WESTON POOLS,CANAL, 27/5/12 ~ Win for Yozz.......by a whisker

The heatwave continued for the latest visit to Weston, and the fishing was red hot, too. 14 members all weighed more than 25lb, on a variety of methods and with a real mix of species.
Taking the weather into account, the Gnome went for maggot, fished shallow, to target everything that swims, particularly the visible shoals of ide. The ide fed for an hour before getting bullied out by an assortment of chub, carp, tench and even barbel. The result was so close that one of those set of whiskers gave Yozz a narrow victory. He weighed 55lb 14oz.
Just behind, with another excellent net, going 55lb 04oz, was John Edwards. For such a big weight, ( the fish, not the angler!)  Sumo used an amazingly small amount of bait. 3 tosspots full of micros, a handful of expanders for the hook, and half a scoop of maggot was all that was needed to put the usual species mix into the bag. In fact, trashed rigs and lost hook-lengths probably cost John more than his bait bill. Only down side for Sumo (apart from being ounced) was that Jamie wasn't there, otherwise it was probably one back for John in the Sumo sovereign challenge.
An even smaller gap back to third, as Lee Pickup gave another fine display of meat fishing the margins. He managed to extract 54lb 12oz of better fish from the boards next door, and, but for some costly losses, would possibly have won the match. Unlucky Lee, but a great effort nonetheless.
With 3 golden pegs (each worth £50) on the go, and under the new format, the closest challenger, with a level 47lb, was Steve Coleman. He caught a good species mix on a variety of baits, and got paid the section prize instead. Seems scant consolation, but as Steve remarked, with a great day's fishing like that you wouldn't care if you came last.
After some coaching from his grandad (aahhhh!), Paul Cargill also demonstrated that you dont need a bucketful of bait. Half a loaf was enough, as Paul fished bread six inches deep and caught mainly quality carp to record his best match weight of 42lb 02oz, and take the other section money. A big 'well done' to Paul.