Maggotdrowning.com

Rolf's Pairs Tournament 2009.

So 7am and the sun is shining through the bivvy door as I raised myself from my slumber . First things first and on with the kettle for that first cup of coffee to jump start my brain . Terry greets me with several expletives as it seems my snoring woke him around 6am , I reckon it was just John mowing the grass . I was going to catch a lift with the lads down to Tesco's for a bit of brekkie, but missed the lads, so Paul, Terry and I decided to pop up to the services for breakfast. Let's just say that it filled a hole and leave it at that .

Back to the Lake and today there's going to be 30 members of the Maggotdrowning forum assembled from all over the country fishing the 2009 Maggotdrowning.com Pairs Tournament, a 2 legged affair that gets fished over both the Saturday & Sunday. It's very much a social occasion apart from the matches, and as such is always oversubscribed and has become an annual fixture in the forum calendar . This is the 4th year running that the competition has taken place. I was fortunate enough to win it with Tony(spamwham)Roberts in 2007, and would love to be the 1st person to win it twice, as I'm sure any of the other previous winners would .

Soon the car park was full, and as people sorted themselves out for the weekend ahead the banter was flowing. I had a chat with Simon and Budgie who had decided to stay on even though he wasn't fishing, The excitement was too much for Gemma however who snatched 40 winks (probably dreaming of Minxings to come ) ..........

At 11 o'clock the draw for the Pairs was made by Gemma who had risen from her slumbers. Not Experts and Novices this year as the majority fishing now have various degrees of experience at Rolf's . Some interesting pairings came out and I found myself paired with my fellow MD's moderator Dirk . With the draw for todays match not being till 12·30pm I took a stroll round the lake with Terry, and as is usual at Rolf's there were plenty of Carp sunning themselves in all the swims .........

Where did I want to draw? well anywhere between peg 1 and 8 would do me, in fact anywhere but 13 . Getting back to the car park for the draw I noticed that some wag (Vince ) had written 'Peg 13' by my name on the draw board, It couldn't happen could it?

 So at 12·30pm the draw started with Webbo drawing 1st and ending up with peg 11, the same one he'd struggled on yesterday. I then stepped confidently forward stating "Let's get peg 13 out of the way then" and promptly drew it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gutted , though the assembled crowd found it hilarious. The rest is a bit of a blur as various lads offered their sympathy ............. NOT .

Well I walked my gear round to you know where, with the match being fished from 2-7 there was plenty of time to set up and it really wasn't going to take me long as I still had my top kits set up with the rigs from the previous days match, so no need to go over the details of them here. I'm sure you're all fed up with looking at the photo from behind the peg, so I had a stroll along the bank to get a different angle on things .............

I stopped and had a chat with Webbo, and he didn't seem to be to enthused about his chances and then stopped for a chat with Clive who was looking a bit happier with his prospects for the match ahead .......

Looking at the draw I had to fancy Paul East (peg 9) and (peg8) Dave Moore's chances in the Pairs today, while a Golden Nugget looked to be in danger as Vince had drawn peg 6 . Looking across from my peg as I waited for the off I could see Dirk on peg 29, Malc on peg 30, Tony on 31 and Tim on 32..........

So 2pm and John rang the fishery bell for the All-In, feed as per yesterday and out with a banded pellet at 6mtrs. Not a lot happened though, a few bubbles were rising from the swim, but there were no bites to be had. I plugged away but from what I could see sport in general appeared to be slow, though Paul on peg 9 was getting a couple ........

Half an hour in and I had a bite !!!!!!!! I was so shocked that I missed it but latched onto a foul hooker. Lots of elastic poured out of the top kit as I was obviously attached to a Carp via its tail. Despite loads of encouragement I managed to get it to the net, a weigher to get me off the mark ........

Paul Thompson had a bit of a mare as he was connected to a Carp when the sound of smashing carbon was heard leaving him to play the fish on the remains of a shattered top 2 .........

A few more foul hookers followed for me, none of which I landed, so feeling that I was getting nowhere fast, I decided to feed and have a short stroll with the camera . Dave Moore on peg 8 had got off to a good start and was picking up a few fishing paste down the track and was into another fish as I watched ........

...... Unfortunately a bit of a disaster was to befall Dave a few moments after this though, as his keepnet fell in and by the time he retrieved it 3 carp had escaped .
Simon, over on peg 34 had hooked a big Carp which ploughed into the lillies on his right hand side, he tried to free it but only succeeded in breaking his No 4 section. Lucky Mitch was on hand and soon stripped down to his boxers and recovered his top kit .......

Gemma's customary scream was heard from peg 22 meaning a few more hearts dropped , and with good reason as she was receiving a bit of coaching from visiting Rolf's regular Eddie Turner-Green on the finer points of paste fishing, something that Eddie excels at ........

Bill was up on peg 20 and had endured a fishless 2 hours before he'd had his 1st fish, a decent weigher at 14¾lbs to get him off the mark at last ........

Now a bit of light relief is always nice to raise the spirits when things are tough, and today it was provided by Terry on peg 15 . It turned out that his landing net had parted company with his handle as he tried to land a Carp, and having lost the fish he was faced with having to take a dip to retrieve it. Well it would have been rude to have ignored the photo opportunity wouldn't it .......

Things really didn't improve a lot for me, I was simply plagued with foul hookers though I did manage another couple of smaller fish that had actually taken the bait.......

