GORSTY HALL 18/4/10 ~ Ben Pickup Memorial ~ Ken proves too strong for the T bag

The inaugural running of this match proved to be a lovely celebration in memory of young Ben. This day out was as pleasant as it gets, with warm sunshine, a gentle breeze, a few bites for everyone, and the usual banter in abundance.
No little hiccup seemingly went unnoticed. Chopper lost his one and only plummet, and then fished the whole match at the wrong depth (that's his excuse for DNW anyway). Yozzer lost his hat in the water, to cries of  "no floating hats allowed" and "bit early to throw in the towel". It must have disturbed the fish too, as he also DNW.
Norman lost his pound (as usual), and Steve C lost a crucian trying to swing it to hand..... OK who hasn't ? The biggest shock however, was that Arthur Roche lost the lottery (for all concerned members, we will be having a whip round at the next meeting).
Enough of the frivolity, there was also a serious match going on, which was won by the Master Catcher, Ken Stuart, who had a typical Gorsty net of cruies, skimmers and pasties, to weigh in 34lb 10oz. Ken caught mostly at 13metres on 6 ml pellet.
Having caught a whole lot of nothing in the first couple of hours fishing paste, John Edwards transformed his seemingly empty peg when he played his trump card, the now legendary pineapple T bags. He caught carp steadily until the end of the match and agonisingly (for him anyway) finished with 34lb.
Dave Cargill sneaked onto the podium after a couple of section wins, having caught some quality carp to record 22lb 8oz. Following a comment of "so this is where the big carp are", Dave responded by saying that all the BIG carp were swimming round the lake with his hooklengths attached, he was only weighing the small ones!
Gary Chambers 'scratched around' on a variety of baits to catch 21lb, which included a couple of quality bream, and won a section, while Jamie Pickup also coined again with an assortment of skimmers, cruies and small carp on pellet, which weighed 19lb 10oz.
P.S. A note for Pegleg, if you want rid of your Satnav, I know a bloke with a Sensas pole who might just do you a swap.

Winner Ken Stuart receives the trophy from proud grandad, and Club Chairman, Kenny Pickup

We're in the money!!!

From left to right, Ken Stuart, Dave Cargill, Gary Chambers, John Edwards and Jamie Pickup

HOLMSTON HALL 11/4/10 ~ Welsh Wizard makes the competition disappear

This match was something of a novelty for all those members who have endured the long cold winter. It was fished without coats n hats, in glorious spring sunshine and very little breeze.
However, some things were more familiar, including the first two in the queue for the brown envelopes.
Gary Chambers was our winner, with 23lb 12oz of mainly F1s, caught on paste. Gary has settled into the club nicely, and has a bag full of moans to match the rest of us. He wasn't sure if he'd done enough to win, as his fish were 'only small', and while others struggled for a bite, Gary was bemoaning the fact that he was missing loads of bites! A fine performance though, well done.
Bridesmaid again was Kenny Pickup with another F1 based catch weighing 17lb, to add to his midweek success. With Ken showing such good form this term, there have been calls for a 'dope' test...think we already know the answer to that one.
Right behind was 'my lad' Jamie Pickup, who amazingly, was using the same set of tackle as last week! He secured mainly F1s, with a bonus 2lb bream, and registered 16lb 12oz.
Both section winners enhanced their payout. Arthur Roche demonstrated that it's better to be lucky than good. His skill brought him 16lb, and his luck added £72 to the section money, as he won the lottery....again. Bravo, everyone is delighted for you Art.
Sumo Edwards won the other section with 14lb, and added the now customary nugget to his back pocket. As predicted, now the warmer weather is here we may see a different John...............big and sweaty, not just big!