The JINX Series 2006

Match 1.

Well I met up with a few of the lads in the services on the M40 beforehand and around 11·30 we made our way down to Rolf's.
Once in the car park it was soon obvious that nothing had changed and that yet again The Jinx Series was going to be a monumental festival of p*ss taking & fun.
Nick had kindly sorted some shirts for the series and here's the proof........

I was a little taken aback at the draw to recieve a presentation from Malc! however the contents of the envelope set the tone for the day! A set of Lime Green pants with no arse in them. (Maria says they'll avoid the skidmarks at least!!!) and No I don't have a photo of them, but I'm sure someone has.

So draw done and off to our respective pegs. A nice short 5 yard walk for me to peg 30. Rolf has just started rebuilding the pegs and this is the 1st one he's completed, Nice new platform and steps down to it, a real armchair job . To my right was Dan who didn't look to happy as he had a few bad memories of being pegged next to me at Rolf's last year, and to my left I was a little concerned to see Pete Thompson (quietman), who has probably spent more time than most at Rolf's over the years and has a pretty good idea of what makes he place tick.

Due to changes to rules and pellets available at Rolf's this year, a few questions have sprung up over the best way to approach things. I had been a couple of times already this season and had frankly struggled coming to terms with it, so for this match I decided to go with what I know, and that was to fish 6mm GOT expanders over loose fed hemp, at a distance I could throw the feed to, hopefully keeping things nice and simple.

As usual with The Jinx matches things were running a bit late and the all in came at 1·30, called by myself as Malc didn't have a watch with him.

Almost straight away David on peg 28 seemed intent on taking the place apart, his 1st fish took a bare hook as he shipped out a pot of pellet and every time i looked around his black hydro seemed to be streaming out.

Things were not quite so hectic for the rest of us, with a few skimmers and the odd carp just keeping things ticking over, though Pete did manage to bag a specimen perch .......

Slowly but surely things started to inprove though, Paul (Mr Buckethead aka Turkish) Finally managed to catch a carp at Rolf's, not just the one either..........

MarkC was putting a few together on peg 32 including some perch in a pretty mixed bag.........

Nick (polepot) came wandering along, hoping for some clues as he was having a bit of a mare, Having drawn peg 34 it seemed that everyone had given him different advise, and if that wasn't bad enough he was trying to get to grips with using a new pole and Hydro for the 1st time. To top it all off he had been further traumatised by watching Malc strip down to his underpants (thankfully a site I missed) and leap in to retrieve a top kit.

By mid afternoon the carp seemed to settle on my feed and I started to put a few together,

David was still in regular action although it was hard to judge the stamp of his fish as he was on Black Hydro.
Matt across on peg 12 was putting together a decent bag having started to sneak a few lumps out from down the edge, you could tell they were decent fish as periodicaly he could be seen climbing onto his box in an attempt to net them .....

Finally the all out came at 6·30 just as I had connected to a final carp that was foulhooked in the tail, a few anxious moments while I tried to get his propeller out of the water to subdue it followed before I managed to net it.

Packing up and taking my gear back prior to the weigh-in, I heard a sound that I couldn't quite place till I realised it was coming from Dai's car!!!!!!!! The engine was running, and had been running for the whole match!!!!!!!! Luckily Dai still had ½ a tank of fuel and at least it was nicely warmed up for a quick get away.

Back for the weigh-in and my 50lbs odd of weighers with what was in my net gave me 125lbs overall which was enough for my section as David had 110lbs (more fish, but a smaller stamp) still allowing both of us to join the exclusive 100lbs+ JINX CLUB.I believe Antwood also joined us on his very 1st Jinx match and Matt took the overall honours on the day with a fine 139lb bag from the little used peg 12.

Finally as this was Churt's Memorial Match, the trophy should have been presented to Matt, but Malc had forgotten it!!!!!!!!
No Surprise there then.

However SteveW and myself did FINALLY get our hands on the Pairs Trophy we won last series.........

