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"

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"

Maggotdrowning.com

Fund Raiser

Jinx Match 1

Maggotdrowning.com

Fund Raiser

Something a little different this Saturday as I was off down to Rolfs Lake where Malc The Jinx Doyle had organised a Fund Raiser to help with the hosting costs of the Maggotdrowning.com website. All 38 pegs are going to be in use as this was over subscribed within a few days of it being announced. I wouldn't be fishing, just roving the bank with my camera to record the events of the day as with quite a few Rolfs novices in attendance there should be more than a few laughs and shocks along the way.

Looking out of the window it was obvious that the forecast for the warmest day of the year was right for once, and with no fishing kit to load in the car, just a few raffle prizes along with the camera, a leisurely cup of coffee was enjoyed while I fed our 3 cats before setting off via Battersea for a spot of breakfast . With that taken care of I was back on the road, arriving at Rolf's around 9·15am.
I don't think I've ever seen the car park so full, hardly surprising as there were 36 anglers who actually made it to Rolfs on the day. Malc even appeared to be organised for a change sorting out the draw  ......

with raffle tickets being sold along with the 'Guess the Weight' sweep-stake. Lots of banter with faces old and new ensued as draw time approached ......

All to soon it was under way, accompanied by moans , groans, smiles and all other manner of reactions as people made their way to their allotted pegs.

I made my way round to help John & Pauline sort out the nets for all the anglers, while chatting with a few about the prospects of their various pegs. How would it fish? Nobody knew as Rolfs doesn't ever see Matches with so many pegs in use.

The All-In was sounded at 11·15am as I made my way round the motorway bank. Steve Wilson was already doing battle on peg 14 with what was obviously a good carp, unfortunately it appeared to snag him under his nets, and we both thought it had shed the hook when a good fish surfaced by them and swam off. Steve started to retrieve his net to extract the hook when he realised that the fish was still attached, and after resuming the battle soon had it safely in the landing net, an obvious weigher, it went 16lbs, a great start to Steve's day ......

Down to peg 13 and Neil Riddy remarked that he'd had a couple of early bites with nothing to show for them, when his float slid away once more, This time he connected but was convinced it was a bream, till it surfaced,  Carp!!!!! but after a short battle it was in the net getting him off the mark ......

Over on peg 32 Mark Gilbert had his elastic stretched for him before it snapped back into his pole and the hook came back with a scale on it, and as Neil remarked "Nobody likes to see that " though that may just have been a bit tongue in cheek .

Things appeared to be hotting up on the car park bank to, as I could see Pete (crayfishtraps) was well into a fish, though it was certainly giving a good account of itself on his Black Hydro ......

A chilling sound was soon to be heard however as a scream of "YESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!" reverberated round the lake, Gem (THE MINX) on peg 21 was off the mark and searching for victims to add to her list , not a big fish at around 7lbs, but good enough to start with and put the fear of failure in many a heart ......

Making my way round to the car park bank I could see Keith 74 was into a decent fish, however he was having a bit of trouble controlling it especially when it went through peg 26 and collected Len Wade's rig as well. Who was playing who? or was the fish playing with both of them?......

Fortunately Len's rig came loose and it was a very relieved Keith who finally bundled the fish into a landing net, a weigher that had really made him work for it ......

Looking around after a while it became obvious that it was just the odd fish coming out. The warm sun had certainly got the fish moving about, but they didn't appear to be settling, just mooching around, almost as if they were already thinking about spawning. Jean had provided me with a coffee and I was able to have a leisurely look around, a nice change to the view I normally get when fishing myself.

Over on peg 11 Liam (Jinx Jnr) was a picture of concentration as his Dad offered guidance and encouragement ......

While Dai next door on peg 10 had that look of fierce concentration that told you that he'd rather not get beaten off the next peg by an eight year old  ......

Next to Dai on peg 9 was Chris Lovelock, a good angler who had been more than happy with his draw and hopeful of putting a decent weight together today, unfortunately for Chris though the fish appeared to be having other ideas  ......

Al had drawn peg 7, ideal for his favoured long pole approach, however today he had his 3 children with him, Al Jnr , Jenny and Gary who had come along to offer Dad their support  ......

and to be fair he had been getting quite a bit of stick from a few of us, having been christened "Daddy Daycare" for the day  ......

