Maggotdrowning.com

Southern Championship 2011.

 Today is the day of the Maggotdrowning.com Southern Championship which means that I'm off down to Nick's Lake at Hartleylands Farm just outside the village of Cranbrooke in Kent . Nick Gilbert had kindly taken care of organising the match this year. The early morning glance out of the window revealed a cloudy overcast morning, and the weather forecast wasn't for much in the way of improvement. I soon had the car loaded up and by 7am I was on my way.
The first port of call today was The Knoxbridge Café, where a few of the lads were meeting for breakfast . I got there just after 8am to find most of the usual suspects were already in attendance a 'Knoxbridge Special Breakfast' soon had me set up for the day ahead, and it was then just a matter of jumping back into the car for the five minute trip down the road to the fishery.

As we waited for the draw word came through that Tony was marooned on a stationary M25, and a quick phone call to him confirmed that he wouldn't be able to make it today , which left 16 of us fishing today. Prior to the draw Nick was doing a brisk trade in his floats which he had with him, but we were soon picking our pegs ......

I found peg 13 was to be mine for the day, not a peg that I would have chosen, as I've never fished there before and it's not considered one of the noted pegs. Nick Costar (Bag Up) had drawn peg 8 , and would take some beating with his Method approach, while Al had drawn 9, another good peg .
Matt and Mick had 23 and 24 and Nick Gilbert was on peg 17, on his own at the top of the lake with the wind blowing into it .

Reaching my peg I took stock, a comfy chuck to the island for a feeder, and a promising reed lined margin to the right and a overhanging bush to the left, with the wind blowing from right to left across me ......

I set up 3 top kits. The first with a 0·2g NG XT Power Pencil made up on 0·16 Ultima Power Match straight through to a size 16 Guru MWG for straight out in front at around 6mtrs where I had around 4ft of water. Then a NG 0·3 XT Sampson margin on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 16 Guru MWG for tight to the reeds in my right hand margin where I had 2 feet of water and a 0.2 NG Edger on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 16 Guru MWG that would be used tight to the bush on my left. I also set up the feeder rod to fish the method to the island. Bait was a selection of 4, 6 and 8mm pellets along with some soft hookers and some paste.

Kevin appeared with a welcome cup of coffee courtesy of Jean and after a brief chat made his way back to his peg for the start of the match. With everyone set Nick called the All-In at 11am. I fed a pot of mixed pellet at 6mtrs and a handful in each margin before shipping an 8mm pellet out to the 6mtr line. a couple of dips then the float buried resulting in a hand sized skimmer to get me off the mark, which was followed by a couple more identical examples. Not quite what I was hoping for especially as the two Nick's both appeared to be off to flyer's along with Al, in fact rumour had it that Bag Up had taken a couple of near doubles in consecutive casts within the first 15 minutes!!!!!!

Up to my left on peg 15 was Toby(vassago)Wells, and from what I could see it appeared that he was suffering with a similar slow start to the match like I was ......

After upping my feeding on the 6mtr line my next fish was a Carp, only a small one at around 1½lbs, but it gave a good account of itself before sliding across the rim of the landing net . This signalled the start of a run of Carp, but after about an hour I could tell that I wasn't catching fast enough and was already falling behind . Time to take a look on the method. I'd previously soaked some 4mm pellets for use on the feeder, so using those in conjunction with a hair rigged banded 8mm pellet it was out to the island with the feeder. It was quite shallow out by the island and I could see fish turning toward the splash of the feeder as it landed, and while it soon started to produce fish for me, they were all small fish of around the 1lb mark . Nick on peg 17 was making serious inroads into the lake's Carp population and still taking fish regularly ......

I stuck it out in the hope that a few better examples would show up, but it just didn't seem as if it was meant to be today. Sipping a second cup of coffee from Jean I decided to have a quick look with the pellet waggler, as I had been catapulting 6-8 8mm pellets to the island every couple of minutes while fishing the method and it was already set up in it's ready sleeve. The set up was ideal to reach the island but after half a dozen casts it was all to obvious that the wind was making presentation to difficult for it to be effective .

I could see that Al was still catching at a steady rate, and his commentary on Bag Up's progress kept everyone aware of how well he was catching . I could also hear plenty of splashing coming from Nick's peg although the bush to my left stopped me from seeing quite how well he was doing. However I could see Micky over on peg 24 and he seemed to be catching well down his left hand margin ......

A quick look down both margins produced nothing apart from a solitary small Roach, so it was back to the 6mtr line for me. I was soon back among the Carp, still not large fish, but a slightly better stamp at around 1½-2lbs to those I'd been catching on the method . The problem was that I couldn't increase the catch rate, it was just steady away. Finally with about 30 minutes to go the fish turned up in my right hand margin and I managed to take a few better fish around the 3-4lb mark before Nick called the All-Out at 4pm, but it was to little to late for me.