Opposite me my pairs partner Dirk was suffering too, while Malc had sat doing his best garden gnome impression for over 3hrs before taking his 1st fish ........

In fact Malc was about to provide one of the funniest moments of the day ...... Now Malc likes to sit with his pole between his legs, and after lifting into a bite and missing it a Carp must have grabbed the bait and powered off, the force of which pulled the pole down and the butt right up into his family jewels !!!!!!! You could hear the scream across the lake, the fish got off leaving Malc to wipe the tears from his eyes while receiving sympathy from all those around him ......... NOT .

Clive was sliding a few into the net on the quiet, but was having a bit of a problem with his keepnets that were floating around in front of him, and in the end would cost him 3 lost Carp ........

Tony was another enduring a frustrating day as he tried to get to grips with fishing paste on peg 31, even picking John Bennett's brains, but they weren't really having it despite Tony striking like Zorro on numerous occasions , though he did finally manage to connect with a couple........

I managed just one more before John rang the fishery bell for the All-Out at 7pm, and I have to say that I was glad to hear it after enduring what had been a very frustrating 5 hours for me . All that remained was to pack the kit away before the weigh-in, and I was seriously debating whether to just leave it there . It was just a question of if I'd suffered a Minxing and whether Vince had taken a Golden Nugget off me as well. All would be revealed by the weigh in .

So the Weigh-In started with Simon on peg 34 who put 41¾lbs on the scales to kick things off . This was swiftly overtaken however, firstly by Alex Malman (peg 37) who weighed 83lbs+ and then his brother Gaz who recorded 113¾lbs from peg 38 . Vince had managed 56¾lbs from peg 6 and I knew that my 18 month run had come to an end and a Golden Nugget would be going his way at last . Dave Moore's 116¾lbs from peg 8 proved to be the winning weight on the day despite his earlier disaster with his keepnet . Clive's 110¼lbs from peg 10 gave him 3rd place on the day and Webbo's 52¾lbs from peg 11 meant another Nugget disappearing to Yorkshire as my 39½lbs came up short . Indeed with nobody else threatening the frame, It was just a question of whether I could avoid a Minxing I avoided that by the skin of my teeth as Gemma's fish came to exactly the same weight as mine at 39½lbs . Malc's weight of 80½lbs was the best from the final pegs .
So with the Weigh-In over the inquests started, and Eddie was good enough to capture the moment when I had to part with a Golden Nugget and hand it to Vince  ...........

 Dave Moore & Paul East were leading with 13 points while Dirk and I were stone cold last with 44 points . Paul, Vince and I popped down to the pub for a couple of drinks with Dirk and his son, before raiding Asda's for something to pop on the barbie for dinner and the evening wound down with a chin wag and a few beers round the barbie before I hit the sack around 1·30am. What would tomorrow bring? We'd soon find out . 

Sunday, August 09, 2009

I stuck my head out of my sleeping bag around 7am and it was obvious that plenty of people were already up and about. This was probably down to the fact that people had to get their bivvies and all the other paraphernalia packed away prior to the match so after a couple of cups of coffee and a bite to eat it was time to dismantle my bivvy and get it packed away into it's improbably small bag . Considering that I only use it once a year it always amazes me that I manage to do it, but once more it went away OK .

Now we were going to draw at 11·30am and fish from 1pm-6pm in order to allow everyone to get off homeward at a reasonable hour. Having got all my gear packed away I came across our hosts for the weekend John & Pauline tucking into a spot of breakfast themselves .

There was a bit of speculation as to whether I could possibly draw Peg 13 for a third day in a row (How much suffering did people want to see me go through? ) and it had been agreed that I would draw first to put myself out of my misery. So at the appointed time I dipped my hand into the fateful draw bag, and pulled out ............................................ Peg 20 . (Not the best of pegs, and 13 would probably fish it's head of today ) It was a shortish walk anyway and Bill had briefed me on how he'd fished it yesterday. For company I had Dave(Rockyroads)West on peg 19 and Tony on peg 22, while Webbo was next up on peg 23 .

Setting up was a simple job as I still had the top kits set up from yesterday and with just 8 inches less depth I merely adjusted the depth of the rigs that were already in place. So plenty of time till the off, meaning a stroll with the camera was in order. Down on peg 34 Paul was settling in and with his partner Dave having drawn peg 9 it looked as if they would take all the catching , though it wasn't impossible ......

Tony(teepee) was settling in next to Paul on peg 35, and it was good to see him fishing again after he had to miss out last year when he was taken ill .......

My partner Dirk had drawn peg 38 and appeared to be warming up with a bit of Tai Chi, and a repeat of Gaz's performance off that peg the previous day would be the minimum we needed (No pressure there then )........

I couldn't help noticing Gemma on peg 8, she's good enough to Minx a lot of us, without her drawing a flyer like peg 8, but I'm sure it was a cunning plan to distract us further by fishing in those shorts ........

As I made my way back I had a brief chat with Vince who'd drawn peg 32, and I feared he'd be taking another Golden Nugget home with that peg today . I also saw that Bill was settling into peg 11 which hadn't really produced all weekend.