.......however as it has to go away for engraving that's probably be the last we'll see of it.

So that's it, 1 down, 5 to go and on to Engine Pool, It should be fun, but with The Jinx you never know.

Individual Results on the day were as follows

You can find Rolf's own report HERE.

Rolf's Teams of 3. Spring League.

Well Sunday morning found me loading the kit into the car for a 70 mile trip to Rolf's Lake in Oxfordshire where I was taking part in the Spring Teams of 3 League with Malc and Nick as part of the Fish4Wales Team .

It was dull and overcast with the threat of rain and a fine drizzle would come and go all day leaving everything soaked by the end .

Waiting in the car park for the draw Malc decided to sort out a couple of rigs for the match ahead. Reaching into his seat box he produced this............

Dave the Fish's 

Fur and Feather Fun Match.

22 hardy souls headed down to Harleylands in Kent yesterday to take part in a Xmas match organised by Dave the Fish from Maggotdrowning.com

I met up with a few of the lads at the Knoxbridge Cafe at around 7·30am to find it a tad busy, a party of shooters had obviously beaten us to it, meaning that the service was about as far removed from "Fast Food" as you could imagine.
By the time that Jess & Szabi and The Welsh Contingent (Dai, Neo, Geoff & Malc) arrived it had slowed even more, and as we left for the draw they were still waiting!

With the delays making the draw run late we decided that we would fish from 10·30 to 3·30pm so we all dipped in and made our way to our respective pegs.
I found myself on 22 with The Jinx for company on 23. Not only were our pegs in the shade but we had the wind howling into them and although there was no ice on the lake it was soon obvious that the only people that would be at home on them would be Eskimos. Looking across to the other bank it was bathed in sunlight with barely a ripple on the water!

I set up a pole and a feeder rod with a small maggot feeder, while Malc elected to fish the feeder all day to the island in front of him.

All in and I went out on the pole, and needless to say with both Malc and Dave standing behind me my first bite, a small very delicate affair, (don't believe Malc when he tells you "it speared the bottom" ) resulted in me missing it horribly and wrapping the rig round the tip.

I stuck it out on the pole for an hour for 4 small fish (1 Skimmer, 1 Roach, 1 Perch and a Gudgeon). In the meantime Malc had managed 3 Carp and Neo a few pegs down had managed a few small stockies. I could see Omega Mike (who I regard as something of a venue expert) pegged further round and bathed in sunlight starting to put a few together on the long pole.

Sven on peg8 (The Flyer) and Colin opposite me appeared to be catching regularly,
and with my hands starting to become numb with the cold the pole was replaced with the feeder rod.
Looking round it appeared that a Garden Gnome had turned blue with the cold , but it was only Malc staring at his tip willing it to go round..

Slowly i started to put a few small Carp together by dropping the feeder as close to the island as I dared.

Just after Noon the best part of the day arrived in the shape of Dave & Jean bearing Hot Pies & Pasties along with a bottle of Canadian Club. Truely Inspired and most welcome, even if Malc did complain that they weren't served on Daves usual Silver Tray.

Into the fading light, and a few missgivings were being aired about the wisdom of fishing to 3·30pm, it was getting that cold that I had a couple of feeders crack up where they had become so brittle in the cold.
With 5 mins to go I'm sure that I heard the ominous sound of breaking carbon from further down the bank followed by a softly muttered Welsh curse, though I could be wrong.

Finally the whistle sounded, and it transpired that Malc and I would have to perform Scales Duty. My 27lbs 2ozs started the ball rolling (and secured £1 from Malc ), Omega Mike came up just short with what was still a creditable bag as he'd fished the pole all day. Colin was soon in the box seat however with a 50lb+ bag, a worthy winner on the day. Sven & John on adjacent pegs had obviously had a close match, with Sven just having enough for 2nd on the day pushing John down to 3rd and me to 4th. A very good result for Sven as I'm sure he would admit that matchfishing isn't his thing. Nick Gilbert also managed 27lbs on the day.