Packing up and chatting to Toby it was obvious that we'd had pretty similar matches, and I felt that I probably had around 70lbs to show for my efforts.
So with my gear back in the car it was time for the Weigh-In.

Mick r kicked things off with 39½lbs, but Simon recorded the days first 'Ton' with a fine 137lbs . Kev could only manage 37lbs 10ozs. Bag Up put 185lbs on the scales , but Al topped that with 197lbs 10ozs . My fish came to 88¼lbs, while Toby had 79¼lbs. Nick showed just what a busy day he'd had 140 Carp for a weight of 222¼lbs . Lee had 82lbs and Matt had 128¼lbs but Mick won their peg to peg tussle with 177¾lbs . Dave had 50½lbs while new boy Gino had 30lbs. On peg 32 Terry's 112½lbs was just 4ozs better than Rusty's 112¼lbs from peg 33 , and Keith was last to weigh with 49¾lbs.

So back to the car park for the results. The Winner on the day and Maggotdrowning Southern Champion 2011 was Nick Gilbert . Al Loader took second place on the day while Nick Costar was third overall .

Thanks to Nick for organising the match and to all those that supported it on the day .

Lastly to Hartleylands Farm, what a fishery Over 1700lbs of fish weighed in, meaning an average of over 100lbs per angler, it shows the quality of the fishing on offer .

Maggotdrowning.com

Rolf's Pairs Tournament 2011.

Dave the Fish's

Invitation Match.

Well today sees the start of what has become an annual 3 day trip to Rolfs, starting today with Dave the Fish's Invitation match that precedes the Maggotdrowning.com Rolfs Pairs Tournament over the Saturday and Sunday . This has become a match not to be missed as it's fished by a few less people and it normally sees the best fishing of the 3 days, and being a member of Dave's club (Marsh AC) ensures that I'm fortunate enough to receive an invitation every year .
Being a weekday Maria was already up and had fed the cats and I'd promised to take her to work, so with that done I loaded the car up. It's surprising how much extra stuff there was, bivvie, bed chair sleeping bag etc, but it all slotted in without problem before I set off . It was a bit overcast, but warm enough and the forecast for the next 3 days was good with plenty of sun for the weekend. As usual I stopped off in Battersea for Breakfast , Al was hoping to join me, but got delayed and missed out on the delights of a "Full English" before I was back in the car and on my way to Rolfs.

A steady run down saw me pulling into the car park around 10·15am to find a good few already in situ. Malc had taken Dai and Ann along with Beau up with their caravan on Wednesday and then come back up from Wales early today so we were due to face the might of the whole 'Doyle Clan' over the course of the weekend . Others had also arrived early to ensure a good pitch in Maggotville, so it was out with the bivvie to secure a spot. My little 1 man bivvie has seen a fair bit of use over the years, and today one of the poles decided it had enough and snapped . However with some gaffer tape from Scott and a hacksaw from Dai it was soon repaired and in place .

A stroll round soon came to an abrupt halt however as i came face to face with John's new guard dog !!!!!!!, Black and Tan, was it a Doberman, Rottweiler???

No, Ollie is a Dachshund, and at around 8 weeks old the cutest bundle of fun you could imagine on 4 legs, and already proving a huge hit with everyone .

Well with 19 of us assembled. and only a single Rolfs Virgin in fellow club member Simon Watkins present, Midday signalled draw time. The general opinion seemed to be that the Big Lake was the place to draw today as the wind had been blowing up into it for the past 3 days, so you can imagine my delight to find Peg 38 in my hand , I couldn't be further away if I'd tried.

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

Setting up was a matter of 3 rigs, A 0·2g NG XT Power Pencil on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 16 Guru MWG would be for straight out at 7mtrs where I had an even 3 feet of water in all directions, a NG 0·3 XT Sampson margin on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 14 Guru QM1 would be used to fish by the bush/grass to my left, and a 0.2 NG Edger on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 14 Guru QM1 would be used on top of the ledge tight to the grass next to Peg 37, while the waggler rod was on standby to have a search around if it got really tough. Bait was 6,8 and 11mm fishery pellets and a selection of various soft hookers, along with sweetcorn and some paste should the lumps turn up in the margin.

Clive popped round as we waited for the All-In with news that he'd ended up on Peg 13 , I didn't laugh much though as I'd have happily swapped with him today.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Back at my peg things didn't really improve for the rest of the match, in fact the only one to really do anything was Dai who managed another 4 fish during the course of the afternoon . I even spent a while on the waggler, but that was no more successful than my pole lines, However with an hour to go a look on my 7mtr line produced a foul hooker that headed of toward the Big Lake at a rate of knots leaving me with just a scale for a souvenir . Kev finally managed to snare a carp over on peg 2 and with 45 minutes to go I finally managed to hook and land a carp that weighed 13lbs, however it was to little to late and just another couple of small skimmers came my way before John rang the fishery bell for the All-Out at 7pm.

