CUNNERIES, 22/11/15 ~ Gnome keeps cool as winter arrives

I suppose with all the mild weather of late, it was inevitable that winter would hit us with a bang. Two 'storms' back to back brought gale-force winds before rain, hail and even snow put in an appearance. Temperatures also took a dive, although we didn't quite get an overnight frost.
Just like last week, it looked as though we'd be in for a grueller, and despite it being decidedly cool when the sun went in, it turned out to be quite a pleasant day as long as you had enough coats on. Perhaps, surprisingly, everyone had a few bites too.
Typical winter F1 fishing meant chasing the fish around the peg. Most opted to fish the maggot, to good effect, but The Garden Gnome had other ideas. With the wriggly things still costing more than £1 a pint, he stuck to his twenty pence worth of micros and a few 4mm expanders. It worked a treat, and a fish after 3 minutes set the tone for his match. A total of 52 F1s went 65lb 12oz at the scales and put the Gnome on top of the tree.
Single maggot saw Tony Wilson catching steadily throughout, and at a rate many thought would be fast enough to win the match. Sadly he fell just short, with an estimated 43 F1s weighing in at 58lb 11oz. Another smart performance to supplement other recent efforts, well done Tony.
Third place went to the ever consistent John Rogers. He consistently tells everyone that he hasn't had much! Despite doing enough during the first part of the session to be in contention, the wheel seemed to fall off in the last 90 minutes and also saw Buck drop off the pace. He did, however, do sufficiently well in the early stages to register a fine 35lb 05oz. Nice one John, but you will now be known as 'Buck all' Rogers.
Weights in the low 20lb bracket took all three sections as Gary Brislen, Dave Harrop and wee Dennis Jones all picked up brown envelopes. Andy The Butler and Nick RS Harrop also recorded honourable 20lb scores but will have to be content with 'blog' mentions but no cigars.