Mugger

  • Colemans Cottage Fishery. Wood Lake.

    Marsh AC club match.

    Colemans Cottage Fishery.

     Essex is the destination for me today with another Marsh AC club match at Colemans Cottage on Wood Lake. It's a venue that's always popular with the club members and today is our second visit this year so hopefully it will provide a good days fishing for the lads. I was awake before the alarm went off and soon had the cats fed and a couple of cups of coffee drunk before loading up the car before sunrise. I couldn't help noticing how cold it felt though , the car themometer registering just 11°C and for the first time in a while I put the car heater on as I set off. It's a great time to be travelling though with little traffic on the roads and as I cleared the Dartford Tunnel the sun was just rising, promising a lovely day ahead weather wise .

    I pulled into the fishery car park at just past 7am and indeed it appeared that I was the first one to arrive. A quick look at the lake revealed that the level was down from our previous visit with the platforms a good 2 feet clear of the water.
    Gerry and Jayne has opened the lodge so the first order of the day was one of Jayne's large breakfasts to set me up for the day ahead. Lee was next to arrive, he was guesting today and is always good company so we were soon catching up as breakfast was consumed and the others arrived. I then got a phonecall from Terry, his car wouldn't start so he wouldn't be joining us today .

    With breakfast out of the way Dave soon had the money collected and got the draw out of the way. Peg 27 was to be mine for the match, not one I was familiar with , so gathering up my kit I set off to get aquainted with it .

    WoodLakePegPlan.jpg Match Pegging Plan

    Arriving at the peg it turned out that I had Dave on peg 25 for company on my right and young Zack to my left on peg 29, with Lee and Chris opposite on pegs 13 and 15.

    Wood001.jpg Peg 27

    The carp run to a decent size in Wood Lake and the Barbel are getting bigger all the time so I made up 3 rigs, the first for straight out in front at 5mtrs where I had around 3½ft of water was a 0·4g NG XT Mugger HD on 0·18 Ultima power match straight through to size 16 Kamasan B911Xs while the other 2 were for the margin while the other 2 were 0·2g NG Springer Sampson Margin's on on 0·18 Ultima power match with size 14 Kamasan B911X's. Feed would be a mix of corn and damp 4mm pellet while hookbaits would be a mix of pellet, corn and some paste.

    10am and Dave called the All-In and I fed both margin lines then dropped a banded 6mm over a few loose pellets on the 5mtr line. A few of the lads were into quick fish but I wasn't one of those and 30 minutes in I still hadn't had as much as a bite so I fed a full pot of pellet and corn to see if it would tempt anything in. Well after about 5 minutes the swim started fizzing like a jacuzzi but the bites still refused to come . However Tony over on peg 11 had started to put one or two fish together ......

    Wood006.jpg Tony Roberts

    Finally after around 45 minutes the float slowly slid away and a gentle lift saw a pleasing amount of elastic stretching from the top kit, The fish was quickly subdued and slid over the landing net, a common of around 3½lbs to finally get me off the mark . Back out but it appeared that it had been a solitary fish as no more bites were forthcoming, a bit more feed and a few more bubbles but no bites despite varying the depth and the baits I just couldn't buy another bite.

    Chris was opposite on peg 15 and I've often taken the micky out of him telling him that his kit looks like a throw back to the 70's but he was definately having the last laugh on me today as he started to take fish from his peg while I could only look on enviously .......

    Wood008.jpg Chris Withall

    After 90 minutes I noticed a couple of carp moving in the left hand margin, normally I would have left it longer but I was already getting deperate so dropped a banded 8mm in there. The float buried almost straight away and I connected with a big fish that powered off towards Zack, but almost straight away the rig came pinging back with a large scale on the hook .

    A look down the other margin with corn looked like being no more productive until the float vanished from sight, yeilding a common around the 5lb mark to add to my meagre total. Lee was having no such problems over on peg 13 however though he was surprised at just how hard the fish fought, giving his hydro a good work out ......

    Wood007.jpg Lee Rose

    Another try on the 5mtr line finally produced a couple of F1's after around half an hour but again nothing followed them. I could see odd fish constantly moving through the swim in front of me but nothing appeared to want to settle. Was it because the water was down and I was sitting so high up above the water? had the cold nights upset things? I couldn't work it out today whatever it was .

    Chris's guest Gary Luck was over on peg 13 and it looked as if he was pretty much in the same boat as me, as I could see his swim fizzing but only producing the odd fish for him ......

    Wood009.jpg Gary Luck

    Back to the margins for me and I finally managed to tempt another couple of carp from the left hand side, but in all honesty I was going nowhere fast. Around 2pm Chrissy arrived with Dave's two grandchildren Lily and Alfie who both wanted to catch a fish with Grandad. It's a good job they hadn't arrived earlier or they would have undoubtedly battered me today .

    More in desperation than anything else I took my feeder rod out and decided to give that a go, but after 3 casts that tangled and snapped off, pretty much summing up the match for me in a nutshell . Meanwhile young Alfie was getting well into helping Grandad catch and land his fish ......

    Wood011.jpg Dave and Alfie

    John (tutu) was suffering a similar match to mine over on peg 21 but as the match drew to a close started to find one or two fish from his margin ......

    Wood010.jpg John Holdsworth

    I battled on with the margins and actually managed to get another couple of carp before Dave called the All-Out at 4pm.
    I have to say that I was glad to hear the whistle today, 6 hours for just 8 fish for around 30lbs wasn't the outcome I'd expected and with hindsight I got it horribly wrong, getting sidetracked by fish I could see in the margins despite them not wanting to co-operate today.

    It took me a while to get the kit packed away meaning that I didn't follow the Weigh-In round as usual and when it got round to me Keith was leading with 118lbs from peg 3 from Tony with 88lbs. Dave with Lily and Alfie's help had 85½lbs. My fish weighed a level 30 lbs and Zack had 54½lbs leaving me like a bit of cod "battered both sides" . The Weigh-In moved on at pace as it does at Colemans and I made my way back to the car park with my kit and loaded it away.

    Wood013.jpg The after match buffet

    Back at the lodge for the results and Jean had asked Jayne to lay on a buffet complete with Birthday Cake ......

    Wood012.jpg Kev's cake

    ........ for Kevin's Birthday (which was on Sunday) and I have to say it offered the best bites of the day as far as I was concerned.

    Dave announced the results after everyone had tucked in and the winner today was Al with a fine 139lbs from peg 35 Keith was second with 118lbs and regained the MK Nugget from Mick and Tony was 3rd on the day .

    The next club match is at The Private Lake in East Sussex in a couple of weeks time, but before that next Saturday is the penultimate round of The Jinx Series at Rolf's Lake which will hopefully give me the chance to get this match out of my system .

    Position Peg Angler Weight
     1st  Peg 35  Al Loader     139lbs 00ozs
     2nd  Peg 3  Keith Ashby     118lbs 00ozs
     3rd  Peg 11  Tony Roberts      88lbs 00ozs
     4th  Peg 25  Dave Collier      85lbs 08ozs
     5th  Peg 13  Lee Rose Guest    75lbs 08ozs
     6th  Peg 37  Clive Pritchard      72lbs 08ozs
     7th   Peg 23  Mick Wright      71lbs 04ozs
     8th  Peg 33  Simon Watkins      65lbs 04ozs
     9th  Peg 19  Jim Boase      57lbs 00ozs
     10th  Peg 29  Zack Johnson      54lbs 08ozs
     11th=  Peg 15  Chris Withall      54lbs 00ozs
     11th=  Peg 9  Kevin Loveland      54lbs 00ozs
     13th  Peg 39  Eddie Dobson      46lbs 00ozs
     14th  Peg 5  Graham Manning      36lbs 00ozs
     15th  Peg 21  John Holdsworth      31lbs 00ozs
     16th  Peg 27  Peter Morton      30lbs 00ozs
     17th  Peg 7  Martin Hucker      29lbs 00ozs
     18th  Peg 1  Ron Mannister      21lbs 00ozs
     19th  Peg 25  Lily & Alfie Bondeau Guests    18lbs 08ozs
     20th  Peg 17  Gary Luck Guest    15lbs 08ozs
     21st  Peg 31  Tony Watkins Guest     14lbs 00ozs

     

  • Alders Farm Fishery. Great Brickhill. Buckinghamshire.

    Marsh AC
    Alders Farm Fishery

    Ash Lake at Alders Farm Fishery

    Once again I'm travelling up toward Milton Keynes to Alders Farm Fishery just outside the village of Great Brickhill. It's for a Marsh AC match that's been arranged by club member Keith Ashby who lives reasonably close to the fishery. Today is really just a friendly knock up though with a few of the venue regulars invited to make up the numbers today, but it's a fantastic venue that's capable of throwing up some mega match weights, so well worth taking the day off work for .

    Living down in South London an early start was called for to avoid the London rush hour, so the alarm went off at some ungodly hour and with the cats fed and a couple of cups of coffee consumed, the car was loaded up in the dark and I was on my way by 5·30am. The plan worked a treat and gave me a clear run up the M1 and A5 meaning I pulled into the car park just after 7am . Trev's van was already parked up and young Mark Quick has obviously been dropped off as he was sitting on his box surrounded by the rest of his kit in splendid isolation.

    Dinah soon appeared and set up the dip so we could rinse our nets off and Trev staggered into view with a couple of gallons of maggots that he had to riddle off ready for the anglers today. With that done it was time to open the shop and we were soon chatting over the prospects for the day ahead as other anglers started to arrive including Keith, the organiser of todays match and pretty soon the banter was starting to flow back and forth . Anyway with some fishery pellets purchased my stomach was telling me it was time to make my way down to The Pumphouse for breakfast, so I collected my kit and headed off down the hill.

    Dinah already had breakfast under way when I got there, in fact Kevin and Jean were already tucking in . A coffee and a full English soon had me ready to face the day ahead as the rest of todays anglers arrived. One of those was Mal Talbot who Trev describes as 'Mad as a box of frogs ' but he's fished at the top level for many years and now helps out presenting the Alders Farm and GOT Baits video's that Trev produces, so spends a fair bit of time at the fishery. Standing out on the veranda taking in the sunshine you could see that there were plenty of fish moving, an encouraging sign but with the recent colder nights I had a feeling that it could be a little harder than expected today .

    Around about 9·30am Keith called everyone to order (no small task ) and got the draw under way. Into the bag and peg 34 finds it's way to me. I was more than happy with that as Vic had told me it was a good peg to draw .

    So off to collect my kit and make the short trip to the peg. Kev was settling into peg 38 along with Dave on peg 36, while to my right I could see Mal on peg 32, so no pressure there then !!!

    AlderspegPlan.jpg Match Peg Plan

    Peg 34 is a lovely looking peg that had a decent view over the rest of the lake, There's a big bush overhanging the water to the left and a smaller one in the margin to the right. It's quite shallow with a maximum of around 2 feet of water but that doesn't normally have an adverse effect on the fishing.

    Alders001-1.jpg Peg 34, Ash Lake

    I set up 3 identical rigs that were freshly tied, all 0·2g NG Springer Sampson Margin's on on 0·21 Ultima power match with size 16 Kamasan B911X's to finish them off that would be fished on a top 2 +1 at around 18 inches deep. Bait was simply 4mm fishery pellets that I damped down for feeding while hook baits were just hard 6mm's along with corn as a change bait.

    With a bit of time before the All -In I strolled round for a chat with Mal and found him perched on his trusty red ASI making the most of the glorious sunshine ......

    Alders002-1.jpg Mal Talbot

     and was soon joined by Dave and Kevin. After a while I left them chatting and made my way back to my peg for a quick check that everything was ready before we started. At 11am Keith called the All-In so I fed some pellet along the bush to my left and some pellet and corn into the right hand margin before shipping a banded pellet out to the bush. a couple of tentative dinks before the float vanished but the lift offered little resistance before a rudd surfaced and promptly fell of the hook, not the start that I was looking for , so I re-fed and dropped in again. This time the float just buried and a lot more resistance this time as a hooked carp tore off in the shallow water. I soon had it under control however and in the net, a 2½lb mirror to get me up and running. It was steady away from there on in if I'm honest, I wasn't catching quickly but I did catch steadily, the only real problem was lost fish, but with hooked fish charging off when they're hooked in shallow water it's inevitable that you'll lose a few if the hook hold isn't spot on.

    I could see that Mal appeared to be matching me fish for fish, but looking round the rest of the lake, although people were catching, it didn't appear to be at the expected rate that the lake is capable of. Indeed after around an hour Dave appeared to see how I was doing and reckoned that he only had around 15lbs to show for his efforts .

    I just kept feeding the two lines but concentrated on the left hand bush as I didn't want to disturb the margin to early. After a couple of hours I had around 25 fish in the nets and could see that Vic over on peg 2 appeared to be putting a few together as well ......

    Alders005-1.jpg Vic on peg 3

    I could hear Al over on peg 6 complaining that all he could find were small fish in the 1lb - 1½lb range, but knowing Al he was probably fibbing . Clive however seemed to be doing OK when my camera lens caught him in the act of landing a fish ......

    Alders006-1.jpg One in the net for Clive

    My fish appeared to back off just before 1pm, so as is my custom I re-fed quite heavily and took a stroll with the camera to allow things to settle. Terry was tucked away on peg 29 and struggling to come to terms with it today and only taking the occasional fish ......

    Alders008-1.jpg Terry

    Keith was on peg 28 and with nobody on the next 3 pegs he was targeting the margin with corn, the fish were certainly there as he could see their tails waving at him, but getting them to take his bait was proving to be a frustrating exercise as they continued to ignore it in favour of the free offerings ......

    Alders009-1.jpg Keith

    As I made my way back Mal was still plugging away steadily taking a succession of fish in glorious sunshine, at least that's the way it appeared ......

    Alders011-1.jpg Mal Talbot on peg 30

    Returning to my peg it was now in the shade and with the breeze blowing onto my back I felt the need to put my fleece on.
    Back out with the bait and the fish had settled again and I took a look down the margin for the first time as I could see fish moving in and out of it. It did produce bites but the fish were much smaller than I had been taking from the bush so after around 30 minutes I reverted back to there.

    With around 2 hours to go Kev was having a bit of a grueller on peg 38 as it just wasn't producing for him today, but Dave started to catch at a better rate which cheered him up no end ......

    Alders007-1.jpg Dave the Fish

    Things had obviously picked up for Al as well as he was heard to ask Keith if the match could be extended for a bit longer, a request that Keith declined .

    Alders010-1.jpg Al

    I managed to keep the fish coming steadily till the end of the match and by the time that Keith called the All-Out at 4pm I had 67 fish in my nets. Packing away my kit Mal appeared reckoning that I'd beaten him and shook my hand. I wasn't so sure as it seemed to me that he'd been catching at a similar rate, but the scales would have the last say on that .

    Trev had come down to start the weigh in on the pumphouse bank and as Dave had the club scales with him Keith started to weigh-in on our side. Kev had indeed had a frustrating day with just 28½lbs to show for his efforts . Dave's peg had come good in the last couple of hours allowing him to put 126½lbs on the scales. At my peg my fish weighed 177½lbs and Mal was proved to be right when his fish came in at 119½lbs . Simon had quietly put together 74¼lbs from peg 30 while Terry's fish registered 58½lbs. Finally Keith weighed in with a level 87lbs and with the weigh-in on our side concluded we made our way back to The Pumphouse for the results.

    Trev had laid on Tea and Coffee and broken out the biscuits which was very welcome as the assembled anglers discussed their experiences of the day. Finally Keith had the results collated and was ready to announce them.
    It turned out that my weight had been good enough for me to take the win today with Al taking second place and Vic taking third .

    I'd just like to say a big Thank You to Keith for organising the match for us, and another Big Thank You to Dinah,Trev, and all the staff at Alders Farm, Top Breakfast, great fishing, it's hard to ask for more unless it can be moved closer to where I live .

    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

     1st Peg 34 Peter Morton  177lbs 08ozs
     2nd Peg 6 Al Loader  147lbs 00ozs
     3rd Peg 2 Vic Nugent  146lbs 04ozs
     4th Peg 10 Josh Blavins   136lbs 04ozs
     5th Peg 36 Dave Collier  126lbs 08ozs
     6th Peg 32 Mal Talbot  119lbs 08ozs
     7th Peg 7 Troy Hillier  114lbs 12ozs
     8th Peg 1 Charlie Lancaster   93lbs 08ozs
     9th Peg 28 Keith Ashby   87lbs 00ozs
     10th Peg 30 Simon Watkins   74lbs 04ozs
     11th Peg 5 Mark Quick   69lbs 08ozs
     12th Peg 8 Clive Pritchard   68lbs 12ozs
     13th Peg 3 Pete Iles   65lbs 12ozs
     14th Peg 29 Terry Goff   58lbs 08ozs
     15th Peg 16  John Holdsworth   51lbs 04ozs
     16th Peg 4 Martin Hucker   32lbs 00ozs
     17th Peg 38 Kevin Loveland   28lbs 08ozs
     18th Peg 12 Chris Withall   19lbs 00ozs

     


     

  • Rolfs Lake. Holton. Oxfordshire.

    The Jinx Series 2012
    Match 4

    Rolfs Lake

    It's back down to Rolfs Lake today for the 4th match of this year's Jinx Series . With the Series reaching its halfway point there will be a fresh draw for the sections on the final three matches today which could have a big say in deciding the outcome of the Series so there will be a few anxious anglers come draw time.
    A peak out of the window today confirmed that it promised to be a scorcher today so having fed the cats and loaded the kit I made an early start. Things went horribly wrong when I reached Battersea however when I found the Café where I usually stop for breakfast closed totally throwing my pre match preparations into disarray , so back into the car and off to Rolfs with a quick stop at Asda's for a couple of wraps to sustain me which meant that I arrived at the lake around 9am.

    A few of the lads were already there having fished the Friday Night Match, and chatting to Malc it seemed that it had fished hard and the general consensus seemed to be that it was going to be more of the same today. The fresh draw for sections today seemed to have ensured that most were there in good time, however three were missing today, Dave Moore, Geoff Palmer and Ade Williams meaning they would have to take their chances on which section was drawn for them, however it did give Michael Corsini and Paul Jay the opportunity to fish today .

    Meanwhile Gem had been to Asda's and returned with Cornetto's for all. Thanks Gem, much appreciated and it went down a treat . Next up was one of those events that you only see in a Jinx Match, Paul received The Pink Hat much to everyones amusement with a photo being immediately posted on Facebook for Paul's wife Jayne to see ......

    PaulR.jpg Paul with The Hat

    So around Noon Malc called the draw. I got in early and got peg 24 in C section for my troubles. It hadn't been fished last night so wouldn't have had any bait, but at least it would be shaded on the car park bank for most of the match . Side bets of a Golden Nugget were struck with Neil, Gem and Michael and having collected my kit I made my way to the peg. For company in the section I had Nick Williams on peg 28 and Michael on peg 26 (fishing for Ade) while on peg 22 was Nick W-P. Opposite on peg 18 was Paul with Neil on 16 and Budgie on 14 completing C section .

    Jinx4pegPlan.jpg Peg Plan

    The rigs today were all freshly tied and were my favourite Nick Gilbert handmade Power Pencils in 0·5g and 0·4g sizes that were made up on 0·21 Ultima power match with size 14 Guru MWG's to finish off to cover a 5mtr line, the bottom of the slope at the end of the right hand bush and a third in front of the platform on empty peg 25. I also set up a bomb rod to fish a banded pellet out by the aerator. Bait was a mix of 4 and 6mm fishery pellets for feed with about 3 pints of them wetted down and 6, 8 and 11mm hard pellets along with some paste and corn for the hook.

    Jinx4001.jpg Peg 24

    At 2pm the All-In was called and with all three lines fed it was out to the aerator with a banded 8mm on the bomb rod to see if I could nick an early fish. It was not to be, however Paul had an early fish over on peg 18 on the pellet wag before taking a look with the pole ......

    Jinx4002.jpg Paul Roberts

    ...... and it looked as if Tony down on peg 32 had some early action as well, but it was Simon on peg 8 who had got off to the best start storming into an early lead with 5 fish .

    20 minutes on the bomb hadn't produced as much as a knock for me so out to 5mtrs with a banded 8mm as there were a few signs of fish over the feed. It really wasn't happening though for most of us in the Big Lake today and it was starting to look like it would be a real struggle for most and in fact an hour had passed when Neil called over to me asking if I'd had any bites and as I replied 'No' the float slid away !!!! Straight away I could feel that the fish was foul hooked as I struggled to control it, however slow steady pressure saw me prevail and finally slide a Mirror tail first over the net and at 11½lbs I was off the mark .

    The next bite produced a similar result and produced an 11lb'er, but young Michael wasn't quite so impressed as he'd suffered with a couple of foul hookers but hadn't managed to get them into the net which led to plenty of banter between the two of us ......

    Jinx4005.jpg Michael Corsini

    Over the course of the next hour or so a couple of net fish put in an appearance for me to keep things ticking over but the next bite saw a fish power off and in all honesty all I could do was hang on as this fish gave the gear a real work out. I finally managed to get a look at it after around 5 minutes, a big common which appeared to be hooked in the pectoral fin before it charged off again. Of course Michael was full of encouragement and seemed genuinely delighted when I managed to slide the landing net under it, even more so when the scales on the weigh station registered a weight of 19½lbs .

    Landing the fish had taken a while though and it had ploughed through the swim wreaking havoc, so I re-fed and took a short stroll to see how others were doing. Tony was up on peg 32 and it looked like he'd had a reasonably good start to the match, but it turned out that he'd suffered with foul hookers and had lost a few fish so was now taking a look down his right hand margin ......

    Jinx4007.jpg Tony Roberts

    Simon was nowhere to be seen, but he was having such a good match that he'd gone off to get another keepnet . However Simon's good fortune meant that he was stopping the fish coming round to peg 9 and Malc was suffering a real grueller of a match ......

    Jinx4008.jpg Malc

    Clive seemed to be suffering a similar fate on peg 10 with no fish coming round from the right and Paul Jay on peg 13 seeming to stop the fish moving round from the left as he appeared to be catching better than most on the Big Lake ......

    Jinx4006.jpg Clive

    I could see that The Minx was down on peg 38, but it didn't look it was happening for her either, though it was one of those pegs where the fish can turn up at any time, meaning she could still be a danger as the match wore on ......

    Jinx4009.jpg Gem

    Fred was trying his best on peg 34, but yet again it didn't seem to be producing the goods today, and that seemed to be the story for most ......

    Jinx4010.jpg Fred

    Back at my peg there was a bit of fizzing on the 5mtr line to offer some encouragement and the next hour and a half produced another 5 net fish to keep things ticking over for me and Nick W on peg 28 started to put a few together to put pressure on Michael who was still suffering frustrations with foul hookers .

    The last hour cost me however as I just couldn't buy a bite from any of my lines while Neil over on peg 16 started to put a run of fish together ......

    Jinx4003.jpg Neil

    and Paul added a couple of decent fish late on as well, along with Budgie getting in on the action over on peg 14 ......

    Jinx4004.jpg Budgie

    7pm saw the All-Out called leaving me frustrated, as I'd hoped for a decent last hour, but it hadn't happened and I felt that it had cost me the section , the Weigh-In would tell all though but I wasn't feeling confident. I soon had my kit packed away and back to the car and chatting to a few of the lads it was obvious that it had been a struggle for a lot of people today.