Next up on peg 7 was Clive looking reasonably happy with his peg, while next along were Ian (Chin) on peg 6 and Geoff on peg 5 ......

Kevin was tucked down in peg 34 with his partner Jean keeping an eye on him, and as I made my way round he was landing what was to prove to be his 2nd fish of the day  ......

Next up came Martin (Coopster1) having his first go at Rolfs and a little unlucky to find himself on peg 35, a peg that normally doesn't get a lot of use  ......

Adam (dumdum) was another of those on his 1st visit, and while peg 36 had a bit more form, he wouldn't have found to many wanting to fight him for it today  ......

Meanwhile on peg 37 Budgie already had the look of a man resigned to his fate , it's not a peg he fancied and he already felt that he was just going through the motions ......

Mitch had already set out his stall to attack the margins on peg 38, a plan that if it came off could reap big dividends, but could also backfire on him  ......

Down on peg 40 Dave could be found in splendid isolation as with neither peg 39 or peg 1 being drawn he had plenty of water to go at, it just needed the fish to co-operate  ......

  Tucked away right in the corner on peg 3, and trying to get to grips with match fishing I found Steve Preston (Luckyluca) ......

 While sat on peg 2 was his son Joshua who had come along to fish his first ever match and it has to be said that it looked like Dad was in serious danger of receiving a battering from his lad  as Josh was 2-1 up on him and playing another fish as I passed by  ......

Simon (Simple) was having a bit of a struggle on peg 4 , with just a single fish and fearing the worst knowing that girlfriend Gem had caught, but I seemed to bring him a bit of luck (a Mugger Moment© ) as he was soon into another carp which was obviously happy to pose for the camera ......

Carrying on round for another lap of the lake Geoff seemed happy enough with his lot, with a couple of fish already in the net being enough for him to be happy that he'd not blanked  ......

Peg 7 and shock horror , I found Clive not only fishing LONG but SHALLOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Those that know Clive will truly appreciate the rarity of this event  ......

Al in truth was having a bit of a mare on peg 8, which wasn't helped by people reminding him that the peg had won the match on Wednesday with the 1st 300lb weight of the year and having to keep an eye on his 3 kids, however he did manage to land one while I was there......

      and was happy enough to pose for a photo to cheer himself up a bit  ......

As I approached Dai's peg I could hear a fair bit of splashing and arrived just in time to witness Dai sliding the net under what was obviously a good double  ......

which I was only to happy to weigh it for him, and it was good to see his smile as I returned with the fish and the news that it weighed 15¼lbs .

 Liam was sticking at it, and by now had 3 carp to show for his efforts, despite feeling tired after being dragged out of bed at 5am for the trip up with his Dad  ......

Neil was swapping between various lines trying to find what they wanted, you could see the fish cruising, getting them interested was another thing however  ......

The rest of the motorway bank seemed to be fairing no better although fish could be seen in the area  ......

Steve was struggling follow up his good start, while Scott, Chris E and Tricky only had the 1 fish each, something that Rod Rose (Isis) on peg 18 would have happily settled for at that point  ......

 Royst was working hard on peg 19 with 2 fish to show for his efforts, while Mark on peg 20 was still to get off to any sort of start. Gem however had a smile as she knew that she already had more than a few running scared at the prospect of being added to The Minx List  ......

Most of the car park bank were off the mark apart from Jay (nemesis) MarkC and Bazza. It was no fault of Bazza's however as the poor soul was suffering horribly from what appeared to be food poisoning that was making him be sick at regular intervals .

With the match well into it's second half I settled down with another coffee (Thanks Jean ) for a chat with Kev. He's one of my Marsh AC club mates and was still stuck on the 2 carp he'd caught earlier. I could see fish in his swim and suggested a few small changes to his approach. With these taken care of and a bit of fine tuning Kev was rewarded with his own Mugger Moment© and soon had carp no3 in the net......

In fact he soon got the hang of what was needed and started to pick up fish on a steady basis .