Packing away didn't take long as I took my kit back to the bivvie that was only about 40 yards away, and so onto the Weigh-In. Mitch kicked off with a hard earned 49lbs while my silvers added to the solitary carp came to 16lbs. Dai's 5 fish weighed a fine 70¾lbs . Kev had 5½lbs to show for his efforts while Jon had all silvers for just over 13lbs. Scott had a couple turn up late for a level 26lbs. Alex recorded 61¾lbs with Simon managing 25¼lbs for his first effort .
Tricky(Richard) managed 54lbs from peg 9 on his Birthday , while Steve had struggled with just a single carp for 7½lbs on peg 10 . Clive had indeed managed to sort it out recording 83½lbs but it was Malc on peg 14 who would take the win on the day when he put 103½lbs on the scales . For Dave Moore it was a case of what might have been with his fish weighing 36lbs, but he'd fished on for a bit after the whistle and caught 6 fish in 6 put ins . Dave had 95¼lbs from peg 18 to take third in his own match . Paul was the only other angler to record a 'Ton' with 100¼lbs to take 2nd . Al with 65½lbs and Nick with 67lbs were edged out by Webbo's 74lbs while Terry was last to weigh with 81¼lbs .

So once Dave had sorted out the results and payed out the monies from the day people dispersed to chat over the days events and sort out their food etc.
Al, Webbo, Paul and I elected to visit The Harvester for Dinner along with Richard and Scott and washed it all down with a couple of pints before returning to the lake where the banter flowed along with a few more beers into the night as Simps, Gem and Budgie joined us ahead of the weekend .

By around 11·30pm I turned in to get some sleep ahead of the Main Event. How would it go? We would soon find out.

Marsh AC club match.

Well it's off to Essex for me today and a club match at Colemans Cottage on Wood Lake.
The view out of the window this morning promised a nice sunny day ahead and after a couple of cups of coffee and having fed the cats and loaded the car I was off and heading for Whitam in Essex, and a trouble free run down saw me pulling into the car park around 7·30am, where Kevin and Jean, along with Simon were already in attendance . Into the fishery lodge for a Large Breakfast , and we were soon joined by Terry Keith and Pete along with Lee, Dave and a couple of other Morefax lads who were joining us today along with a couple of guests, so it should be a good turn out . Soon the rest of the gang arrived and with breakfast taken care of I went outside to discuss the prospects for the day ahead.
The club normally fishes Pathfield Lake when we visit Colemans, so this is something new, at least for me as I've never fished Wood Lake before, but luckily for me Paul Law (justin case) has furnished me with a detailed peg by peg rundown on the lake so I wasn't not going into it totally blind . Dave soon had the monies collected and the draw up and running and after dipping into the bag I found myself with peg 14 for the day, which according to Paul's run down was just an average peg.

So collecting my tackle I made my way down to my peg. Terry was on peg 1, with peg 2 drawn for Paul who was running late due to a blow out on the way down . Keith was on peg 6 (one Paul had reckoned was worth running to ) with Pete Thompson on peg 8. Tony Roberts was on 10, Clive on 11 and Simon on 12 with 13 not drawn. To my left was Martin on peg 15 while I could see Dave in the corner on peg 18.

Settling into the peg it was time to decide how to tackle it. I had a gap between 2 islands out in front I elected to cover that with a waggler and got out a Shakespeare Micro that was already set up with a 2AA peacock insert waggler. I opted for 3 pole lines. Straight out at 6mtrs where I had 5ft of water with a Sackup CX 4x12 pencil on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finishing with size 16 Guru MWG, and 2 margin rigs, both NG 0·3 XT Sampson margin's on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finishing with size 16 Guru MWG's plus a paste rig of an NG 0·2 Margin paste float on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 12 Fox series 2. Bait was my usual combination of 6mm hard pellet for feed with 6 and 8mm pellets for the hook along with some corn, a selection of GOT Baits soft hookers and GOT Atomic Paste (green halibut).

Kevin had arrived while I was setting up with a cup of coffee and with a bit of time prior to the off I strolled back to the car to collect a bottle of water, only to find Paul arriving by Taxi (having changed his blown out tyre only to find the spare knackered as well !!!!!!!!!!! ) so helped him to his peg with his gear, then made my way back to mine. At 10am Dave signalled the All-In and we were off . 2 big pots of pellet at 6mtrs followed by a handful in each margin were then followed by a banded 8mm shipped out to the 6mm line. A couple of tentative digs then the float buried resulting in a Carp tearing off and the rig flying back with a scale on the hook , not quite the start I'd hoped for, but at least there were some fish about. Next put in the float buries and it's fish on again, a good solid surge and it didn't want to get it's head up, a bit more pressure and up it popped, not he expected Carp but a Barbel and at around 3lbs a nice way to get off the mark . A couple of Carp quickly followed this, not big fish, but really solid, giving a good account of themselves which I estimated at around 4lbs each.

Looking around I could see that Martin had a fish on the feeder that he was playing and most were starting to find a bit of sport, so it was looking like it should be a good day for most, in fact I looked down toward Dave and saw that he was engaged in what looked like a tug of war with plenty of red hydro streaming from his top kit ......