    Round to peg 34 for the Weigh-In and Fred started things off in A section with 45lbs 5ozs followed by Dai with 38lbs 11ozs. The Minx has a real struggle today and could only manage 23lbs 11ozs leaving a lot of very relieved anglers . Mat had managed a decent 90lbs 11ozs closely followed by Terry with 83lbs 5ozs, but it was Kevin who took the A section honours today taking full advantage of peg 4 not being fished with 103lbs 7ozs from peg 6 . Onto the first half of B section and Steve had managed 66lbs 9ozs but had been totally eclipsed by Simon who put an excellent 225lbs 2ozs on the scales . Malc's day didn't get any better either, his 22lbs 10ozs meaning that daughter Gem added him to The Minx List again. Clive managed 27lbs 1oz but Paul Jay took 126lbs 3ozs from peg 13 to complete the first part of B section. C section saw Budgie weigh 61lbs 10ozs and Neil recorded 91lbs 3ozs only to be edged out by Paul and The Pink Hat with 95lbs 4ozs. Round on peg 22 Nick W-P put 25lbs 9ozs on the scales and at least avoided a Minxing , while my fish came to 81½lbs. Michael weighed 43¼lbs and Nick W put 68lbs 10ozs on the scales to complete C section. Dave C recorded 34lbs 15ozs from peg 30 and Tony was last to weigh with 99¼lbs to complete B section.

    Once more it was back to the hut for the results and the winner today by the proverbial country mile was Simon for the second Jinx Match on the trot with Paul Jay in second and third going to Kevin . The section winners were Kevin, Simon, and Paul Roberts .
    The Minx claimed just 1 victim today, her Dad (The Jinx ) for the second Jinx Match running guaranteeing that he'll be wearing it on the next match , and while I collected a Golden Nugget from Michael and Gem, I had to hand one over to Neil .

    The penultimate match is on September 22nd, and it's all still to play for in the Series. Can Simon make it three wins in a row? we'll see on the day .

    Overall Result

    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

     1st Peg 8 Simon Mound   225lbs 02ozs
     2nd Peg 13 Paul JayGuest  126lbs 03ozs
     3rd Peg 6 Kevin Loveland   103lbs 07ozs
     4th Peg 32 Tony Roberts    99lbs 04ozs
     5th Peg 18 Paul Roberts    95lbs 04ozs
     6th Peg 16 Neil Riddy    91lbs 03ozs
     7th Peg 40 Mat Edwards    90lbs 11ozs
     8th Peg 2 Terry Goff    83lbs 05ozs
     9th Peg 24 Peter Morton    81lbs 08ozs
     10th Peg 28 Nick Williams    68lbs 10ozs
     11th Peg 7 Steve Wilson    66lbs 09ozs
     12th Peg 14 Marcus Burgess    61lbs 10ozs
     13th Peg 34 Fred Parker    45lbs 05ozs
     14th Peg 26 Michael CorsiniGuest   43lbs 04ozs
     15th Peg 36 Dai Thomas    38lbs 11ozs
     16th Peg 30 Dave Collier    34lbs 15ozs
     17th Peg 10 Clive Pritchard    27lbs 01ozs
     18th Peg 22 Nick Watkins-Price     25lbs 09ozs
     19th Peg 38 Gem (The Minx) Doyle    23lbs 11ozs
     20th Peg 9 Malc (The Jinx) Doyle    22lbs 10ozs

    Names in Pink are those that were "MINXED"

    A Section

    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

    Points

     1st Peg 6 Kevin Loveland  103lbs 07ozs

    1

    2nd Peg 40 Mat Edwards   90lbs 11ozs

    2

    3rd Peg 2 Terry Goff   83lbs 05ozs

    3

    4th Peg 34 Fred Parker   45lbs 05ozs

    4

    5th Peg 36 Dai Thomas   38lbs 11ozs

    5

    6th Peg 38 Gem (The Minx) Doyle   23lbs 11ozs

    6

    B Section

    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

    Points

    1st Peg 8 Simon Mound  225lbs 02ozs

    1

    2nd Peg 13 Paul Jay  126lbs 03ozs

    Guest

    3rd Peg 32 Tony Roberts   99lbs 04ozs

    2

    4th Peg 7 Steve Wilson   66lbs 09ozs

    3

    5th Peg 30 Dave Collier   34lbs 15ozs

    4

    6th Peg 10 Clive Pritchard   27lbs 01ozs

    5

    7th Peg 9 Malc (The Jinx) Doyle   22lbs 10ozs

    6

    C Section

    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

    Points

    1st Peg 18 Paul Roberts   95lbs 04ozs

    1

    2nd= Peg 16 Neil Riddy   91lbs 03ozs

    2

    2nd= Peg 24 Peter Morton   81lbs 08ozs

    3

    4th Peg 28 Nick Williams   68lbs 10ozs

    4

    5th Peg 14 Marcus Burgess   61lbs 10ozs

    5

    6th Peg 26 Michael Corsini   43lbs 04ozs

    Guest

    7th Peg 22 Nick Watkins-Price    25lbs 09ozs

    6

     

  • Hartleylands Farm Fishery. The Reservoir.

    Marsh AC club match.

    Hartleylands Farm Reservoir

    I'm off down to Hartleylands Farm just outside the village of Cranbrook in Kent today for the seventh match of the Marsh AC year. It's a match that I really look forward to fishing as it's one of my favorite  waters with the potential for a cracking days sport . An early start was in order as I was meeting a few of the lads for breakfast at The Knoxbridge Café and with the promise of some decent weather for today it didn't take long to get the gear loaded into the car and set off.

    A nice smooth drive down saw me pulling into the car park at around 7·30am just as Al and Keith Powell who was guesting today arrived. Kevin and Jean were already there along with Keith and Mick who'd made their usual trip down from Milton Keynes and Rusty who was also guesting today and we were soon joined by John, Martin and Zack. With the pangs of hunger taken care of by a Knoxbridge Special it was time to get up to the fishery for the draw, but not before Keith Powell noticed Keith's wallet that had dropped on the floor by his seat and phoned him to let him know he had it .

    Arriving at the draw most of the usual suspects were in attendance along with our third guest today Mick the Chippy who I struck a side bet of a Golden Nugget with as usual. Dave soon had the monies collected and the draw underway. Peg 25 proved to be mine today, a short stroll from the car park and shaded by trees. Kev had peg 29 and it looked good for a few today while Mick the Chippy was next up on 28 with Rusty to my left on 26 and Mick W next up on peg 23.

    Res002.jpg Pete's peg today

    Settling into the peg it was time to decide how to approach it. I'd considered fishing the pellet wag today but with the wind blowing from right to left across the peg it was going to be very awkward , so although I set one up I was pretty sure that it wasn't going to figure. Instead it was going to be 3 pole rigs, one at 5mtrs straight out with another for the willow to my right and a third for the left hand willow. The first two were once again Nick Gilbert's handmade 0·5g Power Pencils that were made up on 0·21 Ultima power match with size 14 Guru MWG's to finish off with while the third rig was a 0.3 NG Edger again on 0·21 Ultima power match straight through to a size 14 Guru MWG. Bait was 4 and 6mm pellet for feed along with some hemp while hook bait would be 8mm hard pellet with some GOT Atomic paste if I needed it.

    Kev provided a cup of coffee courtesy of Jean when he popped down for a chat and Dave called the All-In at 10am and I fed a couple of handfuls of hemp and pellets to the two willow swims and a handful of pellet straight out at 5mtrs before following them out with a banded 8mm to 5mtrs. I could hear that Rusty was in almost straight away but I was being plagued by sharp bites that I couldn't connect with and I suspected that these were from roach snatching at the 8mm pellet and this was confirmed when I landed one of around 6ozs that had somehow managed to engulf the pellet.

    Thankfully my first carp of the day was soon on its way, the carp in the reservoir give a good account of themselves with the deep water encouraging them to keep their heads down and making you work to get their heads up and into the net but after a spirited fight a nice mirror of around 7lbs was safely in the keepnet .

    You couldn't class the sport as fast and furious though and the general banter around the lake made it obvious that most were struggling after around an hour, apart that is from Kev who was into a steady run of fish and Mick the Chippy if the rumours were to be believed . I was picking up the odd carp on my 5mtr line but looks over at both willow swims were producing nothing apart from the odd roach and skimmer. Rusty had taken a few carp fishing shallow but they weren't really having it either and gradually faded away.

    By 12·30pm I had around 6 carp and a few silvers to show for my efforts so took a little stroll to see how others were doing on my bank. Mick W reckoned that he'd had a few but seemed to be doing OK to me judging by the amount of elastic coming from his top two as he played a carp and it was obvious that he had hopes of taking the MK Nugget from Keith today ......

    Res009.jpg Mick on peg 23

    but the pegs in the early twenties didn't seem to be producing as I would have expected them to. However over on the other side the one person that did seem to be getting among a few was Terry and with the wind blowing into the margins there I fancied that he had the chance of a good weight on the cards today ......

    Res014.jpg Terry, todays Winner

    Back down on peg 29 Kev was enjoying himself taking a succession of fish from under the willow to his left ......

    Res006.jpg Kevin on peg 29

    Mick was enjoying himself as always but had suffered with a few lost fish in the course of the morning and looking to up his catch rate ......

    Res004.jpg Mick on peg 28

    and while Rusty was his usual jovial self , with his shallow line having dried up was looking to explore other lines in an effort to put a few more in the net ......

    Res003.jpg Rusty on peg 26

    Back at my peg it was just a question of keeping some feed trickling into the three lines and waiting for some fish to turn up, which I was certain would happen at some point given the head of fish present in the water . Dave the Fish popped round for a stroll and it obviously wasn't going well for him and you could sense his frustration with not being able to get to grips with things today .

    As the afternoon wore on things did start picking up for me. I had to rotate round the three lines, but by doing this I started to pick up carp on a regular basis, nothing big, most were around the 4-5lbs mark but good weight builders if you can keep them coming.

    Others weren't so fortunate and I could hear Al bemoaning the fact that he couldn't reach the spot where he felt the fish were in his swim ......

    Res005.jpg Al on another flyer

    Things had picked up a bit for Tony, but he'd still found time to pop along and check out what Keith Powell was doing on peg 13 as it was obviously starting to produce for him ......

    Res011.jpg Tony watches Keith

    Keith was having one of those matches that we all dread, putting a few fish together but having to watch travelling companion Mick W catching just a few more which would surely result in the loss of an MK Nugget today ......

    Res007.jpg Keith

    My afternoon was then rudely interrupted by a pain in the neck ..... I'd been stung by a bee . Fortunately Rusty came to my aid and removed the sting with the aid of a pair of styl pliers, ad hoc surgery at its finest which allowed me to resume fishing again .

    Things seemed to pick up for most as the match drew to a close, unfortunately not for Dave who had to suffer more frustration as Tony on the next peg found a late run of fish to save his day while Dave got seen off by a couple of foul hookers .

    The All-Out was called at 4pm and with a set of scales on our side Kevin and I decided to get the weigh-in underway before packing up. We started with Rod on peg 19 who put 26½lbs on the scales followed by Simon with 79½lbs. Next up was Graham with 33lbs and Chris with 36¾lbs. Mick W recorded 94¾lbs and my 19 carp with a few silvers weighed 114½lbs . Rusty had managed 96¾lbs but Mick the Chippy had suffered a frustrating second half to his match with just 36½lbs meaning a Golden Nugget was coming my way . Finally Kevin put his fish onto the scales and recorded 132½lbs and a new PB Match Weight ......

    Res012.jpg Kev with the catch

    Time to pack away the kit and get back to the car park where Dave worked out the results and sorted out the section money. First today was Terry with a fine 163½lbs Kevin had secured second place and I had finished in third .
    Today's sections had gone to Al, Terry, Mick W and Kevin to bring an enjoyable day to a close .

    The next club match is at Colemans Cottage on September 15th, but we also have a midweek match at Alders Farm a couple of days before that which Keith has kindly organised for us, so plenty to look forward to .

     

    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

     1st Peg 15 Terry Goff    163lbs 08ozs
     2nd Peg 29 Kevin Loveland    132lbs 08ozs
     3rd Peg 25 Peter Morton    114lbs 08ozs
     4th Peg 13 Keith PowellGuest   106lbs 00ozs
     5th Peg 26 Russell GravesGuest    96lbs 12ozs
     6th Peg 23 Mick Wright     94lbs 12ozs
     7th Peg 20 Simon Watkins     79lbs 08ozs
     8th Peg 16 Zack Johnson     76lbs 04ozs
     9th Peg 9 Tony Roberts     75lbs 08ozs
     10th Peg 1 Al Loader     75lbs 00ozs
     11th Peg 11 Keith Ashby     68lbs 04ozs
     12th Peg 7 Clive Pritchard     64lbs 12ozs
     13th Peg 5 John Holdsworth     40lbs 12ozs
     14th Peg 22 Chris Withall     36lbs 12ozs
     15th Peg 28 Mick PearsonGuest    36lbs 08ozs
     16th Peg 21 Graham Manning     33lbs 00ozs
     17th Peg 4 Martin Hucker     27lbs 12ozs
     18th Peg 19 Rod Turner     26lbs 08ozs
     19th Peg 8 Dave Collier     22lbs 12ozs

     

  • Rolf's Lake. Holton. Oxfordshire.

    Maggotdrowning.com

    magtrans.gif MD's Logo picture by pnm123

    Rolf's Pairs Tournament 2012.

    This weekend I'm travelling back to Rolfs Lake oncemore for the annual Maggotdrowning.com Rolfs Pairs Tournament. I normally fish Dave Collier's Friday match the day before, but this year I wasn't able to get Friday off . so it was an early start around 6am to try and avoid the Olympic road closures that would be in place. I couldn't avoid the closures as it happened, but the early start meant very light traffic and it was just after 7·30am when I arrived at the car park at Rolfs. It was already packed as the vast majority had been there since Friday having fished Dave's match .

    As usual Dave Moore was one of the early birds and was up and about and kindly made me a coffee as we discussed the prospects for the two days to come and he filled me in on how it had fished on the Friday. All this as he tied up some fresh rigs for the day ahead, I have to say that Dave deserves a prize for his preparation as he can always be found tying up fresh rigs on the morning of a match .

    As usual some were pitching tents for an overnight stay, most notably Steve Wilson who'd arrived with his latest purchase that looked more of a Big Top than a bivvie and seemed to be minus the instructions which caused some chuckles as we watched him trying to erect it ......

    StevesTent.jpg Steve's tent

    Chatting away to Tony and a couple of the other lads I asked Tony if he was ready for the New Pairs format, and when he asked what that was I explained that a pair drew a single peg and one fished to the left and the other to the right Bite, the bite was spectacular till everyones laughter gave the game away

    I'd decided that as I was staying for just one night I would be sleeping in the car rather than go through all the palaver of pitching a bivvie so spent a bit of time catching up with people including Paul's wife Jayne who had come down for the weekend with their new puppy Hector ......

    JayneandHector.jpg Jayne with Hector.

    The pleasing thing to see was just how well the lake looked, two weeks previously when I was down the banks resembled a muddy swamp in places, but a week of sun and a lot of hard work by John and his team had dried it out and got it looking good again .

    By 11·30am people were assembled outside the fishery hut as the draw for the weekends pairings took place and they worked out like this ........

    Saturdaymorning.jpg Saturday Morning

    Dave (dave the fish) Collier & Marcus (Budgie65) Burgess
    Scott (methodgob) Weston & Paul (NMLW's) East
    Nick (Neo1) Williams & Ant (antwood) Haywood
    Steve (steak) Akal & Geoff (Geoff P) Palmer
    Paul (The Turk) Roberts & Gem (The Minx) Doyle
    Barry (Bazza C) Cullen & Dave (Paste King) Moore
    Tony (spamwham) Roberts & Simon (Simple) Mound
    Terry (Wily Coyote) Goff & Clive (black hydro) Pritchard
    Steve (smiler) Wilson & Keith (keith74) Powell
    Al (al) Loader & Simon (sidev77) Watkins
    Jon (hatchye) Hatch & Peter (Mugger) Morton
    Dai (dai-fish) Thomas & Malc (The Jinx) Doyle
    Kevin (Kev the catch) Loveland & Dave (Webbo) Webster
    Dave (drynet) Wall & Terry (Auto) Pearce

    So with that done and out of the way it was time for the Day 1 draw for pegs. Jon my partner for the weekend came away with peg 35, one that sees very little use in matches and when I drew peg 10 I wasn't to happy myself, as with peg 11 in as well I wasn't expecting great things from it today especially as it hadn't been fished yesterday . Collecting my kit I made my way round to my peg and on the way struck my usual side bet of a Golden Nugget with Dave Wall on peg 25 and Gem on peg 18 .

    Saturdaypegs.jpg Saturday Pegs

    Arriving at the peg I found that I had Budgie for company on peg 11 and Terry P on peg 9. More worrying for Budgie and I was the large raft of scum that was covering our pegs that was sure to make presentation difficult .

    Peterpeg102.jpg Peg 10 for Peter on Saturday

    I've simplified my approach at Rolfs this year and today would be no different, just 3 rigs all for 5mtr lines, one straight out, another to the edge of the bush on the right hand side and the third for down the left hand margin. The first two were Nick Gilbert's handmade 0·5g Power Pencils that were made up on 0·21 Ultima power match with size 14 Guru MWG's to finish off with while the margin rig was a 0.3 NG Edger again on 0·21 Ultima power match straight through to a size 14 Guru MWG. Bait was a mix of 4 and 6mm fishery pellets for feed and 6, 8 and 11mm hard pellets along with some paste and corn.

    With plenty of time before the All-In I went for a stroll to see how others were doing. I could see that Webbo down on peg 7 was holding court and extolling the merits of "The Feederless Feeder" to an interested audience ......

    FeederlessFeederdemo.jpg Feederless Feeder Demo

    Gem was setting up on peg 18 and with fiancée Simon just a couple of pegs away on peg 16 would be looking to hand out a few Minxings today ......

    GemSaturday.jpg Gem getting ready on peg 18

    A few had gathered round by the hut getting a last minute drink and trying to work out what the match had in store for all of us .......

    Waiting.jpg Waiting

    The big shock came when I got round to Malc on peg 39, he had virtually all of his pole assembled , this is a sight that's beyond rare as he just doesn't do more than 5mtrs and that's considered long for Malc as he's happiest just fishing a top kit, surely he was trying to fool those around him ......

    LiamandMalcpeg39.jpg Can't believe that Malc had this much pole out !

    Back at my peg and with the wind blowing into us Budgie and I were resigned to fighting the scum as John called the All-In at 2pm. I had soaked down some of my feed pellets and it was these that I fed down the margin and to the end of the bush before cupping a pot of mixed pellet and corn out to 5mtrs in front and following it out with a banded 8mm. It was a slow start however with no real action, but Terry G over on peg 32 was off to a flyer with a carp straight away ......

    Terryonpeg32-1.jpg Terry on peg 32

    Next up came Steve on peg 8 with a weigher of around 17lbs and when Webbo followed up a few minutes later with an 18½lb'er I was starting to fear the worst. However my float soon slipped away and after a brief struggle a common of around 7lbs was soon in the net to get me off the mark. This was soon followed by one of the bream that show more nowadays and another small carp which made me feel a lot better . Club mate John (tutu) Holdsworth had fished yesterday and had stopped over to watch the action today and take a few pictures and he was on hand when the shout of YEEEEEESSSSSSSSS went out , Never a good sound to hear early in a match as it signifies that The Minx is off the mark and worries a lot of the other anglers around the lake .......

    CarpforGem.jpg Safely in the net, Minxings on the way for some

    Simon wasn't one of those today though as he was back on peg 16, the peg he'd had 315lbs from a couple of weeks ago and while he would be hard pushed to beat that today, he was starting to put a few fish together .......

    Simpsplaying.jpg Simon plays a carp

    I was struggling, Terry P on peg 9 had started catching and it seemed as if he was blocking any fish from coming my way as nothing was coming from the left for either Budgie or Kev on peg 13. Dave Wall was having a bit of a hard time of it up on peg 25, he's spent a fair few matches on that part of the lake and I was sure that he would rather have been elsewhere on the lake .......

    YamYam.jpg Dave Wall

    As the match wore on Terry G was still picking up the odd fish from peg 32 and Simon Watkins on peg 29 was starting to get a bit of action .......

    SimonWatkins.jpg Simon Watkins plays a carp

    That left Scott between them on peg 31 facing a real struggle with just a couple of small silvers in his net to show for his efforts ......

    Scottonpeg31.jpg Scott on peg 31

    News was starting to filter through from the Little Lake that Ant was starting to get among a few decent fish on peg 6 while Jon on un-fancied peg 35 was also starting to find a few, as was Keith fishing the feeder down on peg 38 ......

    keithsaturday.jpg Keith Powell on peg 38

    Just after halfway through Terry P on peg 9 stopped catching and as if on cue I started catching with a couple of weighers and a bream coming my way in double quick time. A couple of foul hookers didn't help matters but by taking my time and keeping some feed trickling in they didn't cause to much disruption and I even managed to land one of them at 13lbs ......

    Peterpeg10.jpg Peter on peg 10

    Budgie had managed to get in on the act as well fishing paste and although he lost a couple of foul hookers he was rewarded with an absolute belter of a Common that tipped the scales at 22lbs, a new PB for him and one I was happy to photograph ......

    BudgiesPB.jpg Happiness is a PB carp.

    My peg seemed to get stronger as the match drew to a close with another 5 weighers and I hooked one final fish just as John called the All-Out at 7pm which I safely landed around four minutes later.

    Packing my kit away I was actually pretty happy with how my match had gone in the end after my initial misgivings before the start and felt sure I'd managed 100lbs+ . I had already decided to leave my kit behind the peg tonight, not that I wanted to draw it again tomorrow, but it was just easier than taking it back to the car park.

    Word was already circulating that Ant would be the one to beat as he'd had a good day on peg 6 and Webbo was looking pretty happy with his efforts from peg 7 as we made our way round to peg 34 to start the Weigh-In.

    Bazza hadn't really got to grips with peg 34 with just over 23lbs but my Pairs partner Jon had a creditable 88lbs 7ozs from 35 . Nick had a mare on 37 and recorded a DNW as Keith weighed 89lbs 7ozs from 38. Malc took 66lbs 9ozs from 39......

    Weigh-in.jpg Saturday Weigh-In

    ...... while Paul could only manage 27lbs 2ozs from peg 1 and Dai had 52½lbs from peg 3 to edge out Geoff's 47lbs 9oz from peg 4. Ant had indeed had a decent day recording a fine 202lbs 13ozs from 6 and Webbo managed 135lbs 6ozs on peg 7. Steak chipped in with 62lbs 15ozs from 7 and Terry P 36lbs 15ozs on peg 9. My fish came to a total of 125lbs 7ozs followed by Budgie with 66lbs 13ozs and Kev's 18¼lbs....... 

    SaturdayWeigh-in.jpg Saturday Weigh-In

    Tony had a level 87lbs and Simon took a fine 189¾lbs. The Minx's first fish had proved to be a solitary individual as her 9lbs 10ozs showed, leaving a lot of very relieved anglers . Al's 65lbs 13ozs and Dave Collier's 36lbs 15ozs led onto Paul who was only the second angler to suffer a Minxing today when he came up a couple of ounces short with just 9½lbs . Steve had 94¼lbs from peg 23 while Dave Wall managed 34½lbs from peg 25 and Dave Moore had 41lbs 9ozs from 26. Clive had 72¾lbs and Simon Watkins 47lbs. Scott had managed 3 small carp late on to avoid a Minxing with 17lbs and Terry G was last to weigh with 84lbs 3ozs .

    Back at the hut the post-mortem on the days events started as we waited for the scores to be posted and I collected a Golden Nugget from Gem and Dave . Individually today Ant had taken the win with Simon second and Webbo third . Finally the scores from the day appeared on the board and it was surprisingly close with.........

    Day1result.jpg Saturday Results

    ......Tony and Simon leading on 10 points, just one ahead of Jon and I along with Steve and Keith tied on 11 points.

    While the results were mulled over Malc returned to his peg with Liam who had a go with dad's tackle and promptly had a carp himself ......