Gathering up our kit Malc and I returned to find our nets frozen solid (told you it was cold ) so back to the car park for the prizes and farewells.
I have to say that given the conditions the lake fished well on the day, even though the fish were shoaled up in pockets.

A big thank you to Dave for organising the match and to all those that attended from near and far, making the day the success it was. We'll have to do it again, preferably in warmer conditions though.

The final results were :-

Maggotdrowning.com

 Individual Championships 2005.

Well standing in the car park at Lemington Lakes at 8am the sky looked to be promising a decent day despite the forecasts, but The Jinx had yet to arrive.
Brekkie served up by Andy and Debbie Machin who own the fishery, was a good plateful that set everyone up for the day ahead. People were arriving from all round the country promising a good turn out, new faces meeting old and friendships renewed once more.

Nick(Neo1) had been victim of an alarm malfunction, which resulted in Malc and Gemma arriving in the Jinxmobile just as the sun was replaced by grey clouds and the wind started to blow.

Back to the function room and 34 anglers assembled for the draw, conducted with Vince's usual precision, curses were uttered and info sought as it became clear who would be fishing where.

Down at the lake it soon became clear that The Jinx was indeed in attendance as the wind started to rise and the sky took on a more ominous shade of grey.

I had drawn peg 25 with Steve12 to my right,

and Simon(me) and MarkC to my left.

Plumbing up all I could find was 2½ft until I got to 13mtrs, where a small drop off gave me an extra foot, and this was where I decided to fish despite the wind making presentation a struggle. Having had a couple of hours practice the previous day I had decided to fish GOT BAITS 6mm expanders over GOT BAITS 4mm hard pellets to keep things simple, and just concentrate on the 1 line.

At the ALL-IN MarkC was soon off the mark with a decent Carp to meat on the straight lead that weighed 12lbs 7ozs. Ady (bigladwigan) had had a Carp of around 5lb 1st put in on corn and Steve12 had a quick couple of Skimmers on the feeder but was struggling for consistency as conditions worsened.

After about 30 minutes I had my 1st Carp of about 1½lbs but it was a real struggle presenting a bait with the wind, but slowly a few more fish found their way to the net.
I was struggling with the occasional foul hooker, but was gradually putting a weight together as I had the 13mtr line to myself as others chopped and changed tactics trying to find elusive fish on what was proving to be a very hard day owing to the conditions.

With a couple of hours to go The Jinx could be heard wandering the banks dishing out his own unique brand of Encouragement. Steve12 decided the England football match on TV was more inviting than sitting it out as the rain started, leaving me effectively with an end peg.

Then The Jinx arrived at my peg along with the heavier rain that appeared to be following him and proceeded to give the entire lake a running commentary on my struggles. His hilarity when I pulled out of a lump finally leading me to ask him to FOXTROT OSCAR.

I have to say it was nice to see Vince looking so happy at handing me the Trophy.

On to the raffle and it was good to see the prizes shared around amongst those present, I even managed a bottle of Islay single malt to round the day off.
It had been agreed that the proceeds of the raffle would be donated to the winners charity of choice, so it was my pleasure to donate the £104.00 that was raised to The Kirsty Appeal (Francis House Hospice).

I would just like to say a BIG THANK YOU to Vince who put a lot of effort into organising the match, Malc, Gemma & Dirk for their help on the day, Andy and Debbie Machin and their staff for looking after us at their cracking venue, that we didn't see at its best due to the conditions on the day.

Finally to all The Maggotdrowners that attended, Thanks for coming, hopefully we can do it again next year in better weather.

RESULTS.

Maggotdrowning.com

Rolf's Lake Match.

Another cracking day in good company saw 19 of us assembled in the car park at Rolf's to take part in Matt Nutt's 1st attempt at organising a match.
A lot of us were survivors from The Jinx Series with a couple of new faces from the site attending their 1st MD's event. Even Webbo had come down from Yorkshire to try some proper fishing .