For the next couple of hours it was just a question of things ticking over, a couple of Carp, then a Barbel or two, still putting some weight in the net, but I couldn't seem to up my catch rate . I'd been using my clicker as there's a net limit at Colemans which I didn't want to fall foul of, and reckoned I had about 35lbs of carp by 12·30pm. I'd had a look down both margins, the right hand had produced hardly anything though despite the next peg being empty, so decided to concentrate on the left hand one. With this in mind I re fed it quite heavily and took a stroll with the camera to allow it to settle and take my coffee mug back to Jean .

Looking down from my vantage point I saw that Clive was busy unhooking a fish that he'd just netted ......

While on the next peg along Tony was doing his best to get the landing net under a fish of his own ......

 Pete had left his peg, but I could see him sitting next to Keith and having a chat with him as he netted a small carp .......

 Terry was being a bit cagey as to what he had exactly, but didn't reckon he was setting the place on fire. Paul was having a frustrating time trying to tempt some action from his margins, but Rod seemed to be enjoying a bit of sport ......

 Kev was owning up to 3 fish and hoping things would pick up for him later in the day, and looking across I could see Lee and Judy on adjacent pegs ......

 Strolling back Keith reckoned he had around 35lbs but was adamant that Pete was doing better , and I couldn't help notice that he was fishing short just in front of his nets, and made me realise that last year I'd caught tight to my nets on Pathfield, perhaps that was the way to go today ......

 Pete was back on his peg and of course though that Keith was just edging him as he struck into a carp just as I moved on ......

 Indeed it was starting to become obvious that the fish were starting to get their heads down, and I could see Ken on the far bank getting ready to slide a small Carp over the net ......

 Tony was attached to yet another fish, that seemed to be giving a good account of itself with plenty of orange vespe coming out of his top kit .......

 and there was Clive just slipping the landing net under yet another fish that he'd taken on the method feeder ......

 Simon however wasn't feeling so positive, complaining that he'd never lost as many fish as he'd done today and considering that he'd lost a fair few on the last match at Mill Barn, you could safely say that he wasn't best pleased ......

 Back at my peg I dropped my 6mtr rig in on a top 3 at the end of my nets and found just a couple of inches less on the depth, so fed a handful of pellet there and stuck a 6mm pellet on the band. This soon produced a Barbel of around 3lbs and was swiftly followed by a couple more , then a small Carp as Dave arrived with another Mug of coffee from Jean . The next fish made me jump as an acrobatic skimmer did a passable impression of a Trout leaping clear of the water as I struck . Another couple of Barbel followed and I'd noticed Al on peg 22 collecting a second carp net so he was obviously going well and from what I could see was fishing the method. Dave was still catching well and he was next to go for a second net. Another small carp followed for me before a couple of foul hookers ran me ragged and seemed to kill the swim .

Time for a look in the margin with the paste rig, a couple of knocks and the float buried , the strike meeting with firm resistance as a good fish powered of into open water. The fish stayed deep not wanting to get its head up, but steady pressure finally told as a double figure Mirror slid into the waiting landing net . With that fish I reckoned I had about 55lbs in the net so went and got a second carp net for myself .
Back in with the paste and it was obvious that the fish were there as the float buried straight away, a barbel this time with a taste for paste, and I took another 7 carp before Paul came up to see how I was doing with 15 minutes to go. Unfortunately this coincided with a spate of iffy bites and I only managed one more Carp before Dave called the All-Out at 4pm while he played a final fish.

Packing my kit up and chatting to Martin I was convinced that I had around 80-90lbs, but I wasn't really sure as I'd got it somewhat wrong last year when we fished Pathfield but with the kit packed away in the car all would be revealed as I set off for the weigh-in. Terry kicked off with 63¼lbs from peg 1 , which Keith topped from Peg 6 with 86¾lbs just edging out Pete's level 86lbs to take the bragging rights on their trip home to Milton Keynes .

Tony on peg 10 put 70lbs+ on the scales with his first net, but thankfully Graham (The Owner) decreed that as long as it wasn't over 80lbs there would be no penalty. His final tally was 143¼lbs, a total that wouldn't be beaten ensuring he took the honours on the day . Clive managed 69½lbs and Simon just 40lbs.
Round to my peg and as soon as I lifted my 1st net I knew that I'd underestimated as well , thankfully it came in under 80lbs and my total of 141½lbs that would be good enough for 2nd today . Dave had a good day as well on peg 18 with 122¼lbs and Nick Bondeau recorded a new PB match weight of 71lbs .

Al was left regretting a slow last half hour when his weight came out at 131lbs but still ended up 3rd overall . Lee Rose on peg 34 took the best weight among the Morefax lads with a level 98lbs while Roger, Ken and Graham managed 50lb weights . So back to the fishery lodge for coffee and results.
Dave soon had the results and the sections sorted and payed out, 1700lbs + had been weighed in for an average of 62lbs+ per angler so it was fair to say a decent day had been had by most . Next up for Marsh AC is Blasford Hill on August 13th.

