July 29, 2011

• Rolf’s Lake. Holton. Oxfordshire.

  Dave the Fish’s

  Invitation Match.

  

  Well today sees the start of what has become an annual 3 day trip to Rolfs, starting today with Dave the Fish’s Invitation match that precedes the Maggotdrowning.com Rolfs Pairs Tournament over the Saturday and Sunday . This has become a match not to be missed as it’s fished by a few less people and it normally sees the best fishing of the 3 days, and being a member of Dave’s club (Marsh AC) ensures that I’m fortunate enough to receive an invitation every year .
  Being a weekday Maria was already up and had fed the cats and I’d promised to take her to work, so with that done I loaded the car up. It’s surprising how much extra stuff there was, bivvie, bed chair sleeping bag etc, but it all slotted in without problem before I set off . It was a bit overcast, but warm enough and the forecast for the next 3 days was good with plenty of sun for the weekend. As usual I stopped off in Battersea for Breakfast , Al was hoping to join me, but got delayed and missed out on the delights of a “Full English” before I was back in the car and on my way to Rolfs.
  
  A steady run down saw me pulling into the car park around 10·15am to find a good few already in situ. Malc had taken Dai and Ann along with Beau up with their caravan on Wednesday and then come back up from Wales early today so we were due to face the might of the whole ‘Doyle Clan’ over the course of the weekend . Others had also arrived early to ensure a good pitch in Maggotville, so it was out with the bivvie to secure a spot. My little 1 man bivvie has seen a fair bit of use over the years, and today one of the poles decided it had enough and snapped . However with some gaffer tape from Scott and a hacksaw from Dai it was soon repaired and in place .
  
  A stroll round soon came to an abrupt halt however as i came face to face with John’s new guard dog !!!!!!!, Black and Tan, was it a Doberman, Rottweiler???
  

  

  No, Ollie is a Dachshund, and at around 8 weeks old the cutest bundle of fun you could imagine on 4 legs, and already proving a huge hit with everyone .
  
  Well with 19 of us assembled. and only a single Rolfs Virgin in fellow club member Simon Watkins present, Midday signalled draw time. The general opinion seemed to be that the Big Lake was the place to draw today as the wind had been blowing up into it for the past 3 days, so you can imagine my delight to find Peg 38 in my hand , I couldn’t be further away if I’d tried.

  

  As I made my way down to my peg I saw that Mitch had drawn Peg 34, while Dai was on Peg 40 with Kevin on Peg 2, so I was OK for a mid match coffee .
  Opposite me on Peg 4 was Jon, with Scott for company on Peg 5. Alex had drawn Peg 7 while Simon was on Peg 8, a great draw for a 1st timer .
  

  

  Setting up was a matter of 3 rigs, A 0·2g NG XT Power Pencil on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 16 Guru MWG would be for straight out at 7mtrs where I had an even 3 feet of water in all directions, a NG 0·3 XT Sampson margin on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 14 Guru QM1 would be used to fish by the bush/grass to my left, and a 0.2 NG Edger on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 14 Guru QM1 would be used on top of the ledge tight to the grass next to Peg 37, while the waggler rod was on standby to have a search around if it got really tough. Bait was 6,8 and 11mm fishery pellets and a selection of various soft hookers, along with sweetcorn and some paste should the lumps turn up in the margin.
  
  Clive popped round as we waited for the All-In with news that he’d ended up on Peg 13 , I didn’t laugh much though as I’d have happily swapped with him today.
  

  

  2pm saw John ring the fishery bell for the All-In and 2 pots of pellet were deposited onto the 7mtr line along with a good handful into each margin. A banded 8mm pellet was shipped out to 7mtrs but unfortunately didn’t provoke the desired response, in fact the Little Lake was proving hard for nearly everyone, with only Mitch appearing to take an early fish …….
  

  

   A switch to 6mm pellet finally brought some action for me, but it was only in the shape of a couple of hand sized skimmers, that were welcome none the less to get me off the mark, and looking across it was obvious that Jon was resigned to a hard session as he was already out with a maggot rig in a bid to hunt down some silvers ……
  

  

   After a couple of hours I looked across to see that Dai was at last into something substantially larger with plenty of elastic streaming from his pole, but after a good scrap he had it safely in the net, an absolutely superb Common that rolled the scales round to 21¾lbs, a new PB that I was happy to photograph for Dai ……
  

  

  I’d hoped that it would be the signal for some fish to get their heads down, but it was not to be , so I re fed all my lines and gathered up the camera for a stroll round to see how others were doing. Scott over on Peg 5 was suffering as well, but he was feeding plenty into the margin next to empty Peg 6 and praying that the fish would turn up over the feed before the match finished ……
  

  

   Alex had been more than happy to find Peg 7 was his, but had been brought back down to earth a bit as despite producing a couple of early fish they weren’t coming at the rate he’d been hoping for …..
  

