MARTIN HALL, 31st August 2014 ~ Silver-bashing gnome triumphs again

Sadly our first visit to Martin Hall will probably be our last. On a lovely sunny day, the fish shut up shop, and although there were some cracking carp both caught and lost, the level of sport was not up to scratch.
The match still created loads of pre-match banter, with Dirk Wriggler bearing the brunt of it. The pressure was well and truly cranked up as Dirk was looking for a section win at worst in order to progress through the challenge. Sumo Edwards was in a similar predicament, but he was largely overlooked despite drawing another end peg flier.
By the end of a gruelling contest, Dirk had shrugged off the pressure, and the section opposition, to go into the next round. His 17lb total was sufficient to ensure his progress by a narrow margin.
Meanwhile, John Edwards was losing both fish and rigs at an alarming rate. He was also ruining Cargy's chances of upsetting the Wriggler by skylining the peg on his frequent visits to the far bank to retrieve snagged rigs. Despite all this, Sumo returned a decent 28lb, good enough for third place on the day. It wasn't enough to win his section though! Bye Bye John.
The venue was a typical snake lake, and most attacked it with a typical approach. Straight over to the far bank looking for carp. With the carp obviously not playing ball, most still chose to stubbornly sat it out. The Garden Gnome, however, adopted his usual tactics and went for everything that swims at short range. Nearly 20lb of assorted skimmers were supplemented by 4 carp and gave Yozzer victory with 38lb.
Despite cracking jokes all day, Gary Brislen still found time to nab 9 or 10 good carp and managed an excellent runners-up slot with a weight of 36lb. Well done to Gary.
Even after drawing in the worst section, The Jolly Green Giant indeed proved to be Jolly for a change as he won that section with a meagre return of 12lb 09oz. Smiles all round then and congrats to Neil Paterson M.B.C (member of B'head Centre), Properous Champion ,etc.
Other honourable weights for Cookie monster with 25lb 15oz, pipping Jambo, who had 25lb 14oz.
N.B. An addition to the match diary. Sunday 28th Sept, there is now a match on Lower Ridge, Saughall. It's on the new lake, not our regular one.