I drew peg 26 and was joined on the car park bank by Paul, Nick (Slimcatcher) and Webbo to my right and Young Dave & Gemma, Royst and Malc to my left.

Paul, Nick(Slimcatcher) with Webbo behind a bush.

Royst(playing a fish) Malc & Jason(JKG)

Sport was never fast and furious (An understatement in Paul's case ) but we all watched a lesson in how it should be done as most of us watched Gary opposite on Peg14 show us how it should be done with a superb display of up in the water fishing,  and I think we realised that we needed snookers when he got a 3rd keepnet out   !!!

Perhaps it was just having Rolf sitting behind "coaching" him that gave him the edge though .

Spare a thought for Mark C as he was pegged between Gary & Pete Thompson who finished 1st & 2nd. Mark stuck at it though and did manage a few .

During the match I managed to smash a top kit trying to get a lump's head up before it buried itself in the bush to my right much to various peoples amusement , I did manage a few though, one of which Gemma captured on camera .

However a thought should be spared for Paul on the next peg to me, who despite trying everything in his bait bag could only manage a 5½lb Orfe as the carp in his peg went on strike, Having escaped being pegged next to his nemesis Dirk, thought he was safe, He should have known better , naturally we were full of sympathy for his plight  .

At the end of the match it was those with the experience of fishing the venue that took the spoils, proving that it's not the easy venue that some seem to think, but I think it's safe to say that everyone has plans to return at a later date to try to get to grips with the challenge that the venue presents .

Here's the results of the day............

NB: On Sunday 25th September, Gary Thorpe smashed the World 5hr match record with a weight of 490lb 8oz from peg 19.

The JINX Series 2005

Match 6.

Well all to soon the final match of The Jinx Series had come around with the Venue being The Boundary Pool at Manor Farm Leisure.

A bit of a change for me was that during the preceding week Dave the Fish had expressed a desire to come and see if all the things that he had read and heard about the series were true (as if you could make them up!!!!) so he volunteered to pick me up and drive me on the day.

As has been my custom for the series we left early, so that I could arrive in good time to get a look at the fishery and try to get a feel for it. A stop off on route in Battersea saw us fortified with Sausage, Egg, Bacon and Bubble + a mug of tea.

A trouble free trip saw us arrive in plenty of time, while an initial look around The Boundary Pool revealed a lake that was at least 2 feet down from what appeared to be it's normal level with a stiff breeze blowing into the opposite bank to the one we were going to fish, very few fish moving, though a pleasure angler was catching a few small carp to feeder tactics.

Back to the café for a tea and a sausage sandwich and the lads were starting to arrive.
Soon we were all assembled, even Matt who had flown in from holiday at 9am.
12·45 and with the draw due at 1PM and no Malc to be seen, I thought I'd better give him a ring!!! Well he was driving down a dirt track somewhere in the surrounding countryside,
LOST AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!, Sorry Gem but I think he needs a Sat Nav system before he fits a stereo into the car.

Draw finally done, the start of the match was put back to 2·30 pm. With only 15 of us present for the last match we were well spread out with just Matt, Dan and myself in "bantering" distance on pegs 1,3 and 4 at our end. The fishing? Not quite what we had been led to expect, finicky and frustrating bites or were they liners being the pattern of the day for me at least. I'd been told that to have any chance of winning the series that I needed Matt to be 3rd and for me to win the section (Steve W, who was also in with a shout being the wild-card as he was in another section) but with a couple of hours gone, young Dan was showing us both a clean pair of heels.

With a couple of hours to go and us all scratching it was time for a bit of refreshment, with tea being served in a most civilised way by "Butler" Dave.

Events show that a good last hour with a couple of better fish gave Matt the section and the series, while a bonus carp hooked up the bum (Mugged???) allowed me to sneak past Dan at the death.