    Liam2.jpg Liam's Carp.

    Some decided to barbecue some food, but Dave Moore and I set off for the Harvester with Al and Keith for a meal before returning later on for a chat and a drink with the rest which was still going on when when I left them to it and climbed into my sleeping bag around 1am .

    Day 2. Sunday 29th July.

    At around 6·30am a sharp knock on the car window woke me from my slumbers to find Dave Moore grinning like the Cheshire Cat . It transpired that Steak had awoken early for a call of nature and as he was in situ his van had locked itself with his keys and everything else inside. Dave being Dave had decided that Steak's misfortune was to good to keep to himself and he needed an accomplice to help with the micky taking . By pure chance the bolt on the bottom of the back door hadn't locked, so with twenty stone of Yorkshireman (Dave) persuading it to open a bit and Terry P with a bit of wire, Steak's keys were rescued, but it made for a fun start to the day.......

    Steve and the troublesome keys.

    With bodies rising from their various sleeping quarters a few of us decided that breakfast was called for, meaning that we ended up at The Harvester and after Webbo had played Thunderbirds and rescued Paul's van with a jump start we were back at the lake in time for the draw which was early as we were fishing from 12 till 5pm today.

    Into the draw bag for me and it's peg 32 today, happy with that , Jon my partner had peg 13, not a good draw as Kev had struggled there yesterday and it didn't bode well for us in the pairs but we'd try our best . So round to collect my kit and get ready. 32 is an end peg and I'd got Kevin to my right on peg 31 while Terry G was opposite me again on peg 9 with Simon Watkins on 10 and Dai on 11.

    Sundaypegs.jpg Sunday Pegs

     Setting up was just a case of adjusting the depths on yesterdays rigs as I'd be concentrating on just two lines today, one at 5mtrs out to the left of peg 9 and the second over the back of the bush in the left hand margin using the same baits as yesterday.

    With a bit of time to kill Dave Wall came down for a chat as he was on peg 23 today and keen to finally take a Golden Nugget back off of me, we would have to see about that later on as I fancied my chances of taking yet another yam yam Nugget today ......

    PeteandDave.jpg Pete and Dave Wall chat before the start of the match.

    At Midday John signalled the All-In and after feeding some wetted down pellets over the back of the bush I fed a pot of mixed pellets and corn at 5mtrs and followed it out with a banded 6mm and after a couple of lift and drops the float buried and I was into my first carp of the day, a mirror of around 7lbs to get me off the mark .
    I have to admit that I feared that fishing from 12-5pm would mean that fish would be hard to come by early on as they normally tend to feed late at this time of the year but that didn't seem to be the case today as most seemed to pick up fish early doors. I picked up another carp, a weigher this time and the obligatory bream before a foul hooker went mental in the swim before shedding the hook and killed it for a while .

    Terry G had started to get some action over on peg 9 ......

    Terryonpeg9.jpg Terry on peg 9.

    And Simon had got of to a good start over on peg 10 with a decent weigher but then suffered a blank period which I felt was down to the fact that he was fishing further out past the area that I'd fed yesterday ......

    SimonWatkinsonpeg10.jpg Simon Watkins on peg 10.

    YEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSS had been heard from down on peg 3 and I felt that a few Minxings could be on the cards today as Gem would be determined to have a better day today ......

    Gempeg3sunday.jpg Gem (The Minx) on peg 3.

    Things were starting to look up for me again as the bites returned at 5mtrs with another couple of net fish and another weigher and although I had another couple of foul hookers they swam well clear of the swim before the rig had come flying back on both occasions. Ant had drawn peg 7 today and was enjoying a head to head with Simon over on peg 34 and looking to get one over him again ......

    Antonpeg7.jpg Ant on peg 7

    Malc had moved one peg to 38 today but was having no joy at all and struggling to tempt as much as a bite from there today ......

    Malconpeg38.jpg Malc on peg 38.

    while Simon had suffered a torrid start to the match with a number of fish escaping through the bush in the right hand margin of peg 34 while Clive seemed to be finding some fish on peg 35 ......

    SimonandClive.jpg Simon on peg 34 and Clive on peg 35.

    Back on the Big lake I could see Webbo up on peg 38 and today his "Feederless Feeder" hadn't worked for him forcing him into fishing the pole and it has to be said that he didn't look as he was having a lot of joy with that either ........

    Webbononpeg18.jpg Webbo on peg 18.

    Looking up the car park bank it didn't seem to be going to well for most there either ......

    Lookingupthecarparkbank.jpg Looking up the car park bank from peg 32.

    especially Al who'd broken the tip of his pellet waggler rod and smashed a top kit as well today, meaning it was turning into an expensive weekend as he'd broken a number 5 on the Friday as well and to add insult to injury Tony was catching better from the bush between their two swims that they were both targeting. The final straw was probably Tony catching a 14lb weigher less than a minute after Al had weighed and returned it to his peg .

    With a couple of hours left I took a look over the back of the bush and the float buried straight away, a weigher at 12lbs and the next 2 put ins produced fish of 13 and 14lbs . Meanwhile on peg 8 Keith was starting to catch a few as well, obviously the coaching session that he'd had with Andy May at Cudmore on Thursday was starting to pay dividends .......

    Keithonpeg8.jpg Fish on for Keith.

    With about an hour to go Kev was really struggling but a few words of advice from John Bennett saw him finally start to find some fish to save his day . I just kept alternating between my two swims which saw me catching regularly right up till the end of the match when John called the All-Out at 5pm. Packing away my kit I was happy enough with my day as I was sure that I had around 150lbs to show for my efforts and thankfully with the car so close I soon had my kit packed away before the Weigh-In started.

    Simon kicked things off on peg 34 with 78lbs 10ozs followed by Clive's 60lbs 11ozs and Steak's 21lbs 14ozs but on 38 Malc suffered with a DNW  much to daughter Gem's delight . Steve had 34lbs 7ozs and Nick 29lbs 10ozs before Gem set The Minx Mark with a much improved 52lbs 1oz today. Terry P fell victim with 45lbs 15ozs while Scott suffered another mare on 6 with just 8lbs 5ozs . Ant had another good match with 139lbs followed by Keith with 88lbs 11ozs. Terry had 83lbs 1oz. Simon 57½lbs and Dai 42½lbs while my partner Jon took 59lbs 6ozs from peg 13 ......

    SundayWeigh-in.jpg Sunday Weigh In

    Dave Collier had 37lbs 6ozs while Budgie managed a creditable 91lbs 11ozs from peg 16 while Webbo had just 34lbs 6ozs for his efforts today. Geoff had 56lbs and Bazza 12½lbs while Paul managed a slightly better 30¼lbs from peg 22 today. Dave Wall weighed in with 37lbs and Tony had won his peg to peg battle with Al by 114lbs 2ozs to 57lbs 10ozs. Paul had 44lbs and Dave Moore 37¾lbs.

    SundayWeigh-in2.jpg Sunday Weigh-In

    Kevin mustered 27¼lbs and I was last to weigh in with a level 166lbs .

    Webbo and Dave Collier retired to work out the Pairs results while the banter got into full swing around the hut. I had taken the Individual win today with Ant in second and Tony third . Ant had managed to draw level with Simps on 18 matches each in their long running duel and I collected another Golden Nugget from Dave Wall and Gem . Gem was happy enough though with 15 additions to The Minx List today including a first time entrant in Dave Wall and sweetest of all, her Dad once more .

    Waitingfortheresults.jpg Waiting for the results

    Finally the two Dave's returned with the all important Pairs results to be read out, and the trophies awarded by Mr Maggotdrowning himself , Dave(Webbo)Webster to the winning team of...........

    Tony Roberts & Simon Mound
     
    WinnersTonyandSimps.jpg Champions 2012 and Webbo

    Congratulations to them both, maintaining their 1 point lead from day 1 to take victory from Jon Hatch and myself,
    no complaints as they caught 30lbs more over the 2 matches to prove worthy winners, In Tony's case for the Third Time .

    Finally a few words of Thanks are due to the following people.........
    John, Pauline & Ollie for once again allowing us the use of their superb fishery over the weekend .
    Dave Webster, for bringing us all Maggotdrowning.com and Dave Collier for organising the whole weekend .
    Finally, to all those Maggotdrowners that took part, It's you that make the weekend the success it is .

    Pairs Result

    Position

    Pairs

    Saturday 

    Sunday

    Points

    Weight

     1st Tony (spamwham) Roberts & Simon (Simple) Mound

    8+2=10

    3+7=10

    20

       469lbs 08ozs
     2nd Jon (hatchye) Hatch & Peter (Mugger) Morton

    7+4=11

    9+1=10

    21

       439lbs 04ozs
     3rd Terry (Wily Coyote) Goff & Clive (black hydro) Pritchard

    9+10=19

    6+8=14

    33

       300lbs 11ozs
     4th Steve (smiler) Wilson & Keith (keith74) Powell

    5+6=11

    20+5=25

    36

       306lbs 13ozs
     5th Al (al) Loader & Simon (sidev77) Watkins

    13+17=30

    10+11=21

    51

       222lbs 15ozs
     6th Dave (dave the fish) Collier & Marcus (Budgie65) Burgess

    19+11=30

    18+4=22

    52

       226lbs 13ozs
     7th Nick (Neo1) Williams & Ant (antwood) Haywood

    28+1=29

    23+2=25

    54

       371lbs 15ozs
     8th Steve (steak) Akal & Geoff (Geoff P) Palmer

    14+16=30

    25+12=37

    67

       188lbs 06ozs
     9th Dai (dai-fish) Thomas & Malc (The Jinx) Doyle

    15+12=27

    16+28=44

    71

       161lbs 09ozs
     10th Kevin (Kev the catch) Loveland & Dave (Webbo) Webster

    24+3=27

    24+21=45

    72

       215lbs 04ozs
     11th Dave (drynet) Wall & Terry (Auto) Pearce

    21+19=40

    19+14=33

    73

       154lbs 06ozs
     12th

     Paul (The Turk) Roberts & Gem (The Minx) Doyle

    22+26=48

    15+13=28

    76

       132lbs 13ozs
     13th Barry (Bazza C) Cullen & Dave (Paste King) Moore

    23+18=41

    26+17=43

    84

       115lbs 02ozs
     14th Scott (methodgob) Weston & Paul (NMLW's) East

    25+27=52

    27+22=49

    101

        65lbs 01ozs

    Saturday Individual Result

    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

     1st Peg 6 Ant (antwood) Haywood   202lbs 13ozs
     2nd Peg 16 Simon (Simple) Mound   189lbs 12ozs
     3rd Peg 7 Dave (Webbo) Webster   135lbs 06ozs
     4th Peg 10 Peter (Mugger) Morton   125lbs 07ozs
     5th Peg 23 Steve (smiler) Wilson    94lbs 04ozs
     6th Peg 38 Keith (keith74) Powell    89lbs 07ozs
     7th Peg 35 Jon (hatchye) Hatch    88lbs 07ozs
     8th Peg 14 Tony (spamwham) Roberts    87lbs 00ozs
     9th Peg 32 Terry (Wily Coyote) Goff    84lbs 03ozs
     10th Peg 28 Clive (black hydro) Pritchard    72lbs 12ozs
     11th Peg 11 Marcus (Budgie65) Burgess    66lbs 13ozs
     12th Peg 39 Malc (The Jinx) Doyle    66lbs 09ozs
     13th Peg 19 Al (al) Loader    65lbs 13ozs
     14th Peg 8 Steve (steak) Akal    62lbs 15ozs
     15th Peg 3 Dai (dai-fish) Thomas    52lbs 08ozs
     16th Peg 4 Geoff (Geoff P) Palmer    47lbs 09ozs
     17th Peg 29 Simon (sidev77) Watkins    47lbs 00ozs
     18th Peg 26 Dave (Paste King) Moore    41lbs 09ozs
     19th= Peg 20 Dave (dave the fish) Collier    36lbs 15ozs
     19th= Peg 9 Terry (Auto) Pearce    36lbs 15ozs
     21st  Peg 25 Dave (drynet) Wall    34lbs 08ozs
     22nd Peg 1 Paul (The Turk) Roberts    27lbs 02ozs
     23rd Peg 34 Barry (Bazza C) Cullen    23lbs 05ozs
     24th Peg 13 Kevin (Kev the catch) Loveland    18lbs 04ozs
     25th Peg 31 Scott (methodgob) Weston    17lbs 00ozs
     26th Peg 18 Gem (The Minx) Doyle     9lbs 10ozs
     27th Peg 22 Paul (NMLW's) East     9lbs 08ozs
     28th Peg 37 Nick (Neo1) Williams

    DNW

    Sunday Individual Result

    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

     1st Peg 32 Peter (Mugger) Morton   166lbs 00ozs
     2nd Peg 7 Ant (antwood) Haywood   139lbs 08ozs
     3rd Peg 25 Tony (spamwham) Roberts   114lbs 02ozs
     4th Peg 16 Marcus (Budgie65) Burgess    91lbs 11ozs
     5th Peg 8 Keith (keith74) Powell    88lbs 11ozs
     6th Peg 9 Terry (Wily Coyote) Goff    83lbs 01ozs
     7th Peg 34 Simon (Simple) Mound    78lbs 10ozs
     8th Peg 35 Clive (black hydro) Pritchard    60lbs 11ozs
     9th Peg 13 Jon (hatchye) Hatch    59lbs 06ozs
     10th Peg 26 Al (al) Loader    57lbs 10ozs
     11th Peg 10 Simon (sidev77) Watkins    57lbs 08ozs
     12th Peg 19 Geoff (Geoff P) Palmer    56lbs 00ozs
     13th Peg 3 Gem (The Minx) Doyle    52lbs 01ozs
     14th Peg 4 Terry (Auto) Pearce    45lbs 15ozs
     15th Peg 28 Paul (The Turk) Roberts    44lbs 00ozs
     16th Peg 11 Dai (dai-fish) Thomas    42lbs 08ozs
     17th Peg 29 Dave (Paste King) Moore    37lbs 12ozs
     18th Peg 14 Dave (dave the fish) Collier    37lbs 06ozs
     19th Peg 23 Dave (drynet) Wall    37lbs 00ozs
     20th Peg 39 Steve (smiler) Wilson    34lbs 07ozs
     21st Peg 18 Dave (Webbo) Webster    34lbs 06ozs
     22nd Peg 22 Paul (NMLW's) East    30lbs 04ozs
     23rd Peg 1 Nick (Neo1) Williams    29lbs 10ozs
     24th Peg 31 Kevin (Kev the catch) Loveland    27lbs 04ozs
     25th Peg 37 Steve (steak) Akal    21lbs 14ozs
     26th Peg 20 Barry (Bazza C) Cullen    12lbs 08ozs
     27th Peg 6 Scott (methodgob) Weston     8lbs 05ozs
     28th Peg 38 Malc (The Jinx) Doyle

    DNW

     

  • Rockells Farm. Saffron Walden. Essex.

    Marsh AC club match.

    Rockells Farm

    Once again it's Rockells Farm in Essex that is the venue for the Marsh AC match today. It's renowned as a bagging water, in fact it's where Martin Hucker set the clubs best ever match weight of 383lbs 04ozs back in 2009 so it's a venue that we always look forward to fishing . However I'd heard from a couple of people recently that it wasn't producing like it had in the past. Was the reason down to the terrible weather we've experienced recently or had something changed? We would find out today .

    I met up with Dave at his house at around 6·45am to follow down to the venue. It was already a pleasant morning with the promise of a warm sunny day ahead as we set off , but Dave must have been using his Beatles Sat Nav as we went on a Magical Mystery Tour of Stanstead Airport and the surrounding villages before we arrived at the venue car park around 8am .

    Everyone was looking forward to this one and a few of the lads soon had it pegged out while Dave sorted out the money and organised the draw. Peg 14 was mine for the day, pretty much where I'd drawn last year and with plenty of water today hopefully it would produce better sport . Turning left from the car park with my kit I found Eddie, Al, Vic and Kev on the first 4 pegs. My peg was actually the one Simon had last year while Dave had the flyer on the point then Zack and Clive was back on his peg last year. Elsewhere John had peg 1 with Simon on 2 and Martin had run to his peg having drawn peg 3 the same peg he'd broken the club match record on in 2009 .

    Rockells2012002.jpg Peg 14

    Settling into the peg I couldn't help noticing a couple of things. The first was the water colour or lack of it, it had that somewhat slate grey appearance that you normally see when the first frosts knock the colour out of the water, and the second thing was that there didn't appear to be any signs of fish moving . Rockells is so heavily stocked that the fish are always competing for food, colouring up the water and you normally see tail patterns and swirls along with cruising fish as you set up, but hardly anything was showing ..... Very Strange .

    The venue is that prolific that the match format is slightly different from our usual in that we have two, three hour matches with a weigh -in after each to avoid keeping too many fish in keepnets for long periods and to make things easier for the scales men. Rigs a simple and strong as you're looking to catch on a top 2 from the margins to do a really big weight and as such were just 0.3 NG Edger's on 0·21 Ultima power match straight through to a size 16 Kamasan B911X for pellet and size 12's for paste. Bait for today was just 6mm hard pellets and strawberry GOT Atomic paste.

    With a bit of time before the start Kev strolled down with a coffee and a freshly cooked bacon and sausage roll which set me up nicely for the start .

    10am saw the All-in called and some pellets were fed into both margins and right away alarm bells rang again as I could see them fall through the first 12-18 inches of water which is really unusual as the water is normally so coloured. I banded a 6mm and dropped it into the left hand margin, the float dipped and a lift produced a 1oz roach, not what I was looking for. Now normally at the start of the matches here you start to hear splashing as people are landing carp straight away but today it was very quiet, nobody was into fish straight away .

    10 minutes in and I had my first carp, but it was an 8oz stockie, absolutely mint which still had the curtain in its mouth intact, definitely not what's expected at Rockells.
    I'd like to say it got better but it didn't . Dave strolled round expressing surprise that nothing was coming to floaters and he strolled down the bank and returned with news that Al and Vic were struggling to put any fish together along with everyone else.

    I'd added a couple of sections to try further out but after a couple of hours just had another 3 stockies and a few roach added to my catch so took a stroll looking for some inspiration. Kev was fishing a feeder but was in the same predicament as the rest of us.......

    Rockells2012005.jpg Kev

    Strolling down to Al he was trying his margins, but all the while we chatted he didn't have a single bite yet alone a fish ......

    Rockells2012004.jpg Al

    Vic was totally disheartened with the lack of fish as well and it was fast becoming obvious that all was not well ......

    Rockells2012003.jpg Vic

    I strolled back up to see Clive and it was the same story at his peg, just the odd stockie and roach showing, Zack was fairing no better, but Dave was getting the odd stockie from the margins and this was probably due to the fact that he only fed floaters at the start so didn't overfeed the swim ......

    Rockells2012008.jpg Dave the Fish

    John was on peg 1 and was getting a few, but nowhere near the quantity expected ......

    Rockells2012007.jpg John (tutu)

    Just before 1pm Dave strolled down with another coffee and bacon and sausage roll for me and with no sign of any improvement we cancelled the first weigh -in and decided to fish straight through. Meanwhile over on peg 9 Ken had managed to connect with a decent sized carp and after carefully playing it had it safely in the net and weighed at 11¼lbs before returning it . I heard that Tony was getting a few but couldn't really see him although I could see Keith who was having the odd fish ......

    Rockells2012006.jpg Keith

    Vic had decided that he'd had enough in the meantime and tipped back and gone home , and I have to admit that the idea had crossed my mind as well .

    Around 2pm there was one hell of a splash from Kev's peg, he'd tripped and lost his footing as he returned to his peg and gone straight in, by the time I got round to see if he was alright he was back on the bank and draining out and declined my invitation to get back in so I could get a photo ......

    Rockells2012009.jpg Wet Kev

    Meanwhile over on peg 8 Graham had latched onto something that was capable of stretching his elastic as he was fortunate enough to latch onto a decent carp ......

    Rockells2012011.jpg Graham plays a carp

    I kept searching the swim adding sections exploring further out but to no real effect as no matter where I tried it just produced the odd stockie or tiny roach and it was a blessed relief when the All-Out was called at 4pm . I really couldn't wait to get the kit packed away and the weigh-in had to be one of the quickest in the clubs recent history. on our bank Eddie had 7¼lbs, Al 10¾lbs and Kev had 6¾lbs. My few fish made 9lbs. Dave had the best weight on our bank with 19½lbs, Zack had a meagre 3½lbs and Clive ended with 11½lbs.

    The owner appeared while we were weighing in and when I asked him about the lack of fish he was adamant that no fish had been lost or netted and no stockies had been introduced, but I'm afraid that I don't believe that to be the truth and as a result of what we experienced today I think it's fair to say that we won't be returning to Rockells any time soon.

    Back at the car park the results were soon sorted John taking the win today with just 41¼lbs , Tony was second with 32lbs and Mick's 31¼lbs gave him third place and the MK Nugget. The sections went to John, Ken, Al and Dave . Next up for the club is The Reservoir at Hartleylands Farm and hopefully a better days fishing for all .

    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

     1st  Peg 1  John Holdsworth     41lbs 04ozs
     2nd  Peg 7  Tony Roberts     32lbs 00ozs
     3rd  Peg 4  Mick Wright     31lbs 04ozs
     4th  Peg 2  Simon Watkins     22lbs 08ozs
     5th  Peg 15  Dave Collier     19lbs 08ozs
     6th  Peg 5  Keith Ashby     16lbs 12ozs
     7th  Peg 9  Ken Walker     14lbs 08ozs
     8th=  Peg 17  Clive Pritchard     11lbs 08ozs
     8th=  Peg 8  Graham Manning     11lbs 08ozs
     10th  Peg 11  Al Loader     10lbs 12ozs
     11th  Peg 14  Peter Morton      9lbs 00ozs
     12th  Peg 3  Martin Hucker      7lbs 08ozs
     13th  Peg 10  Eddie Dobson      7lbs 04ozs
     14th  Peg 13  Kevin Loveland      6lbs 12ozs
     15th  Peg 16  Zack Johnson      3lbs 08ozs
     16th  Peg 6  Terry Goff      3lbs 04ozs
     17th  Peg 12  Vic Nugent

    DNW

  • Rolfs Lake. Holton. Oxfordshire.

    The Jinx Series 2012
    Match 3

    Rolfs Lake

    It's match 3 of this year's Jinx Series today and having stopped over I was up early just after 6am and soon had the kettle on for a coffee . Dave Moore was also up and about so I made him a coffee too. We sat on the bench in front of the hut discussing the prospects for the day ahead and watched the resident Red Kite patrolling above the lake and were fortunate enough to see it swoop and take a fish from the surface of the lake not 10 yards away from us. Why is it you never have your camera with you to capture moments like that ?

    Soon we were joined by several others including Dave Wall who had stopped over on the off chance that there might be a spare peg allowing him to fish today . As the morning wore on more people started to stir from their slumbers and after another coffee Dave and I headed for The Harvester for a spot of breakfast . With that taken care of it was back to the lake where the banter was in full swing. The weather was looking similar to yesterday but the forecast warned of showers later in the day.

    Around Noon Malc called for the draw and I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't hoping to draw peg 6 again. However it was not to be and I found peg 38 resting in my hand when I pulled it from the draw bag .

    Jinx3pegplan.jpg Jinx Match 3 Peg Plan

     So time for a stroll round to peg 6 to collect my kit and move it round to peg 38. Ade had peg 6 today with Dai on peg 4 ..... 

    SMFROLFS027.jpg Dai on peg 4

    and Neil on peg 2...... 

    SMFROLFS025.jpg Neil on peg 2

    Nick W would be to my left on peg 40 ......

    SMFROLFS023.jpg Nick on peg 40

    while to my right was Geoff on peg 36 ...... 