Back at my peg it was just a question of waiting for the All-In and Rocky did the honours with my camera (more like a condemned man waiting for the gallows )

Anyway at 1pm the All-In sounded and we were off, I fed a line at 7mtrs out in front and another to the bush to my left. Starting with hard pellet and alternating between those, expanders, paste and corn produced not a touch , though Tony was off the mark pretty quickly with a decent fish. The Big Lake was pretty slow however, and word had it that the Little Lake was the place to be today. Rocky had managed a nice common and had then lost another. In fact most people had taken the odd fish, mostly on the pellet waggler and Webbo had taken a couple on a floating rocket feeder . For me it was just a question of keeping faith and hoping that something would turn up. I did get the pellet waggler out briefly after Simon had threaded the line through the rings for me (I was struggling without my glasses ), but was pretty restricted in where I could cast so soon gave it up as a bad job and went back to trying the bush to my left.......

One person who did seem to be doing OK though was Mitch who was on peg 13, fishing up in the water at 13mtrs, I'd seen him going to the scales with weighers on several occasions . Simon had managed to extract a couple of fish from peg 15, and had resorted to fishing at 14½mtrs to try and nick a couple more........

Gemma had been noticeably quiet on peg 8, despite Simon reckoning that she'd caught, but when she let out a scream halfway through I thought I was in trouble . Webbo had nicked a couple more and I'd seen Vince picking John's brains about peg 32 and could see him into a fish, so that wasn't looking good either in the Golden Nugget department .........

I finally managed to tempt a Carp from the bush, nothing big at around 7lbs, but a fish none the less . Al seemed like he was in pretty much the same boat as me, and just sticking it out in the hope that they would turn up.......

With about an hour to go I managed to get another Carp from the bush, again around the 7lb mark , and next put in hooked another that I played with kid gloves. However Webbo just couldn't resist saying "make sure you get that in the net" , which of course was the cue for the hook to come free leaving me muttering under my breath .

With half an hour to go I had a final bite, but rather than a surging run from a Carp there was just momentary resistance before a skimmer of about 2½lbs slid over the net. Not quite what I was after, but welcome none the less . Finally at 6pm the All-Out was sounded, and I have to say that I felt glad it was over, and was quite happy to pack my kit away and get it back to the car.

Paul East was first to weigh and his 69¼lbs from peg 34 would net him 6th place on the day bringing him good points . However Gaz on peg 37 blew everyone away with 165lbs and the win on the day . Meanwhile his brother Alex on peg 40 weighed 79lbs for 5th overall. Malc weighed 93½lbs from peg 4 for 3rd, while daughter Gemma only managed 16¼lbs off of peg 8. Dave Moore had a mare on peg 9 managing just 18lbs throwing the whole match wide open. Mitch weighed a very creditable 89¼lbs from peg 13 for 4th overall . Round to my peg where incredibly my 2 carp and a skimmer weighed 16¼lbs meaning I'd tied with the Minx and escaped again for the second day in a row .
However I lost another Golden Nugget to both Webbo and Vince , while Scott recorded the best weight off the car park bank with a fine 94¼lbs on the day for 2nd overall .

So back to the fishery hut and while Dave sorted through the points the banter flowed. It transpired that 1st day leaders Dave Moore & Paul East had been pipped by a single point in the final reckoning, which meant that the winners of the Rolf's Pairs 2009 were.............

Alex Malman & Dave Collier
Congratulations to both of them . 

Finally a few words of thanks are due to
John & Pauline Bennett for allowing us the use of their superb fishery during the weekend.
Dave Webster, for bringing us all Maggotdrowning.com and organising the whole weekend.
Finally, all the anglers that took part, It's you that make the weekend the success it is.

 Overall Pairs Result.

Saturday Individual Result.

Sunday Individual Result.

Dave the Fish's

Invitation Match.

Today saw 16 of us assembled at Rolf's for an invitation match organised by Dave the Fish as a prequel to the 2009 Maggotdrowning.com Pairs Tournament . I was really looking forward to it, as I'd be fishing the Pairs on the Saturday and Sunday as well, and hopefully it would give me the chance to get into the swing of things ahead of the weekend . However it had absolutely chucked it down overnight and that can have a big influence on how Rolf's fishes so we'd see how it goes. Looking out of the window this morning showed a dull grey morning and there was still a bit of light rain as I got all the gear loaded into the car . There was a fair bit to take as well as I was stopping at Rolf's for 3 days including my bivvy, bed-chair and sleeping bag and all the other paraphernalia that you seem to think you'll need. Anyway I bid Maria farewell and set off around 8·30am as I wanted to get down in plenty of time to set up the bivvy and get sorted out before this afternoons match. Having made my usual stop for breakfast in Battersea, I had an uneventful trip down and pulled into the car park at Rolf's around 10·30am to be greeted by Pauline & John and to find that I was the 1st to arrive.

I noticed I had a missed call on my phone from Bill, and phoning him back I found out that he and Mick were devouring a KFC bucket in the services while they waited for Al to arrive and guide them down to Rolf's. Dave was the next to arrive and was soon showing me his latest bit of kit, A Power Walker Trolley, and I have to say it's quite an impressive bit of kit, especially at the price Dave paid for it .

Soon the rest started to arrive, and once John had finished cutting the grass we set about getting the bivvies and tents set up for the weekend, though Bill found that the bivvy that his son had lent him came without poles rendering it useless so ended up sharing with Mick. The only fly in the ointment was a phonecall from Webbo informing us that he was stuck on a gridlocked M40 due to a car on fire , so we agreed to draw for them both in the event of them not arriving on time. Chris(Cybermanc)Ellis & Tom(tommodiesel)Little arrived and while not fishing today had decided to travel down early and get settled in for the weekend ahead.