Congratulations must go to Dai, who managed his 1st ever match win on the day with 29lbs 12ozs of feeder caught carp, a great result for a good mate.

Just the raffle remained, which finished in the dark and the final results of The Series to be announced!
But alas no Series Final Results!
Malc had managed to post the result sheet to one of his poor customers somewhere in England, but they've been posted on the site now.

A word of thanks from me to Dave the Fish for acting as my Chauffeur & Butler on the day, Hope you enjoyed your insight into what makes The Jinx Series the matches to be on.

THE RESULTS ON THE DAY

Finally i'd like to say a big THANK YOU to the inimitable Malc for running the most pleasurable match series that I've ever taken part in. Captain Chaos might be a better name, but without his efforts it just wouldn't be the same!!!!

THANK YOU to Trevor Price and all at G.O.T.Baits & Merlin Baits for the series sponsorship and the very generous raffle prizes that have hopefully raised a few bob for DEBRA.

Next an equally big THANK YOU to all of the lads that have fished in the series.
As with all matches, it's the anglers taking part that make or break the events and as a newcomer to the series I couldn't have wished to have fished with a better bunch of lads who made me feel at home straight away.

Finally, Congratulations to Matt, 4 section wins and a new record weight for the series says it all, A very worthy Winner.

I'll definitely be back for next years series.

This is Malc's run down on the series result

SPONSORED BY
G.O.T BAITS
&
MERLIN BAITS

HELPING TO RAISE FUNDS
FOR THE CHARITY
DEBRA

THE FINAL RESULTS

Well thats another Years "JINX" SERIES over and what a series it's been

Plenty of new faces and a new Series match record put on the scales by Matt in round 1 with a cracking weight of 211lb 4oz

We've also seen many personal records being broken including Marks best match weight of 116lb 2oz which was also his first match ton

Young Dan setting his best match weight at 95lb 8oz which also included a new personal best Carp of 15½lb

Dai not to be out done by Dan put in a new best match weight of 69lb 6oz and also recorded his first match win

There has been a total of 5 100lb plus nets and a 200lb plus net and only a total of 12 blanks recorded during the series which is also a new record as normally there are a lot more of those

We've had loads of entertainment from Neo in the way of snapped pole sections, swimming pole sections and general misfortune but he's taken all the stick in the way it's been intended.

Matt has also given everyone a few laughs with his high rise landing tactics.

We've suffered the normal mishaps from yours truley in the form of being late, getting lost, leaving stuff at home, getting dumped on by fisheries and generaly running a series like a total pillock, but thats all part of the fun.

The banter has flowed during every match especially if drawn near Dirk or Paul.

And a nicer bunch of lads could not be found to fish with...

This years winner for the second year running is MATT NUTT with 6 points and a total weight of 404lb 8oz Well done Matt a fine effort.

Second place this year goes to new boy Peter Morton with 8 points and a total weight of 213lb 9oz not a bad result when you think Peter had not seen 5 out of the six venues before.

Third place with 9 points is THE JINX himself by way of a greater weight as Keith Ashby, Steve Wilson & Malc Doyle all scored the same 9 points but Malc comes out on top with a total weight of 299lb 5oz

Worst result is in RED and final total is minus worst result (total weight also included)

Not fished any, 6 points awarded for each match
Jimmy Ledham
Scott Essary

Comeing home in FIRST PLACE are Peter & Steve with a 60 Point total and combined weight of 431lb 1oz well done as up to the last match it was all still to play for.


THE PAIRS RESULTS
Worst result is in RED and the final total is minus worst result (total weight also included)

Thanks to all for a good 2005 series.

Malc Doyle100lb+ JINX CLUB MEMBER 

The JINX Series 2005

Match 5.

Well it looks as if THE JINX is slowly coming home to roost for a few of the participants in the series.

17 of us met up for round 5 and after the usual banter set off down the boards to our alloted pegs.