In general though most on the Little Lake were finding sport pretty slow, though looking across I could see that Ian was picking up one or two better fish on peg 6 ......

The man to beat however appeared to be Clive, who seemed to be getting a better stamp of fish, mind you all fish look big when Clive's holding them  ......

Making my way round for a final time Simon was bemoaning the fact that even his ever reliable get out of jail tactic of a white boilie fished shallow wasn't producing , however within seconds of me arriving he was in again he was in as carp no 4 made it's way to the landing net, definitely a Mugger Moment©  ......

Strolling round I looked over to see that Kev was in the process of landing another fish, so things had definitely picked up in the later stages for him  ......

For the final 25 minutes I sat with Gem to see if I could bring her a little bit of luck, and although she did have a couple of bites, she didn't manage to connect with either of them .

The All-Out was sounded at 4·15pm with Tricky shouting "Fish On "  and plenty of elastic coming from his top kit indicating it was a good fish, and despite lots of encouragement? he was rewarded with a cracking 17lb+ Common ......

While all around were packing up ready for the Weigh-In, Al gave in and let his kids have a little go with his kit, and of course with son Gary fishing down the channel where Al hadn't had a bite all day the float buried ......

With plenty of onlookers Al did the honours with the landing net, Gary's reward being a 17¾lb Common , the largest fish from the peg all day, I told Al he should have let his kids fish  ......

 

On to the Weigh-In, Kevin (peg34) set the mark with 53¼lbs to win A Section . Ian (peg6) put 65¾lbs on the scales which would give him 3rd place overall but Clive (peg7) weighed in 88½lbs to take the spoils in B Section and the overall win on the day .

 Liam recorded 20¾lbs to take a few scalps while Neil (peg13) weighed 67¼lbs to take C Section and 2nd overall . Tricky's last minute carp gave him a total of 33¾lbs for the win in D Section , while Pete (crayfishtraps) took E Section with 41¼lbs . Finally Mick (peg30) won F Section with 35lbs 1oz .

Back to the car park and our Hosts, John & Pauline had been working away to  get the barbecue ready......

and once everyone had been fed it was time to announce the results, and pay out the Section Winners...............

Kevin...................................Clive.......................................Neil




Tricky.............................Pete.............................Godber

The Pairs Winners

Pete & Al
&
Guess the Weight Winner

Gem The Minx

This was followed up by a raffle of donated prizes, and I have to say that people were more than generous with prizes. It seemed to take an absolute age to get through and if someone missed out I can only suggest that they give up buying raffle tickets .

Just a small part of the prizes on offer.

Now it's a Big Thank You to Malc The Jinx for organising the day , which was a huge success,
raising the sum of £449·20p to help towards the running costs of the Maggotdrowning Site .

Another Big Thank You to John & Pauline for allowing us the use of Rolfs Lake for the day .

Finally a Very Big Thank You to All who attended and raised the money,



it's really heartening to see your Support for which I know Dave is very greatful .

