BIRKENHEAD TOP PARK, 24/7/11 ~ We woz 'Robb'ed

A case of deja vu at the 'toppy'. As with our last match on there, the pools money was plundered by a guest. Cries of "we woz robbed" could be heard at the payout as visitor Paul Robb, a superstar on the local match scene, had fished a blinder to weigh 28lb 06oz of tench, crucians and skimmers, and claim the victory. Paul fished 16metres on pellet over micros and caught steadily all day. He's sportingly agreed to come to the next match so we can win the money back, so well done Paul.
The Master Catcher that is Kenny Stuart drew the worst peg on the lake (according to him), so amazing that he should return a similar catch to the winner, this time fishing 4mm pellet to the island, which was all of 5metres away. Ken weighed a level 25lb to take the runner-up berth. Nice one Ken.
Jamie 'pole swapper' Pickup fished his new Airity at 13metres and used groundbait with chopped worm n caster. Having filled his swim in with 10 balls at the start, it was 2 hours later that he started to catch. A skimmer dominated net went 24lb on the scales, and Jamie slid into bronze medal position. Good effort from JBay.
Gary Chambers wasn't pullin up trees for the first couple of hours but a change to maggot, fished shallow, found some quality rudd, which were the bulk of his 21lb 04oz and a well-earned section win.
Another case of  'If only...'
Yozzer fished his top 3 with 6mm pellet for a mixed bag and a total of 20lb 06oz, which secured the other section.
Another lottery peg nailbiter as Ken Pickup had guessed 30lb. Oooo  so close, and to heap further misery on poor Kenny, he was booted out of the K O by Sumo. Well done John, a glimmer of hope for you.
Generally a decent match although a few pegs did fish poorly. It certainly makes a change from chasing carp.

HAMPTON SPRINGS, WILLOW, 17/7/11 ~ King Henry beheads the Gnome

17 members gathered in the car park on a wet and miserable morning. General opinion was that Jamie and Yozzer should be there abouts at the end as they had been fishing Hampton regularly for a while now.
The early part of the match saw most struggling to hit the many bites provided by miniscule skimmers and cruies, not to mention micro mirrors. Slowly but surely the better fish put in an appearance, and a few anglers started to put a weight together.
Phil Henry only joined the club a month ago but already he's showing his talent. Following a win at Yewtree last time, he again came out on top with a carp and chub based net, caught on 16metre pole to the island, and weighed 52lb 15oz. Could soon be calling him Phil 'mynets' Henry, well done.
The Gnome demonstrated that practice makes perfect... ok nearly, as he came a close second with a level 52lb. In contrast to Phil, he caught on a top 2 kit, bringing crucians, tench, skimmers and carp to the net using pellet and corn.
Agonisingly close in third was Neil 'the niblet' Paterson, who didn't quite use enough corn as he registered 51lb 14oz of margin carp. Big fella done good, but he was surrounded.. Quote..." by a load of fat useless c%*^s".
Lee was the top Pickup this week, and won a section with another excellent carp catch which went 48lb 05oz. Nice one Lee, you should travel alone all the time instead of gettin duff info off your travelling companions.
The other section winner was the quiet man, Arthur Roche, who weighed in with 33lb 07oz of meat loving carp from down the edge. Well done Arth, when is the football starting?
Spare a thought for Steve Coleman, who drew the lottery peg and guessed 51lb......really a case of close but no cigar!
All in all another good eggy match with everyone catching a few, maybe we're not all muppets after all.
NOTE: Baden next week (24/7/11) has been cancelled and the venue is now Birkenhead Top Park at 8am.

MEMBERS NOTICE

Following discussion at the recent meeting, members should be aware that TWO keepnets are now to be used at all matches.

WESTON POOLS CANAL, 5/6/11 ~ If Carlsberg did fishing matches......

As the advert goes, if Carlsberg did fishing matches then they would turn out like this, which may be classed as probably the best match Eggy will ever have. Everyone had a bite a chuck from start to finish, everybody weighed in thinking they had done well, and the lowest weight was 39lb 08oz!!!
Mixed bags were the order of the day, with F1s, carp, tench, barbel, chub, crucians, roach n ide being caught from anywhere you chose to put a bait. Anyone catch a skimmer? It seemed almost incidental that we should have a winner, such was the quality of the sport.
Dave Cargill was the top man with 63lb, caught on maggot fished close in on both sides of his peg. well done Dave, but leave the girly bait at home will you, it's Feckin June  not December.
John Heald showed that his golden angling career is by no means over, as he brought 62lb 08oz of meat caught fish to the scales. Such is his confidence these days he only put one net in, but it was a wonderful day hearing all those OO OOs. Thought he'd lost his voice it's such a long time since we heard them. Good show Healdy.
Having weighed in early, I mean second on the list, as oppose to going home early, Sumo Edwards must have thought he had the match well and truly won. His nets went 62lb, having caught on a top two right next to his landing stage, touching the end of his keepnet, with worm and caster. The choice of bait wasn't a stroke of masterly planning, it's what he had left from a crap day on Saturday's fisho at Partridge. Respect when it's due though, you did well John, and we're lucky to have such talent in our club ranks. Or maybe that should read we're talented to have such luck in the club, as Sumo had a bash at the lottery peg again, but alas, his 55lb guess wasn't close enough.
Sections went to Gary Chambers with 54lb 12oz, and the Gnome with 52lb 08oz. Those weights would win nearly every Eggy match for the rest of the year, so good fishing lads.
In fact, everyone fished a good match, and will look forward to another visit.