For most of us it appeared that the fish didn't really want to play with the notable exception of Peg26 where Steve W had a very pleasant day with a succession of carp and a winning bag of 89lbs 6ozs.

Spare a thought for those around him, Keith had to watch him bagging all match while struggling for his 4 fish while Dirk managed to avoid the dreaded DNW with a solitary Perch.

I struggled with just a tench and a carp in the first 3 hours till i strolled down the boards to plant a smacker on Malc's head , finally managing another 5 fish on the baggin wag  for 27lbs 10ozs to bump me up the results.

NickW (Neo-1) managed to get out of jail by snatching some small perch from under the boards, while Nick WP (Monkey) managed a couple of carp in the final hour to lift his spirits with his best result in the series so far ......

Dai on the end peg spent the match finding out just how far a 2¾lb carp rod could bend as he did battle with a succession of lumps under the boards with a final score standing at 15-4 to the carp , putting 20lbs 14 on the scales for 6th.

Neil M managed a couple of proper ones at the death for 18lbs and 8th..........

.......but did have the distraction of having to watch Paul trying everything he could think of all day to no avail and still record a BLANK!!!!!!!!

Malc fished THE MAGGOT for 3rd on the day with a level 28lbs (the lengths he'll sink to to get £1 off me.)

Keith's lad David managed to beat dad 19lbs 14ozs to 10lbs 12 ozs............

Geoff E snuck into 5th with 24lbs 2ozs...........

while Matt fished his usual tidy match on pellet & feeder for 37lbs 2ozs and 2nd on the day.............

So it's onward to Manor Farm for the final match of the series, can we keep THE JINX at bay or will it return with a vengeance? We'll soon find out.

Individual Results.

1st	Steve Wilson	89lb 06oz
2nd	Matt Nutt	37lb 02oz
3rd	Malc Doyle	28lb 00oz
4th	Peter Morton	27lb 10oz
5th	Geoff Eggison	24lb 02oz
6th	Dai Thomas	20lb 14oz
7th	David Ashby	19lb 14oz
8th	Neil McCurran	18lb 00oz
9th	Eric Robothan	13lb 00oz
10th	Nick Watkins-Price	12lb 00oz
11th	Keith Ashby	10lb 12oz
12th	Nick Jones	9lb 12oz
13th	Dan Thomas	2lb 02oz
14th	Nick Williams	1lb 00oz
15th	Derek Robothan	6oz
16th	Dirk Williams	2oz
17th	Paul Roberts	DNW

 

Southern Intersite Match.

What can you say?
Team MD's approached the match in their usual professional manner.

Preparation..... Absolutely None!!
Team Selection..... Last Minute Panic ..... But all members of the team were forum members.
Tactics..... Just catch a bleedin fish.
Objectives..... Enjoy the day.

The scene was set at 8·30am with a phone call from THE JINXinforming me that he had taken a slight detour from Reading and was just turning round at Jct1 of the M3.

8·55am and My phone goes again, Yes you guessed it, it's THE JINX again.
"I'm here at GOLD VALLEY but where is everyone else?"
My reply wasn't really suitable to post here but was along the lines of so I passed the phone to Dave the Fish to guide him in while I went in to draw for the team.

The match itself is probably best glossed over, as for most it was a bit of a struggle though special mention must go to young ashley who along with his dad John stepped into the breach at the last minute and managed a creditable 25lbs 15ozs for 2nd in his section from the Middle Lake.

A vote of thanks also to Jason (NoFinFish) who popped down during the day to support the team, and Beebs who also put in an appearance and invited us back to his house for a pint after. Much appreciated

Here's how the team performed on the day........

My Thanks to all that fished, everyone tried their best and you can't ask for more than that.

And here's a few pics from the day.....

Ashley with Keith "Fishermans Blues" Arthur .

Dai struggling manfully trying to fish his "washing machine" swim...

Dan with a specimen Perch...

And a Bream for me...

and finally Malc & Gemma watch the Weigh-In...