    SMFROLFS058.jpg Geoff peg 36

    while Terry on peg 34 completed A section .......

    SMFROLFS021.jpg Terry on peg 34

    Setting up was once again simplicity itself as the rigs from yesterday were still set up on the top kits, but to recap for those that haven't read the previous report they were a couple of Nick Gilbert's handmade 0·5g Power Pencils that were made up on 0·21 Ultima power match with size 14 Guru MWG's at the sharp end to cover the seven metre line along with a 0.3 NG Edger again on 0·21 Ultima power match straight through to a size 16 Kamasan B911X for the left hand margin where there was about 18 inches against the clump of grass that overhangs the water. Bait was a mix of 4 and 6mm fishery pellet for feed, some of which was well wetted down. Hookbaits would be 6 and 8mm's to band along with some soft hookers and corn.

    SMFROLFS062.jpg Peg 38

    So with plenty of time before the All-In I had a wander back to the car to collect my jacket in case the predicted showers arrived and got a coffee as well . The question on my mind was would it fish as well as yesterday? I'd noticed that the wind had changed for a while earlier in the day blowing up into the Big Lake and had to wonder if it had taken the fish with it? we would soon find out.

    2pm and the All-In was called and I potted a cup of mixed pellet and corn onto the 7mtr line and a handful of wetted pellet into the margin. Peg 38 has a reputation of being one of those all or nothing pegs, relying on the fish turning up in the margin at some point and if they do they tend to be decent fish and you can do a big weight, if they don't it can be a struggle. Anyway out with a banded 8mm to the 7mtr line and start plugging away .

    Well it wasn't fast and furious but after half an hour I was off the mark with a bream. Dai had made the best start out of all of us though with 3 or 4 carp in the net after an hour. A carp was next up for me just after the hour, not a big fish at around 8lbs but welcome none the less and that was soon joined by another bream . Dave Wall came down for a chat, unfortunately for him it was a full house today so he hadn't been able to fish but had stayed on to watch and top lad that he is even went back to his motor to make me another coffee .

    It really wasn't happening for us though down in the Little Lake and when Dave returned with the coffee word was filtering down that people were starting to catch up in the Big Lake including The Minx which was worrying along with Kev and Dave the Fish. After Dave had drunk his coffee he said that he was going to have a stroll round before heading home, so I took the opportunity to give him a run down on my camera and sent him off to take a few shots for me and after taking one of me ......

    SMFROLFS022.jpg Peter on peg 38

    He soon caught Geoff landing what looked to be a weigher and heading off toward the weigh station ......

    SMFROLFS026.jpg Geoff with a weigher

    So the next bit is the story of Dave's stroll around the lake with my camera Ade (Slim Shady) was having a quiet time on peg 6 .......

    SMFROLFS028.jpg Adie on peg 6

    but round on peg 7 Dave Moore was having a better time of it battling a carp .......

    SMFROLFS029.jpg Dave Moore

    eventually getting it safely in the net ......

    SMFROLFS033.jpg Safely in the net

    Paul Roberts was having a slightly less hectic time on peg 8 which rather sums up his performance so far in this years series ......

    SMFROLFS031.jpg Paul on peg 8

    Steve Wilson was on peg 9 and hoping to put one over The Jinx .......

    SMFROLFS034.jpg Steve on peg 9

    who was on the next peg and suffering one of his quieter matches at Rolfs , or was it that he was just missing Julie? .......

    SMFROLFS036.jpg Malc on peg 10

    Tucked away on peg 13 was Nick W-P (monkey) trying to tempt a fish from the margin ....... 

    SMFROLFS038.jpg Nick W-P

    Tony Robert was working hard on peg 16 but obviously had one eye on what The Minx was doing on peg 18 ......

    SMFROLFS040.jpg Tony Roberts

    and it was plain to see that the rumours of impending Minxings were true as there she was with a nice Mirror that she'd just weighed  ......

    SMFROLFS039.jpg Gem (The Minx)

    Round on the car park bank Kev was into more action on the feeder and obviously doing the business today ......

    SMFROLFS042.jpg Fish on for Kev

    and it looked like the car park bank could be the place to be today .......

    SMFROLFS044.jpg Looking up the car park bank

    with Mat on peg 28 landing a Mirror right on time to have a picture taken with it ........

    SMFROLFS049.jpg A Mirror for Mat

    While Simps and Clive were having a bit of a head to head battle on pegs 30 and 32 ......

    SMFROLFS050.jpg Simps and Clive

    and as he made his way back he even managed to capture that rarest of events .... Paul landing a carp over on peg 8 .......

    SMFROLFS055.jpg Safely in the net

    As he arrived back I lifted into a carp which powered of and as he tried to get a photo I suffered the curse of my own camera , the fish shedding the hook and the rig flying back .

    Almost immediately though there was a splash as while Nick was feeding his peg a carp made off with his pole before he could react ......

    SMFROLFS059.jpg Pole 1

    Luckily for Nick though the fish made it's way over to Dai's peg where Dai saved the day and retrieved the pole with the fish still attached. Nick finally landed the fish which wouldn't count to find that it was an 18½lb'er. Dave said his farewells and left us to it . I'd had a couple more carp and another bream while he'd been strolling around the lake but sport still hadn't picked up and most were struggling for a bite and Neil had even given the pellet wag a go in an effort to find something to no avail .

    With time marching on it was time to take another look down the margin but all I was getting were bites from little roach so I shortened up one of the pencil rigs to fish the bottom of the shelf around 4 feet out from the bank but had to wait a further 15 minutes for the float to bury. A decent fish powered off determined to go and see Neil on peg 2, then disaster struck, the dacron in the top kit parted meaning I lost not only the fish but the rig and elastic as well .

    I shortened up the other pencil rig to match the first and went back out and was soon rewarded with another bite, another decent fish that seemed to take an age to get in but land it I did, a Mirror of 15½lbs that was hooked outside the mouth explaining why I'd had so much trouble controlling it . The worrying thing was that the sky was becoming a darker grey as the match drew to a close. Another decent fish put in an appearance and I was just on my way back from the weigh station when the heavens opened, luckily I had my umbrella ready and was soon huddled under it as it poured down . I managed another couple of carp as the rain persisted but as I slid the second one into the net the All-Out was called.

    There's nothing worse than packing away your kit in the rain, but it had to be done. I thought I had around 80lbs and was hopeful that it would be worth some decent section points but it was hard to tell how others had done. I got the kit back to the car just as the rain eased off as is always the way and soon had it loaded up and back in the car before going to the Weigh-In.

    As usual it started on peg 34 where Terry had just 25lbs to show for his efforts . Geoff weighed 52½lbs and my fish came to a level 89lbs. Nick W had 87¾lbs and Neil 88lbs.
    Dai beat us all with 97lbs to take the section as Ade had just 65lbs on peg 6. Onto B section where Dave Moore had 72lbs and Paul R 31½lbs. Steve had managed 71¼lbs from peg 9 while on peg 10 The Jinx had suffered his own curse to take just 21lbs 14ozs . Nick W-P had taken 42lbs from peg 32 to finish off the first part of the section. Fred kicked off C section with 64lbs followed by Tony R with 60½lbs. Gem obviously had suffered a quiet second half as The Minx Mark was set at 44¾lbs. Round to the car park bank where Kev had a decent day recording 95lbs followed by Dave C with 79¼lbs and Budgie just 28lbs and Mat tied with Dave C on 79¼lbs. The final part of C section was finished off by Simon with 108lbs and Clive with 100lbs exactly .

    Back to the hut for the results and the winner today was Simon with Clive in second and third going to Dai . The section winners were Simon, Dai and Kev .
    The Minx claimed 5 victims today including her Dad (The Jinx) and I collected a Golden Nugget from Neil and Gem .

    The next Jinx Match is August 18th when the sections get redrawn for the second half of the series and it'll be interesting to see how those sections work out as it will probably decide who's in with a chance of taking the title this year .

    Overall Result

    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

     1st Peg 30 Simon Mound   108lbs 00ozs
     2nd Peg 32 Clive Pritchard   100lbs 00ozs
     3rd Peg 4 Dai Thomas    97lbs 00ozs
     4th Peg 22 Kev Loveland    95lbs 08ozs
     5th Peg 38 Peter Morton    89lbs 00ozs
     6th Peg 2 Neil Riddy    88lbs 00ozs
     7th Peg 40 Nick Williams    87lbs 12ozs
     8th= Peg 28 Mat Edwards    79lbs 04ozs
     8th= Peg 24 Dave Collier    79lbs 04ozs
     10th Peg 7 Dave Moore    72lbs 00ozs
     11th Peg 9 Steve Wilson    71lbs 04ozs
     12th Peg 6 Ade Williams    65lbs 00ozs
     13th Peg 14 Fred Parker    64lbs 00ozs
     14th Peg 16 Tony Roberts    60lbs 08ozs
     15th Peg 36 Geoff Palmer    52lbs 08ozs
     16th Peg 18 Gem (The Minx) Doyle    44lbs 12ozs
     17th Peg 13 Nick Watkins-Price    42lbs 00ozs
     18th Peg 8 Paul Roberts    31lbs 08ozs
     19th Peg 26 Marcus Burgess    28lbs 00ozs
     20th Peg 34 Terry Goff    25lbs 00ozs
     21st Peg 10 Malc (The Jinx) Doyle    21lbs 14ozs

    Names in Pink are those that were "MINXED"

    A Section

    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

    Points

     1st Peg 4 Dai Thomas    97lbs 00ozs

    1

     2nd Peg 38 Peter Morton    89lbs 00ozs

    2

     3rd Peg 2 Neil Riddy    88lbs 00ozs

    3

     4th Peg 40 Nick Williams    87lbs 12ozs

    4

     5th Peg 6 Ade Williams    65lbs 00ozs

    5

     6th Peg 36 Geoff Palmer    52lbs 08ozs

    6

     7th Peg 34 Terry Goff    25lbs 00ozs

    7

    B Section

    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

    Points

     1st Peg 30 Simon Mound   108lbs 00ozs

    1

     2nd Peg 32 Clive Pritchard   100lbs 00ozs

    2

     3rd Peg 7 Dave Moore    72lbs 00ozs

    3

     4th Peg 9 Steve Wilson    71lbs 04ozs

    4

     5th Peg 13 Nick Watkins-Price    42lbs 00ozs

    5

     6th Peg 8 Paul Roberts    31lbs 08ozs

    6

     7th Peg 10 Malc (The Jinx) Doyle    21lbs 14ozs

    7

    C Section

    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

    Points

     1st Peg 22 Kev Loveland    95lbs 08ozs

    1

     2nd= Peg 28 Mat Edwards    79lbs 04ozs

    2

     2nd= Peg 24 Dave Collier    79lbs 04ozs

    2

     4th Peg 14 Fred Parker    64lbs 00ozs

    4

     5th Peg 16 Tony Roberts    60lbs 08ozs

    5

     6th Peg 18 Gem (The Minx) Doyle    44lbs 12ozs

    6

     7th Peg 26 Marcus Burgess    28lbs 00ozs

    7

     

     

  • Rolfs Lake. Holton. Oxfordshire.

    Simple Match Fishing
    2 Day Summer Challenge
    2012

    SimpsRolfs.jpg Rolfs SMF

    Today (Thursday) sees me travelling back to Oxford where I'm spending 3 days at Rolfs Lake. The first 2 days are to take part in the Simple Match Fishing 2 Day Summer Challenge which has been organised by Simon Mound for members of his forum Simple Match Fishing. Simon is a regular on The Jinx Series at Rolfs and along with Eddie Taylor-Green they are responsible for the Rolfs Lake Blog . After this on the Saturday I'll be fishing the 3rd of this years Jinx Series matches.

    With this being a weekday trip I had the car loaded and was away early as along with the rush hour traffic to contend with it was the first day that the traffic lights in London had been re-phased for the Olympics. Actually it wasn't a bad trip up as I was going against the flow for most of the journey and it was just after 10am when I pulled into the car park at Rolfs . A good few of the anglers were already there and settling in, erecting bivvies and sorting their kit, while others had travelled up on Wednesday and fished yesterdays Open match .

    One of the first I chatted to was Dave Wall who was waiting at the gate to guide in Gavin (Gavalar) Lee who was paying his first visit to the venue. The forecast for the days ahead wasn't good with rain forecast and I had decided to once again sleep in the car as I find it pretty comfortable and less aggro than a bivvie. Right now though we had a bit of sunshine , so I grabbed a cup of coffee and caught up with the gossip and checked out what had been caught from the various pegs the previous day......

    Thursday.jpg Thursday morning 1

    A lot of the chat revolved where everyone wanted to draw, the format for the 2 Dayer being that the match would be decided on section points and weight in the event of a tie meaning that consistency would be rewarded .

    Thursday.jpg Thursday morning 1

    Pretty soon we had everyone in attendance apart from Malc who would be arriving later so around midday Simon got the draw underway and I found myself in B section having drawn peg 29 on the car park bank......

    SMFThursdayPegPlan.jpg SMF Thursday Peg Plan

    At least it was a short walk with my kit, around 15 yards from where the car was parked. Surprise surprise, guess who I had next door on peg 28, yep Neil Riddy, the two of us seem to be almost constantly drawn together recently, but it ensures that the banter always flows during a match and today was double or nothing on the Golden Nugget I'd had off Neil on the previous Jinx Match . To my left was new boy Lee on peg 31 who was on for a Nugget with me along with Dave Wall down on peg 40 for the second day running having had a 'Ton' from it in the Open yesterday and looking to reclaim a Nugget from me and The Minx was on peg 25 and we always have a Nugget as well .

    Settingup.jpg getting ready

    As I settled into my peg it was still quite bright and warm, but the clouds were starting to build ominously. All the rain previously had raised the level despite John having run the pump to keep it in check, so with a couple of hours to set up I decided to make up some new rigs. A couple of Nick Gilbert's handmade 0·5g Power Pencils were made up on 0·21 Ultima power match with size 14 Guru MWG's at the sharp end to cover the five metre line (top2 + 2) along with a 0.3 NG Edger again on 0·21 Ultima power match straight through to a size 16 Kamasan B911X for the margin where there was about 18 inches tight against the grass. Bait was a mix of 4 and 6mm fishery pellet for feed, some of which was well wetted down. Hookbaits would be 6 and 8mm's to band along with some soft hookers and corn.

    2pm saw the All-In called and before I could even ship out a pot of pellet Neil was in to his first fish of the day !!!!!!!! He soon had it in the net, a carp and it already looked like I would be needing snookers today. I finally managed to get a bait in the water but couldn't match Neil's effort though others seemed to be in action quite quickly, most notably young Michael Corsini over on Peg 13 who appeared to be sitting on a shed full today. 15 minutes in and my float slid away, not the hoped for carp but a bream but at least I was off the mark . Another followed then a small carp in the next 30 minutes meaning I had at least caught up with Neil as he hadn't had another bite after his fast start.

    Budgie was up on peg 32 and appeared to be having a rare old tussle with what was obviously a decent fish intent on giving him the runaround. Gavin with no previous experience of Rolfs had started on purple Hydro and we had been waiting to see what would happen when he hooked his first carp. We didn't have long to wait and he was soon watching an awful lot of elastic streaming from his top kit. Fair play to him though he didn't panic and finally managed to land the fish, though the look on his face told us that he was shocked at the power of the fight ......

    Settingup.jpg getting ready

    Rumour had it that Section A was the place to be today though with Ant on peg 34, Terry on peg 4 and young Mat on peg 7 setting the early pace down there ......

    Settingup.jpg getting ready

    Nick on peg 9 seemed to be connecting with a lot of fish, but the truth was that most of them were foul hookers and he was having a real struggle trying to get one in the net . Michael seemed to be suffering in a similar fashion, but at least he was getting a few in the net.

    Around 3 pm the rain started putting a dampener on proceedings and for me it was just a case of plugging away on the 5mtr line where I kept picking up the odd fish. Neil had started looking at his other lines and managed two gudgeon in two put ins from the bush to his right . Malc arrived just after 4pm, a sure signal that the weather wouldn't improve and took a slow stroll to peg 22. Daughter Gem was having a grueller on peg 25, the first carp she hooked snagged Paul Corsini's rig on the next peg and promptly snagged her under the bush and her mood probably wasn't improved by having to watch fiancée Simon catching opposite on peg 16 ......

    Settingup.jpg getting ready

    The whole of the car park bank wasn't exactly setting the place alight, but Budgie seemed to be having the best of it on end peg 32. For me it was just a question of waiting for the odd bite and making the most of it, a couple of looks down the margin had proved fruitless but I felt that I was doing enough to stay ahead of Neil and Lee. Clive had started to put a few fish together late on over on peg 14, but as he was in Section C today I wasn't too worried ......

    Settingup.jpg getting ready

    The margin finally produce for me with half an hour to go, just the one fish, a weigher of 11lbs but welcome none the less but I have to say I was happy to hear the All-Out at 7pm as the rain continued to fall. Packing away a load of soaking wet kit is never fun and most seemed glad that it was over. The look on Gem's face said it all as she walked past , not happy at all with just a bream and a roach to show for her five hours of effort.

    With the gear packed away it was time for the Weigh-In and Ant was first to weigh in Section A recording 134½lbs followed by Dai with 109lbs. Dave W had only managed 68¼lbs from peg 40 today. Pete T had 52¼lbs while Terry had 128½lbs from peg 4 . Geoff had 84¼lbs and Mat 111lbs. Onto the first half of Section B and Dave C had 44¼lbs.
    Nick had a real frustrating match on peg 9 with just 26lbs to show for his efforts and Simon W put 43¾lbs. Michael put 106¼lbs on the scales and we moved on to Section C.
    Clive had 89lbs and Simon 75¾lbs while Kev had 25lbs from peg 18. Round to Malc who had 34¾lbs and Dave M with 12½lbs. Poor Gem could only muster 3¼lbs so no Minxings today and Paul C ended the section with 19lbs. The second half of Section B saw Neil record 52½lbs while my weight was 78½lbs . Gavin's first Rolfs weigh in saw him put 56¼lbs on the scales and Budgie finished things off with 95¼lbs .

    Back to the hut with the rain still falling and Ant, Michael C and Clive were in the pound seats with 1 point each for their section wins, with Terry, Budgie and Simon sitting on 2 points. I'd managed a 3rd in section but had picked up a few Golden Nuggets so all wasn't lost and with the top 4 weights today all coming from Section A today, it was pretty obvious where most people were hoping to draw tomorrow .

    A few of us had decided to retire to The Harvester after the match for a meal so after getting changed we set off for a pint and a meal . It was good to get out of the rain in all honesty and relax and chat about the days events over a meal and when we got back just after 10 pm with the rain still falling I was quite happy to climb into my sleeping bag and get some much needed sleep ahead of the match tomorrow..................

    Thursday Result

    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

     1st Peg 34 Ant Haywood  134lbs 08ozs
     2nd Peg 4 Terry Goff  128lbs 08ozs
     3rd Peg 7 Mat Edwards  111lbs 00ozs
     4th Peg 38 Dai Thomas  109lbs 00ozs
     5th Peg 13 Michael Corsini  106lbs 04ozs
     6th Peg 32 Marcus Burgess   95lbs 04ozs
     7th Peg 14 Clive Pritchard   89lbs 00ozs
     8th Peg 6 Geoff Palmer   84lbs 04ozs
     9th Peg 29 Peter Morton   78lbs 08ozs
     10th Peg 16 Simon Mound   75lbs 12ozs
     11th Peg 40 Dave Wall   68lbs 04ozs
     12th Peg 31 Gavin Lee   56lbs 04ozs
     13th Peg 28 Neil Riddy   52lbs 08ozs
     14th Peg 2 Pete Tapp   52lbs 04ozs
     15th Peg 8 Dave Collier   44lbs 04ozs
     16th Peg 10 Simon Watkins   43lbs 12ozs
     17th Peg 22 Malc (The Jinx) Doyle   34lbs 12ozs
     18th Peg 9 Nick Williams   26lbs 00ozs
     19th Peg 18 Kevin Loveland   25lbs 00ozs
     20th Peg 26 Paul Corsini   19lbs 00ozs
     21st Peg 23 Dave Moore   12lbs 08ozs
     22nd Peg 25 Gem (The Minx) Doyle    3lbs 04ozs

    Section A

    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

    Points

     1st Peg 34 Ant Haywood  134lbs 08ozs

    1

     2nd Peg 4 Terry Goff  128lbs 08ozs

    2

     3rd Peg 7 Mat Edwards  111lbs 00ozs

    3

     4th Peg 38 Dai Thomas  109lbs 00ozs

    4

     5th Peg 6 Geoff Palmer   84lbs 04ozs

    5

     6th Peg 40 Dave Wall   68lbs 04ozs

    6

     7th Peg 2 Pete Tapp   52lbs 04ozs

    7

    Section B

    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

    Points

     1st Peg 13 Michael Corsini  106lbs 04ozs

    1

     2nd Peg 32 Marcus Burgess   95lbs 04ozs

    2

     3rd Peg 29 Peter Morton   78lbs 08ozs

    3

     4th Peg 31 Gavin Lee   56lbs 04ozs

    4

     5th Peg 28 Neil Riddy   52lbs 08ozs

    5

     6th Peg 8 Dave Collier   44lbs 04ozs

    6

     7th Peg 10 Simon Watkins   43lbs 12ozs

    7

     8th Peg 9 Nick Williams   26lbs 00ozs

    8

    Section C

    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

    Points

     1st Peg 14 Clive Pritchard   89lbs 00ozs

    1

     2nd Peg 16 Simon Mound   75lbs 12ozs

    2

     3rd Peg 22 Malc (The Jinx) Doyle   34lbs 12ozs

    3

     4th Peg 18 Kevin Loveland   25lbs 00ozs

    4

     5th Peg 26 Paul Corsini   19lbs 00ozs

    5

     6th Peg 23 Dave Moore   12lbs 08ozs

    6

     7th Peg 25 Gem (The Minx) Doyle    3lbs 04ozs

    7

     

    Day 2

    6am on Friday morning and I woke to a blackbird singing away on the bonnet of the car and realised that it had stopped raining . First things first and the stove was fired up and a coffee brewed before strolling over to the lake and taking in the atmosphere. It's a great time of the day to be down by the lake watching the ducks and moorhens going about their business with their fledglings .

    Slowly but surely people stirred from their slumbers, bracing themselves for the day ahead. Some started to prepare their kit and their bait for the day ahead while others took a stroll trying to decide which peg they would like to draw. I took the opportunity to pop down to Asda's with Geoff and his lad and get a bit of shopping and by the time we returned everyone seemed to be up and about. Gem had decided not to fish today and spend some time with her sister Crystal who'd come down with Malc but Dave C's son in law Nick was coming down and would fish in her place .

    Dave and Gavin decided to go double or quits in an effort to recover their Nuggets from yesterday and Neil had accepted double or quits as well, so 8 Golden Nuggets hung in the balance . Although it was cloudy there were enough breaks in it to allow some sun through and if it stayed like that it could be a decent day and offer the chance to dry the kit out a bit. There was definitely a good buzz today with everyone eager to get going and Simon called the draw before 12 o'clock so everyone had time to get sorted. I still fancied Section A and when I drew peg 6 I was more than happy as up till that point I had never fished it on all my trips down to Rolfs .

    SMFFridayPegPlan.jpg SMF Friday Peg Plan

    Having collected my kit I set off round the lake. Geoff who'd fished peg 6 yesterday was on peg 34 today, so I stopped for a chat to find out how he'd fished it. Neil was down on peg 38 so I would be able to keep an eye on him while Ant was on peg 40. Pete Tapp had drawn peg 2 for the second day running (Clive had also drawn peg 14 again ) and Dave the Fish was on peg 4, while Terry was on peg 7 to my left to complete the section.

