25th August - Hampton Springs

Fourteen turned out to Hampton and with the whole of Long Island to chose from the pegging was always going to be good. After a slight mix up at the draw Rick ended up with the most noted peg on the place, peg49 and proceeded to have a 'cock up' day start to finish......after launching his method into the trees first cast, he also managed to break two pole rollers and his feeder rod before weighing in second in section 40lb from that flyer!!!!

Ian Simpson drew peg10 and started long on pellet at 17.5m taking a five early carp tight over before the skimmers moved in and the wind picked up making presentation difficult. A switch to 13m pellet shallow produced five more carp. The final two hours were spent kerb crawling in both margins and five munters were propositoned by worm over maggot one side and corn the other that must have been over 40lb towards a total weight of 78.5lb.

Billy Gore took default second from Barry Davies (guest). Billy I believe caught on method to the island and down the margins late but was out of site but not out of earshot as he and Dougie, next peg traded insults for 5 hours. Kenny Stuart tempted a mixed bag on pellet from Peg 40 including carp, tench, crucians and skimmers for 51.4lb and default third.

Barry Davies who was guesting, again managed a big weight (same as Weston) and fished shallow with pellet for mainly small carp before adding a few better samples,late on from the margins for an impressive 76.8lb. Steve Gilmore drew peg 13 and avoided the sunken island concentrating instead on the pipe and margins and amassed a carp and crucian bag weighing 22.3lb for his section.

Result
1st - Ian Smpson - 78.5lb
Sec B - Barry Davies - 76.8lb (Guest so section pool only)
2nd - Billy Gore - 70.2lb
3rd - Kenny Stuart - 51.4lb
Sec A - Steve Gilmore - 22.3lb

11th Aug - Weston Pools - Canal

Well back on the Canal at Weston and with 19 attendees pegging was going to be up for debate again. With very low oxygen levels in the previous two days the levels had been increased and aerators had to be left on so it made for some splashing around at the start and the fishing was certainly slower for those not on caster or worm which beat the meat and pellet brigade hands down.

Jason Jones drew peg 20 and started shallow with caster but struggled for fish until he went to the bottom and then had a steady stream of barbel for 5 hours weighing 65.9lb for a comfortable victory. Ian Lloyd (peg 7) also fished caster and worm at 3-5m and eventually the barbel turned up and Ian was bagging for a few hours, noticably he never caught on pellet of meat in the margins as the carp were difficult to tempt.

Dave Grimes (peg 13) had to wade to his peg but it proved worthwhile with 49.5lb coming to his 5m approach. Dave Gentile took the section place with 48.2lb (which he said was 30lb!!) of barbel from peg 37.
Special mention to guest Barry Davies who can't go in the pools but took his section with 59.8lb from peg 26 all taken from the margins.

Results

1st - Jason Jones - 65.9lb (Peg 20)
2nd - Ian Lloyd - 56.5lb (Peg 7)
3rd - Dave Grimes - 49.5lb (Peg 13)
Sec A - Barry Davies (guest) - 59.8lb (Peg 26)
Sec B - Dave Gentile - 48.2lb (Peg 37)

27th July - Lloyds Meadow - Badger

After poor recent fishing and falling turnouts Rick cancelled Brookside and booked us onto Lloyds Meadow on Badger and the turnout jumped back to sixteen and the good news is the fishing improved as well.

Steve Brew ran out the winner, bucking the long pole trend and catching on the method to the far bank with 62.3lb. Ian Simpson was only a fish or two behind having caught long to the far bank on pellet and then had a run of better 4-8lb fish in the last hour from the margin made for a close finish but Steve had done enough. Billy Gore continued his awesome form with third and 45.5lb.

Result

1st - Steve Brew - 62.3lb
2nd - Ian Simpson - 57.7lb
3rd - Billy Gore - 45.5lb
Sec A - Trevor Allpress - 35.4lb
Sec B - Jeff Grantham - 44.1lb

14th July - Partridge - Spey

Not such to say here only five turned out plus a guest, but that man Billy Gore walked it again with a happy van with Dougie Walsh second.

Result

1st - Billy Gore - 49.1lb
2nd - Dougie Walsh - 40.6lb
3rd - Rick Keeley - 31.0lb