Individual Result

Position	Peg	Angler	Weight
1st	Peg 7	Clive Pritchard	88lbs 08ozs
2nd	Peg 13	Neil Riddy	67lbs 04ozs
3rd	Peg 6	Ian Ward (chin)	65lbs 12ozs
4th	Peg 9	Chris Lovelock	60lbs 08ozs
5th	Peg 8	Al Loader	60lbs 04ozs
6th	Peg 34	Kevin Loveland	53lbs 12ozs
7th	Peg 23	Pete Tapp (crayfishtraps)	41lbs 04ozs
8th	Peg 25	Keith Powell (Keith74)	40lbs 14ozs
9th	Peg 35	Martin Cannon(coopster1)	37lbs 00ozs
10th	Peg 30	Mick Godber	35lbs 01ozs
11th	Peg 4	Simon Mound (Simple)	34lbs 00ozs
12th	Peg 17	Richard East (Tricky)	33lbs 12ozs
13th	Peg 5	Geoff Palmer	32lbs 00ozs
14th	Peg 14	Steve Wilson	30lbs 08ozs
15th	Peg 21	Gem Doyle (THE MINX)	29lbs 09ozs
16th	Peg 36	Adam Daniells (dumdum)	29lbs 08ozs
17th	Peg 2	Joshua Preston	26lbs 12ozs
18th	Peg 32	Mark Gilbert	26lbs 02ozs
19th	Peg 38	Mitch Auger (mitch-fish)	21lbs 12ozs
20th	Peg 11	Liam Doyle (JINX JNR)	20lbs 12ozs
21st=	Peg 10	Dai Thomas (dai-fish)	20lbs 00ozs
21st=	Peg 19	Roy Ravenhill (royst)	20lbs 00ozs
23rd	Peg 22	Dave Enderby (Dave52)	19lbs 00ozs
24th	Peg 40	Dave Collier (dave the fish)	16lbs 00ozs
25th	Peg 37	Marcus Burgess (Budgie65)	12lbs 04ozs
26th	Peg 16	Chris Evans (Chris E)	11lbs 12ozs
27th	Peg 27	Terry Pearce (Auto)	9lbs 12ozs
28th	Peg 26	Doug Heathcote (Len Wade)	9lbs 04ozs
29th	Peg 15	Scott Weston (methodgob)	8lbs 00ozs
30th	Peg 29	Tony Roberts (spamwham)	7lbs 04ozs
31st	Peg 3	Steve Preston (luckyluca)	5lbs 01ozs
32nd	Peg 18	Rod Rose (ISIS)	0lbs 08ozs
33rd=	Peg 31	Mark Causer (MarkC)	DNW
33rd=	Peg 20	Mark Barrett (Mark B)	DNW
33rd=	Peg 24	Bazza Cullen (Bazza C)	DNW
33rd=	Peg 28	Jay Tucker (nemesis)	DNW

	Section Results
	Section A
Peg	Angler	Weight
Peg 34	Kevin Loveland	53lbs 12ozs
Peg 35	Martin Cannon(coopster1)	37lbs 00ozs
Peg 36	Adam Daniells (dumdum)	29lbs 08ozs
Peg 38	Mitch Auger (mitch-fish)	21lbs 12ozs
Peg 40	Dave Collier (dave the fish)	16lbs 00ozs
Peg 37	Marcus Burgess (Budgie)	12lbs 04ozs
	Section B
Peg	Angler	Weight
Peg 7	Clive Pritchard	88lbs 08ozs
Peg 6	Ian Ward (chin)	65lbs 12ozs
Peg 4	Simon Mound (Simple)	34lbs 00ozs
Peg 5	Geoff Palmer	32lbs 00ozs
Peg 2	Joshua Preston	26lbs 12ozs
Peg 3	Steve Preston (luckyluca)	5lbs 01ozs
	Section C
Peg	Angler	Weight
Peg 13	Neil Riddy	67lbs 04ozs
Peg 9	Chris Lovelock	60lbs 08ozs
Peg 8	Al Loader	60lbs 04ozs
Peg 14	Steve Wilson	30lbs 08ozs
Peg 11	Liam Doyle (JINX JNR)	20lbs 12ozs
Peg 10	Dai Thomas (dai-fish)	20lbs 00ozs
	Section D
Peg	Angler	Weight
Peg 17	Richard East (Tricky)	33lbs 12ozs
Peg 19	Roy Ravenhill (royst)	20lbs 00ozs
Peg 16	Chris Evans (Chris E)	11lbs 12ozs
Peg 15	Scott Weston (methodgob)	8lbs 00ozs
Peg 18	Rod Rose (ISIS)	0lbs 08ozs
Peg 20	Mark Barrett (Mark B)	DNW
	Section E
Peg	Angler	Weight
Peg 23	Pete Tapp (crayfishtraps)	41lbs 04ozs
Peg 25	Keith Powell (Keith74)	40lbs 14ozs
Peg 21	Gem Doyle (THE MINX)	29lbs 09ozs
Peg 22	Dave Enderby (Dave52)	19lbs 00ozs
Peg 26	Doug Heathcote (Len Wade)	9lbs 04ozs
Peg 24	Bazza Cullen (Bazza C)	DNW
	Section F
Peg	Angler	Weight
Peg 30	Mick Godber	35lbs 01ozs
Peg 32	Mark Gilbert	26lbs 02ozs
Peg 27	Terry Pearce (Auto)	9lbs 12ozs
Peg 29	Tony Roberts (spamwham)	7lbs 04ozs
Peg 31	Mark Causer (MarkC)	DNW
Peg 28	Jay Tucker (nemesis)	DNW