The JINX Series 2005

Match 2.

Drayton! Well what can I say? It was hot, Boy was it HOT The fish were still spawning, and did I mention it was HOT? At the start we were told you would need a peg in the 30's to catch and the further away you were, the more you would struggle. They weren't wrong.  My 1 fish, a 10lb mirror came with 15mins to go. The winner was Malc THE JINX Doyle (peg36) with a great bag weighing 118lbs ...... The runner up was young Daniel Thomas (peg35) with a bag weighing 95½lbs, just 1 fish short of his 1st 'TON' and including a new PB Mirror of 15½lbs ...... Dan's new PB.......   Individual Results.   1st    Malc Doyle          118lb 00oz   2nd  Dan Thomas     95lb 08oz  3rd  Paul Roberts     89lb 00oz  4th  Matt Nutt     45lb 00oz  5th  Mark Causer     19lb 00oz  6th  Steve Wilson     11lb 08oz  7th  Derek Robothan     11lb 00oz  8th  Peter Morton     10lb 00oz  9th  Tim Westmoreland               8lb 08oz  10th  Dai Thomas       6lb 00oz    Nick Jones       DNW      Nick Watkins-Price                      DNW    Keith Ashby       DNW    Roy Ravenhill       DNW    Eric Robothan       DNW    Dave Moore       DNW    Nick Williams       DNW    Geoff Eggison       DNW    Dirk Williams       DNW

The JINX Series 2005

Match 1.

Since finishing with my club, I've entered a small match series run by a certain Malc Doyle. This series is known as THE JINX Bag-up Series, though in other seasons it's been anything but, but then Malc isn't known as THE JINX for nothing. 

This is my account of the 1st match in the series................................

Well I arrived at the services at junction 8 on the M40 in plenty of time to meet up with the rest for the short jaunt to Rolfs.

Malc was early, didn't appear to have forgotten anything and the sun was shining!!!

A quick 10 minute trip from the services following Matt Nutt and there we were, pulling into the car park at Rolf's, Already present were a mix of old and new faces and soon the banter was flowing .

Now I'd read and heard a few reports about Rolf's, but the reality is something else and something that I wasn't prepared for. It's only small, but quite picturesque with just 40 pegs that are all solidly constructed and nice and low to the water.

 The real shock though was the sheer number of Carp cruising the surface basking in the sunshine, all apparently commons, and seemingly unconcerned, well at least till the start of the match.

Back to the car park for the draw and I drew peg 23 with young Dan drawing peg 24 to my left, Matt having voiced a preference for peg 7 promptly drew it and the general concensus was that we were all fishing for 2nd as Matt wandered off with a happy grin on his face .

Setting up didn't take me long as my main pole was in need of a refurb, and probably not up to the stress and strain, so it was margin pole or nothing with 3 rigs, 1 shallow, 1 at depth for the 7mtr line and 1 for paste in the margin as I had a nice bush to my right. All the while the carp were still cruising and I swear a couple even winked as they passed .

Rolf insists on a minimum of 2 nets, 1 for small carp up to 4lbs and 1 for carp weighing between 4 & 8lbs. Anything larger has to be weighed and returned immediately. This is acheived by having tanks containing a salt water solution (to kill any parasites) with a weigh sling in it behind every 4th or 5th peg along with a set of supported scales and a clipboard and pen to record the weights which you get a neighbouring angler to witness. It sounds complicated but works very well .

11am and the all in and having started at 7mtrs, the float buried and I was attached to my 1st Rolfs carp! To say that these fish are fit doesn't do them justice , especially as Rolf insists on anglers using top kits that allow a bit of elastic to be pulled out. Into the net and at probably 7lbs a nice start .

It wasn't fast and furious and I was having problems avoiding the roach and skimmers that don't really count, though I did spot Nick (polepot) weighing a couple to record them, but he was struggling, and had experienced the full power of THE JINX in previous seasons and was taking no chances.