LOWER RIDGE, SAUGHALL, 8/5/11 ~ Staff Bull shows his pedigree....and so does Lower Ridge

Those of you familiar with the angling forums will know that Jamie Pickup goes by the pseudonym of Staff Bull. In recent weeks there has certainly been some banter between him and John Edwards on 'Total Fishing', so it was rather fitting that these two should have a head to head at Saughall.
Jamie came out a clear winner with a tremendous mixed bag of ide, skimmers, F1s, tench, carp and an eel.. YUK!....which had the scales bouncing for the best part of 10 minutes, but they finally settled at 53lb. To coin a phrase..."awesome" Jamie.
Sumo also returned to normal service and caught steadily from start to finish on a variety of methods, weighing another excellent bag containing 42lb. Welcome back John, you done good. Back to normal was Sumo's description, although to the rest of the membership, John nursing his keepnet and waiting for the scales to arrive was a somewhat surreal experience.
Ken Stuart put up his usual consistent performance on the ridge and caught ide and carp on 8mm pellet to record 36lb and a well earned third place.
Neil Paterson had his smiley face on today as he netted quality skimmers and ide, and a 'bonus' eel on chopped worm and managed a section win. Just like a day on the Trent n Misery, well done canal man.
With the help of a near double figure carp, which pushed his weight up to 33lb 08oz, Gary Chambers was the other section winner. Gary seemed to do things the wrong way round. He fished paste for carp and caught ide and silvers, then fished maggot for silvers and caught carp, how bizaare. Nice one Gary, they all count.
After some terrible winter sessions, I was beginning to doubt whether this fishery was any good, but the warmer weather has improved things immensely, and as with our match last summer, 11 members had over 20lb. That's quality fishing.

NOTE : Dave has booked Moreton Brickies for next Sunday 15th. Draw will be at 7am

BADEN HALL, Mallard, 17/4/11 ~ Gary is hot at Baden

Weather-wise we should probably have all our matches at Baden Hall. Similar to our last visit on Donut, this was fished in bright warm sunshine without a breath of wind. Conditions which obviously affected the fishing.
They didn't slow Gary Brislin down too much as the venue regular put his knowledge to good use and piled 59lb 08oz of carp into the weigh sling. Using sloppy paste at long range, Gary put carp in his net on a regular basis throughout the match for a fine victory.
Making sure it was a competitive affair, was Dave Cargill, who maintained his brilliant current form with a net of maggot-caught carp weighing 56lb 04oz. Cargy surprised everyone by calling all-in 3 minutes early, and before we got organised, word spread that he'd already had two carp, weilding his trusty waggler rod like the sword of Zorro. Keep it up Dave, you're fishing well.
In third place, well off the pace, despite 3 hours of coaching from Sumo, was Yozzer, who finally succumbed to the long pole, and fished at 15metres for a handful of carp on meat, and managed 34lb 12oz. Wow that was a bag of laughs....not.
Arthur Roche, in tandem with Percy*, picked up a section win, his 3 carp and bits went 15lb 03oz, while canal legend Pato won the other section with 20lb 06oz. Mind you, he only had 11metres to the island.
Different name on the lottery peg this week, and Paul Cargill had hard luck with his guess of 57lb....ooooooo no cigar.
*Percy?   percy verence, never gives up. 

GORSTY HALL, 10/4/11 ~ Dave waggles another win

T-shirt n shorts for this match at Gorsty, what a pleasant change from the last few months. The fishing was good, too. It was a case of pick a style that suits you and start catching. A vast array of tactics on display including method, cage feeder and straight lead, waggler and pellet wag, feeder floats (??? wtf ???)and even the good old pole all saw action.
Dave Cargill chose to fish the waggler again and put on another fine display to clinch victory with 48lb 05oz. Well done Dave.
Following some 'watch and learn' midweek sessions, Jamie Pickup put his new skills to good use on the gap in the lilies, and, using the method and the pellet waggler, put 38lb 08oz on the scales for a well deserved second place.
Another to have learned from experience was Pete Lucas. After his aris was well and truly kicked at the Viaduct fishomania qualifier the day before, The Method Maestro lived up to his name with a great third place in the prestigeous Eggy club match, weighing 34lb 09oz. So pleased for you Pete, nice one.
As predictable as ever was Yozzer with his top three! With only a few poles on display, The Gnome scratched and winkled small skimmers, crucians, and pastie carp to the tune of 32lb 10oz and a section win.
Back on the rod, another fisho fiend, Gary Brislin, used corn with a method feeder and managed 29lb 04oz to take the other section.
With successes aplenty at Gorsty in recent outings, Sumo became complacent and turned up with a feeder float. Alas it's back to the drawing board as all he managed was a few sniggers from those pegged around him. Think it through John.