For me however the next stop is 3 days at Rolfs Lake next weekend for Dave's Friday Invitation match and the MD's Pairs weekend .

Jinx Match 4

 Well today's the day for the fourth Jinx Match in this years series of six , and a quick peek through the curtains this morning confirmed that we were in for a wet start to the day as all that could be seen was a heavy grey sky and a stiff breeze, and by the time I loaded up the car the first spots of rain were already falling . As usual the first stop was Battersea to fuel up for the day ahead with a 'Full English' and with that polished off it was next stop Rolfs.

Unfortunately the closer I got to Rolfs the worse the rain came down, and with about 5 miles to go it was so torrential that the wipers couldn't clear the screen, even on high speed . It had eased a bit as I pulled into the car park. Some of the Jinx Squad had fished the Open Night Match the evening before and had stayed over and were huddled under a brolly and the gazebo by the hut. Malc appeared looking as if he'd been for a swim in the lake, but was just walking proof that his MAP waterproofs weren't anymore . Gem had decided that she wouldn't be fishing today as it was raining, so Simon decided that as they've just moved into a flat together he wouldn't fish either, and instead they would visit IKEA to get some stuff for their flat. Amazing what love can do isn't it IKEA on a Saturday !!!!!!! instead of fishing!!!!!!!!! He'll learn , but at least it meant that nobody would get Minxed today .

Well the rain continued to fall, and with this being the 4th match todays draw was all in as we redraw sections for the final 3 matches. 11·30am and it's draw time, into the bag and it's peg 5 for me, a peg I've not fished before so I'm quite happy to give it a go . John Bennett had fished it last night and had around 90lbs, so I picked his brains as to how he'd approached it so I would have some idea of the areas to target .

Lionel's day out.

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

I'd arranged to meet up with the lads at Rolfs around 9·30am, which even allowing for the heavier weekday traffic gave me the chance to stop off in Battersea for a 'Full English' before continuing on to the lake . Indeed when I pulled into the car park at Rolfs the lads were already there unloading their kit and apparently champing at the bit. Stocking up on pellets and a quick coffee we checked with John to see which pegs were available as there was an Open on later in the day and we were ready for the off. Well James was, Lionel was giving his new Maver seat box it's first outing and had found after loading it up that the tyres were flat !!!! Luckily I carry a plug-in compressor in the car and we soon had tyres inflated and made our way down to the pegs . There were a couple of anglers already on pegs 34 & 35 with another on peg 2. James had already settled into peg 38, so I opted for peg 39 while Lionel settled into peg 40.

James is very much a carp angler and was using conventional carp gear, with a running rig rather than his usual bolt rig. Lionel opted for a pole approach and had wanted to go with Black Hydro, but I managed to persuade him to go with Red Hydro . As it was a pleasure day I simply set up a couple of rigs that I had made up to try out some new 0·2g NG XT Power Pencil's that Nick has just started selling. These were made up on 0·20 Ultima Power Match straight through to a size 14 Guru QM1's while bait was the usual fishery 6mm hard pellet for feed with some 8mm and 11mm donkey chokers that would be banded onto the hook along with a selection of GOT Baits soft hookers.

With the wind coming over my shoulder I could feed the 6mm's by hand out to 7mtrs so that was my chosen line, with another line fed to the edge of the lilies to my right. With the wind blowing up into peg 34 and the Big Lake coupled with the change in the weather I wasn't expecting sport to be to prolific today on our pegs. Out with a banded 8mm to 7mtrs and a few dinks suggested Roach might be responsible, but after about 5 minutes the float slid away a gentle lift connected and it was obvious that it wasn't a Carp but one of the Bream that have been showing this year. It soon slid over the net and at around 3lbs it was a welcome start to the day .

Lionel had started at around 10mtrs and soon had fish fizzing in his peg, but was struggling to connect with the bites that were forthcoming , but got of the mark with a Bream. Another couple of Bream followed for me before the first Carp of the day put in an appearance. A Common of around 5lbs that gave a good account of itself before it slid over the net .

Looking across Lionel was into a Carp and it was giving a good account of itself, but Lionel appeared to be gaining the upper hand ......

...... however the fish had other ideas, and with Lionel down to his top kit it dived for the platform and snapped him up round the platform legs .

James was having a real struggle and just had a solitary skimmer to show for his efforts and in an effort to change his fortunes had set a waggler up on one of his carp rods to target the bush to his left, but he wasn't having any joy with it at all. I plugged on, another couple of Bream coming my way before a better Carp put in an appearance to liven up proceedings, a nice chunky Common that James took a photo of for me ......

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

James had indeed settled into peg 34 and placed a bait out as close as he could to the lilies in the corner ......