So at 1·30pm with the sun starting to heat the afternoon up, we made our draw. We had The Big Lake today (pegs 9-32) as another club was there for a match on The Little Lake (pegs 34-8). So into the draw bag and with only 2 pegs left in Peg 13 stuck to my hand . Now it's not a bad peg, but I just can't get to grips with it and it's the 3rd time I've drawn it in 5 matches at Rolf's this year so I can't pretend I was delighted, though the assembled company thought it was hilarious .

So I made my way round with my gear, on what is becoming a well trodden path for me, and settled into what are becoming far to familiar surroundings for my taste. One thing is that I know just what rigs I need to tackle it with, but with just under 1½hrs till the start of the match I decided to tie up some fresh ones up anyway. These rigs ended up as a MW 0·4g XT for the 6mtr line on the deck on 0·20 Power Match with a size 14 QM1 hook. a MW 0·6g Cane Diamond for the 8mtr line on the deck on 0·20 Power Match with a size 14 QM1 and a MW 0·3g Margin on 0·20 Power Match with a size 14 QM1 hook for the inside line. I also set up a Malman SC paste on 0·22 Power Match with a size 10 Ashima barbless for Paste. Bait was my usual combination of pellet paste and corn.

We packed our kit away prior to the Weigh-In and Dave kicked things off from peg 9 with a fine 101¾lbs which would net him 3rd place . I was one weigher short of a Ton recording a level 91lbs for 5th on the day. Tony took the days honours with a creditable 110½lbs from peg 14 . Al took 2nd place with 107½lbs from peg 23 , while Bill managed a Ton on his 1st ever visit to Rolf's with 100½lbs, a fine effort for 4th .

So with the match over people sorted out some grub in various guises and generally wound down, discussing the events of the day and the prospects for the weekend ahead. The general consensus appeared to be that it had been a fine way to kick off the weekend and as we retired to our various sleeping quarters most would probably be dreaming of how the weekend ahead would go. We'd soon find out .

The JINX Series 2009

Match 4.

Today saw us back at Rolf's for the penultimate round of this years Jinx Series. Leading up to the match, the question that had been nagging away at the back of my mind was would the unsettled weather of the previous week have an adverse effect on the fishing today .
Looking out of the window a dull grey day greeted me and it looked like we would be in for more rain at some point, and loading up the car there was a muggy feeling to the air. So having made sure that the waterproofs were in the car today I set off via Battersea for my usual stop at The Jimmy Griddle where one of their 'Full English Breakfasts' at least made for a good start to the day . The drive down was smooth enough, though I did drive through a few rain squalls and after a final stop for a coffee at the services, I pulled into Rolf's car park just after 10·30am.

I was the first to arrive. Now normally the first thing to do on arrival is to dip your nets prior to the match ahead, However John now supplies the fisheries own keepnets and landing nets for visiting anglers to use, so that's one ritual less on a Rolf's match day . Anyway John and Pauline were just starting to refill the dip tanks on the weigh stations so I set off with them round the lake and gave them a hand with that and by the time we'd worked our way back round to the car park the others were starting to arrive .

Soon the banter was in full flow. How would it fish? Clive spent a lot of the time with his fingers in his ears and changing the subject as people tried to get him to name a peg . Tony ribbing me as to whether I would draw 13 again? Would The Minx return to form and add a few more to her list? Marcus (Budgie) was back guesting again having been hooked by The Rolf's Experience as were Webbo and Steve(Steak) and with the weather today was The Jinx starting to flex it's power once more? .

Well the draw was late today (much to Jon's relief as he had stated that he would swim the lake after the final match if all 5 of the series draws had gone ahead on time ) I hung back hoping that someone would get Peg 13 before me, and joy of joys Tony's ribbing bit him on the arse as Peg 13 stuck to his hand . Now Clive and I are partners for the "Pairs" event, and had been heavily tipped as favourites prior to the start of the series, however a couple of disasters in the first 2 matches had seen us languishing down in 10th place , the last match had seen us drag ourselves back to 3rd and we were hoping for a decent pair of draws today to help us improve our position further. Poor Clive however got Peg 23 again , and Jon had obviously drawn well as by the time I reached the draw bag he already had his kit on peg 7 !!!!! Into the bag and I was more than happy to see peg 8 sticking to my palm, a very decent peg that I've never been fortunate enough drawn before .

So with my kit round at my peg it was time to get set up. I tend to be pretty single minded with my approach at Rolf's, I find that if you set up to many options you just end up confusing yourself. Now you can fish long on peg 8 across to the far bank, but in all honesty my back isn't really up to fishing long for 5 hours and with the wind gusting and the promise of rain to come I discounted it. Instead I went for just 4 sections straight out in front on the deck, a comfortable distance that I could throw pellet to regardless of what the weather did , and a similar line to the bush on my left. Rigs would be just one for pellet and another for paste. The pellet rig was a was a 4X12 Malman Adam to 0·20 Power Match with a size 12 Guru QM hook while the paste rig was a Malman SC paste to 0·22 Power Match with a size 12 Drennan Carp Feeder hook. Bait for the day was 8mm hard pellet, paste and some corn, while feed was simply 6mm fishery pellet.
So a pretty simple set up which left me a bit of time before the all in, though Jon looked like he was determined to cover all the bases as he made the most of every minute prior to the off .

