After the wild, but mild conditions of the last few weeks, weather conditions changed dramatically for this grueller as a hard frost and bright conditions were the order of the day, with the cut being like a mill pond.
Thankfully Cockadoodledoo’s chuck wagon was in town and greeted the gruellerites with hotdogs filling everyone’s tums – cheers Cockadoodledoo.
Plus there was the added bonus from our series sponsor of bacon and eggs to the angler weighing in nearest to a ‘mysery’ weight scribbled down in a sealed envelope.
Big Col had pegged out the night before – he’d put a ‘couple of pegs’ in for the walking wounded in the pound by the ‘car park’, with the rest on the boatyard. However to avoid ‘alienating’ Phil B with a ‘Billy no mates’ match, Phil B was allocated peg 3, the first peg supposedly in the boatyard.
The draw got underway and as I looked in the book only pegs 4 and 15 were left
...........didnt fancy a trudge up the cut with Big Cols 25 paced pegs looming so I got Heinzer to dip............ 
And a result!!!! Heinzer pulled out 15 leaving me on 4
but with the scales. 
Arriving ‘near’ to 4 Big Col and Phil B were in ‘discussions’.
Peg 3 wasn’t on the boatyard after all, it was the other side of the bridge 
.........not to worry, we ‘tightened things up’ and ‘shoved’ it in so Phil B wouldn’t be on his Jack Jones 
Now ‘Cotti the shell’ had continued his rich vein of form during the week with stampers on the caster, so today I was determined to catch a first fish this winter on the shell........... 
All set up, Heinzer blew up and punch and caster lines were primed.
And as for that caster I was determined to make work..........zilch also. 
and leave you the reader to work out who had some runny egg down their chin the next morning.......... 