    Setting up was relatively simple, just a question of shortening up yesterdays rigs as it's shallower in the Little Lake and once again I was going to concentrate on a couple of 5mtr lines and the margin to my right toward peg 5 with the same baits as well.

    2pm and the all in saw me feeding a cup of pellets with a few grains of corn at 5mtrs and a handful of wetted pellets into the right hand margin before shipping a banded 6mm out to 5mtrs. and after about 5 minutes the float slid away and I connected with my first carp of the day, not a big fish at around 7lbs but a nice way to get off the mark . This was followed by a couple of bream, one of which launched itself like a Polaris missile when it felt the hook. Another carp soon followed, a weigher this time at around 10½lbs prompting a comment from Terry to slow down and give others a chance .

    I then suffered a period that's all to easy to happen at Rolfs, 3 foul hooked carp in a row that charged around the swim before the hook came back with just a scale attached and a couple of bream that rolled off the hook before they were in netting range . Meanwhile over on peg 34 Geoff had started to put a few in the net ......

    SMFROLFS007.jpg Geoff on peg 34

    I stuck with the 5mtr line however as I didn't want to disturb the margin line to early as I wanted any fish to settle there for later. I could see that Neil over on peg 38 was having a quiet time. It's one of those pegs where the fish can suddenly turn up often late in a match as they'd done for Dai the previous day ......

    SMFROLFS007.jpg Geoff on peg 34

    I could see that Dave the Fish was getting a few down on peg 4 and that Pete T was also starting to find a few on peg 2 for the second day running. Ant on peg 40 was fishing long down the edge toward the platform on peg 39 and seemed to be getting some action as well ......

    SMFROLFS007.jpg Geoff on peg 34

    In fact the only person who seemed to be struggling in our section was Terry on peg 7 and to make matters worse for him Mat on peg 8 was starting to catch as well. Another couple of weighers put my match back on track though the bites were proving a little harder to come by and another couple of bream helped to keep things ticking over. I took a quick look down the margin at around 4·30pm and took a couple of quick fish, the second being a weigher of 11½lbs but went back to the 5mtr line to let it settle, increasing the feed at the same time.

    The fish had settled at 5mtrs again and I started to put a run of weighers together, all around the 10-11½lbs mark and at the same time I noticed that the fish had started to show up for Neil over on peg 38 ......

    SMFROLFS007.jpg Geoff on peg 34

    As I went up to the scales with another fish there was an almighty BANG from peg 9 A carp had taken Kev's rig straight through the bush and his topkit and number 4 had collapsed under the strain, reducing the top kit to 8 pieces which may well be a new record at Rolfs ......

    At the same time Simon was on his way to the scales with a decent Mirror that weighed 15½lbs so I took a quick picture for him ........

    SMFROLFS007.jpg Geoff on peg 34

    Elsewhere along the Bank Simon W had taken a nice Common of 17½lbs and luckily Malc was on hand to do the honours with a photo ......

    SMFROLFS007.jpg Geoff on peg 34

    With just over an hour to go the bites had started to fade on the 5mtr line so it was time to target the margin. An 8mm pellet was banded and dropped in resulting in an instant take and yet another weigher. Terry popped round to see what I was doing as he was still struggling for bites on 8mm pellets. I suggested he tried 6mm's instead and It seemed to do the trick for him as it finally produced a few fish ........

    SMFROLFS007.jpg Geoff on peg 34

    I had a really strong end to the match with another 7 weighers, the biggest being 13½lbs before the All-Out was called at 7pm. Dave the Fish added up the fish on the board to find I had 166lbs and with 5 net fish and a few Bream I was hopeful that I may have my second Rolfs 'Double Ton . Packing the kit away was a leisurely affair as I would be fishing A section in The Jinx Match tomorrow so was going to leave my kit behind the peg tonight.

    The weigh-In was soon under way in Section A, Geoff kicked things off with 119lbs a new PB match weight for him . Neil put 124¾lbs on the scales but was pipped by Ant with 128¾lbs. Pete T had trebled his Day 1 weight from peg 2 with 159½lbs and Dave C was just short of a 'Ton' with 99½lbs. My weight proved to be a very pleasing 204½lbs and Terry managed 73¾lbs. The first half of Section B saw Mat put 170¾lbs on the scales followed by Kev with 22½lbs and Simon with a level 124lbs. Malc had 44¼lbs from peg 13 and then it was onto Section C where Clive on peg 14 for the second day recorded 121½lbs . Paul C had 40½lbs and Simon W 78lbs. Round to the car park bank where Dave Wall put 63½lbs on the scales followed by Michael C with 66¾lbs, Gavin was chuffed to have his first Rolfs Ton with 100½lbs and Nick W 46lbs. The final part of section B was finished of by Budgie with 89lbs, Dave M with 102¾lbs. Dai had 61lbs and Nick B finished up with 67½lbs.

    Back to the hut and while Simon collated the results from the two days the banter flowed as usual ......

    SMFROLFS007.jpg Geoff on peg 34

    Soon the results were in which Simon announced in reverse order and in third place was Mat Edwards with 4 points and a total weight of 281¾lbs ........

    SMFROLFS007.jpg Geoff on peg 34

    In second place with 4 points and a total weight of 283lbs was your truly 'Mugger' (got to love those Bream ) ......

    SMFROLFS007.jpg Geoff on peg 34

    And in first place with a perfect score of 2 points from 2 section wins and a weight of 223½lbs was Clive ........

    SMFROLFS007.jpg Geoff on peg 34

    So a BIG THANK YOU to Simon, I think it's fair to say that for a first attempt at organising a match it was a first class effort and I'm sure that I speak for every one in voting it a huge success and it looks like the SMF 2 Day Summer Challenge will become a permanent fixture in years to come. Another bunch of Golden Nuggets had come my way thanks to Dave W, Gavin and Neil and while a few were heading home and farewells were bid the majority were staying over for The Jinx Match tomorrow.

    Once again some of us went to The Harvester for a meal and a pint while we chatted over the events of the last two days. and this continued into the night when we returned and ended up chatting to the rest till about 1am, when once again I climbed into the sleeping bag for a kip .........

    Friday Result

    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

     1st Peg 6 Peter Morton  204lbs 08ozs
     2nd Peg 8 Mat Edwards  170lbs 12ozs
     3rd Peg 2 Pete Tapp  159lbs 08ozs
     4th Peg 40 Ant Haywood  128lbs 12ozs
     5th Peg 38 Neil Riddy  124lbs 12ozs
     6th Peg 10 Simon Mound  124lbs 00ozs
     7th Peg 14 Clive Pritchard  121lbs 08ozs
     8th Peg 34 Geoff Palmer  119lbs 08ozs
     9th Peg 29 Dave Moore  102lbs 12ozs
     10th Peg 25 Gavin Lee  100lbs 08ozs
     11th Peg 4 Dave Collier   99lbs 08ozs
     12th Peg 28 Marcus Burgess   89lbs 00ozs
     13th Peg 18 Simon Watkins   78lbs 00ozs
     14th Peg 7 Terry Goff   73lbs 12ozs
     15th Peg32 Nick Bondeu   67lbs 08ozs
     16th Peg 23 Michael Corsini   66lbs 12ozs
     17th Peg 22 Dave Wall   63lbs 08ozs
     18th Peg 31 Dai Thomas   61lbs 00ozs
     19th Peg 26 Nick Williams   46lbs 00ozs
     20th Peg13 Malc (The Jinx) Doyle   44lbs 04ozs
     21st Peg 16 Paul Corsini   40lbs 08ozs
     22nd Peg 9 Kevin Loveland   22lbs 08ozs

    Section A

    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

    Points

     1st Peg 6 Peter Morton  204lbs 08ozs

    1

     2nd Peg 2 Pete Tapp  159lbs 08ozs

    2

     3rd Peg 40 Ant Haywood  128lbs 12ozs

    3

     4th Peg 38 Neil Riddy  124lbs 12ozs

    4

     5th Peg 34 Geoff Palmer  119lbs 08ozs

    5

     6th Peg 4 Dave Collier   99lbs 08ozs

    6

     7th Peg 7 Terry Goff   73lbs 12ozs

    7

    Section B

    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

    Points

     1st Peg 8 Mat Edwards  170lbs 12ozs

    1

     2nd Peg 10 Simon Mound  124lbs 00ozs

    2

     3rd Peg 29 Dave Moore  102lbs 12ozs

    3

     4th Peg 28 Marcus Burgess   89lbs 00ozs

    4

     5th Peg32 Nick Bondeu   67lbs 08ozs

    5

     6th Peg 31 Dai Thomas   61lbs 00ozs

    6

     7th Peg13 Malc (The Jinx) Doyle   44lbs 04ozs

    7

     8th Peg 9 Kevin Loveland   22lbs 08ozs

    8

    Section C

    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

    Points

     1st Peg 14 Clive Pritchard  121lbs 08ozs

    1

     2nd Peg 25 Gavin Lee  100lbs 08ozs

    2

     3rd Peg 18 Simon Watkins   78lbs 00ozs

    3

     4th Peg 23 Michael Corsini   66lbs 12ozs

    4

     5th Peg 22 Dave Wall   63lbs 08ozs

    5

     6th Peg 26 Nick Williams   46lbs 00ozs

    6

     7th Peg 16 Paul Corsini   40lbs 08ozs

    7

    Overall Result

    Position

    Angler

    Points

    Weight

     1st Clive Pritchard

    2

      223lbs 08ozs
     2nd Peter Morton

    4

      283lbs 00ozs
     3rd Mat Edwards

    4

      281lbs 12ozs
     4th Ant Haywood

    4

      263lbs 04ozs
     5th Simon Mound

    4

      199lbs 12ozs
     6th Michael Corsini

    5

      173lbs 00ozs
     7th Marcus Burgess

    6

      184lbs 04ozs
     8th Gavin Lee 

    6

      156lbs 12ozs
     9th Pete Tapp

    9

      211lbs 12ozs
     10th Terry Goff

    9

      202lbs 04ozs
     11th Neil Riddy

    9

      177lbs 04ozs
     12th Dave Moore

    9

      115lbs 04ozs
     13th Geoff Palmer

    10

      203lbs 12ozs
     14th Dai Thomas

    10

      170lbs 00ozs
     15th Simon Watkins

    10

      121lbs 12ozs
     16th Malc (The Jinx) Doyle

    10

       79lbs 00ozs
     17th Dave Wall

    11

      131lbs 12ozs
     18th Dave Collier

    12

      143lbs 12ozs
     19th Paul Corsini

    12

       59lbs 08ozs
     20th Kevin Loveland

    12

       47lbs 04ozs
     21st Nick Williams

    14

       72lbs 00ozs
     22nd Nick Bondeu

    14

       67lbs 08ozs
     23rd Gem (The Minx) Doyle

    16

         3lbs 04ozs

     

     

  • Colemans Cottage Fishery. Wood Lake.

    Marsh AC club match.

    Colemans Cottage Fishery.

    Well it's off to Essex for me today for another Marsh AC club match at Colemans Cottage on Wood Lake. That first glance out of the window didn't look too promising though there was a bit of sun among the clouds but the forecast wasn't that good for the day ahead . Anyway with the two cats fed and the kit loaded up it was time to go. Through the Dartford Tunnel and down the A12 proved to be straightforward and I arrived around at 7·30am to find Simon just returning from a walk round the lake with his brother Tony who had come along as a guest today .

    First things first and it was into the clubhouse for one of Colemans Big Breakfasts a great way to fortify yourself for the day ahead.

    Clubhouse at Colemans Cottage

    Terry and Rod were already tucking into theirs and slowly but surely the rest arrived and the banter started to flow. A few were concerned that the weather may have unsettled the fish making for patchy sport, but I was fairly sure that given the quality of the venue most would have a decent days sport . Chairman Dave had daughter Chrissy along for company today and fishing as a guest, she's not a bad angler and having had a bit of coaching from Tommy Pickering at Lindholme recently there were a few that were worrying about the possibility of being CHRISSIED today .

    By 8·45am it was time for the draw and having dipped my hand in I found peg 12 was to be mine for the match, just a couple away from the one I'd had in the corresponding match last year.

    Wood lake Peg Plan

    With the gear collected I made my way to my peg, Al was on peg 6 a strongly favoured peg and he would be looking to make it five wins out of five on this years club matches. With just an hour to set up it was make your mind up time as there are so many possibilities on the pegs with the islands running down the centre, The carp in woods run to a good size and the barbel keep growing and fight like hell. I opted for just 3 pole lines. so the rigs would be similar to those I use at Rolfs to take any possible wear and tear. One straight out in front at around 6mtrs where I had around 5 feet of water, one at the end of the bush to my left with around 4 feet of depth and the final one for the right hand margin which had 18 inches of water close in. All the rigs were freshly tied and made up with NG XT Mugger HD's in sizes 0·3gm and 0·4gm on 0·21 Ultima power match straight through to size 16 Kamasan B911X's. Bait for today was a mix of 4 and 6mm pellet for feed along with some 6 and 8mm pellets for banding along with some corn and GOT Baits soft hookers .

    Peg 12 for Peter today

    The All-In was called at 10am and I fed a large pot of mixed pellets with a few grains of corn at 6mtrs, a handful at the end of the bush and another handful down the margin. I banded a 6mm and shipped out to 6mtrs where some bubbles were already coming up and was hopeful of some quick action. Unfortunately it wasn't to be the wind had picked up a bit and was blowing into me and bringing with it the odd shower (no surprise there then ) but I was just getting little digs and dips on the float and only managed to connect with a couple of small roach that I bumped off . despite swapping through the hook baits I couldn't tempt a thing and while nobody that I could see had got off to a flyer Tony had taken a couple of carp as had Graham next to me on peg 11.

    After half an hour of total frustration I gave it up as a bad job and swapped over to target the end of the bush with a banded 8mm. Still a bit slow but the float finally buried and a lift saw plenty of elastic stream from the top kit as the fish powered off and after a minute the culprit popped up by my nets, a barbel of around 3lbs. Not the expected carp but very welcome none the less to get me off the mark . Jean had also brought me a mug of coffee so things were starting to look up despite the showers. A couple of small carp followed and an F1 before yet another barbel put in an appearance and it was these that kept me ticking over for the next couple of hours.

     I could hear a bit of banter between Kevin and Al that suggested that Al was catching reasonably well on peg 6 but from what I could see Tony opposite on peg 29 had made the best start but nobody seemed to be heading off into the distance, though .......

    Tony Roberts on peg 29

    By about 12·30 I got a shout to bring my mug round to Jean if I wanted another cup off coffee and with sport remaining slow took the opportunity to fill in the bush and margin and take a stroll with my camera .

    Terry was still tucked away under his brolly and didn't look like he was having a particularly good time of it despite having the fun of watching Dave trying his best to get the better of Chrissy on the opposite bank ......

    Terry Goff

    A quick chat with Al revealed that he was struggling though it didn't look like it to me when he shipped out, gave a couple of taps and he shipped back with an F1 attached that was soon netted ......

    Al lands an F1

    Mick was being a bit cagey as to just how well he was doing on peg 2, but it was obvious that he fancied his chances of taking home the Milton Keynes Nugget today . As I got to the car park I stopped to take a picture looking down the lake so that those reading this who aren't familiar with Colemans can get some idea of Wood Lake......

    Looking down Wood Lake from the car park

    Carrying on round Chris's guest Gary Luck on peg 38 was playing a bream and soon had it safely in the net .......

    Gary Luck on peg 38

    I soon reached Jean and collected a fresh mug of coffee , while Kevin seemed to be relatively happy with the way his match was progressing. Chrissy on peg 32 had just dropped her rig in short of the bush to her left to see if she could tempt something .......

    Chrissy targets the margins

    While Dad Dave next up on peg 31 seemed to be targeting silvers fishing maggot down his left hand margin, and although he declared himself confident of being ahead of his daughter at that point, it looked like the actions of a desperate man to me . Tony seemed to be going along steadily with his favourite method, fishing up in the water .......

    Tony Roberts was having a good match

    Keith wasn't looking to happy with his lot and was struggling to get to grips with peg 25, though he probably had one eye on how fellow GOT Bait angler Vic was doing over on peg 17......

    Keith Ashby was on peg 25

    Tony Watkins on peg 22 seemed quite happy taking carp on the method feeder, which was more than could be said for his brother Simon on peg 20 who was really struggling to get a bite from anywhere in his peg ......

    Simon was having a Grueller

    Keith Powell was on peg 18 and had just started to have a look down his right hand margin as he'd started to see signs of fish there .......

    Keith Powell on peg 18

    Vic was trying hard to sort his peg out but reckoned it wasn't really happening for him today and he would be lucky if he had 30lbs to show for his efforts so far. Ken on peg 14 was fishing his usual relaxed match on the waggler and was into a carp as I passed by ........

    Ken plays a carp

    When I returned to my peg Graham was catching from his margin, but he had the advantage of a reed bed there and I could see fish there. I flicked some more feed to the edge of the bush and the margin, but with no sign of fish in my margin targeted the end of the bush first off. The rest seemed to have done the trick as a couple of minutes in the float buried as a carp picked up the bait and after a spirited tussle was soon in the net . It wasn't fast and furious but I started to pick up regular fish for around an hour. All the while I was feeding the margin and with an hour and a half to go I finally saw a couple of tail patterns there. First put in with a banded 8mm produced a positive bite and another barbel of around 3lbs, but from then on it was carp all the way . A good common had me thinking I was back at Rolfs, giving a really good account of itself and it was obvious why when I finally slid the net under a big common that must have been close to 15lbs which was to be my best fish of the day . This was followed by a stunning Ghostie of around 10lbs and a few smaller fish.
    Graham was having trouble connecting with bites and I suggested that he changed to 8mm pellet and let him have some to try and it seemed to do the trick for him in the last hour. I finished with another five carp including another double before Dave blew the whistle for the All-Out at 4pm. Shouts of Fish-On came from Graham and Chrissy and I couldn't help wondering if Chrissy had done enough to beat her Dad ......

    Fish On for Chrissy

    The gear was soon packed away and I was pretty confident I had around a 'Ton' in the nets despite having lost track of just what was in them at the end. I soon had my gear back in the car and had a chat with Gerry before following the Weigh-In Round. Mick set a good target with a first weight of exactly 100lbs followed by John with 84½lbs. Next up was Rod with 59½lbs a new PB match weight . Al had a storming end to the match getting decent carp lined up in the margin on paste for 194lbs . Jimmy had 32½lbs and Terry 43½lbs. Graham put 84½lbs on the scales while my fish came to 113lbs . Ken had 80½lbs another PB match weight and Roger 29lbs. Vic had managed 64½lbs.
    Keith Powell weighed 83lbs while Simon's meagre 24lbs left the bragging right firmly with brother Tony who also recorded a new match PB of 70lbs . Keith's 65½ meant he was waving farewell to the MK Nugget today . Jim's 53lbs and Martin's 45lbs brought us round to Tony with an excellent 126lbs . Next up was Chairman Dave with a weight of 67½lbs, but he didn't look to confident, and rightly so when Chrissy put a new PB match weight of 93lbs on the scales . Sympathy for Dave? ................... No Chance, it was like a pack of hounds with a 3 legged fox ............ Merciless . Kev was next with 62lbs followed by Zack with 79lbs while Chris was the fifth angler to claim a new PB match weight today with 118lbs . Gary had 28lbs while Ron was last to weigh with 14lbs.

    Back to the clubhouse for drinks and sausage rolls while Dave worked out the results. Todays winner was Al (his fifth on the trot) with Tony taking second place and Chris third .
    The sections today went to Al, Myself, Keith Powell, Tony and Chris .

    Next up for the club is Rockells in two weeks time. Can Al make it six in a row or will someone else get a look in? Time will tell .

    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

     1st Peg 6 Al Loader   194lbs 00ozs
     2nd Peg 29 Tony Roberts   126lbs 00ozs
     3rd Peg 37 Chris Withall   118lbs 00ozs
     4th Peg 12 Peter Morton   113lbs 00ozs
     5th Peg 2 Mick Wright   100lbs 00ozs
     6th Peg 32 Christine CollierGuest   93lbs 00ozs
     7th Peg 11 Graham Manning    85lbs 08ozs
     8th Peg 3 John Holdsworth    84lbs 08ozs
     9th Peg 18 Keith PowellGuest   83lbs 00ozs
     10th Peg 14 Ken Walker    80lbs 08ozs
     11th Peg 35 Zack Johnson    79lbs 00ozs
     12th Peg 22 Tony WatkinsGuest   70lbs 00ozs
     13th Peg 31 Dave Collier    67lbs 08ozs
     14th Peg 25 Keith Ashby    65lbs 08ozs
     15th Peg 17 Vic Nugent    64lbs 08ozs
     16th Peg 34 Kevin Loveland    62lbs 00ozs
     17th Peg 5 Rod Turner    59lbs 08ozs
     18th Peg 26 Jim Boase    53lbs 00ozs
     19th Peg 28 Martin Hucker    45lbs 00ozs
     20th Peg 9 Terry Goff    43lbs 08ozs
     21st Peg 8 Jimmy EtheringtonGuest   32lbs 08ozs
     22nd Peg 15 Roger Noakes    29lbs 00ozs
     23rd Peg 38 Gary LuckGuest   28lbs 08ozs
     24th Peg 20 Simon Watkins    24lbs 00ozs
     25th Peg 40 Ron Mannister    14lbs 00ozs

     


     

  • Alders Farm Fishery. Great Brickhill. Buckinghamshire.

    Maggotdrowning.com

    magtrans.gif MD's Logo picture by pnm123

    Alders Farm Match

    Ash Lake at Alders Farm Fishery

    Like a lot of these things today's trip to Alders Farm all started when back in early April, Linda (Mermaid) made quite an innocent post on The Maggotdrowning Forum asking whether there would be any interest in a match of some sort at the venue . It was soon obvious there was a bit of interest and before long Linda found herself entering into a new job, that of 'Match Organiser' having managed to get a Saturday in June sorted .

    I travelled up with Dave the fish today and it was around 8·20am when we arrived at the fishery, First things first and a quick trip to the new on site tackle shop tackle shop for some fishery pellets and a chat with Trevor Price and then getting the nets dipped while Dave dropped our gear at the bottom of the hill. A good few were in attendance and I found Linda to check in, she handed me a name badge, a nice touch so that everyone would know who was who . Next stop was down to to The Pumphouse overlooking the lake to grab a quick breakfast and catch up with some more of todays participants. Much chat over the prospects for the match and the general consensus was that the unsettled weather and rain during the week would keep the weights down today, though everyone should enjoy some good sport .

    Around 9am Linda called everyone to the draw. Gary Thorpe had kindly sorted the choice of pegs for the draw, so into the draw bag and peg 5 was attracted to my hand, not a bad peg and I was happy with that . So off to collect my kit and make my way to my peg......

    Time to collect the gear

    There were a fair few of us pegged on the pumphouse bank with Jonny on peg 1, Lee peg 2. Fellow Jinx Squad members Fred and Clive had pegs 3 and 4 while to my left was Linda's husband Chris on peg 6. It was nice to see Chris fishing as he tends to be employed as Linda's ghillie normally . Next up was Rod on peg 7 and Nick on peg 8, while Keith had plenty of space to himself on peg 12.

    The Pegging Plan for todays match

    Settling into the swim the first thing that was noticeable was that yet again the wind was blowing firmly into me, not a bad thing in itself, but it meant that I'd be sitting there all match with a fleece on looking across to those sitting there in polo shirts, or in Andrew on peg 27's case a very poor taste in football shirt .

