July 13, 2011

• Rolfs Lake. Holton. Oxfordshire.

  

  Lionel’s day out.

  Right, I’m off down to Rolfs Lake today. One of the mechanics (James) where I work has wanted to treat his father-in-law (Lionel) to a days fishing there, as a bit of a Thank You and Birthday present and I’ve managed to arrange it for them today, and as a bonus it might give me an idea of what to expect on Saturday when I’m back there for the 4th match of The Jinx Series.

  I’d arranged to meet up with the lads at Rolfs around 9·30am, which even allowing for the heavier weekday traffic gave me the chance to stop off in Battersea for a ‘Full English’ before continuing on to the lake . Indeed when I pulled into the car park at Rolfs the lads were already there unloading their kit and apparently champing at the bit. Stocking up on pellets and a quick coffee we checked with John to see which pegs were available as there was an Open on later in the day and we were ready for the off. Well James was, Lionel was giving his new Maver seat box it’s first outing and had found after loading it up that the tyres were flat !!!! Luckily I carry a plug-in compressor in the car and we soon had tyres inflated and made our way down to the pegs . There were a couple of anglers already on pegs 34 & 35 with another on peg 2. James had already settled into peg 38, so I opted for peg 39 while Lionel settled into peg 40.
  
  James is very much a carp angler and was using conventional carp gear, with a running rig rather than his usual bolt rig. Lionel opted for a pole approach and had wanted to go with Black Hydro, but I managed to persuade him to go with Red Hydro . As it was a pleasure day I simply set up a couple of rigs that I had made up to try out some new 0·2g NG XT Power Pencil’s that Nick has just started selling. These were made up on 0·20 Ultima Power Match straight through to a size 14 Guru QM1′s while bait was the usual fishery 6mm hard pellet for feed with some 8mm and 11mm donkey chokers that would be banded onto the hook along with a selection of GOT Baits soft hookers.
  

  

  With the wind coming over my shoulder I could feed the 6mm’s by hand out to 7mtrs so that was my chosen line, with another line fed to the edge of the lilies to my right. With the wind blowing up into peg 34 and the Big Lake coupled with the change in the weather I wasn’t expecting sport to be to prolific today on our pegs. Out with a banded 8mm to 7mtrs and a few dinks suggested Roach might be responsible, but after about 5 minutes the float slid away a gentle lift connected and it was obvious that it wasn’t a Carp but one of the Bream that have been showing this year. It soon slid over the net and at around 3lbs it was a welcome start to the day .
  
  Lionel had started at around 10mtrs and soon had fish fizzing in his peg, but was struggling to connect with the bites that were forthcoming , but got of the mark with a Bream. Another couple of Bream followed for me before the first Carp of the day put in an appearance. A Common of around 5lbs that gave a good account of itself before it slid over the net .
  
  Looking across Lionel was into a Carp and it was giving a good account of itself, but Lionel appeared to be gaining the upper hand ……
  

  

  …… however the fish had other ideas, and with Lionel down to his top kit it dived for the platform and snapped him up round the platform legs .
  
  James was having a real struggle and just had a solitary skimmer to show for his efforts and in an effort to change his fortunes had set a waggler up on one of his carp rods to target the bush to his left, but he wasn’t having any joy with it at all. I plugged on, another couple of Bream coming my way before a better Carp put in an appearance to liven up proceedings, a nice chunky Common that James took a photo of for me ……
  

  

  Sport couldn’t be described as either fast or furious for either James or Lionel and it was probably even more frustrating to see the lads on 34 & 35 starting to catch regularly , and to rub it in a bit more Lionel had parted company from his second carp of the day . By now the anglers had started the Open Match and Phil Powell who was on peg 4 seemed to be having a bit of a struggle at the start, so it wasn’t just us ……
  

  

  Around about 2pm I decided to stretch my legs and take a look to see how the anglers on the open were doing, but before setting off I fed 5 big pots of pellets onto the 7mtr line to see if I could make anything happen. I found Neil Riddy halfway down the car park bank and he reckoned it was all a bit slow but was hoping things would pick up later ……
  

  

   I could see that John was over on peg 18 and it looked as if he was on the paste down the side of the bush ……
  

  

   …… and it seemed that it was doing the trick for him as by the time I’d walked round to him he was slipping the net under a 15lb’er ……
  

  

   next up on peg 17 was John’s fellow Rolf’s Cartel member Mick Lane who also appeared to be having a slow start to the match ……
  

  

  Down on peg 9 venue regular Paul Jay was hoping for a decent match as the pump had been running all morning before the match and he was hoping that it had drawn the fish to the area ……
  

  

   Back to my peg and Lionel was reporting loosing a third Carp and was still trying to fathom out how to connect with the bites that were beginning to frustrate him . Back at my peg and first put in I connected with another decent Bream ” Now you’re starting to take the micky Pete “  was Lionel’s reply to this feat of piscatorial endeavour as I held it up for him to admire . Unfortunately the next two put ins resulted in a couple of trashed rigs as foul hooked Carp set off for the Big Lake at a rate of knots, however they didn’t spook everything and I soon had another couple of Bream and another Carp once I sorted myself out . I could see the lads on 34 & 35 packing up so told James to get himself up there once they left as it just wasn’t happening for him on 38. Lionel had another couple of Bream and Roach, while I added a few more Bream and Carp before I decided to call it a day around 4·30pm.
  
  James had indeed settled into peg 34 and placed a bait out as close as he could to the lilies in the corner ……
  

  

   …… and as I packed away my gear I looked up to see that he was finally landing a Carp which was swiftly followed by another and as I strolled round to Lionel he was ringing the changes once more in an effort to convert those bites into fish. Bidding him Good Luck I set off with my kit to the car park, stopping to say goodbye to James on the way. Well as I looked back there was Lionel with a fair bit of elastic streaming from his pole ……
  

  

   ……. it had to be a Carp but would he land this one? I popped back to see, and to say that he played it gently would be an understatement, but finally he had it in the net, his first Rolfs Carp, a nice chunky Mirror and his smile just told you that it had all been worthwhile .
  

  

  So Mission accomplished, both of the lads had caught their first Rolfs Carp and I left them to carry on for a while. Had I learnt anything to help me on Saturday? Probably not as the way Rolfs fishes seems to change by the day, but it would only be 3 days till I found out .
  
  

  

  

   

  • 3:00 am
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