So 1·30pm and Malc called the All-In and I fed 2 good handfuls of pellet straight out and another to the left then flicked a banded 8mm pellet out in front, and after lifting and dropping the rig the float buried and a good few feet of yellow Vespe streamed out of the top kit.
Slow steady pressure soon saw one of Rolf's Commons resting in the landing net, a weigher that went 11¾lbs, a nice start .
More pellets and back out with the rig, a couple of lifts and it's déjà vu as once more the elastic streamed from the top kit and a couple of minutes later it's another Common in the landing net, another weigher, this time going 11½lbs . Back out again, more pellets over the top and within a minute I'm in again resulting in yet another Common, going 10¾lbs this time .

Now with a start like that you can't help feeling that it's almost to good to be true, and sure enough next put in sees me attached to a real creature that just steamed off to the far bank, however I managed to turn it then heard a crack, looking up I couldn't work out what had happened at first, but it was soon apparent that the elastic had gone at the stonfo. Obviously a little bit of wear that I hadn't noticed, but I couldn't help feeling annoyed with myself . Feeding more pellet I decided to re rig the top kit as I had all the necessary with me, but it cost me 15 minutes, though I kept feeding while I did it .

Jon was having a bit of grief having lost a couple of fish (probably foul hookers) and was having a bit of a struggle getting to grips with just how the fish wanted it. Meantime I was back in action, my next fish being a Mirror around the 8lb mark. The fishing for most however was proving to be challenging. The Minx had given her customary scream signifying that she was up and running on peg 19 and you just knew that it had caused a few buttocks to tighten wondering if they were going to fall victim to her today . Indeed as I looked up the car park bank from my vantage point sport seemed to be slow. Indeed Webbo took great delight in phoning me to let me know that not only had Steak smashed a couple of top 2's, but had nearly lost his 3rd & 4th sections in the lake as well .

A bit of a lull in proceedings for me, with a lot of finicky knocks resulted in me finally connecting with a fish which proved to be a Skimmer of around 1½lbs and a switch to corn only resulted in a small Roach . Jon however was attached to something that was obviously a lot more substantial. After a few anxious minutes he had it safely in the net, a lovely looking Mirror that rolled the scales round to 17lbs and a new PB for him .

With me being plagued by finicky bites I decided to try the paste rig as I'd read on Eddie Taylor-Green's Blog that Vespe sponsored angler Chris Telling had won the previous Wednesday open from peg 8 fishing paste, but I just couldn't make it work for me on the day as I suffered a frustrating spate of liners and foul hookers . Malc appeared having had a stroll round the lake and he seemed to think that it was between Simon E on peg 22 and me, with more than a few struggling at that point, indeed Malc hadn't had so much as a bite down on peg 40 . Nick on peg 36 had been fishing long to the aerator nearly all match with little to show for it, but had finally started to get a bit of action as reward for his efforts.

Dave the Fish was having a quieter time than he would have liked on peg 2, while rumour had it that Fred was  having a steady match on peg 4. Big Dave Moore had been strangely quiet on peg 6, and I did wonder if he'd fallen asleep after doing a nights work on the London Underground prior to the match until he appeared to ask me to witness a couple of weighers for him .

Back on the pellet rig and I started to connect with a few, a mix of Commons and Mirrors that all seemed to average around the 8lb mark. However I was getting quite a few foul hookers, so although it looked to some that I was absolutely bagging, the reality was that not all of them were ending up in the net. However sometimes you get something happen that gives you a hint that today might just be your day, and when I went to put a Mirror of around 8lb in the net and the top ring collapsed leading to me missing the net and the fish landed on the outside of the keepnet allowing me to scoop it back into the landing net, I couldn't help wondering if the fishing gods were smiling on me today .

With the rain finally arriving in proper fashion with around 2 hours to go, sport appeared to pick up for me (well at least I wasn't suffering from so many foul hookers ) though the frustrating bit was that I couldn't pick up a single fish from the left hand bush, forcing me to concentrate on the one line. Ryan over on peg 34 was fishing tight up to the buoy in his right hand margin but it didn't appear to be producing for him today and he'd been snagged up on at least one occasion that I'd seen .

With around an hour to go I heard Malc shout out, which meant he'd finally managed to catch  while just 45 minutes from the end a huge sigh of relief could be heard from Simon on peg 9 as he got his first fish of the day, thus avoiding the dreaded DNW though he was still looking odds on for a Minxing . I was still nicking the odd fish, while Jon had gone across at 14½mtrs and finally started to get a few, though he was having problems with sticking sections which made shipping back a bit of a nightmare for him and cost him a few fish .

With just a couple of minutes to go I was into a decent fish, but unfortunately made a schoolboy error . Knowing that there wasn't long to go I got greedy and tried to hurry it to the net so that I could get another put in before the all out, subsequently I shipped back to quickly and the feisty fish made a bee line for the platform and cracked me off round the legs of it, a silly mistake and I should have known better, and just to rub it in while I was cursing my stupidity Malc called the All-Out .

Packing away wet kit is never fun and Jon had to get straight off but had a real problem with a top kit firmly stuck to a No4, but luckily with Fred's help he was spared driving home with it stuck out of the window. I soon had my kit back to the car and after chatting to a few of the lads it was obvious that the lake had fished hard for the most part . Just how hard would be revealed by the Weigh-In.

