LINGMERE, 27/12/15 ~ Jigga Bells, Jigga Bells, Jigga all the way for Sumo

Praise the Lord, it must be Christmas! Hands up if you've ever fished at Lingmere when it was flat calm. A rarity indeed, and coupled with the maximum turnout of 21, all on the top lake, it didn't look conducive to a decent day's fishing. As always however, what do we know? Within half an hour I think everyone had put a fish in the net. How often does that happen?
The 'predictive text' facility on my computer has caused a few problems for this report. Whenever I type in 'Su' the machine fills the following in automatically..... "mo was struggling until 11.30, at which time he packed up and did the walk of shame to the Caernarvon, where the barmaid had 2 lagers waiting on the bar".
Well I had to edit it this time!
John Edwards put on an exemplary display of shallow fishing to empty his peg to the tune of 68lb 02oz and earn a runaway victory. No need for a fat lady, it was game over after an hour. I say exemplary, which is not strictly true, but as near as damn it.
Now Sumo shops at Waitrose. He gladly pays £5 for a tin of corn that you can get in Lidl for 35p. He translated that into his fishing this week. While everyone else would use a BB shot for the 'monkey rig', John insists on spending £3 to buy the completely needless 'Jigga float' to do the same job. It was a superb job though, so fair enough.
Trailing in his wake was venue regular Yozzer. Now, predictive text would be useful here. The Gnome fished pellet at 6metres! A 57lb 14oz return was sufficient for the second step on the podium.
Congratulations to Dave Edwards. On his first outing as a fully paid up member, Dave showed everyone what he is capable of. A great display saw him put 52lb 11oz on the scales to make the frame at the first time of asking. Jeez, another Poulton legend to contend with.
The original Vics legend that is also known as Tony Wilson, was on the list of section winners. His 46lb 04oz was enough for a brown envelope.
Lee Pickup put an end to a little quiet spell he'd been going through, his 46lb 01oz also putting him in the money.
Buck Rogers gets his customary mention, and more money, as his 39lb 10oz was good enough for section glory, while Kenny Pickup put venue knowledge to good use with an excellent return of 51lb 10oz.
Finally, the duff section was won by Jamie Pickup. Duff weights compared to the rest of the lake, but a really tight little section, with everyone around the 20lb mark. 21lb 11oz was enough to bring home the bacon for Jambo. Well Done to all the section winners.
A little mention for another new boy. Phil House, sea fishing legend, had his first proper taste of pole fishing today, and marked the occasion with his first ever barbel. I'm sure you'll all help him along in the coming year.
I wish you all a happy and lucky New Year, and I hope you draw the pegs you want. Hope to see you all at the AGM on Tuesday 5th Jan 2016.