BIRKENHEAD TOP PARK, 22/8/10 ~ Who invited them???

With a host of different venues fishing hard of late, the 'toppy' followed suit and only fished half as good as last time. An assortment of faces had appeared during the preceding week, having a little practice, and they had found the lake in stubborn mood. All the main weights were down 50%. 
With half a dozen guests booked on, it was a competitive affair, with all the money winners thinking they hadn't done too well.
Our winner was a venue regular in the shape of John Robbo, who made no mistake from peg 24 (successful last time), with a mix of skimmers, crucians ,and the odd tench which fell to 6mm expanders. Robbo weighed in with 14lb 04oz. Congrats to John.
Second spot went to our very own Gary Chambers, who managed to winkle out 10lb of skimmers on pellet, which was a good effort on the day. Might spend his winnings on a new tosspot instead of borrowing mine.
The bronze medal went to another guest in the shape of Dave 'spadger' Lynch. Dave said he was struggling until he added secret squirrel to his pellets, and the transformation enabled him to bring 9lb 06oz of mainly skimmers to the scales. Well in Spadge.
The section prizes were amazing..... John Heald and Gary Brislin shared one section with 6lb 08oz apiece, while Neil 'green giant' Paterson and The Gnome split the other section with.....6lb 08oz. Unbelievable, I think we need new scales. It did, however, mean that the money was well spread.
As predicted by Sumo, Norman took yet another nugget to narrow the gap, but credit where it's due, John stayed on his peg until the end, unlike some!!!
No names mentioned regarding the walk of shame, I've been there myself :-)

LOWER RIDGE, SAUGHALL 15/8/10 ~ Fisho Star nets a Hat-trick

For someone with the talent to reach a Fishomania Final (albeit 1999), Gary Brislin has kept a remarkably low profile in Eggy matches. Over the past month or so he's found a rich vein of form, and completed a hat-trick of wins when he brought 32lb 08oz to the scales. He used his sloppy paste again and caught a succession of small carp and F1s. If you win next week you are getting a letter from the committee. Top fishin Gary, but you have been warned!
The penny has finally dropped for our runner-up. Jamie Pickup has been adamant that doubled-up 6 elastic would handle anything. Well not today, if only Jamie had landed everything he hooked... but then if me auntie had balls she'd be me uncle. Jay actually managed to put 31lb 06oz into his keepnet, including a munter of 10lb 06oz. Smashin, super, luvly.
Following a dismal start looking for carp, Gary Chambers abandoned the idea after a couple of hours and started fishing shallow with maggot. He caught quality silvers for the rest of the match to secure third place with a cracking net weighing 28lb 08oz. Personally I don't think maggots should be allowed between May and November.
Lee Pickup was next to his Bruvver Jay, and fished the method feeder for the most part. It brought him a satisfying 20lb 12oz, and a section win. Oops, whose the daddy?
Yozzer Hughes had a level 24lb of small carp and F1 hybrids to collect the other section. He was, however, punished for running a squirrel over on the way to the match. Having hung onto a rather large and angry carp for over thirty minutes, his elastic snapped and away went the carp, the laccy, and his favourite rig! Remember, God is watching you.
Another hat-trick man was Norman, as he clawed his way back into the Golden Nugget with a third victory from the last 4. Think it's game on, what about you, Sumo?

VENUE ADDITION AND CHANGE

An additional match has been arranged for Sunday 15th August, at Lower Ridge Farm, Saughall....draw 8.30
The match on Sunday 22nd August has been re-arranged for Birkenhead Top Park....draw 9am

BADEN HALL, DONUT 8/8/10 ~ Gary likes donuts too, just like Pato

Considering all the rain we've had in the last three weeks, the big mystery on Sunday was where's the water gone? Levels were down about a foot, leaving bare banks on the island, and inches of water for the carp to patrol in. This made for a difficult day, and a change to original plans.
Following Pato's success last time, jolly green giant was brought by the wheelbarrow this time. On the all-in, yellow peril was piled in with gay abandon, the carp appeared, and just as swiftly vanished as poles were waved over their heads in the shallow water.
Quite how Gary Brislin managed to resist the lure of the corn is hard to fathom, considering he is Pato's travelling partner. But he shunned the yellow stuff in favour of paste. It proved to be a wise decision as he ended up a narrow winner with 41lb 08oz of carp. Good use of venue experience Gary, well done.
Daddy Pickup was bridesmaid again, and brought 39lb 12oz of mainly carp to the scales, caught at 16m on meat and corn. Keep at it Ken, that win wont be long in coming.
Third place was a triumph for improvisation. After seeing carp shy away from the pole, Dave Norman attached a method feeder to his rig and swung it to the island. Suddenly the ultra cautious carp fed with confidence and he weighed 34lb 12oz. Clever thinking Dave.
Dave Cargill managed 4 carp and a skimmer to record 16lb 04oz and win a section.Venue knowledge again, he was on the same peg as last time.
Ian Hughes sat back and watched the corn bombardment around him, and decided to fish at 5metres for skimmers. He caught about 10lb worth before switching to paste at 14metres to snare 4 late carp and finish with 25lb 06oz which secured the other section.
Jamie was the first to take the walk of shame, but Sumo was the main source of amusement. 6 hour match...2 hours in, Sumo cries "only 4 an half hours of misery left". Maths isn't his strong point, he only attended 70% of his lessons, and played truant from the other half. With an hour to go he emptied his keepnets (3 skimmers) and hung them to dry. He then proceeded to catch a couple of lumps from where his nets had been, DOH!

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.