CONWY, 26/1/14 ~ Whupass strikes again, this time on Bondi beach

Wow! This week's match was fished in atrocious conditions. The bank at the far end of Conwy was flat calm, while the rest of it was battered with 25mph winds, and gusts twice as strong. Everything had to be nailed down and brollies were a no-no, despite the persistent rain showers. Maggots crawled everywhere, pellets turned to mush, and groundbait quickly turned to slop.
Unlike the majority, Jamie Pickup drew the far end and could have sat in a T shirt and shorts, sipping pina colada, while watching a dotted down float. 
However, he chose to chuck the tip out in the main, and was rewarded with a steady stream of carp. In between, he poled it at 12metres and topped his catch up with some quality roach. The final tally went 45lb 07oz and resulted in an easy victory. Blind squirrel strikes twice.... well done Jambo.
In sharp contrast, at the other end of the lake, John Edwards had waterproofs, hat and scarf on, and sat on the tip, confirming he was alive about every half hour as he reeled in another big F1. They eventually totalled 32lb 14oz to give Sumo an excellent silver medal. A combination of the heavy rain and some 15 year old wet gear left John with soggy balls and squidgy boxers, so the pools money will go on some new Drennan clothing.
The strong winds made it impossible for The Gnome to fish beyond 5 metres, but he struggled on short pole-fished maggot to register 28lb 02oz of roach, and filled the final podium placing.
Dirk Warren kept up his scintillating form, and won a section with 27lb of carp and goldfish, all caught on the tip. Nice one Degs. This was despite using the latest Rive Lazeeboy Recliner, which malfunctioned and led to him falling off the box, onto his landing net handle. It was either the wind or the sherry in his flask to blame, nobody really knows.
Pete Lucas, with 25lb of mainly roach,  and Dennis Jones on the worst peg with regards to the weather, with an honourable 22lb, both booked a place in the next round of the challenge.

LINGMERE, 19/1/14 ~ Real can o' whupass does the trick for Jamie

After months and months of 'whupass' threats, which were all hot air, how ironic that a real can actually produced the goods for Jamie Pickup. Prior to this match, in the Lingmere cafe, Col Cook had arranged a presentation of a genuine can of the stuff to Jamie, and he finally managed a shock win.

Split over the two lakes, the bottom was favourite to produce, and so it proved. On the day the first three sat in a row on the bottom lake, with Jamie coming out on top in a well contested affair.
JBay fished maggot shallow from the off and steadily caught a mix of silvers and F1s to amass 44lb 10oz for a fantastic and long overdue victory.
Also fishing a great match was Dave Lynch, who sprinkled micros and fished a 4mm pellet over, for a similar net which went 41lb 01oz at the scales. Well done Spadger.
Fast becoming a Lingy legend is Dirk Warren, who again featured in the frame. Degs fished caster on the waggler, and netted some decent carp as well as the customary F1s, and weighed 37lb 02oz. Nice one Dirk.
Another noteable weight of 33lb 08oz from the ever reliable Dave Norman brought a section win, while the other section was won by The Monster, Steve Cooke. A pat on the back to them.
The top lake proved to be as stubborn as usual. Yozzer had 29lb 04oz, Tony the Crafty Cockney fished a great match and had 17lb 10oz, and Sumo lost more foul-hookers than he landed, but still managed a level 15lb. The toughest section was won by the consistent Dennis Jones with a meagre 8lb 10oz. A big well done to those fellas. 
A few early qualifiers for the 'challenges', details on the relevant pages. If you didn't manage it there's plenty of time yet.

NEW MAP 901 POLE

Follow the link Hitler wants the new MAP 901. Remind you of anyone??        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAj7Zf2rVXY