Pairs Result

Position	Anglers	Points
1st	Al Loader & Pete Tapp (crayfishtraps)	12pts
2nd	Gem Doyle (THE MINX) & Neil Riddy	17pts
3rd	Clive Pritchard & Joshua Preston	18pts
4th=	Mitch Auger (mitch-fish) & Chris Lovelock	23pts
4th=	Martin Cannon(coopster1) & Steve Wilson	23pts
4th=	Richard East (Tricky) & Simon Mound (Simple)	23pts
7th	Liam Doyle (JINX JNR) & Kevin Loveland	26pts
8th	Doug Heathcote (Len Wade) & Ian Ward (chin)	31pts
9th	Keith Powell (Keith74) & Terry Pearce (Auto)	35pts
10th=	Dave Enderby (Dave52) & Mark Gilbert	41pts
10th=	Mick Godber & Steve Preston (luckyluca)	41pts
12th	Chris Evans (Chris E) & Adam Daniells (dumdum)	42pts
13th	Geoff Palmer & Bazza Cullen (Bazza C)	46pts
14th	Tony Roberts (spamwham) & Dai Thomas (dai-fish)	51pts
15th	Jay Tucker (nemesis) & Roy Ravenhill (royst)	57pts
16th	Mark Causer (MarkC) & Dave Collier (dave the fish)	60pts
17th=	Marcus Burgess (Budgie65) & Mark Barrett (Mark B)	61pts
17th=	Rod Rose (ISIS) & Scott Weston (methodgob)	61pts

 

A RiveT Piscatorial Promotion

I'm off down to Rolf's Lake today for A RiveT Piscatorial Promotion along with the lads from  TalkAngling  . I missed getting my name down for this when it was posted on the forum, but managed to get a place on the match when a few people dropped out. I don't normally get the chance to fish during the week but as I've got few holiday days left it wasn't a problem for me to get a day off .
Now the thing is, the  TalkAngling  lads tend to like an early start to their matches and the plan was for a 9·30am draw with the fishing from 11-4pm. This meant an early start for me, but no problem as I said that I'd drop Maria off at work around 6am. This meant that I could still get a 'Full English' from my favourite little café in Battersea before doing battle with the London traffic .
Thankfully the plan went like clockwork and I rolled into the car park at around 8·45am.

A few of the lads were already there, including fellow Jinx Squad member Simon who'd managed to get a place on todays match the day before, and Mark C and Royst who I hadn't seen for a while as they no longer fish the series.......

Soon the car park started to fill up, and the chat turned to the prospects for the day ahead, and if I'm honest I wasn't sure just how it would fish . This was the third day in a row there had been a match on the lake and previous experience has shown that it can make for hard fishing, and the fishing times weren't going to help either as the fish tend not to get their heads down till around 3-4pm .

 Anyway come 9·30 and no draw !!!!!! We were all still waiting for Rive T and Larry who'd got themselves lost having ventured so far south. They finally rolled up around around 10am, and after the usual ribbing and pee taking the draw finally got under way with a revised time meaning we would be fishing from 12-5pm. Hand in the bag time, Simon had drawn peg 32 and I found myself holding ..................................... peg 8, well happy with that .

 Round to my peg and time to set up. I was planning to just fish a couple of lines today. 5mtrs down the track and to the bushes on my left, and although I also set up the feeder to fish across, that was a bit of an afterthought.......

Rigs were my usual ones, Malman 4x12 Adam's on 0·20 Power Match with size 14 QM1 hooks for the 5mtr line on the deck with 0·2 MW HC margin's again on 0·20 with size 14 Guru QM1's to fish to the bushes, while bait was the usual variety of hard fishery pellets, corn and GOT Baits soft hookers, though I did have paste with me as well.

For company today on peg 7 I had Justin Watkins who fishes for Browning Crowsports and it looked like he was going to be fishing the pole across.......

