Both Cheslynboy and OBI have done so in the past, picking up better stamp fish on alternative baits.
But to date, my attempts using the punch, chop and caster have proved futile.
With me being a doubt for this one up and till the ‘11th hour’ , those were the only baits I would have in my possession, as I had half of Heinzer’s half pint of caster,
MrV came to my aid with a bag of punch and I’d got some worm sitting in a bag left over from the last disaster……..We were down a couple for this one, Cotti couldn’t walk as a result of that rich living of his
, Bullah probably preferred a bacon sarnie 
, and Sibeck, Big Col and Bezza probably couldn’t stand the thought of a 3rd grueller on the bounce……… 
So 11 showed for this penultimate
match of the series, including a newcomer ‘The Hunter’ 
Pegged along the Kennels section I was left with no 8 after everyone had drawn, first peg past the ‘broken bridge’. The broken bridge
……………. I remember it well, but there’s actually no bridge there these days, just the narrow cutting as evidence of it’s previous existence.Now I was quite happy with 8 - never fished it before, but knew it could throw up a skimmer or two…….would they show today as it was considerably milder but there was what you could call ‘a stern breeze’
4 rigs set up and off we went………….. but things didn’t go according to TK’s best laid plans.
To cut a long story short I never had a sniff on the punch
………….but I heard The Hunter was having a few………..on the punch With only a small 2oz perch to show half way in, I wandered down to check him out………….and snapped a couple of pictures as he was having a bite a chuck on Bills bait.
Dead Peg was also netting a few too
Returning to my peg, my valiant attempts to kick start both existing (the same as The Hunter’s) and alternative lines proved fruitless.
Had a couple of bites on the chop - including a crab,
honest, a crab, not a crayfish, which I was thankful ‘came off’ as I shipped back. Best fish of the day was a 6oz perch which I think must have just been passing through for the day. With odd spots of rain and the weather threatening to ‘dump’ at anytime, with 20 mins to go I decided enough was enough and began to pack up, even ‘tipping back’ so as to possibly dry my net out to save it squelching’ about in my carryall.
I had a wander up to Big Baz who’d been catching regularly from the off ………with 2 mins to go he swung in no 99, followed by no 100 which was followed by the whistle.
Scales set up and off I trotted along with MrV to do the honours and take a couple of snap shots.
Here’s Big Baz getting ready to weigh……………
But he tipped back before I could take a trophy snap
Dead Peg had had a few, but was possibly a bit narked with himself. He’d snatched bits on the joker for 3 hours before deciding to give his punch line a go in the last hour (????) - when he’d snared better stamp skimmers…………but not sufficient to overall Big Baz in pole position.
Next it was new gruellerite, The Hunter, to weigh……………..and he moved into top spot with this catch of skimmers that he’d taken in the first couple of hours before his line ‘faded’
He certainly knows how to strike a pose
Think he's done this sort of thing for the camera before 
Whilst Blues4eva and co still to weigh had had plenty of fish, a lot were micro roach of the 100 plus to the lb stamp - encouraging for the canal if they grow on - and they were not going to trouble The Hunter. Only MrV had added a few better stamp skimmers - again on the white stuff - to get near the rest of the frame.
Anyway here’s the tale of the scales……….
PEG
1 MRV 3.9.15
2 BLUES4EVA 1.6.0
3 KOD 0.15.0
4 HEINZER 0.7.8
5
6 THE HUNTER 6.9.12
7 DEAD PEG 3.11.12
8 TK DNW
9 MANCUB DNW
10 BIG BAZ 3.15.8
11 MARK O 1.12.6
12 TERRY TURNIP DNW
Well it was over to someone else to prove my point today………..shame it wasn’t me
