BIRKENHEAD TOP PARK, 25/7/10 ~ 'Team Kenny' and a trip down memory lane

Everyone reckoned that the Gnome should win because he's fished it 27 times in the last month, but half the club have been fishing this lake for the last 30 years. Okay, so 'team Kenny', (Pickup n Stuart) haven't been for 15 years but they still used their experience to give us the old one two. For those who'd been before it was a real trip down memory lane, and for those who hadn't it was a pleasant surprise that a park lake should be such a nice environment. The surroundings of the lake haven't changed much, but the water itself has. Its now 4/5 feet deep with comfortable, well spaced pegs, and its been stocked full of fish.
Ken Stuart had a fish pretty much every put in for three hours before a dramatic slowdown dented his catch rate, He caught at three metres on soft 4mm pellet, and put skimmers, crucians, and the odd tench and roach in the net. When weighed, his bag totalled a level 29lb, and gave him a comfortable win. Well Done Ken, paid again to have a good days fishing, can't be bad.
On the other side of the lake, Kenny Pickup was also re-living the good old days, and his 22lb 8oz was made up predominately of skimmers, again caught on soft pellet. A couple of wobbles in the last few weeks, Ken, but you and I know, although your lads are good, you are Daddy Pickup and they shouldn't forget it! 
In third spot, and proving that practice makes perfect, (well nearly) was The Gnome. Despite the local alcoholic advising that he'd caught a bucket full of tench off the peg in the middle of the night, after feeding a whole loaf, and being woken up as we pegged the lake, Yozzer still managed a respectable 22lb 4oz. This was made up of mainly crucians, with a handful of tench, skimmers and roach.
Gary Chambers fished maggot and had 18lb of quality rudd, roach and perch - looks good for the winter - to win a section.
The other section was won by...wait for it....Norman 'no nugget' Smith with 13lb 8oz. He has been learning from Sumo, and declared that he had a 2lb golden tench in his net, but it lost weight in the net and was actually about 12oz. Some pools money and £1 off John, Get in.
It was my wish that we had a match on here, and I hope everyone had a good day out, and was not disappointed. I know the fish are small, but there are plenty of bites for all, and no carp...for a change. OK Lee, you got snapped off three times, could have been big gudgeon or maybe the terrapin has returned.
A big thank you to Mrs Roche for supplying first class bacon butties....and F.O.C. too.

Birkenhead Park Upper lake

Dave has arranged a match at the venue for Sunday 25th July.
 Briefly, the lake has been drained, desilted, and restocked. Average depths are round 4 feet. You will be fishing for tench, mainly around 6 oz, but up to a pound, crucians, roach and skimmers in 4/8oz bracket, and occasional small barbel. There are NO carp (maybe a stray one stocked illegally). 
Best bait will probably be pellet, 4 or 6mm, over micro feed, and possibly maggot. I have also caught on meat, but caster did not catch, and neither did corn. Things may be different for you.
I would envisage a winning weight of 25-30lb (fingers crossed). See you there, and best of luck.

GORSTY HALL, 18/7/10 ~ Sumo finally comes good

Despite a lot of hot air this season, John Edwards has had an up and down year. Three weeks ago he finished third at Whiteacres in a field of 58, weighing in with a brilliant 67lb. ( see my blog on http://www.news-reel.com/_pages/_feedback_blog.asp ) Last week at Yewtree, he did his usual walk of shame, even losing out to Norman in the Golden Nugget. Now, finally, he won his first match of the year at Gorsty. 
John caught some decent sized carp on method feeder cast to the lillies, along with a couple on pole, to secure victory with 30lb 04oz. Cream...top, more like yoghurt, its taken so long. Anyway, well done John.
A very close second, and beating the old man again, was Lee Pickup, who also had a net of carp on the feeder, this time weighing 29lb 08oz. A great performance Lee, unlucky.
Making the frame, and a clean sweep for tip-rods, was Dave Norman with 27lb 04oz. He caught a mixed bag of smallish carp and a few skimmers using pellet feeder and then straight lead. Nice one Dave.
Jamie Pickup made sure Dad finished as family pools fodder by bringing 25lb 12oz to the scales to take the section money. Dave Cargill spent the latter stages of the match bit bashing for small silvers down the edge and it proved decisive. The extra ounces saw him creep into the section money with 20lb 12oz.
A strange match, with the usual moans of crap fishing, but only a couple failed to reach double figures. Sometimes I think we just moan for the sake of it!
Following a brief rally at Yewtree last week, Norman was back to normal this week and enhanced Sumo's winnings by a further nugget...must try harder.
Although I thought about making light of it, Tony Byers had a serious near miss on Sunday. He caught a few fish and nearly got slime on his bib n braces....Sorry! About an hour into the match, everyone heard a large 'thud'. It turned out that a stray golf ball had gone right through Tony's preston box. Inches either way and who knows.........Glad you're ok, Cockney Boy.