 Having set up we were then treated to a sharp shower as the sky turned grey, such are the joys of an English summer . A quick stroll while I waited for the all In revealed Mark C still getting set up, obviously out of practise at Rolfs .......

 Royst was still beavering away too, evidently he'd forgotten how deep the big lake is and had found that none of his rigs were long enough , so had to make up new ones .......

Larry meanwhile has settled himself into peg 18 and was hoping that the next 5 hours would finally provide him with his first ever 'Ton'....... 

So at 12 noon John rang the fishery bell for the All-In. I potted a mix of pellets and corn onto the 5mtr line and a big handful to the bush, but before I could get a bait in the water Justin was playing his 1st fish of the day having shipped across and had the float bury before he could feed.

Not good for me, could I be on for a battering ? I shipped out with a banded pellet to 5mtrs, but the float tip obviously didn't want to get wet as it stubbornly refused to go under.

Simon meanwhile was obviously into a good fish over on 32, in fact it proved to be hooked in the tail, but he still managed to bundle it into the net and at 15lbs+ a great start for him . Well an hour in and I was still fish-less. Simon was starting to put a few together, but after that initial fish Justin was suffering from foul hookers and missed bites . I'd heard a bit of splashing coming from the other side of the bushes on peg 10 so 'The Brick' was obviously putting a few together so decided to take a look by the bush myself.

Now the fish know every root and twig that lurk under the bushes, so it's a question of how brave you want to be with how close you edge the rig in, the closer you get the more likely you are to get a bite. Well after 5 minutes I obviously got it right as the float buried and I was attached to a feisty Mirror that was determined to seek the safety of the roots, but plenty of side strain saw me gain the upper hand and after a couple of minutes an 8lb'er was safely in the net .

What followed though was one of the most frustrating couple of hours that I've experienced in a long while as time and again fish stormed off through the bush trashing rigs . I must have gone through 7 or 8 rigs and only had 4 smallish fish to show for it , and a couple of those had been foul hookers. The trouble was that if I fished short I just wouldn't get a bite and they just didn't want to be tempted further out by feed.

Simon by now had slowed down and was having to feed and fish over the top of the bush toward peg 33, and it seemed he was suffering from foul hookers as well, indeed one ran him ragged surfacing past the platform on peg 33 almost in front of me before he managed to get it in the net.

Then with about an hour to go it all seemed to come right for me in that I was hooking fish and getting them out into open water and safely in the keepnet , I even got a weigher, only 10½lbs but most welcome as I've really struggled to find the larger fish at Rolfs this year. As the clock ticked down I felt that if nothing else I was catching up with Simon. Glancing up I could see John going to ring the bell for the All-Out and just before he did my float buried again just as the bell rang. Fish On, at least Simon was pleased for me, though it may have been something else as I didn't quite catch exactly what he said , fortunately it stayed attached, an 8lb Mirror that joined the others in the net as others started to pack up .

As we packed away Justin and I discussed the day, he'd suffered real frustration and only had 5 fish to show for his efforts.
I'd had a good last hour, once again to little to late, but was left ruing the fact that we hadn't fished the match to more usual Rolfs times as the peg was getting better and better.

Having got the gear back to the car park it was obvious that some had had decent weights and once the weigh-in got under way those soon became obvious. froogy on peg 38 recording the first 'Ton' with 126½lbs quickly followed by Mo M with 102¾lbs .
My fish pulled the scales round to 88½lbs. Then round to peg 9 where 'The Brick' put a fine 161¾lbs on the scales which would prove to be good enough for 2nd on the day  as '20 Metre Bob' on peg 10 topped it immediately with a fine 187½lbs to take the win .
Dan(awesome fish) finished just out of the frame however with 142¼lbs as Jay on peg 24 took 3rd place on the day with 149lbs 10ozs . Finally I just pipped Simon in our personal battle when his fish came to a level 84lbs .

Back at the car park and after a few minutes of spirited debate Larry and RiveT managed to sort out the monies.......

......... and a pleasant surprise for me as I managed to take my section money . So an enjoyable day with the  TalkAngling  lads drew to a close as farewells were said and a hot air balloon drifted serenely past overhead .........

I'm of to Rockells Farm on Sunday for a club match, so keep a look out for the report .