So starting with peg 34 as usual Ryan weighed a hard earned 51½lbs to start things off, and that weight wasn't troubled till Fred on peg 4 stuck just over 65lbs on the scales edging Jon on peg 7 by 6ozs. With 4 weighers on the board and another 11 Carp in my nets I was sure I'd done the 'Ton' and so it proved when my weight was called at 131lbs 6ozs . Paul on peg 16 managed 80¼lbs which would prove to be good enough for 3rd on the day. Gemma on peg 19 recorded a hard earnt 33lbs, drawing more than a few groans as several people realised they'd suffered a Minxing  or were about to. Simon E had managed a fine 110lbs from unfancied peg 22 for 2nd on the day , while my partner Clive's 52½lbs gave him 2nd in his section . So a pleasing win for me on what had proved to be a hard day, with a Golden Nugget from the The Minx and one from Webbo by way of a bonus. Gemma had the biggest grin though with 13 victims added to The Minxed List, including Simon  and her Dad  . As for the Pairs, a couple of decent results today for myself and Clive has seen us move up to second place, but an even better pair of results from Fred and Simon E has seen them pull 2  points further in front, meaning that Clive and I will need to beat them by 13 points in the final match to win the Pairs competition, almost impossible but we'll give it a real good try .

Next weekend it's back to Rolf's again with 3 matches in 3 days, It's a hard life, but someone has to do it .

The JINX Series 2009

Match 3.

Well today is the day of the third match of the JINX Series at Rolf's Lake . It promises to be a little different today, as a good number of the lads were there last night to fish a JINX 2009 SPECIAL EVENING MATCH between the hours of 6·30pm till 11·30pm and were obviously stopping overnight. With a few of the series regulars not fishing that, but some guests taking their places it should be pretty full today.
So after being woken just after 7am by our new kitten who wanted feeding, I logged onto the Maggotdrowning forum and sure enough Slim had already put a post up about the evening match .....

"Just got off the phone from steve(sacker) wilson,seems rolf fished quite well last night. 3 x 200lb weights,and a fair few 100 lb + weights.Over 2000 lb of fish were caught and on average worked out about 120 lb per angler."

So things looked promising for today despite the forecast predicting clouds and rain, and with the car loaded up I was soon on my way via 'The Jimmy Griddle' café in Battersea, for my customary stop for a 'Full English' to set me up for the day . Suitably refreshed and with just 1 further stop for a coffee at the services, I pulled into an already packed car park just after 10·30am.

First things first, so I dipped my nets before catching up with the events of the past night. It seemed that Vince (my pound coin dispenser ) who has been trying to catch a Rolf's Ton for some time had achieved his aim in spades with a 200lb+ bag, Well Done mate .
However people were already ribbing him that I hadn't been there for him to take a £1 back from me, and they were already speculating that normal service would be resumed with me present today .
There was a pretty full house, as a couple of anglers that fished the evening match were guesting today, Vince and Budgie, while Dave had again travelled down from Leeds, this time with Bagger J in tow.

So draw time once more, and Clive had refused to mention a single peg number in case his hand played up again, but was rewarded with peg 6 this time . I just wanted to avoid Peg 13 and hung back, but it refused to come out and was still in the bag when I drew . Slowly I opened my hand to reveal peg 34.
Happy days , In fact Slim ended up with Peg 13 so it would be interesting to see how he fared on it.

With just a short walk from the car park to peg 34 there was no rush to set up, and I helped Dave Collier with his box to his peg (30) as he'd left it on 34 overnight, having fished it during the evening match.
With nobody on peg 35, Vince of course just had to draw peg 36 (you couldn't make it up ) so we were bound to have some fun during the match one way or another .
Neo was down on 38 with Webbo on 40 and Budgie on 2 while Jon had peg 4 as his home for the match. Opposite me was Clive on peg 6 with Tony(spamwham) on peg 7 with Steve on peg 8 for company, and I had a feeling that we would spend plenty of the match watching that trio bagging up off those flyers .

With the match not starting till 1·30pm we had plenty of time to set up and I decided to tie some new rigs up. The 1st was a 4X12 Malman Adam to 0·20 with a size 12 Guru QM hook to fish 8mm banded pellet on the deck at 9-10mtrs straight out, no further as the wind was gusting from right to left across the peg, while the 2nd and 3rd were 0·3g Malman MTD1's again on 0·20 with size 12 Guru QM hooks to fish the margins on both sides and double up as up in the water rigs. Bait was 8 & 6mm pellets + some sweetcorn and some paste if needed, while feed was just 6mm fishery pellets .

Well 1·30pm finally rolled around and Malc called the All-In. I shipped out 2 large pots of pellet onto the 9mtr line and fed more by hand down both margins as well as a spot about 3mtrs out to my left where John Bennett had told me he'd had a lot of fish from in the past . Vince appeared to be starting on paste at around 5mtrs (which is what he caught on during the evening match ) and it looked like Clive was shipping out a paste rig over on peg 6 as well........

I could see a few bubbles starting to appear on the 9mtr line but missed the first couple of lightning fast bites, before I briefly connected with a fish that was obviously foul hooked before the rig came flying back . Tony and Steve were both off the mark already though, in fact Tony seemed to have a bite every time he lowered his rig in !!!!!

I finally connected with one of Rolf's super fit Commons and after a couple of minutes had it safely in the net.....