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

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

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

Jinx Match 3

Well it's time for the third Jinx Match , and with the way the weather had been in the week leading up to the match I wasn't expecting anything other than the cloudy sky with the promise of rain that greeted me as I looked through the curtains . Our 3 furry alarm clocks ( the cats) had done their usual efficient job, and with them fed, and a couple of cups of coffee drunk I soon had the car loaded, making sure the waterproofs were there, but leaving the brolly out as I find it just gets in the way, especially when I'm pole fishing.

Setting off the clouds cleared a bit and the sun appeared, surely trying to lull me into a false sense of security . Breakfast in Battersea as usual was my first port of call , and with a 'Full English' duly dispatched  it was off to Rolfs. A smooth run down saw me pulling into an already filling car park around 10am .
13 hardy souls had fished Malc's Annual JINX Night Match yesterday evening and had stayed over prior to todays match.

Now never let it be said that The Jinx Squad don't know how to spoil their better halves . Geoff had brought down Mags and Saffi for a threesome in the caravan (Don't worry Saffi is Geoff & Mag's dog ), Paul had brought wife Jayne along to share a tent, Simon and Gem had forsaken their usual spot in the caravan so were also in a tent (providing Gem didn't burn anymore holes in it) and Nick had also brought Wife Lisa and little Josh along for a wet weekends camping to celebrate their 11th Wedding Anniversary . Who said romance is dead?

Well after that it wasn't the greatest surprise to find that Nick was the proud wearer of The Pink Elephant today ......

Anyway 11·30am and draw time and I'm in B section today and with the way I've been drawing all bets were off on me pulling Peg13 . Somehow though Nick Williams managed to intercept it and I found myself with Peg 29, a walk of all of 2 yards from the car park . The downside was that that left Peg 9 which has been on fire recently for Gem (The Minx) leaving a lot of very worried anglers .

 Well having dragged my kit the huge distance to my peg I settled in to take stock. Peg 29 is another of those pegs that doesn't get fished a lot and a chat with John revealed he'd had a go on it last night with just 3 carp and a couple of bream to show for his efforts, but he told me where he'd fed and the lines to fish .

Looking up to my left there was Webbo on Peg 31 with Steve Wilson next up on Peg 32, while to my right I had Paul on peg 28 with wife Jayne keeping him company, Steve(Steak) was next up on Peg 26 while Malc(The Jinx) was hiding behind the bush on Peg 25 .

Setting up didn't take to long although the wind blew my keepnets into the peg even before I could start setting my kit up (not a good omen ), Anyway the rigs, an NG 0·4 XT Open Water on 0·20 Ultima Power Match straight through to a size 14 Guru QM1 for 5 mtrs where I had around 5 ft of water and a couple of NG 0·3 XT Sampson margins on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 14 Guru QM1's, One for tight to the bush on my left and the other down the shelf in front of it. The feeder rod was set up as a get out of jail back up. Bait was simply fishery 6mm hard pellet for feed with some 8mm and 11mm donkey chokers that would be banded onto the hook along with some corn and a selection of GOT Baits soft hookers.

All the while it had stayed quite sunny and warm, but the wind was gusting and as the All-In approached the grey clouds were starting to gather . John got us underway at 1pm by ringing the fishery bell. 2 pots of pellet at 5mtrs and a big handful off the end of the bush.
Steve was in straight away on Peg 32, a weigher that tipped the scales at over 18lbs which Dave managed to capture on camera ......

Dave was out on his 'Feederless Feeder' but it didn't seem to be having quite the desired effect for him today . Odd fish seemed to be coming out all round, though not for Paul or me. About half an hour in my float vanished and a gentle lift resulted in a bream doing a passable impression of a dolphin!!!!  It was soon in the net and while it wasn't the carp I was hoping for it at least saved the dreaded blank. A little while later I connected with a carp, obviously a foul hooker as I'd connected halfway through lifting the rig out and as it powered off the rig came back alone .

Paul was suffering to with a number of foul hookers. The dreaded YEEEEEESSSSS!!!!!!!! had come from Peg 9 spreading the fear of a Minxing to a good few round the lake. The first of a good few heavy showers had arrived and these would continue off and on for the rest of the match. Sport for me had died completely. It seemed every time I looked up Steve was playing yet another fish and even Dave had forsaken his 'Feederless Feeder' for the pole in an attempt to get in on the action ......

 If I'm honest, the weather and the lack of any action made me quite despondent and unusually for me I didn't bother to get up for a stroll to see what others were doing, making do with a couple of hurriedly snapped pictures from my peg. Ady was over on Peg 18 and fishing long trying to tempt fish he could see cruising......

Lisa however was undaunted and managed to get a couple of decent catch shots between showers, the first being an 18½lb common that Budgie had on peg 11  ......

 And a 13½lb'er for Hubby Nick from peg 8 ......

Then around a quarter to five things started to look up for me as a carp put in an appearance , only a small one of around 7lbs but welcome none the less, and from there on in I seemed to get one every 10 minutes or so, the rain was back with a vengeance as well, thank heavens for a decent set of waterproofs ......