Opposite me TA's Neil McCurran & Eric(ejayar)Robothan were having their own match within a match , I think Neil McCurran won, well he certainly won the stretchiest elastic competion .

Young Dan to my left was having a bit of a grueller, finding bites hard to come by but had managed to get off the mark with one early on, it was just adding a second that was proving elusive.

Halfway through I'd managed 3 weighers and a couple of smaller ones, so had a look at paste down the margin. Plenty of bites but only 1 carp as it seemed to be solid with small skimmers that ripped the paste to bits as soon as it hit the water . With hindsite I spent far to long trying to make it work, and with an hour to go went back to alternating shallow and deep for another 3 weighers and a couple of smaller ones.

At the end I'd had just under 60lbs of weighers with those in the net taking the total to just over 88lbs, which as it turned out was enough for the section money .
The weigh in is well practiced here with lots of weigh slings and with all the fish getting getting a dip in the salt solution before being returned.

 Now for the comedy section, during the match Nick(Neo1)Williams had lost a pole section, so Malc needing no encouragement stripped off to his swimming trunks to retrieve it. He soon found it, but it turned out to be a section lost by another angler earlier in the week, however another paddle soon found Nick's section.  

Back to the car park for the raffle and results, and with 5 tons including Matt's winning double ton, as well as a good number of weights in the 60 - 80lbs range nobody could really believe that it had been a JINX match, mind you I'm sure that we'll all come down to earth with a bang at Drayton next saturday. 

Individual Results.

Maggotdrowning.com

 Fun Match.

Well at 8am I pulled into the car park to be greeted by a sign saying WELCOME MAGGOTDROWNERS that had been posted by the fishery staff, and as I got out of the car I could see Darren strolling towards me across the carpark After a brief chat we decided to go and have a stroll so I could show him a few of the lakes on the complex.
On our return we bumped into Ginger and Sven and adjourned for a spot of Brekkie as the others arrived . Looking out of the window I could see Malc "The Jinx" arrive wearing a polo shirt and sunglasses, a sure sign that the weather would deteriorate in the not to distant future .

With half an hour to go before the draw Vince and I set off to peg the Bank that had been reserved for the match accompanied by Ginger and Big Sedge. It was the bank alongside the river and with a wind that was starting to freshen and blow straight into the bank it promised to be a tad exposed .
As we walked back just to confirm that "The Jinx" had arrived in Kent it started to drizzle.
Onto the draw and with 15 actually in attendance and with Simon (the owner) kindly only charging us a £6 peg fee, a £4 optional pool was added to keep the cost to a round £10 for most.

Vince and I drew last and attracted a few comments when it was realised that we had both end pegs between us. Luckily the fishery staff allowed us to drive down to drop our tackle, which was just as well, as by now the rain was lashing down.

With an 11am all in everyone had time to set up, though I'm sure that it won't have been long enough for Malc  It never is.

All-In, and the wind and rain meant that fishing the pole beyond 8mtrs was out of the question for me, and later as the wind increased that would be reduced to 6mtrs.
With shallow margins the wind was blowing my Carp net out of the water, and my silvers net was only kept in place by putting a spare landing net handle inside it!!!  

The actual fishing was for me at least, pretty simple, feeding a mix of 3mm pellet and red maggot, with a single red on the hook kept a pretty steady flow of small Chub, Skimmers, Barbel, Tench (both Green & Gold) + a couple of small Carp coming throughout the match.

So despite the conditions a nice steady match for me, resulting in a net weighing 41lbs 2ozs and 1st place .

Back to the carpark for a welcome cuppa and plenty of banter and we found out that Simon had kindly donated 3 bottles for prizes in his absence, so a handy £24 and a bottle of Champagne came my way . 

All in all a cracking day despite the weather doing it's best to wreck things, and as usual with these sort of gatherings, plenty of banter before, during and after. Special mention has to be made at this point of young Lee's performance, who handed out a good battering to his Uncle Malc from the next peg .