Tony Males knew he needed a bonus fish to go with his silvers and made the decision to sit it out on chopped worm – it paid off, he caught two Tench.  Ray Agent on Peg 15 also got the all important bonus fish – a bream of 3lb – in the dying minutes.

Massive well done to June on winning the match.  June turns up every week with a smile on her face and always seems happy, regardless of the fishing.  But she’s probably just happy to be away from her husband John Lowe “The Treble”…

1^st  June Lowe – 11lb 7oz

2^nd  Tony Males – 9lb 9oz

3^rd  Ray Agent – 5lb 7oz

4^th  Craig Logan – 5lb 3oz

Section 1  Jim Marcer – 3lb 1oz

Section 2  Danny Gaetto – 2 lb 12oz

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