Jinx Match 6

Well it's the Final Jinx Match of the year today, and it's still all to play for with Malc, Clive and myself all still in with a chance of individual glory . It's been a fantastic Series this year , really enjoyable and we're finishing off with a BBQ at the end of the match . The cats decided they wanted feeding and got me up early this morning so the car was soon loaded up and found it's way straight to The Jimmy Griddle in Battersea for my customary 'Full English' before transporting me to Rolfs .

Pulling into the car park just after 9am there were a good few people present already as they had fished the Friday Night Open and were just starting to surface from their slumbers, In fact the first friendly face to great me was Dai's German Shepherd 'Gina'......

 Time for a coffee and a chat and it seemed that the night match hadn't fished that well, which most put down to low oxygen levels, and with that being the case John soon had the aerators and the pump up and running, then I set off to help Malc,Liam and John pack away the lights that had been set up from the previous night.

Just as we were finishing Malc's wife Julie put in an appearance, somehow Malc had persuaded her to come down and camp in a tent over the weekend, although she's not keen on either fishing or camping . It's taken me 9 years to meet this Saint, although I've spoken to her over the phone on numerous occasions, though it was a bit of a worry as it meant for the first time ever the whole Jinx Clan  would be in attendance at a Jinx Match !!!!!!!!!!!

So with the car park filling up Nick's wife Lisa arrived with a batch of homemade Eccles cakes, and while we sampled them (and very nice they were too ) talk turned to what lay ahead, and the general consensus was that it would probably be hard.
Draw time approached at 12ish and with B section being my home for the day and the honour of drawing first having won my section on the last match it meant that Peg13 was lurking in the bag for me, much to everyones amusement. Plunging my hand into the bag I was rewarded with....................................... peg 29 , Mat being the lucky angler on Peg13 today.

Well at least it meant a nice short walk, but with Simon on peg 32 and Dave Moore on peg 9 I was going to have my work cut out today.

I had Nick Jones, making a welcome return as a guest to my left on peg 30 and Steve(steak) my pairs partner to my right on peg 28 for company today. With a cloudy grey sky which the sun was trying to break through and a strong south westerly wind blowing down into the little lake today I couldn't help feeling that we could be in for a bit of a grueller .

The rigs were simple and freshly tied as we had plenty of time before the 1·30 pm start, consisting of a couple of Malman 4x12 Adam's on 0·20 Power Match with a size 14 QM1 hooks for the 5mtr line on the deck while a 0·2 MW HC margin again on 0·20 with a size 14 Guru QM1 was set up to fish to the bushes in the margins. I also set up my feeder rod as a back up, but was hoping I wouldn't need it. Bait for today would be the usual variety of hard fishery pellets, corn and GOT Baits soft hookers.

So at 1·30pm John rang the fishery bell to signal the All-In. A couple of pots of pellet and corn and a handful of pellet to each bush took care of the feed before a banded 8mm was shipped out to the 5mtr line.

A few people were quickly into fish, so perhaps a good day was in the offing after all, indeed after 5 minutes my float buried and I lifted into what was obviously a Carp and within a couple of minutes a Common of around 8lbs was safely in the keepnet . However within 20 minutes the vast majority of the big lake appeared to switch off, in fact for the next 2 hours all I managed to add was a Bream of around 2½lbs and a few Roach. Steve was using worm but all he could find were small Perch no matter where he tried in his peg, though he was briefly attached to a Carp that was obviously foul hooked before it trashed his rig .

Indeed it was turning into the predicted grueller, though Simon was picking of the odd fish fishing to the bush on peg 32....

 ...... and along with a couple of weigher's he also managed a Chub of 4lbs which was a new PB for him  ......

 Jean arrived with a very welcome cup of coffee  while I had a look on the feeder and managed to nick another Carp of around 6lbs, but with Dave on peg 9.........

 ........... and Steve on peg 11 .......

 ....... still taking the odd fish it wasn't enough, so after re-feeding the peg it was time to let it settle and take a walk with the camera.

Paul's wife Jayne had pulled peg 8 out of the bag for him today and I caught him in the middle of a spirited fight with one of the pegs residents  .......