  

  Simon had a double to show for his first ever visit to Rolfs , but had been left a little shocked by the power of the fish, having also been seen off by a couple ……
  

  

  Terry was over on Peg 32 and was getting a bit of action, but unfortunately he’d had the misfortune to have a top kit reduced to more than it’s standard two parts by an angry foul hooker that smashed it and vanished with the rig and elastic ……
  

  

  Clive was indeed on Peg 13 and at this point in time was suffering with foul hooked fish, but he was confident that sooner or later he’d sort it out and start putting a few in the net ……
  

  

  Malc was tucked away in Peg 14 and seemed happy enough with his lot , while a chat with Dave Moore revealed a swim that resembled a jacuzzi, but although there were obviously plenty of fish there, they were reluctant to take a bait . Looking across we could see Al on Peg 24 playing a fish on the pellet waggler, but as I raised the camera having warned him to be careful, it shed the hook, of course we were full of sympathy as ” Nobody likes to see that “ but Al seemed less than pleased ……
  

  

  Dave was on Peg 18, obviously the draw bag had been kind to the organiser , and as we chatted Dave dropped a ball of paste into the left of the peg and the float buried straight away, the fish steamed off and looked like it was foul hooked, and it had the last laugh when it did Dave under the right hand bush ……
  

  

  Round to Peg 22 where I found Paul happily playing a fish, he was having what appeared to be a decent day, ticking along nicely and regularly putting fish in the net ……
  

  

  Mr Maggotdrowning himself Dave aka ‘Webbo’ was on Peg 26, but today didn’t seem to be quite right for his Feederless Feeder and he’d reverted to the pole in order to keep a few coming his way ……
  

  

  Nick was on Peg 29, and it was a case of steady away for him putting one or two fish together, but he’d also sacrificed a top kit to the cause today ……
  

  

  Back at my peg things didn’t really improve for the rest of the match, in fact the only one to really do anything was Dai who managed another 4 fish during the course of the afternoon . I even spent a while on the waggler, but that was no more successful than my pole lines, However with an hour to go a look on my 7mtr line produced a foul hooker that headed of toward the Big Lake at a rate of knots leaving me with just a scale for a souvenir . Kev finally managed to snare a carp over on peg 2 and with 45 minutes to go I finally managed to hook and land a carp that weighed 13lbs, however it was to little to late and just another couple of small skimmers came my way before John rang the fishery bell for the All-Out at 7pm.
  
  Packing away didn’t take long as I took my kit back to the bivvie that was only about 40 yards away, and so onto the Weigh-In. Mitch kicked off with a hard earned 49lbs while my silvers added to the solitary carp came to 16lbs. Dai’s 5 fish weighed a fine 70¾lbs . Kev had 5½lbs to show for his efforts while Jon had all silvers for just over 13lbs. Scott had a couple turn up late for a level 26lbs. Alex recorded 61¾lbs with Simon managing 25¼lbs for his first effort .
  Tricky(Richard) managed 54lbs from peg 9 on his Birthday , while Steve had struggled with just a single carp for 7½lbs on peg 10 . Clive had indeed managed to sort it out recording 83½lbs but it was Malc on peg 14 who would take the win on the day when he put 103½lbs on the scales . For Dave Moore it was a case of what might have been with his fish weighing 36lbs, but he’d fished on for a bit after the whistle and caught 6 fish in 6 put ins . Dave had 95¼lbs from peg 18 to take third in his own match . Paul was the only other angler to record a ‘Ton’ with 100¼lbs to take 2nd . Al with 65½lbs and Nick with 67lbs were edged out by Webbo’s 74lbs while Terry was last to weigh with 81¼lbs .
  
  So once Dave had sorted out the results and payed out the monies from the day people dispersed to chat over the days events and sort out their food etc.
  Al, Webbo, Paul and I elected to visit The Harvester for Dinner along with Richard and Scott and washed it all down with a couple of pints before returning to the lake where the banter flowed along with a few more beers into the night as Simps, Gem and Budgie joined us ahead of the weekend .
  
  By around 11·30pm I turned in to get some sleep ahead of the Main Event. How would it go? We would soon find out.

  Position	Peg	Angler	Weight
  1st	Peg 14	Malc Doyle	103lbs 08ozs
  2nd	Peg 22	Paul East	100lbs 04ozs
  3rd	Peg 18	Dave Collier	95lbs 04ozs
  4th	Peg 13	Clive Pritchard	83lbs 08ozs
  5th	Peg 32	Terry Goff	81lbs 04ozs
  6th	Peg 26	Dave Webster	74lbs 00ozs
  7th	Peg 40	Dai Thomas	70lbs 12ozs
  8th	Peg 29	Nick Williams	67lbs 00ozs
  9th	Peg 24	Al Loader	65lbs 08ozs
  10th	Peg 7	Alex Clark	61lbs 12ozs
  11th	Peg 9	Richard East	54lbs 00ozs
  12th	Peg 34	Mitch Auger	49lbs 00ozs
  13th	Peg 16	Dave Moore	36lbs 00ozs
  14th	Peg 5	Scott Weston	26lbs 00ozs
  15th	Peg 8	Simon Watkins	25lbs 04ozs
  16th	Peg 38	Peter Morton	16lbs 00ozs
  17th	Peg 4	Jon Hatch	13lbs 02ozs
  18th	Peg 10	Steve Akal	7lbs 08ozs
  19th	Peg 2	Kevin Loveland	5lbs 08ozs

  

  

   

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