    Peg 5 for Peter today

    Trev had told me that the end of the bush on the right was the sweet spot in the swim, with a back up at 5mtrs straight out so setting up was quite straight forward. Just 3 rigs all pretty much identical as the swim is pretty shallow(around 18 inches at the end of the bush and around 2½ feet at 5mtrs) . These were all Nick Gilbert's handmade NG Power Pencil's, two 0·4 gm and a 0·5 gm, all made up on on 0·21 Ultima power match straight through to size 16 Kamasan B911X's nice and simple and strong enough to stand up to what would hopefully turn into a good bagging session. Bait was simply 2 bags of 6mm fishery pellets, a couple of pints of red maggots and a couple of tins of corn.

    With everything set there was a bit of time for a quick chat with Rod, Chris, Clive and Fred before Linda called the All-In at 10·30am. A couple of pots of mixed pellet maggot and corn at 5mtrs and a similar handful fed to the end of the bush but before I can get a bait in the water Clive is playing his first fish of the day .......

    First one of the day for Clive

    I soon had a banded 6mm on the hook and dropped at the end of the bush. The float simply buried and produced a..............rudd , not the hoped for carp, there's loads of them in Ash Lake and it's normally just a case of working through them and keeping the feed going until the carp move in and push them out. After about 5 rudd the next bite produced firm resistance as a carp powered off. Now these carp aren't huge, indeed the average size is probably around 3lbs, but being that the water is shallow they just power off when you hook them and fight well above their weight . In that respect it's probably handy that I'm used to fishing Rolfs where the carp are of a far larger average size. It's just a question of getting their heads up so they take a gulp of air and sliding them over the net .

    I felt that Clive had got off to a better start in the first hour as I was only picking up odd fish, but as we moved into the second hour I was starting to catch him up as he had longer gaps between his fish. In fact looking around it was obvious that this was going to be one of those days where you had to work for your fish as nobody seemed to be really bagging up , but I was reasonably confident that if I could keep the fish coming at the same rate a 'Ton' was definitely on the cards . My back up line at 5mtrs however was only producing the odd fish so that was written off pretty early on .

    Looking on I could see Clive hanging on as increasing amounts of red hydro appeared from the end of his top kit, obviously a decent fish it appeared hell bent on reaching the island, steady pressure finally told though and it was a very relieved Clive that finally netted another fighting fit carp .........

    A nice lump for Clive

    Chris was having a bit of a mare however as the rudd stubbornly refused to make way for carp close in, forcing him to fish long to find any carp, but even then a few to many were slipping the hook as he played them ......

    Chris Billington on Peg 6

    About 2pm Trevor Price had a stroll round taking a few pictures and seeing that I thought I'd better have a quick session with my camera so I had a few pictures for this report . I strolled down to Rod (isis) to find him cursing the rudd, they seemed to have settled into his peg and were doing a great impression of Piranhas devouring anything he cared to put on the hook . Nick (pastie) on peg 8 was starting to get among a few however and looked to be getting one over on his Dad, Steve (rookery54) who was across on peg 16 .......

    Nick Allen plays a carp on Peg 8

    While over on peg 20 I could see Trev (grannyspodder) who seemed to be waiting far to long between bites today .......

    Trev (grannyspodder) waits for a bite

    Meanwhile on peg 22 it looked to me like Gary (shooter560) had decided to try paste in an effort to up his catch rate .......

     Gary (shooter560) Funnell

    On peg 27 Andrew (lemon1) had at least covered up his rather dubious taste in football tops, while Keith was wishing for an upturn in sport like he'd had on his previous visit here when he'd set a new match best for himself .......

    Andrew Stevens and Keith Powell

    and tucked away on peg 30 was Dave the fish, I'd noticed that he'd been catching as well as anyone on that bank, and with this sort of fishing suiting his style felt he was bound to be in with a shout at the end ......

    Dave Collier was tucked away on Peg 30

    Back on peg 3 Fred (Milo) was smiling but it hid the frustration of not getting the best from his peg as he was suffering with to many foul hookers and lost fish ........

    Fred was having a grueller on Peg 3

    While a look across to Lee (red baron) saw him with a smile on his face as he slid another carp over the waiting landing net ......

    Lee nets another carp from Peg 2

    Steve (big Stump) seemed lost in concentration on peg 38, probably hoping to avoid being beaten by the next peg .......

    Steve (big Stump) seemed lost in concentration on peg 38

    Which happened to be occupied by the Match Organiser herself, Linda (Mermaid) who was obviously targeting fish in the margins ......

    Linda Billington on Peg 36

    As was Simon (sidev77) who obviously had the same aim as Steve .......

    Simon (sidev77) Watkins on Peg 34

    Back at my peg I'd just netted my first fish on my return when what sounded like a rifle shot came from the left , Nick had destroyed a Tri-Cast top kit when a carp had buried itself in the margin reeds. Moving into the last hour I was still taking fish on a steady basis from the edge of the bush in between being heckled by Clive and Chris to the effect that I was bagging and it must be solid with fish in the peg................... hurtful that neither of them felt that it may be down to my superior piscatorial ability . Anyway despite this harassment I soldiered heroically on till the All-Out was called at 3·30pm. Looking down at my clicker I had 49 carp recorded on it and I felt that I had a comfortable Ton+ in the nets, which I felt was a decent effort given how hard the lake had fished today .

    As we packed away our kit and waited for the scales the chat turned to how the day had gone. Rod now understood why Gary Thorpe refers to rudd as 'Vermin' having suffered a peg full of them all day and Nick showed off his new multi piece top kit. Clive felt he may have 50-60lbs though I was convinced he had more. The scales were moving around the lake pretty fast so it was obvious that it hadn't fished as it can today and when they got to Keith (Gandhi), my travelling partner Dave the fish was leading with 117lbs the only 'Ton' so far......

    Dave the fish was leading with 117lbs

    Keith started the weights on the pumphouse bank with 71lbs 14ozs ......
     
    Keith had 71lbs 14ozs

    Rod followed with 15½lbs and Chris put 40¼lbs on the scales ......

    Chris's bag came to 40¼lbs

    My 3 nets weighed a total of 132lbs 07ozs to take the lead with 4 still to weigh ......

    Peter (Mugger) with part of his 132lbs 07ozs bag

    Clive did indeed have a bit more than his estimate with 89lbs to show for his efforts ......

    Clive weighed in with 89lbs

    and while Lee was last but one to weigh with 102lbs 06ozs ......

    Lee (red baron) Mitchell with part of his 102lbs 06ozs catch

    and Jonny was last to weigh in with a fine 123lbs 06ozs .

    Back to the Pumphouse for the results where we found that the staff had kindly laid on hot drinks for us, a really nice touch . Linda then called us all to order and paid out the sections.......

    PostMatch.jpg Post match gathering


    Section A:
    1st: Peter (Mugger) Morton £20
    2nd: Jonathan (jonny_b1989) Broadbent £15

    Section B:
    1st: Nick (pastie) Allen £20
    2nd: Keith (Gandhi) Ashby £15

    Section C:
    1st: Dave (dave the fish) Collier £20
    2nd: Tony (Tony_grig) Grigorjevs £15

    Section D:
    1st: Simon (sidev77) Watkins £20
    2nd: Linda (Mermaid) Billington £15

    Jonny 2nd, Peter 1st and Dave 3rd

    Third overall on the day went to Dave the fish , Second to Jonny and the winner was Me and I have to say that I was both surprised and delighted when Linda presented me with an engraved tankard as a trophy, a lovely end to the day ......

    The Winners Tankard

    In conclusion I have to say a Big Thank You to Linda and Chris on behalf of all who attended, spot on organisation, right down to badges so that everyone knew who was who . I think you may have created an annual fixture for the MD's calender in the future .

    Another Big Thank You to Trev, Gary and all the staff at Alders Farm, Top Breakfast, great fishing, even on a hard day, fully deserving of the Stillwater of the Year Award that the fishery won in the National Angling Awards last year .

    Finally,Thanks to all the forum members that attended, plenty of good banter along with more than a few laughs as expected on a Drowner's match and good to meet up and put some faces to names from the forum .

    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

     1st Peg 5 Peter (Mugger) Morton   132lbs 07ozs
     2nd Peg 1 Jonathan (jonny_b1989) Broadbent   123lbs 06ozs
     3rd Peg 30 Dave (dave the fish) Collier   117lbs 00ozs
     4th Peg 2 Lee (red baron) Mitchell   102lbs 06ozs
     5th Peg 29 Tony (Tony_grig) Grigorjevs    94lbs 06ozs
     6th Peg 4 Clive (Black Hydro) Pritchard    89lbs 00ozs
     7th Peg 8 Nick (pastie) Allen    85lbs 04ozs
     8th Peg 24 Keith (Gwinear13) Webb    83lbs 12ozs
     9th Peg 12 Keith (Gandhi) Ashby    71lbs 14ozs
     10th Peg 28 Keith (keith74) Powell    69lbs 10ozs
     11th Peg 22 Gary (shooter560) Funnell    68lbs 12ozs
     12th Peg 34 Simon (sidev77) Watkins    66lbs 06ozs
     13th Peg 36 Linda (Mermaid) Billington    59lbs 08ozs
     14th Peg 27 Andrew (lemon1) Stevens    51lbs 14ozs
     15th Peg 38 Steve (big Stump) Chadwick    51lbs 00ozs
     16th Peg 3 Fred (Milo) Parker    50lbs 01ozs
     17th Peg 16 Steve (rookery54) Allen    50lbs 00ozs
     18th Peg 32 John (John-Tutu) Holdsworth    40lbs 09ozs
     19th Peg 6 Chris (Mermaid's Ghillie) Billington    40lbs 04ozs
     20th Peg 20 Trev (grannyspodder) Matthews    20lbs 00ozs
     21st Peg 7 Rod (isis) Rose    15lbs 08ozs

     

  • Rolfs Lake. Holton. Oxfordshire.

    The Jinx Series 2012
    Match 2

    Rolfs Lake

    I'm back to Rolfs Lake today for match 2 of this year's Jinx Series, just 2 weeks after the first match and having suffered a mare 2 weeks ago when I changed my pre match routine I wasn't about to let it happen again, so after loading the car this morning and setting off my first stop was my customary one in Battersea for breakfast at the Jimmy's Griddle café  and a 'Full English' soon had me set up for the day ahead and feeling that all was right with the world before I climbed back into the car and headed for Rolfs. There was a bit of a hold up on the M40 due to a crash just after Junction 4, but the hold up wasn't to costly and it was just after 10am when I pulled into the car park.

    There were quite a few already in attendance as they had fished a night match the previous evening and after collecting a cup of coffee I was soon catching up with the events of the previous night , including a first hand account from Terry of how he'd been for a moonlit swim on peg 4, luckily he'd survived to see the funny side of it despite not being able to swim .

    One of the big questions today was who would be the first wearer of the new Pink Hat, unfortunately Geoff couldn't be there today, but with 13 victims of the previous match attending Gem would be spoilt for choice, in fact a couple of us tried it for size, Lisa W-P catching me on camera ......

    Pete tries on The Hat

    ..... but others strangely melted away at the very site of it, it didn't do Fred any good though as The Minx selected him to be this season's first wearer ......

    Fred gets The Hat from The Minx

    With Geoff unable to make it today Dave Wall had seized the chance and stepped stepped into fish for him, so of course it was only polite on my part to offer the chance to reclaim the Golden Nugget he'd handed to me on the previous match . Gem and I had our usual side-bet of a Nugget and I also had one with Neil . For once Malc actually called the draw early at 11·50am with a full house of 21 assembled for the draw, everyone moving along one section today from the previous match.

    Peg Plan for Match 2

    C section for me today and with the wind blowing down toward the Little Lake not the most favourable of sections I felt although it had produced 1st and 2nd in the previous night's match. Into the bag and it's peg 26 on the car park bank for me today with Ade on peg 28 to my left for company and Neil to my right on peg 24 along with Dave Wall on peg 22. The Minx had drawn peg 30 so it should be easy to keep an eye on the possible destination of the Nuggets today. It didn't fill me with confidence though as Simon had won the night match from peg 28 with 175½lbs and with Ade being his partner in the 'Pairs' he'd fully briefed him on how he'd fished the peg. Mat had fished Dave Wall's peg and come second with 121lbs while Malc had fished Neil's peg and weighed 74¼lbs. Mine had been fished by Nick Williams who'd only managed 17lbs for last place, so it looked like I might have it all to do .

    Peg 26 for Peter today

    A nice short walk meant that it didn't take long to settle my gear into the peg despite there being about an inch of water covering the platform. I don't seem to draw the car park bank that often but decided to keep it relatively simple with just 3 pole lines all on a top 2 + 2, a comfy 5mtrs. One straight out in front where I had around 7 feet of water, one at the base of the slope in front of the bush to my right with around 6 feet of depth and the final one on my left in line with peg 9 in around 4½ ft of water. All the rigs were freshly tied and made up with NG XT Mugger HD's in sizes 0·3gm, 0·4gm and 0·6gm on 0·21 Ultima power match straight through to size 16 Kamasan B911X's. Bait for today was a mix of 4 and 6mm fishery pellet for feed along with some 6, 8 and 11mm pellets for banding along with some corn and soft hookers .

    The All-In came at 2pm and I fed two small pots of mixed pellet and corn straight out and one on the other 2 lines. Nothing straight away but Neil had started on the feeder cast to the aerator and snared a bream straight away which was soon followed by a carp. It's times like this that you start questioning your own approach. Should I have set up a feeder? No point worrying about it now though, Neil is a regular at the lake and has had his fair share of results there, so time to file that away for future reference and get on with fishing my own match .

    I made the mistake of leaving the first couple of indications to let them develop.......... they didn't, so at the next dip a lift brought some resistance and a decent skimmer was soon in the net to get me off and running . I just kept feeding a pinch or two of mixed 4 and 6mm's every minute or so and soon had my first carp in the net as well, nothing big at around 7lbs but it really scrapped well, staying deep and reluctant to come to the surface and it set the pattern for my match. I seem to get my fair share of draws next to Neil and it always makes for a good day as he likes a bit of banter and there's always a few laughs to be had along the way .

    Neil had definitely got off to the better start but I had the feeling that I was staying in touch over the first couple of hours with 4 more carp and another skimmer. John Bennett had strolled up to retrieve Ollie who was trying to cadge some luncheon meat from Neil while he was playing what looked like a decent fish that took him a bit of time to get to the net...............

    Neil Riddy plays a double figure carp on Peg 24

    A cracking Mirror that looked a good 15lbs but rather disappointingly only showed as 12½lbs on the scales , obviously spawned out. Ade had picked up a few as well and in fact looking around the Big Lake everyone seemed to be getting a few at one time or another and one of those was Mat on peg 8 who seemed to be catching pretty regularly ......

    Mat was catching steadily on Peg 8

    I soon spotted Dave Moore, to be fair he's a big lad and hard to miss, even more so in his fluorescent orange bib and brace and a quick chat soon revealed that he was suffering down on peg 40 getting blasted by the wind in his face without as much as a bite to show for his efforts so far.

    I opted for a look at my left hand line with a banded 8mm on the hook and first put in the float just kept on going, the fish set off for the middle and put up dogged resistance before succumbing to the pressure, a nice common of 13½lbs , but I couldn't tempt another bite from that line so opted to take a look down the slope by the bush. That produced a decent skimmer straight away followed by a common that made a bee-line for safety under my platform but I was lucky and managed to grab the line and pull it out from under there before it broke me and soon added it to my net .

    Meanwhile Neil had broken his landing net handle returning a weigher, but luckily had a brand new spare in his holdall. The Minx however was struggling on peg 30, it hadn't been fished on Friday night and it looked like the lack of feed previously was handicapping her as she still had nothing to show for her efforts today ......

    The Minx was not having a good day today

    With nothing more to show from the edge of the bush it was back to straight out in front for me and things started to pick up from there on in as I started to put together a steady run of fish, mostly net fish but still decent weight builders. Meanwhile Neil had lost a big common right at the net that he'd played for ages after foul hooking it in the tail on his feeder rod, and then just to add further insult to injury had the thread fall off his new landing net handle Luckily he managed to borrow another from Paul Jay who was at the lake.

    YEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSS rang round the lake as Gem finally had a carp to show for her efforts and this was swiftly followed by another, was she going to have a good end to her match? Opposite me on peg 14 Dai was starting to pick up some big weighers fishing tight down his right hand margin ......

    Dai was catching down his right hand margin

    ...... but had a disaster when a big double that he was unhooking rolled in the landing net and with a big splash was back in the lake before he could weigh it .

    The last hour saw my bites become very iffy and I bumped a few on the strike despite changing the hook although it didn't seem to have lost it's point. I did manage to put another 5 in the net though, and Neil reported the same, losing six fish on the trot before the All-Out sounded a 7pm. Neil felt I may have edged it, but I felt that he may have the advantage with more weighers on the board, Whichever way I felt it would be close as I reckoned on having around 120lbs . Dave Wall would be there or there abouts as well as he'd had a good second half tucked away on peg 22 and had a few weighers on the board. Ade would be in contention as well although he felt he'd had to many skimmers among his carp.

    With the kit packed away and back in the car I said farewell to Neil , he had to leave early as he had somewhere to go, then it was time for the Weigh-In, all would be revealed.

    Simon in A Section was first to weigh with 87lbs followed by Steve who'd finally caught late for 76¼lbs. Paul's 43½lbs was followed by Dave M's 51¼lbs so he'd got a few in the end . Nick W-P had 66lbs and Clive 94lbs but it was The Jinx who'd walked the section when his peg came to life late on giving him a weight of 167½lbs . Into the first part of B Section and Budgie's 69¼lbs was soon eclipsed by Mat with 122lbs while Tony had suffered a day of total frustration for his 44¼lbs . Kevin had 52¼lbs while Fred had managed 71¼lbs from peg 13. Onto C Section and Dai recorded 89¼lbs missing out on a 'Ton' due to that big double escaping . Terry had 61lbs followed by Nick with 53lbs. Round to peg 22 and Dave Wall recorded his first Rolf's 'Ton' with 107½lbs . Neil's weight was 117½lbs and my weight showed how close it was with my 121¼lbs proving good enough to take the section . The final part of B Section saw Ade put another 'Ton' on the board with 105lbs, The Minx however was a little despondent with just 3 carp for 28½lbs leaving a lot of people very relieved . Last to weigh was Dave C who's 69lbs brought matters to an end.

    Back to the hut and the winner on the day was The Jinx himself , Mat taking second while I'd taken third overall which meant that the section money was ours as well along with 3 Golden Nuggets for me .

    Who's got The Pink Hat for the next match? Well with no victims today it looks like The Minx will be wearing her own hat next time, but before anyone gets to cocky beware ............ I'm sure she'll be looking for revenge next time out .

    Overall Result

    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

     1st Peg 6 Malc (The Jinx) Doyle  167lbs 08ozs
     2nd Peg 8 Mat Edwards  122lbs 00ozs
     3rd Peg 26 Peter Morton  121lbs 04ozs
     4th Peg 24 Neil Riddy  117lbs 08ozs
     5th Peg 22 Dave Wall(Guest)  107lbs 08ozs
     6th Peg 28 Ade Williams  105lbs 00ozs
     7th Peg 4 Clive Pritchard   94lbs 00ozs
     8th Peg 14 Dai Thomas   89lbs 12ozs
     9th Peg 34 Simon Mound   87lbs 00ozs
     10th Peg 36 Steve Wilson   76lbs 12ozs
     11th Peg 13 Fred Parker   71lbs 04ozs
     12th Peg 7 Marcus Burgess   69lbs 04ozs
     13th Peg 32 Dave Collier   69lbs 00ozs
     14th Peg 2 Nick Watkins-Price   66lbs 00ozs
     15th Peg 16 Terry Goff   61lbs 00ozs
     16th Peg 18 Nick Williams   53lbs 00ozs
     17th Peg 10 Kevin Loveland   52lbs 04ozs
     18th Peg 40 Dave Moore   51lbs 04ozs
     19th Peg 9 Tony Roberts   44lbs 04ozs
     20th Peg 38 Paul Roberts   43lbs 08ozs
     21st Peg 30 Gem (The Minx) Doyle   28lbs 08ozs

      No names in Pink as nobody was "MINXED"  

    A Section

    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

    Points

     1st Peg 6 Malc (The Jinx) Doyle  167lbs 08ozs

    1

     2nd Peg 4 Clive Pritchard   94lbs 00ozs

    2

     3rd Peg 34 Simon Mound   87lbs 00ozs

    3

     4th Peg 36 Steve Wilson   76lbs 12ozs

    4

     5th Peg 2 Nick Watkins-Price   66lbs 00ozs

    5

     6th Peg 40 Dave Moore   51lbs 04ozs

    6

     7th Peg 38 Paul Roberts   43lbs 08ozs

    7

    B Section

    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

    Points

     1st Peg 8 Mat Edwards  122lbs 00ozs

    1

     2nd Peg 13 Fred Parker   71lbs 04ozs

    2

     3rd Peg 7 Marcus Burgess   69lbs 04ozs

    3

     4th Peg 32 Dave Collier   69lbs 00ozs

    4

     5th Peg 10 Kevin Loveland   52lbs 04ozs

    5

     6th Peg 9 Tony Roberts   44lbs 04ozs

    6

     7th Peg 30 Gem (The Minx) Doyle   28lbs 08ozs

    7

    C Section

    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

    Points

     1st Peg 26 Peter Morton  121lbs 04ozs

    1

     2nd Peg 24 Neil Riddy  117lbs 08ozs

    2

     3rd Peg 22 Dave Wall  107lbs 08ozs

    Guest

     4th Peg 28 Ade Williams  105lbs 00ozs

    3

     5th Peg 14 Dai Thomas   89lbs 12ozs

    4

     6th Peg 16 Terry Goff   61lbs 00ozs

    5

     7th Peg 18 Nick Williams   53lbs 00ozs

    6

  • Puddledock Farm Fishery. Road Lake.

    Marsh AC club match.

    Puddledock Farm. Road Lake

    It's off to what is a new venue for Marsh AC for todays club match, Puddledock Farm Fishery just outside Brentwood in Essex where we will be fishing The Road Lake on the complex .

    Chris was picking me up today and he arrived just after 7am, and with my kit loaded into his van we were off. It wasn't a long drive and we pulled into the fishery car park at around 7·45am. Climbing out of the van it was immediately noticeable just how windy it was and looking across it was noticeable that one half of the lake was very exposed to this, while the other half was sheltered. Anyway without further ado we made our way over to the on-site Lakeside Café to start the day with a Full English as they had agreed to open up early for us today. I have to say that the food and service was 1st Class , easily rivalling that of any fishery I've visited in recent times and one that I'd happily recommend.

    Clive unfortunately missed out as he was stuck in traffic on the M25 though he did arrive just in time for the draw and from what I'd seen pegs 1-14 were ones to avoid unless you wanted to battle the wind today, so it will come as no surprise that it was peg 6 that stuck to my hand today, right in the teeth of the prevailing wind . Tony had the shortest walk to peg 1, just as well really as having loaded his trolley wheel into the car he found on arrival that he'd forgotten to load his actual trolley............ not that we weren't sympathetic to his plight of course .

    It wasn't to far to my peg, but settling into it I really didn't fancy it today as it promised to be an uncomfortable six hours in an area Dave and Tony had struggled to catch from on a visit a couple of weeks previously, in fact Tony's advice on the forum had been "take as long as you like for breakfast ". Anyway nothing ventured.......nothing gained.

    Road Lake pegging plan for this match

    I was going to keep things simple today Just a couple of rigs for the pole and the method feeder which would be the main line up against the island at 20mtrs. The first of the two pole rigs was a 0·8gm NG XT Gimp on 0·16 Ultima power match straight through to a size 18 Kamasan B911X for straight out at around 5mtrs where I had around 4ft of heavily towing water while the other rig was a 0.3 NG Edger again on 0·16 Ultima power match straight through to a size 18 Kamasan B911X for the margin line that had around 2 feet of depth. Bait was simply 4mm coarse pellet for feed (dampened down for the method feeder) and 6mm and 8mm's for the hook along with some sweetcorn and 6mm GOT Rippers as alternative hookers.