Now at this point I must apologise to Malc , as I decided to weigh the fish to get a feel for just how they were weighing, the fish turned out to be just 8½lbs so rather than record it I decided to put it straight into my keepnet, however Vince remarked to me that there was no weight sheet at the weigh station, so I phoned him to let him know, however when Malc arrived the weigh sheet was under the crate (in case of rain) meaning a wasted trip round the lake for Malc , schoolboy error on my part Sorry Malc .

Back to the fishing, and I noticed that Webbo had started to sneak the odd one out down on peg 40 and appeared to be in with a good chance of taking yet another Golden Nugget off me ............

Budgie over on peg 2 had the look of a man who was a bit shocked , this being his 1st visit to Rolf's and who was beginning to realise that he was a little under-gunned in the tackle department, and that people hadn't exaggerated just what was needed to tackle the fish at Rolf's ...........

Meanwhile Clive was having a bit of a struggle on peg 6 and was just having to be patient while he waited for the fish to hopefully turn up, He wasn't helped though by hearing the constant splashing that was coming from pegs 7 & 8 as Tony and Steve continued to catch regularly ..............

My next fish was a lovely Common of around 12½lbs that was to prove to be my biggest of the day..........

 and Vince kindly did the honours with the camera (Webbo even phoned to say I was being cruel to Vince, not only getting him to check the weight, but having him take a picture as well )............

I had a look at JB's spot and while it did produce one Carp for me that was all, and with nothing from either margin it was back to 9mtrs for me  as it seemed to at least produce regular bites if not lots of them...............

Jon was tucked away over on peg 4, and while not taking it apart he was quietly slipping the odd fish into the net with a minimum of fuss .

Webbo appeared to be having a bit of an eventful match however, earlier he'd smashed a top kit trying to net an angry foul hooker , but it went from bad to worse when he placed a top kit on his box and sat on it to hold it in place whilst playing a fish so that he could feed his swim and the fish pulled it in . True to form, Malc appeared to try and rescue it, but it had vanished from sight before he had a chance to leap in .........

Vince remarked that it was surprising that more gear wasn't lost at Rolf's, given the way that some of the fish fight, indeed he had a struggle on his hands of his own as a particularly fit Common led him a merry dance, before he got the upper hand, and I returned the favour with the camera ..........

Meanwhile Clive had started to experience an upturn in sport after 3 hours of struggling and seemed to be having regular tug of war matches with a number of lumps, the vast majority of which appeared to be weighers..........

I was just ticking along at around 3 fish an hour , and it didn't seem to matter what I tried I couldn't up the rate, however it was enough to keep me ahead of Vince, despite him having a bit more on the board in terms of weighers than me.

Tony and Steve continued to catch, though it was noticeable that Tony was making very few trips up to the scales..........

Clive however was flying by now, and it seemed that every time I looked over in his direction he was attached to another beast that was trying it's best to drag him off his platform , in fact he was doing battle as Malc called the All-Out at 6·30pm........

Then as if on cue it started to rain, just so we could get a soaking as we packed up and started the weigh-in. I was 1st to weigh and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I'd managed a 'Ton' with a weight of 101¼lbs . Vince couldn't match that with a weight of 61lbs so handed over yet another Golden Nugget to yours truly . Dave despite his problems however managed to put 106¾lbs on the scales meaning that he at least recouped a Golden Nugget from me to offset the loss of top kits. The next serious contender was Clive and he put a highly impressive 192¼lbs on the scales and place himself firmly in the lead . Tony put 133lbs on the scales, he probably caught the most fish on the day, but suffered from them being mostly around the 5lb mark . In fact Steve almost edged out Tony with 127lbs (less fish but more weighers. Young Mitch did the business with 116lbs 2ozs from peg 9 and Simon E put a fine 163¼lbs on the scales from peg 11, while Slim had suffered a bit of a 'Mugger Moment©' on my nemesis peg (13) with just 29½lbs . Malc had 152½lbs and Al just missed out on a ton from peg 18 with 94lbs . Paul weighed a creditable 110¼lbs from peg 19 while poor Gem only manage a meagre 1¼lb of silvers from peg 21 meaning everyone had avoided a Minxing today . Simon extracted a measure of revenge on Gem with 94½lbs from peg 23 . The winner on the day however was young Ryan with an excellent bag from peg 26 that weighed 196¾lbs, Well Done Ryan . Fred was the last to break the Ton today with with 142½lbs from peg 28.

So there you have it, there were an awful lot of very tired anglers at the end of it, especially those that had fished the evening match as well, but they all agreed that it had been worth it.

Next up for me should be a Marsh AC match on Nick's Lake at Hartleylands Farm in a couple of weeks time.

The JINX Series 2009

Match 2.

The second match of the series today, I'd heard that it had fished hard last weekend in adverse weather conditions and the midweek match was held on the Big Lake as the Carp were finishing their spawning in the Little Lake so it will be interesting to see how things go today . With Maria working today I was up early to take her to work, before setting off to the fishery. A leisurely stop for a 'Full English' and another for coffee at the services still saw me arriving ahead of the rest about 10·30am. John was cutting the grass and almost ended up in peg 34 when he got a little adventurous on his ride-on mower .
Soon the car park was filling up with a full compliment of 28 anglers, with Simon E having replaced Pete Thatcher in the series as he can't spare the time off work, and Dave and Steve having travelled down from Yorkshire again to take 2 guest spots as they'd enjoyed the 1st match so much .