 Nick(monkey) and Jon were the Pink Hat wearers for this match  and Nick was having a bit of a mare on peg 5  and staring another Minxing firmly in the face despite support from Lisa and son Josh today......

 I could see Gem down on peg 38, tucked up in her fleece against the wind and with weigher's on the board leaving more than a few of us worried  ......

 A chat with Tony on peg 26 revealed that silvers were all he could muster and he was just hoping the Carp would turn up for him before the end of the match.......

Paul was next up on peg 25 and was positively 'bagging', the trouble was that they were all small silvers instead of the hoped for Carp, but fishing maggot was probably asking for it ......

Next up was Dave Collier on peg 23 admitting to a couple of carp and apparently sharing the bush between their pegs with Malc in an attempt to extract a few more from his peg......

 Malc for his part was fishing his usual match as close into the bank as he could get while keeping an eye out for how Clive was doing on peg 20.......

 Now Clive it has to be said isn't exactly enamoured with peg 20 , but with the fishing being hard for everyone was giving it his best shot and owning up to 3 Carp at that point......

 Geoff on peg 19 was happy enough with his lot and asked me to pop along with my camera at the weigh in as he had a couple of Perch that he wanted a picture of  .......

 So back top my peg, Steve was still working his way through what had to be one of the largest shoals of small Perch going, while the tip of my pole float was as dry as a bone, stubbornly refusing to go under and get wet . However it was Mat over on Peg13 who was taking a proper beating from the peg as all he had to show for his efforts was a couple of Roach  .......

 Well with around an hour to go, wonder of wonders, my float slid away , I almost missed it as it caught me by surprise, it gave a really good account of itself and although it didn't feel like a really heavy fish it took a surprisingly large amount of elastic out of the top kit, so much so that I was forced to land it on a top3......

 but a fish is a fish when you're struggling and I was happy just to see the Carp nestling safely in the net . I actually managed to catch another 4 after that, but in all honesty I could have done with another hour before the All-Out was called at 6·30pm, because the fish were bubbling in my swim as we packed away .

It transpired that a few of the lads that were stopping over and travelling back on Sunday started the Weigh-in almost immediately and by the time I'd packed away they were a good half way round the lake. Ade had kicked things off with a level 65lbs from peg 34 while Gem had set The Minx Mark at 34¼lbs from peg 38 . Budgie had managed a very creditable 84lbs from peg 40 but it would only be good enough for 2nd in section and 2nd overall on the day  as Terry on peg 2 had taken 98lbs 6ozs for the section win and his first ever Match win . Steve's 62¼lbs gave him 2nd in B section, while Kevin Loveland weighed 49¾lbs to win C section. Geoff's 44½lbs took 2nd in section and I caught up in time to photograph his 2 Perch......

 ........ my fish came to 41¼lbs but Simon won B section with a fine 68¾lbs and 3rd overall on the day .

So with the Weigh-in complete Malc retired to work out the final positions while we tucked into the BBQ prepared by John and the ladies  ..........

 Nick had brought some home brew for us to try and very palatable it was as well , while Burgers , sausages, chicken etc all found a willing home as the days events were discussed .......

Then Malc stepped up to Thank John and Pauline on behalf of the whole Jinx Squad for allowing us to run the series at the lake  before finally announcing the series result with the rider that it was all subject to verification as it was so close, but the winner of the Series was Clive  at long last having been runner up for the 2 previous years. 3 points back in 2nd place was Malc (The Jinx) , who tied with me on points, but beat me on aggregate weight to leave me in 3rd place .

However Malc  and Simon  had triumphed in the Pairs, while Clive took 2nd place   with his partner Ade  and 3rd place went to Gem (The Minx)  and her partner Budgie .

So with yet another Jinx Series coming to a close farewells were said and plans laid for next year, but as I made my way back to the car park in the gathering gloom I spotted Liam sitting on peg 32 having a go with Simons tackle and he appeared to be playing a Carp.......

..... which was soon landed with Simon acting as Liam's ghillie and proudly displayed for the camera  .......

  Scary really as it looks like we'll have yet another Jinx  to contend with in the future .

OVERALL RESULT