A couple of foul hookers did their best to disrupt things, but I was starting to put a weight of sorts together and daring to dream that I might even avoid the dreaded Minxing. The rain had stopped again and glancing at my watch I realised there were just seconds to go when my float vanished, a lift and the fish was on and as it went off on a run the All-Out was called. "FISH ON" and looking up I realised that Gem was in as well along with Malc and a couple of others. Gently does it and within 5 minutes it's in the net and at 11lbs a nice way to end what had been a torturous match .

Thankfully it stayed dry as we packed away and then it was on to the Weigh-In. Jon kicked things off from peg 34 with 54¼lbs but this was soon eclipsed by Clive's 140½lbs, but he was cursing a cupping kit that had stuck on his only No3 section forcing him to fish short for the majority of the match having caught well at 14½mtrs prior to that , especially as it would prove to be only good enough for 2nd on the day after Mat on Peg 5 put 141lbs 10ozs on the scales to take the overall win and A section .
Gem set a mark of 48¾lbs to avoid a Minxing. Budgies level 69lbs would give him 2nd in section. Simon had 65¼lbs and Tony had a fine 87½lbs from peg 20 despite being another to suffer a stuck No3 section this time on a top kit. Malc's 110¾lbs, mostly caught late would give him the win in C section today. My fish weighed 55¾lbs, that final fish saving me from a Minxing and Steve took B section and 3rd overall with 138lbs 10ozs .

So back to the Hut for the results and a couple of Golden Nuggets for me from Dave and Gem. The general feeling was that today had been a proper JINX MATCH, foul weather, and hard fishing for some, reminding everyone just what The Jinx Series can be all about. 11 victims for Gem to add to her Minx List including Fred who had been the only one to survive last year . That leaves just Ant, Mitch, Steve and Clive without a Minxing this Series with 3 matches still to go .

Names in Pink are those that were "MINXED"

Marsh AC club match.

An early start for me today as it's a return to The Reservoir at Mill Barn Coarse Fishery for the 3rd Marsh AC match of the year. A glance out of the window confirmed that it looked like a pretty changeable day would lie ahead, so with the cats fed and a couple of coffees drunk the car was loaded up and the waterproofs included along with the rest of the kit . I met up with Chris at Dave's house just after 6am, the reason for the early start being that the first stop today would be a stop at the Castle pub in Little Wakering for breakfast . A steady trip down saw us pulling into the pub car park just after 7·15am to find Kev, Jean and Keith already waiting. I have to say the Full English was Top Quality and well worth the £6 , and having satisfied the inner angler we made our way down to the fishery about 5 minutes down the road.

On arrival we found a number of carpers bivvied up on the car park bank , despite notices posted on the fishery gate reserving this and the left hand bank for our match, but rather than have confrontation we decided to just use 17 pegs down the left hand bank. Waiting for the draw the banter flowed, though I'm not sure that Tony was impressed when he enquired " Where's the sunken island" and I helpfully informed him that "It's under the water".

Time for the draw and when I went up for mine there were no pegs left in the hat!!!! Somehow only 16 numbers had gone in the hat. I agreed to take number 17 to avoid the aggro of a redraw, but John quite fancied fishing next to Martin who was on peg 16, so it was agreed that I would take John's draw (peg 9).

I made my way round to my peg and got down to settling in, the water was well down, well below the swims and with steeply sloping clay there was no way I could get my box down to water level . I elected to stake my nets and fish sitting on the sleeper, a little awkward, but better than being perched high above the water.

Jinx Match 2

Isn't nature a wonderful thing? That's debatable when it seems the whole dawn chorus is focused on waking you up at 5·45am on a Saturday morning . Well having stayed at the lake overnight after yesterdays MD's Fund Raiser I was probably a bit disorientated but I was soon up, changed and had the kettle on for an early morning coffee . It seemed that I was first up today, even the traffic on the motorway was reasonably quiet at that time of the morning and it was easy to appreciate the lure that Rolfs has for the anglers that fish it .

It was quite overcast, but I took the opportunity to have a slow stroll round the lake. Not a lot was moving as I made my way round apart from a moorhen scuttling out from under the bush on peg 23. A few carp were cruising, but not in the numbers you often see prior to the matches. A couple of ducks awoke from under the cover of the bushes between pegs 3 & 4. By the time I got back to the car park Jean had risen and stuck the kettle on so another cuppa would soon be in order .

We sat around discussing various things as one by one the rest of the campers surfaced. Some of us had already decided that breakfast at The Harvester in Wheatley would be a fitting start to the day and just after 8am 8 of us set off to partake. The service might not of been the friendliest but breakfast certainly hit the spot along with loads of toast and tea and on our return everyone was up and about as they packed up their bivvies and tidied things away.