    Peg 6 for Peter on todays match

    Somewhere in the course of the morning I'd misplaced my glasses so had wandered back to the café to see if I'd left them there. I hadn't, but luckily spotted them on the floor by Chris's van still in one piece, but this meant that I only just made it back to my peg before the All-In was called at 10·15am . I potted in a mixed pot of pellet and corn at 5mtrs and the margins and followed that out with a banded 6mm at 5mtrs. It was immediately apparent just how strongly the wind was gusting, making presentation even at that distance difficult especially coupled with the tow .

    Tony appeared to get off the mark with what looked like a Goldfish after around 30 minutes and a little while later Kevin had taken a Tench. An hour in for me and I hadn't managed as much as a bite. I'd tried on several occasions to ping a few 8mm pellets over to the island to prime it for the method, but the wind had blown them back every time. Anyway with no action on either of the pole lines it was time to have a look across with the method feeder, a 6mm pellet was banded and pressed into the dampened 4mm's and cast across tight to the island.

    Not a knock, tap or liner followed, it wasn't looking good, just a question of keep recasting in an attempt to get some feed across there and hopefully draw some fish at some point. Finally after around 45 minutes of this the tip flew round and after a bit of spirited resistance a common of around 2lbs was safely in the net to get me off the mark . However it took another 30 minutes before this was repeated again with a similar result. Another 45 minutes passed after this with nothing to show for it when I decided to take a walk and see how others were doing.

    Jim was struggling with just a few small roach taken on maggot from his margin, but Keith was just sliding a decent carp into the net as I approached is peg. The wind was making it awkward for him but he was just sitting it out on a line at around 6mtrs and picking up what he claimed to be the odd fish ......

    Keith was battling the wind on peg 10

    Next up was Chris who'd taken a few early fish fishing a 4AAA waggler across to the island though those fish had drifted away and he was now back to fishing the pole. Martin and Graham were both struggling with the wind and going nowhere fast and Mick (or was it Petal? ) was searching his margin and already fearing the Milton Keynes Nugget would be heading home with Keith today ......

    Mick was trying to tempt something from the margin

    Round to Clive and the change was amazing , just a gentle breeze from behind as the swims were relatively sheltered by some trees. He reported that he'd had a decent start before it faded. I'm not sure that I believed him though as his float promptly buried resulting in a carp that he swiftly netted before I strolled off ......

    A carp comes to the net for Clive

    Terry was fishing the feeder across, but for some reason couldn't get bite on it , a situation that was even more annoying for Terry as Al was having success a couple of pegs away ......

    Terry was having a frustrating time of it today

    Indeed Al seemed to be fishing a completely different match from most sitting there in a tee shirt and shorts , regularly taking fish on the method feeder fished across to the island ......

    Al was romping away with it on The Method

    Dave had departed for a spot of lunch at the café along with Kevin and Jean, while Eddy was suffering along with a lot of us on what was his first club outing of the year. Rod was having an enjoyable day fishing a feeder half way across what looked like a Mill Pond and was just about to net his eighth carp of the day ......

    Rod was enjoying his day on peg 29

    Tony had added a few silvers from his margin swim as had Ken who was having a similar battle to me with the wind.

    I wish I could say that the second half of the match was an improvement, but it wasn't it remained just as dire for me with just another 3 bites on the method feeder producing another 3 carp of a similar size to the first two and to be honest it was a blessed relief when the All-Out was called at 4·15pm . I soon had my kit packed away and back to the car park and all that remained was the Weigh-In.

    Tony kicked things off with 20¼lbs while Kevin solitary Tench made 2¾lbs and Ken's silvers 6¼lbs. My 5 carp came to 11½lbs and Jim's roach and skimmers 7¼lbs. Keith's claimed 4 fish morphed into a few more and stopped the scales at 40½lbs. Chris put 24½lbs on the scales and Martin and Graham managed to tie on 7½lbs each. Mick waved farewell to the MK Nugget with just 12lbs while Clive's fish came to a level 25lbs. Terry was muttering about taking up Golf as his catch came to just 3¾lbs . Al had romped it for the 4th match on the trot with a fine 94¼lbs (I think it's time he was banned from using a method feeder ) Dave had 37½lbs despite stopping for lunch while Eddie recorded 8½lbs and Rod finished off with 16¼lbs.

    Back to the car park for the results and of course Al took the win , Keith was second and Dave third . The section money went to Tony, Keith, Clive and Al.

    Thoughts on the day? Puddledock Farm is certainly a nice venue with good facilities, we caught it on a bad day when the weather didn't allow it to do itself justice, so on balance it's got to be worth another visit in my opinion .

    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

     1st Peg 23 Al Loader  94lbs 04ozs
     2nd Peg 10 Keith Ashby  40lbs 08ozs
     3rd Peg 25 Dave Collier  37lbs 08ozs
     4th Peg 19 Clive Pritchard  25lbs 00ozs
     5th Peg 12 Chris Withall  24lbs 08ozs
     6th Peg 1 Tony Roberts  20lbs 12ozs
     7th Peg 29 Rod Turner  16lbs 04ozs
     8th Peg 18 Mick Wright  12lbs 00ozs
     9th Peg 6 Peter Morton  11lbs 08ozs
     10th Peg 27 Eddie Dobson   8lbs 08ozs
     11th= Peg 16 Graham Manning   7lbs 08ozs
     11th= Peg 14 Martin Hucker   7lbs 08ozs
     13th Peg 8 Jim Boase   7lbs 04ozs
     14th Peg 4 Ken Walker   6lbs 04ozs
     15th Peg 21 Terry Goff   3lbs 12ozs
     16th Peg 2 Kevin Loveland   2lbs 12ozs

     

  • Rolfs Lake. Holton. Oxfordshire.

    The Jinx Series 2012
    Match 1

    Rolfs Lake

    Well it's game on as The Jinx Series 2012 gets underway with the first of six matches in this years series down at Rolf's Lake . The weather didn't hold any great promise after a lovely week previously and with various road closures promised for the forthcoming Diamond Jubilee celebrations I decided to break with my usual routine on the morning of a Jinx Match and forgo my usual breakfast stop in Battersea and head straight to the lake. In the event the trip was pretty trouble free and I pulled into the car park at around 10·30am. A few of the lads were already there having travelled up before as they were planning on stopping over for the whole of the Bank Holiday .

    The car park soon filled up, a good turn out for the first match with only 2 members of The Jinx Squad missing, Dave C who was suffering with a savage bout of Man Flu and Budgie who was raving it up in Ibiza . Paul Jay was guesting though so there were 20 of us lined up by the time Malc called the draw just after midday.

    Peg Plan for Match1

    Into the bag and I had to be happy with my draw , Peg 8 though John Bennett did mention that it had been patchy recently and that he'd had a DNW from it the previous Saturday . So with my gear collected I made my way round to the peg to find that I had Dai (who almost counts as a resident ) for company today on peg 7. Settling into the peg it was hard to believe that it was June with a cool wind blowing across from the Big Lake to the Little Lake.

    Peter had drawn peg 8 for todays match

    Just a couple of pole lines for me today, 6mtrs down the track and around 4mtrs to the edge of the bush to my left. These would be taken care of by 3 rigs, two of Nick Gilbert's handmade NG Power Pencil's, both 0·4 gm made up on on 0·21 Ultima power match straight through to size 16 Kamasan B911X's covering depths from 2½-4 ft and a 0·4gm NG XT Gimp on 0·21 Ultima power match straight through to a size 16 Kamasan B911X that would cover the track line if the wind or tow picked up making presentation awkward. I also set up my feeder rod to fish tight to the far bank. Bait for today was just a couple of bags of 6mm fishery pellets with some 8mm and 11mm hard pellet, corn and various soft hookers for change baits with some 6mm's soaked for use in the feeder.

    With a bit of time before the All-In I had a stroll round to collect a coffee from Jean . Gem was down on peg 2 and the peg looked spot on for a few fish today and there were bound to be a few worried anglers listening out for her customary shout during the day .......

    The Minx was looking to gather some names today for The Minx List

    One of those was bound to be fiancée Simon tucked away on peg 14, he's a regular at the lake and gets his fair share of results there, but is fully aware of just how fickle it can be just as you think you've sorted things out......

    Fiancée Simon really didn't want a Minxing today

    Back at my peg Neil popped round from peg 9 for a chat about the prospects for the day ahead, while Simon had now taken a stroll with his camera gathering some pictures for the Rolfs Lake Blog .......

    Peter plays to the camera as Neil looks on

    2pm and the All-In was called, a small pot of pellet was deposited onto the 6mtr line along with a small handful by the edge of the bush. A banded 8mm pellet was then shipped out to the 6mtr line. Lots of dips and dinks on the float were had but there was nothing to show for it apart from a couple of tiny roach that were bumped off on the strike.

    Dai however was soon off the mark, obviously a carp Dai soon had it safely in the net, a weigher giving him a good start to the match ......

    Dai got off to a good start on peg 7

    A look with the feeder to the far bank was next up for me and after a couple of minutes the tip pulled round, the strike met with resistance and I soon had a common of around 7lbs safely in the net to get me off the mark, but subsequent casts produced no indications at all.

    Fred was over on peg 34, one of those pegs that is always good for a few fish even on a hard day. he was fishing the pole down his right hand margin toward the pads and was starting to pick up the odd fish .......

    Fred brings a carp to the waiting net on peg 34

    Dai had added another carp as well, but in general the lake had its grim face on today and sport was hard to come by for most. The next incident of any note was the sound of The Minx's shout of YEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSS, a chilling sound especially when you're struggling and Gem's sitting on a decent peg with the wind blowing into it and a lot of worried faces turned to look in her direction at the sound of it .

    The whole match became somewhat of a struggle for most, just 3 more carp coming to the feeder for me in the next 3 hours and the word in general was that most were struggling to put any sort of weight together today , the exception being venue regular Paul Jay who having drawn peg 4 was making the most of his extensive knowledge of the lake to put together a decent bag and Steve Wilson who was getting a few up on peg 16 despite having The Jinx for company on peg 18 .

    The only people that I could actually see catching with any frequency though were Ade Williams on peg 32 who was starting to put a few together as the match wore on ......

    Ade was starting to put a few together on peg 32

    and Clive further down the car park bank on peg 26 who was also  starting to pick up the odd fish ......

    Clive playing a carp on peg 26

    Kev was having a real struggle on peg 36, not a peg that most would choose given the choice, but finally managed to pick up a carp on the feeder .......

    On peg 36 Kevin plays a carp taken on the feeder

    With around an hour to the track line finally produced a fish for me, not the hoped for carp but one of the better bream which now show up regularly in matches......

     A Rolfs Bream for Peter

    When this was swiftly followed by a carp my hopes were raised that a final decent hour may be on the cards, but it was not to be and apart from another couple of small roach that was to be my lot today.

    It all got to much for Mat on peg 38 and he packed away with 30 minutes to go, with just 1 carp to show for his efforts today after having had to watch Paul opposite catching regularly all day. Dai's paste line finally produced for him, another couple of decent carp being added to his weight before the All-Out was called at 7pm ......

    A final carp fell to paste for Dai

    Packing the gear away I have to say that I was glad it was over, a frustrating match where what I felt was a decent draw had failed to produce the hoped for result for me today with just an estimated 35-40lbs to show for my efforts. So with my gear packed away and back in the car it was time for the Weigh-In.

    Fred had managed just 33½lbs, Kev 24¼lbs and Mat 13½lbs. Tony managed 50½lbs. Next up was The Minx and her 58½lbs took the A section win and set The Minx Mark producing a lot of very worried faces . Paul put 127¼lbs on the scales, a good weight on a hard day. Dai's 49¾lbs beat my 40¼lbs as did Neil's 56¾. Terry had just 13¾lbs and Nick Williams 24lbs from peg 13. Onto the start of C section and Gem's fiancée Simon joined the growing band of The Minxed with 49lbs. Steve had a level 127lbs which would be good enough for the section win and The Jinx managed 79¼lbs. Round to the car park bank and Dave Moore put 40½lbs on the scales, Nick W-P a level 40lbs and Clive 65lbs with Paul managing just 15lbs 10ozs. To finish off B section Geoff had 48¼lbs and Ade took the section win with 72lbs.

    So back to the hut and the results, Paul Jay taking the win on the day by just 4ozs with Steve 2nd and The Jinx 3rd on the day . The all important section wins going to Gem, Ade and Steve and 14 victims for The Minx. Who'll get The Pink Hat for the next match? One thing's for sure she'll be spoilt for choice but we'll soon find out when we are back for round 2 on June 16th .

    Overall Result

    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

     1st Peg 4 Paul Jay                 (Guest)  127lbs 04ozs
     2nd Peg 16 Steve Wilson  127lbs 00ozs
     3rd Peg 18 Malc (The Jinx) Doyle   79lbs 04ozs
     4th Peg 32 Ade Williams   72lbs 00ozs
     5th Peg 26 Clive Pritchard   65lbs 00ozs
     6th Peg 2 Gem (The Minx) Doyle   58lbs 08ozs
     7th Peg 9 Neil Riddy   56lbs 12ozs
     8th Peg 40 Tony Roberts   50lbs 08ozs
     9th Peg 7 Dai Thomas   49lbs 12ozs
     10th Peg 14 Simon Mound   49lbs 00ozs
     11th Peg 30 Geoff Palmer   48lbs 04ozs
     12th Peg 22 Dave Moore   40lbs 08ozs
     13th Peg 8 Peter Morton   40lbs 04ozs
     14th Peg 24 Nick Watkins-Price   40lbs 00ozs
     15th Peg 34 Fred Parker   33lbs 08ozs
     16th Peg 36 Kevin Loveland   24lbs 04ozs
     17th Peg 13 Nick Williams   24lbs 00ozs
     18th Peg 28 Paul Roberts    15lbs 10ozs
     19th Peg 10 Terry Goff    13lbs 12ozs
     20th Peg 38 Mat Edwards    13lbs 08ozs

    Names in Pink are those that were "MINXED"

               A Section
         
    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

    Points

     1st Peg 4 Paul Jay  127lbs 04ozs

    Guest

     2nd Peg 2 Gem (The Minx) Doyle   58lbs 08ozs

    1

     3rd Peg 40 Tony Roberts   50lbs 08ozs

    2

     4th Peg 34 Fred Parker   33lbs 08ozs

    3

     5th Peg 36 Kevin Loveland   24lbs 04ozs

    4

     6th Peg 38 Mat Edwards    13lbs 08ozs

    5

      Peg 6   
         
               B Section
         
    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

    Points

     1st Peg 32 Ade Williams   72lbs 00ozs

    1

     2nd Peg 9 Neil Riddy   56lbs 12ozs

    2

     3rd Peg 7 Dai Thomas   49lbs 12ozs

    3

     4th Peg 30 Geoff Palmer   48lbs 04ozs

    4

     5th Peg 8 Peter Morton   40lbs 04ozs

    5

     6th Peg 13 Nick Williams   24lbs 00ozs

    6

     7th Peg 10 Terry Goff    13lbs 12ozs

    7

         

    C Section

         
    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

    Points

     1st Peg 16 Steve Wilson  127lbs 00ozs

    1

     2nd Peg 18 Malc (The Jinx) Doyle   79lbs 04ozs

    2

     3rd Peg 26 Clive Pritchard   65lbs 00ozs

    3

     4th Peg 14 Simon Mound   49lbs 00ozs

    4

     5th Peg 22 Dave Moore   40lbs 08ozs

    5

     6th Peg 24 Nick Watkins-Price   40lbs 00ozs

    6

     7th Peg 28 Paul Roberts    15lbs 10ozs

    7

     

     

  • Hartleylands Farm Fishery. Nick's Lake.

    Marsh AC club match.

     Harleylands Farm, Nick's Lake.

    It's off down to Hartleylands Fishery at Cranbrook in Kent for what should have been an Inter-club match against Morefax AC but unfortunately they haven't been able to get a team together so it's just a regular club match today. However as we booked the whole of Nick's Lake we've invited a few guests along so hopefully everyone will have a decent day . A glance out of the window offered a glimpse of what promised to be a decent day weather wise, so after taking care of the cats and swigging a couple of cups of coffee the kit was loaded into the car and off I went .

    First stop was the Knoxbridge Café to take care of breakfast Mick the Chippy and grand daughter Rosie had just arrived as I pulled up and we entered to find that Keith and Mick already there and waiting for breakfast after their trip down from Milton Keynes. John. Martin and Zack weren't far behind and once breakfast was taken care of we made our way down to the fishery for the draw.

    The usual banter was flying around as we waited . Lee was there, the sole Morefax angler who could make it, so he would be fishing as a guest along with along with Gary who was Chris's guest today and fishing his first match for about 30 years . There were two areas I wanted to draw today, either the spit (pegs 7-9) or the mid twenties. Into the bag and the drawing hand didn't co-operate leaving me with peg 16, not where I really wanted to be .

    Making my way round to the peg with my gear I found that Rod had peg 13 and Al was on peg 14, while Martin had 17 and Jim 18. You can see where everyone else was pegged on the peg plan below ......

    Peg Plan for the match today

    Settling into my peg it was a question of sorting out a plan of attack. The obvious approach was method feeder to the island, but it only ever seems to produce small carp of around a pound and if I'm honest it's a style of fishing that bores me to tears, so today I was going to target the bigger fish that tend to lurk around the margins so I set up four top kits. Two had Nick Gilbert's handmade NG Power Pencil's, 0·4 g made up on on 0·18 Ultima power match straight through to size 16 Kamasan B911X's for a line in front at 6mtrs where I had around 4 feet of water, while the other 2 were 0.2g NG Edger's again on 0·18 Ultima power match straight through to size 16 Kamasan B911X's for the margins where I had around 2½ft of water. I also set up a pellet waggler should I see fish moving around up in the water. Bait was my usual combination of 6mm coarse pellet for feed and the hook along with some 8mm's, sweetcorn and 6mm GOT Rippers as alternative hookers.

    Peter had drawn Peg 16 today

    With around 15 minutes to the All-In I took a little stroll. Al had set up to fish long and shallow on the pole along with a method feeder and pellet waggler ......

    Al was setting up a method feeder

    and I found Lee down on peg 7 with a big grin on his face and itching to get started ......

    Lee was happy with peg 7 today

    So at 10am Dave called the All-In, a pot of pellet onto the 6mtr line and a handful down both margins was followed by a banded 8mm out to the 6mtr line, Sport was far from instant though and a good 10 minutes passed before I had my first bite which I promptly missed . Al had gone straight out on the method and was soon into a run of small carp, but apart from him sport seemed to be pretty slow up our end of the lake. My second bite produced a feisty little mirror of around 1½lbs so at least I was off the mark, but my next couple of fish were small skimmers and the first hour saw me add just another 3 small carp to my nets. The second hour was a little better, but only just with another 6 small carp to show for my efforts, but at least the sun was shining allowing me to ditch the fleece and sit comfortably in a polo shirt for the first time this year . However I was getting nowhere fast, while Al was still catching on the method, although he was complaining that fish were knocking off the groudbait as soon as the method hit the water, so I decided it may be time to get the feeder rod out. However I rigged it with a small cage feeder as opposed to the method, and was going to feed dampened 6mm's in an attempt to stop it getting ragged. So with a couple of pints of pellets damped down I took a stroll while the pellets soaked.

    Simon had started on the feeder, but it hadn't really produced for him so he had reverted to the pole in attempt to find some action ......

    Simon soon swithched to fishing the pole

    Next up was Keith, another who'd started on the feeder but reverted to the pole and while he insisted that he wasn't really getting to grips with it he was soon into a carp as we chatted ......

    Keith was soon into a carp

    Clive was looking a little happier with things today fishing the bush to his right and soon had plenty of elastic streaming out of his top kit, and the culprit a carp that he'd foul hooked in the tail soon found its way to his waiting net ......

    Clive brings a carp to the waiting net

    Next up was Tony, back with us today having missed the Rayne Lodge match, he was targeting his left hand margin and seemed to be reasonably pleased with his progress , while down on peg 26 Rosie was having a fine old day in fact she was having such a good time that Grandad Mick had stopped fishing himself and contented himself with being Rosie's Ghillie for the day ......

    Rosie was having a great time on peg 26 with Grandad Mick

    Round to peg 31 and Mick W was being his usual laid back self and although he was being a bit cagey about how he was doing the large tail pattern by his float when he dropped his rig in rather gave the game away that he was probably sitting on a good few fish ......

    Mick had a good few fish in front of him

    On the next peg Chairman Dave reckoned he was having a similar day to me (I won't call it a Grueller as I know one of my readers would take issue with me on this ) but having returned from a stroll of his own had managed a couple of quick fish on paste down the margin ......

    Dave was soon landing a carp

    It was pretty much the same story until I got round to the point where I found Lee targeting his margin and getting among a few carp to keep him happy with his progress .......

    Lee was catching from the margin

    Kevin was happily fishing the feeder on peg 8 and having one of his best days of the year so far ......

    Kevin was enjoying his match on peg 8

    Terry was also having a decent day on peg 9 although he's lost a couple of lumps during the morning that just didn't want to play ball and as I made my way back to my peg Al was giving the method a rest, and seeing if he could find some action on the pole line ......

    Al rested the method and took  a look on his pole line

    Back at my peg, and with the feeder loaded and a banded 8mm on the hook it was out to the island. Within 30 seconds the tip wrapped round and a regulation 1lb carp was heading to the net, this rapidly became eight in eight casts forcing Martin to get his feeder rod into the action. For the next couple of hours fish came regularly and with around an hour to go I had 50 carp in the nets. The trouble was they were like peas in a pod, all around the 1lb mark and I wasn't enjoying it so with an hour to go the feeder rod was up the bank and I spent that final hour looking for some lumps in the margins. However it wasn't to be, they just weren't there and I only added another half a dozen small carp to the nets before Dave called the All-Out at 4pm.

    Packing my gear away I felt that I had something approaching 60lbs to show for my efforts. I would almost certainly have topped the 'Ton' if I'd fished the feeder all match, but I wouldn't have enjoyed it as I like to have something larger to target nowadays. I was pretty sure that Al had won the match though as it had suited his style of fishing as he just likes to be busy and doesn't mind what he's catching as long as he keeps busy, and he'd certainly been that today .

    When I caught up with the weigh-in they had just weighed Lee in with 105¾lbs and judging by his smile he was happy with that . Kevin had 63lbs and Terry 73½lbs. Rod had 11½lbs while Al certainly had been busy recording a fine 176½lbs . Next up my estimate proved to be almost spot on with 59¾lbs. Martin managed just 13½lbs and Jim 38lbs. Simon had tipped back as he'd had to leave early. Keith had managed 85½lbs but Clive topped that with 113lbs while Tony put 106½lbs on the scales . Mick was a very proud Grandad when Rosie weighed in with a fine 77lbs, "its just like catching roach on the canal Grandad, but bigger ". Mick W bagged 'The Milton Keynes Nugget' today with 113lbs but did himself no favours beating Chairman Dave's 51¾lbs from the next peg . Graham managed a level 40lbs to Zack's 23½lbs and John rounded things off with 39¼lbs.

    So back to the car park for the results and Al had taken the win today , while Clive and Mick W had tied for second . The sections today were won by Al, Lee, Clive and Mick W. Overall just over 1250lbs of fish were weighed in, making an average of just over 66lbs per angler. Not a bad day I think you'll agree .