It's the 2nd match The Jinx Series today and it was just a question of waiting for the rest of the participants to turn up, as some hadn't fished yesterday. Banter flew around as usual , mostly focused on the prospects for the day ahead and the pegs people wanted to draw. The other topic was of course the subject of the Pink Elephant Hat and it's wearer for the Day. That was pretty much a done deal though after a post that Jon had put on the forum saying that he was going to bring his young son Sam who'd asked "Why is that man wearing a silly hat? " and "Does that mean you're going to wear the hat next Dad? " when Jon had shown him the reports from the 1st match. Well it would have been rude to disappoint him wouldn't it ......

 So onto the draw and A section. I would be lying if I said that I didn't want peg 7 again after yesterday, but unfortunately it escaped my clutches and I found myself holding peg 38 . It's one of those all or nothing pegs and with the wind in the wrong direction for it today and only a solitary carp coming off it yesterday I wasn't feeling confident as I wheeled my kit round there .

I had Gem to my right on peg 36 along with Kev on peg 34, so not to far for Jean to bring a coffee . Budgie had claimed peg 40 while Webbo had peg 2. Paul and Nick had pegs 4 & 5 with Al and Steve on 7 and 8 to complete A section.

Settling in to the peg I examined the options, The bush down the left hand margin being the only obvious feature. Rigs were simple and pretty much all in place after yesterdays match. A MW 0·6 Diamond on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 14 Guru MWG would be for straight out at 7mtrs where I had an even 3½ feet of water in all directions, while the NG 0·3 XT Sampson margin on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 12 Guru QM1 would be used to fish at the bottom of the ledge by the bush. One additional rig made up with an 0.2 NG Edger on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 12 Guru QM1 would be used on top of the ledge in front of the bush, while the feeder rod was on standby if it got really tough. Bait was the same as yesterday, 6,8 and 11mm fishery pellets and a selection of various soft hookers, though I did have some paste I could make up should the lumps turn up in the margin.

So 1pm and the All-In was called, a couple of pots of mixed pellet onto the 7mtr line and a couple of generous handfuls to the bush on my left before shipping out a banded 11mm to 7 mtrs. It was soon obvious that the wind was going to be a pain gusting as it was from left to right and in my heart of hearts I just knew that sport was going to be neither fast or furious . In fact it seemed to be pretty slow all around the Little Lake except for Webbo on peg 2 who was fishing the 'feederless feeder' (a pellet cone to anyone else ) into the sheltered water against the bushes between pegs 3 & 4 which was producing a few carp for him from what I could see.....

My first fish appeared after 45 minutes, but rather than the hoped for carp proved to be a plump skimmer of around 2lbs. Gem was having a real struggle on peg 36, but at least that meant that I might escape a Minxing today. Indeed it wasn't till nearly 2 hours in that a rather stifled Yeeesssss was heard as she landed a skimmer to get her off the mark. I'd managed a couple of carp by then, but it was really hard work and apart from Webbo the only one I could see who was doing any good was Steve up on peg 8 .

Jean popped down with a cup of coffee and told me that Kev had a couple of weighers on the board from peg 34 and Paul appeared to put a couple of fish together but it was short lived......

 A couple of quick looks down the margin yielded nothing other than a couple of small roach that hung themselves on an 11mm pellet . While to my left Budgie was working his way through numerous combinations and only fairing marginaly better than me ......

In fact as the match wore on it was rapidly turning into one of those that I couldn't wait to end . Dave was still taking fish every 10-15 minutes and looked bolted on to take the section and looking up towards the Big Lake I could see Al working hard......

The lack of walkers today made me feel that the Big Lake was probably fishing the better of the 2 . Gem had resorted to targetting silvers with maggot to put a bit of weight in the net and with around an hour to go treated us to a proper YEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSS as she finally had a carp to show for her efforts. I managed a solitary carp from the margin swim but that was it, and I was pestered by silvers after that till the end when the All-Out was called at 6pm.

Packing away I had no expectations as I knew I only had around 30lbs. With my gear back at the car I set off for the weigh-in, but they'd already started and had reached Budgie before I caught up . A quick glance at the sheet revealed that Gem had only recorded 10½lbs after finding a hole in her silvers net , while my weight was 38¼lbs. Indeed it was Webbo that had taken A section with 123¼lbs and third overall .
Malc on peg 9 had comprehensively walked B section and taken the overall win with a weight of 175¾lbs , while Simon on peg 10 avenged his previous days Minxing with 133¾lbs for second in section and second overall . Clive took a fine C section win with 96¾lbs and in the process became Peg King for Peg 20 , while Nick W-P had the misfortune to record a mere 1lb 6ozs from peg 17 and as the only regular member of The Jinx Squad to be Minxed guaranteed himself The Pink Elephant for match 3 .

The next Jinx Match is on 18th June, with a night match on the Friday. I won't be fishing the night match, but I'm in B section on the Saturday, and with the way I've been drawing so far in the Series, what's the betting that I end up on PEG13 !!!!!!!!!!!!!.

Names in Pink are those that were "MINXED"

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