     

    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

     1st Peg 14 Al Loader   176lbs 08ozs
     2nd= Peg 23 Clive Pritchard   113lbs 00ozs
     2nd= Peg 31 Mick Wright   113lbs 00ozs
     4th Peg 24 Tony Roberts   106lbs 08ozs
     5th Peg 7 Lee RoseGuest  105lbs 12ozs
     6th Peg 21 Keith Ashby    85lbs 08ozs
     7th Peg 26 RosieGuest   77lbs 00ozs
     8th Peg 9 Terry Goff    73lbs 08ozs
     9th Peg 8 Kevin Loveland    63lbs 00ozs
     10th Peg 16 Peter Morton    59lbs 12ozs
     11th Peg 32 Dave Collier     51lbs 12ozs
     12th Peg 34 Graham Manning    40lbs 00ozs
     13th Peg 37 John Holdsworth    39lbs 04ozs
     14th Peg 18 Jim Boase    38lbs 00ozs
     15th Peg 4 Gary LuckGuest   36lbs 00ozs
     16th Peg 2 Chris Withall    31lbs 08ozs
     17th Peg 35 Zack Johnson    23lbs 08ozs
     18th Peg 17 Martin Hucker     13lbs 08ozs
     19th Peg 13 Rod Turner     11lbs 08ozs
     20th Peg 20 Simon Watkins 

    DNW

     

     

  • Rolfs Lake. Holton. Oxfordshire.

    The Jinx Series 2012
    Special 2 Day Festival.

    Rolfs Lake

    Well this weekend it's something a little bit different to kick off this years Jinx Series, with this 2 Dayer being organised by Malc (The Jinx) to get everyone into the swing of things, and although the results of these matches won't count toward the series results it's being treated as a Mini Festival with section points over the two days deciding the winner .

    The Jinx Squad 2012

    The Jinx Squad 2012

    Clive, Tony, Malc(The Jinx), Steve, Dai, Dave C.
    Simps, Terry, Budgie, Dave M, Peter, Neil.
    Paul, Nick W, Gem(The Minx), Geoff, Mat, Nick W-P.
    Fred, Ady, Kev.

    Day 1
    Friday, April 27th, 2012.

    Unfortunately due to a new job The Jinx himself would be missing Friday but was hoping to get down and fish on Saturday, but in his absence it looked like he'd managed to sort the weather for us with plenty of Rain and more Rain predicted over the 2 days . A quick glance out of the bedroom window confirmed the forecast was right on Friday morning, but after dropping Maria off at work I soon had the car loaded up and was on my way. As usual no trip to Rolfs is complete without a stop off in Battersea to set myself up for the day ahead with a 'Full English' and with that polished off it was next stop Rolfs.

    Pulling into the car park it was obvious we were going to have a good turn out with the vast majority of The Jinx Squad regulars along with a couple of victims guests ready to do their best to get to grips with the lake, of course this included The Minx but unfortunately her New Hat hadn't arrived in time so that won't come into play until the start of the series proper in June. As usual the banter, wind ups and general pee taking was soon in full swing and it was around 11·30am that Simon called for the draw to start and with rain threatening and a strong breeze blowing down from the Big Lake into the Little Lake everyone was keen to get started and set up before the impending deluge arrived. Into the draw bag and I came away with peg 3, one that's not normally included in matches, but one I've been wanting to fish for ages as it's tucked away in the corner of the Little Lake with some decent cover, not to mention the fact that there were reports of fish showing there earlier in the day .

    The rain had already started to fall as I reached the peg so it was a question of getting settled in and set up as soon as possible. Looking around I could see Neil Riddy settling into peg 34, a good angler on a decent peg who regularly fishes Rolfs and has a good record there, meaning I would have my work cut out to win the section today. Marcus (Budgie) was on peg 39 another peg that's rarely included and he was keen to give it a go, while round on peg 6 was Dave Moore with Simon Watkins on peg 7 and Geoff on peg 8 completing A section.

    The peg plan for the Friday match.

    I wanted to keep it as simple as possible so just set up 3 pole rigs that were pretty much identical, just varying in length to cover various parts of the peg. These were all Nick Gilbert's handmade NG Power Pencil's, two 0·4 gm and a 0·5 gm, all made up on on 0·21 Ultima power match straight through to size 16 Kamasan B911X's covering depths from 2½-4 ft. I really should have got the feeder rod out as well, but as I couldn't get the brolly set effectively with the wind in my face it was used to shelter the rest of my kit behind me in an attempt to avoid it getting soaked and the feeder rod was left in the holdall . Bait was simply a couple of bags of 6mm fishery pellets with some 8mm hard pellet, corn and various soft hookers for change baits. With a little time to go I just checked my elastics when I noticed some deterioration in it in one of my top kits. All three kits had been elasticated at the same time and although the other two looked OK I didn't want to risk them. The only elastic I had available was some Vespe Bi-Core so this was hastily rigged into the 3 kits meaning I missed the All-In as I finished the third kit .

    Peg 3 in A section for Peter on Friday

    I only missed the first five minutes however and soon shipped a small cup of pellet out to 8mtrs followed by another small pot spread along the edge of the bushes to my left, plus a pinch into both margins before shipping a banded 8mm out to 8mtrs. Unfortunately the next 20 minutes was pretty futile as despite working a selection of various baits not a single bite was forthcoming , in fact the only thing coming my way was rain and increasing amounts of it, (At this point I'll apologise that this report doesn't contain more photos from the day, but the weather meant that the camera stayed safely in it's case.) Time for a look over by the bushes and it was a banded 6mm that produced the required response, the float gliding under, it was only a small roach but at least I'd avoided the dreaded DNW. Next put in and away the float slid again, a carp this time that dived for the cover of the bushes, but steady pressure soon saw me in control and the fish, a stocky mirror of around 8lbs in the net. As I lifted the net the mesh started to give way though resulting in the fish nearly sliding through an increasingly large hole !!!!! Luckily I was quick enough to save the situation, but I had to go and find another landing net before continuing.

    I had to go up to the next net bin so stopped off for a chat with Dave Moore who was also having a struggle and having to watch Neil opposite steadily walking away with the section. Back at my peg I then suffered a brief spell where I had a couple of foul hookers, obviously big commons judging by the scales that came back on the hook, I thought I'd got away with it till "Nobody likes to see that" carried on the wind from peg 34 as Neil looked on .

    Still the rain poured down but I managed 4 carp, but they were spooky which I felt was due to the fact that there wasn't enough leaves on the bushes yet to offer the cover they needed to settle. I settled down feeding around 20 pellets at a time and waiting for a bite before re-feeding. About half way through Keith Powell came walking round, his face a picture of abject misery , sat on peg 10 his waterproofs had proved not to be and he was off to his car to try and warm up, have a fag and try to dry out a bit.

    The rain just didn't relent and Gem had given it best having only had a single roach from peg 26 and retreated to the dry and warmth of the caravan she and Simps were using for the weekend so at least people would be saved from a Minxing. The rest of us battled on through the incessant rain (in fact the water level rose 1½ inches during the match, showing just how much water was falling) I managed another 4 carp during the course of the match, but I was mightily relieved to hear the All-Out come 6pm .

    Of course once we started packing up the rain eased off and as we started the Weigh-In it had virtually stopped and the wind died down too adding insult to injury. Neil was the first to weigh and pretty much as I had expected he put a very creditable 125½lbs on the scales , Budgie had 56lbs 2ozs and my fish came to 69lbs 2ozs . Sport had picked up for Dave toward the end leaving him with 64¼lbs while Simon Watkins had just 16¼lbs and Geoff a level 63lbs to complete the section, so 2 points for me today to keep my chances alive .

    Simon with 49¼lbs, Keith 27½lbs and Clive with 77lbs from peg 13 made up the first half of B section before we got to C section where Nick W-P's one decent roach was weighed at 1lb. Dave Wall on his first ever visit to the lake put 79½lbs on the scales which would prove enough to take the section today . Nick Williams with a level 75lbs and Fred with 56½lbs followed only to be pipped by Paul's 60½lbs. Dave C had suffered a bit of a grueller with just 13¾lbs while Gem had just 8ozs for her one roach to complete C section. Kevin managed 25½lbs and Dai 37¼lbs while Mat completed B section with 22½lbs.

    Back to the hut for the results and Neil had taken the Lake win today and along with Clive and Dave Wall was in the pound seats with a section win and 1 point to take into Day 2 tomorrow.

    Day 1 Results

    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

     1st

    34

     Neil Riddy  125lbs 08ozs
     2nd

    16

     Dave Wall   79lbs 08ozs
     3rd

    13

     Clive Pritchard   77lbs 00ozs
     4th

    19

     Nick Williams   75lbs 00ozs
     5th

    3

     Peter Morton   69lbs 02ozs
     6th

    6

     Dave Moore   65lbs 04ozs
     7th

    8

     Geoff Palmer   63lbs 00ozs
     8th

    23

     Paul Roberts   60lbs 08ozs
     9th

    21

     Fred Parker   56lbs 08ozs
     10th

    39

     Marcus Burgess   56lbs 02ozs
     11th

    9

     Simon Mound   49lbs 04ozs
     12th

    30

     Dai Thomas   37lbs 04ozs
     13th

    10

     Keith Powell   27lbs 08ozs
     14th

    28

     Kevin Loveland   25lbs 08ozs
     15th

    32

     Mat Edwards   22lbs 08ozs
     16th

    7

     Simon Watkins    16lbs 04ozs
     17th

    25

     Dave Collier    13lbs 12ozs
     18th

    14

     Nick Watkins-Price     1lbs 00ozs
     19th

    26

     Gem Doyle            08ozs

    Section Results

    A Section

         
    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

    Points

     1st

    34

     Neil Riddy  125lbs 08ozs

    1

     2nd

    3

     Peter Morton   69lbs 02ozs

    2

     3rd

    6

     Dave Moore   65lbs 04ozs

    3

     4th

    8

     Geoff Palmer   63lbs 00ozs

    4

     5th

    39

     Marcus Burgess   56lbs 02ozs

    5

     6th

    7

     Simon Watkins   16lbs 04ozs

    6

    B Section

         
    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

    Points

     1st

    13

     Clive Pritchard   77lbs 00ozs

    1

     2nd

    9

     Simon Mound   49lbs 04ozs

    2

     3rd

    30

     Dai Thomas   37lbs 04ozs

    3

     4th

    10

     Keith Powell   27lbs 08ozs

    4

     5th

    28

     Kevin Loveland   25lbs 08ozs

    5

     6th

    32

     Mat Edwards   22lbs 08ozs

    6

    C Section

         
    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

    Points

     1st

    16

     Dave Wall   79lbs 08ozs

    1

     2nd

    19

     Nick Williams   75lbs 00ozs

    2

     3rd

    23

     Paul Roberts   60lbs 08ozs

    3

     4th

    21

     Fred Parker   56lbs 08ozs

    4

     5th

    25

     Dave Collier     13lbs 12ozs

    5

     6th

    14

     Nick Watkins-Price     1lbs 00ozs

    6

     7th

    26

     Gem Doyle            08ozs

    7

    With the action over for the day all that remained was to get into some dry cloths and while some were eating in their caravans and bivvies some of us went off to the local Harvester for a couple of pints and a meal which went down really well. On our return there was time for a quick chat with a few that were assembled round the hut, but I felt knackered and soon set off to settle down in my green VW Passat bivvie for the night, and almost as soon as I climbed into my sleeping bag and my head hit the pillows I was asleep .

    Day 2
    Saturday, April 28th, 2012.


    I awoke around 7am to the sound of rain on the windscreen, only a few drops, nowhere near like yesterdays but as I climbed out for a stretch it was noticeably colder than the day before . This was due to a change in wind direction, it had turned through 180° overnight and was now a north easterly blowing straight into pegs 19-21 in the Big Lake. I soon had the stove out and the kettle on for a coffee and also decided to have a pot noodle as I was a bit peckish . Pauline appeared taking Ollie for his morning constitutional and Dave Wall surfaced from his Renault bivvie. By 9am most were up and about and a few of us returned to the Harvester for breakfast .

    Fortified by that we returned to the lake and started to sort out our gear for the day ahead. Early reports indicated that the fish would follow the wind meaning the Big Lake would be the place to draw today. Dave Collier confirmed that he wouldn't be fishing today if he didn't get a favourable draw as the weather had played havoc with his arthritis, and Kevin was also leaning that way as Jean wasn't feeling to good either. Around 10·30am the blaring of a car horn signalled the arrival of that force of nature that is The Jinx, yes Malc was at the lake. I have to say that it was good to see him as without him the series wouldn't exist and definitely wouldn't be the same (Is that a good thing? answers on a postcard to......................... )

    So 11am and draw time once more. Into the bag and it's peg 19 for me, another of those pegs that is rarely used as 18 is considered the better peg, but with no peg 18 in the draw and the wind blowing into it should be good for a few today . For company I had Dave Wall on peg 21 and Clive had draw one of his favorites....................NOT in the shape of peg 23. Neil had drawn peg 9, another decent peg today so I would be able to keep an eye on all three section winners from yesterday .

    The peg plan for the Saturday match

    Settling into the peg It was immediately obvious just how cold the wind was , but I was hopeful it would at least keep the rain at bay. I set up 3 rigs, an 0·4gm NG XT Gimp on 0·21 Ultima power match straight through to a size 16 Kamasan B911X for straight out at around 10mtrs as Nick W reckoned most of his fish had come from there yesterday while the two 0·4gm NG Power Pencil rigs from yesterday would be used hard up against the boat and to the end of the bushes to my right. I also set up the feeder rod today just in case I felt the need for it. Bait was identical to yesterday, a couple of bags of 6mm fishery pellets with some 8mm hard pellet, corn and various soft hookers for change baits with some 6mm's soaked for use in the feeder should they be needed .

    Peg 19 in C section for Peter on Saturday

    With a bit of time before the All-In I could see a good few were chatting over the prospects for the day ahead over by the hut ......

    Waiting for the All-In on Saturday

    Rather than join them though Dave and I had a chat, he was fortunate in missing out on another chance to be Minxed as Gem had also decided not to fish today so the pressure was off there, but just for a bit of added interest we had a Golden Nugget on todays head to head ......

    Dave Wall

    Anyway 1pm and time for the All-In, half a small pot of 6mm's out to the 10mtr line and a few to the bush and against the boat. A banded 6mm out to the 10mtr line resulted in an almost instant bite and the first fish of the day, a common of around 6lbs was soon safely in the net, this was soon followed by a similar sized mirror, a nice start to the match for me . Looking across I could see Malc on peg 25 and it looked as if he was fishing paste to the end of the bush on his left hand side. He was soon into what looked to be a good sized fish that was taking him a while to get under control .......

     Malc (The Jinx) was on peg 25

    It proved to be a very decent fish indeed, a Common weighing in at 21lbs 6ozs which Simps managed to get a photo of before Malc returned it ......

    Malc (The Jinx) with a Common weighing 21lbs 06ozs

    The wind was getting up a bit more however making it awkward to fish at 10mtrs so I took an early look over toward the bush again with a banded 6mm, similar to yesterday feeding 20 pellets at a time and working the bait constantly to attract a bite. Soon the float buried and a lift brought solid resistance but gentle pressure lead the fish away from the bush and almost straight into the landing net. A definite weigher that went 15lbs, just what was needed and the start of a steady run of fish pretty much all the way through the match for me . Dave wasn't so fortunate and was working hard just to attract a bite ......

    Dave Wall on Peg 21 was struggling to make something happen

    Over on 23 Clive was already on the feeder and didn't appear to be enjoying things to much .....

    Clive on Peg 23, not a happy bunny

    While down on peg 32 Paul appeared to have had a couple of decent fish on the pole ...... 

    Paul had started on the pole on peg 32

    Around half way through the damp and cold wind had got to me and I had to take a break for a walk and today I took the trusty camera with me . Clive by now had swapped to the pole but steadfastly refused to smile for the camera (I told you he hates peg 23 ) .......

    Clive refused to smile for the camera

    Down on peg 30 Simon Watkins had started to put a few good fish together despite having it pointed out to him that he's set up the top kits on his new pole wrong, telescoping them instead of assembling them as put overs, but soon fell victim to the curse of the camera as about a second after I took this picture the hook pulled ......

    Simon......... just before the hook pulled

    Keith was looking a little lonely on peg 34 and was fishing the pole as opposed to the feeder .......

    Keith struggled on Peg 34

    Mat appeared to be fishing a pleasure session tucked away on his own on peg 3, while Budgie appeared to be busy trying to get to grips with his peg ......

    Budgie on peg 7

    Geoff was plugging away down the track on peg 8 which he was fishing for the second day running, so at least he knew where the feed had gone in on the previous day ......

    Geoff was on peg 8 for the second day running

    Paul was less than delighted to see me appear with the camera , especially as Simps and Malc were also present to offer support, but he managed to avoid the curse and land the carp he was playing ......

    Paul playing a carp

    Neil surprisingly was having a bit of a grueller on peg 9 and Nick W-P was looking less than enamoured with peg 10 .......

    Nick W-P (monkey) on Peg 10

    By the time I got back Dave was targeting the end of the bush on his right hand side and this was the swim he would stick with for pretty much the rest of the match ......

    Dave getting to grips with Peg 19

    Back to the bush for me and straight away I was into another fish another scrappy mirror of around 7lbs. I don't know what it is about these fish as they seem to fight a lot harder than the commons. They remind me of the fish we used to catch at Stockton in that they seem to swim with their head down and fight well above their weight. Still they all count and are decent weight builders. A couple of better commons then put in an appearance adding more weight to my total on the board .

    I'd also noticed that as the match wore on plenty of people were picking up one or two better fish. Fred had plenty of elastic out on several occasions .......

    Fred trying hard to net one

    ...... and had started to make regular trips to the scales.

    With around 80 minutes to go Neil's swim woke up for him and he had a decent run of 9 fish that was sure to push him up the leader board ......

    Neil was tucked away on Peg 9

    I had a lull with around 45 minutes to go and finally took a look with the feeder just past the end of the bush. Within a minute the tip whipped round and after a spirited fight another decent common slid over the net and at 15lbs was a welcome sight . Unfortunately during the fight the rig had tangled in some old line and was badly tangled and rather than re rig it I went back to the pole and managed another 3 fish, two of them weighers before the All-Out was called at 6pm.

    I have to admit that I wasn't to sad to pack the kit away, I'd had a decent day with around 80lbs of weighers on the board and hopefully another 50lbs in the nets but the constant cold wind and drizzle in my face had left me feeling knackered, though satisfied with my day . I soon had my kit back to the car and loaded away and by the time I caught up with the Weigh-In Keith had recorded 59lbs 6ozs and Mat had put an excellent 130lbs 4ozs on the scales to take the small C section of 4 with Dave C and Kevin not fishing. Budgie managed 62¼lbs and Geoff 89¼lbs. Neil's late run netted him 116¾lbs . Nick W-P had a better second day with 40½lbs while Dave Moore finished the first half of B section with 73½lbs. Nick Williams managed 27lbs while Fred's trips up to the scales yielded 109½lbs and my fish rolled the scales over to 140½lbs . Dave Wall could only muster a level 30lbs meaning he was waving farewell to a Golden Nugget . Clive with 63½lbs just edged out Dai's 63¼lbs but Malc had the beating of them both with 87½lbs to round off A section . That left the rest of B section, Simps suffering a grueller with just 28lbs, Simon Watkins recording his first Jinx Ton with 121¾lbs and Paul finishing things off with a fine 119¾lbs .

    So a lake win for me today and the bonus of becoming Peg King for peg 19, so as we made our way back to the hut for the results I was happy with that . It got better though as it transpired my 3 points from a section 1st and 2nd was enough for the overall Win . Neil finished one fish short today meaning that a section 1st and 3rd gave him Second place overall while Paul's 5 point score just edged out Clive's on a weight countback for Third place .

    Day 2 Results

     

    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

     1st

    19

     Peter Morton  140lbs 08ozs
     2nd

    3

     Mat Edwards  130lbs 04ozs
     3rd

    30

     Simon Watkins  121lbs 12ozs
     4th

    32

     Paul Roberts  119lbs 12ozs
     5th

    9

     Neil Riddy  116lbs 12ozs
     6th

    16

     Fred Parker  109lbs 08ozs
     7th

    8

     Geoff Palmer   89lbs 04ozs
     8th

    25

     Malc Doyle   87lbs 12ozs
     9th

    13

     Dave Moore   73lbs 08ozs
     10th

    23

     Clive Pritchard   63lbs 08ozs
     11th

    26

     Dai Thomas   63lbs 04ozs
     12th

    7

     Marcus Burgess   62lbs 12ozs
     13th

    34

     Keith Powell   59lbs 06ozs
     14th

    10

     Nick Watkins-Price   40lbs 08ozs
     15th

    21

     Dave Wall   30lbs 00ozs
     16th

    28

     Simon Mound   28lbs 00ozs
     17th

    14

     Nick Williams   27lbs 00ozs
     

    6

     Dave Collier

    DNF

     

    39

     Kevin Loveland

    DNF

    Section Results

    A Section

         
    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

    Points

     1st

    3

     Mat Edwards  130lbs 04ozs

    1

     2nd

    8

     Geoff Palmer   89lbs 04ozs

    2

     3rd

    7

     Marcus Burgess   62lbs 12ozs

    3

     4th

    34

     Keith Powell   59lbs 06ozs

    4

    6

     Dave Collier

    DNF

    7

    39

     Kevin Loveland

    DNF

    7

    B Section

         
    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

    Points

     1st

    30

     Simon Watkins  121lbs 12ozs

    1

     2nd

    32

     Paul Roberts  119lbs 12ozs

    2

     3rd

    9

     Neil Riddy  116lbs 12ozs

    3

     4th

    13

     Dave Moore   73lbs 08ozs

    4

     5th

    10

     Nick Watkins-Price   40lbs 08ozs

    5

     6th

    28

     Simon Mound   28lbs 00ozs

    6

    C section

         
    Position

    Peg

    Angler

    Weight

    Points

     1st

    19

     Peter Morton  140lbs 08ozs

    1

     2nd

    16

     Fred Parker  109lbs 08ozs

    2

     3rd

    25

     Malc Doyle   87lbs 12ozs

    3

     4th

    23

     Clive Pritchard   63lbs 08ozs

    4

     5th

    26

     Dai Thomas   63lbs 04ozs

    5

     6th

    21

     Dave Wall   30lbs 00ozs

    6

     7th

    14

     Nick Williams   27lbs 00ozs

    7

    Final Positions and Points

    (Countback on Weight  to decide ties)

    Position

    Angler

    Weight

    Points

     1st Peter Morton  209lbs 10ozs

    3

     2nd Neil Riddy  224lbs 04ozs

    4

     3rd

     Paul Roberts  180lbs 04ozs

    5

     4th Clive Pritchard  140lbs 08ozs

    5

     5th Fred Parker  166lbs 00ozs

    6

     6th Geoff Palmer  152lbs 04ozs

    6

     7th Mat Edwards  152lbs 12ozs

    7

     8th Dave Moore  138lbs 12ozs

    7

     9th Simon Watkins  138lbs 00ozs

    7

     10th Dave Wall  109lbs 08ozs

    7

     11th Marcus Burgess  118lbs  14ozs

    8

     12th Dai Thomas  100lbs 08ozs

    8

     13th Keith Powell    86lbs 14ozs

    8

     14th Simon Mound   77lbs 04ozs

    8

     15th Nick Williams  102lbs 00ozs

    9

     16th Malc Doyle    87lbs 12ozs

    10

     17th Nick Watkins-Price    41lbs 08ozs

    11

     18th Kevin Loveland    25lbs 08ozs

    12

     19th

     Dave Collier     13lbs 12ozs

    12

     20th Gem Doyle             08ozs

    14

    So that's it, The Jinx Series is up and running for another year. Well done to all that fished the 2 days, with what the weather threw at us everyone deserves a medal for endurance at the very least. Hopefully things will improve by the time the first match of the Series comes round on 2nd June, but hey this is The Jinx Series, anything could happen and probably will .