With the draw on time again, the general consensus was that The Little Lake was still the place to draw. Webbo couldn't believe his luck, pulling out Peg 6 this time (Golden Hand or what? ) and immediately struck a £1 side bet with me knowing that he's again drawn a form peg, while Clive (my Pairs partner ) remarked that the one peg he didn't want to draw was Peg 23 on the car park bank.................... so of course he drew Peg 23 (it looks as if his drawing hand is going to be spending some serious time on the naughty step ). I drew Peg 13, and drawing it on the 13th wasn't the best of omens as I'd struggled on the same peg on the last match . On peg 14 I had Gemma The Minx for company and again the omens didn't look good as Eddie Turner-Green was coming down today to take some photo's for John, and Gem always does well when he's around.

Setting up took a matter of minutes as it was just a question of opening my box and picking out the 3 rigs I'd used the previous match , a MW 0·4g XT for the 8mtr line on the deck on 0·20 Power Match with a size 14 Drennan Carp Match and a MW Trev with similar line and hook for up in the water that could double up down the side, while a third rig consisting of a Malman SC paste to 0·22 Power Match with a size 12 Drennan Carp Feeder hook for paste down the Side. Bait for the day was once more a mix of various pellets, paste, corn and meat, with feed taken care of by 4 and 6mm fishery pellets.

1·30pm and Malc called the All-In, and I shipped out 2 big pots of mixed pellets onto the 7mtr line, and fed the right hand margin by hand. The experience of déjà vu was ominous , having baited the rig with a 6mm expander and shipped out, my first two put ins resulted in foul hookers just like the previous match. Malc however was soon into the lake for an early bath, playing the good samaritan this time and retrieving Tony's spectacles that had dropped into his peg ......

Indeed 1½hrs passed before I hooked into a proper fish which proved to be a weigher, a nice 11½lb Common . After another 45 minutes of inactivity and a phonecall from Webbo telling me that he'd only had 7 fish (  Oh how my heart bled for him......NOT ) I decided to feed heavily and take a stroll to see how the rest were doing .

As I walked past Gem was into a fish, and was taking her time playing it as it was obviously a decent one..................

.........indeed her patience was amply rewarded in the shape of a new PB Mirror Carp that swung the scales round to rest on a weight of 15lbs 2ozs ...................

Jon on peg 17 obviously had the Gods shining down on him, as I strolled past he lifted into a small roach, but as he started to ship back yards of elastic streamed out of his top kit, the roach obviously having been bumped off, a hungry carp had snaffled the hook and whatever was left on it on the drop !!!!!!!!!!!!...................

Nick and Malc were both struggling at this point and looking down the car park bank nobody appeared to be taking the place apart...................

Indeed Clive found that Peg 23 was living up to his worst expectations , with just a single fish that he'd had on his first put in, just to cruelly raise his expectations ..............

.................. only to dash them, as he tried in vain to add a second to his tally ................

Simon E on peg 29 appeared to be putting a few together alternating between fishing shallow and fishing big balls of paste on the deck, while Dave on peg 28 was admitting to 4 fish.......................

Ant on peg 34 was having a few, but Simon on peg 35 seemed to be having the mother of all 'Mugger Moments©' as he hadn't been able to tempt a single fish and was looking at the very real possibility of a Minxing (as were a good few of us at this point ).....................

Slim on peg 37 had landed a carp before the off on a bare hook and was fishing long up in the water to try and tempt a few.......

While Al on peg 38 was having to chop and change to keep his bites coming.............

Steve(steak) on peg 40 was putting the odd fish in the net, but was to suffer a minor disaster as one his keepnets top rings collapsed releasing 2 Carp before he could rectify the situation ........

Terry (Wily Coyote) had taken 4 fish down the margin on peg 4, but by the look of things they were all out in front of him ........

Webbo was quite content on peg 6, though he was mourning the loss of one of his new Malman 'Elvis' floats, though looking at his peg I found it hard to feel to much sympathy for him ...............

Keith was ticking along nicely on peg 7, but Nick was having a real struggle getting to terms with peg 8.............

Andy on peg 9 was getting a bit desperate and had filled in the margin with pellet in a kill or cure attempt to make something happen.............

While Dave on peg 10 and Dai on peg 12 were both struggling, Dave having a skimmer and a perch to show for his efforts, while Dai couldn't buy a bite ................

Back on my peg with a few fizzes of bubbles coming up and a few fish cruising I resumed, but despite going through the card, all I could muster were another couple of scales on the sidetray from foul hookers that had taken off at a rate of knots . I did hook one decent fish but that did me under my keepnets and despite managing to thread my top kit under them to maintain contact, it shed the hook soon after .

With about an hour to go I had another foul hooker, but with the hook firmly in it's pectoral fin I managed to get it into the net, Dave on peg 10 had finally managed a couple of Carp and Dai had snared a Roach to avoid the dreaded DNW and would add a small carp as well before the end.

With half an hour to go Ieuan strolled past having surrendered and resigned himself to a DNW. I managed a final fish, yet another foul hooker, this time in the tail, that did a great job of trashing the swim before I managed to net it.
6·30pm and Malc called the All-Out ending what had been a very frustrating time for me and a few others .

As always the scales told the tale of the day. A DNW and a Minxing for Simon, Al briefly leading with 74¾lbs till Webbo put 94½lbs on the scales that would eventually net him A Section and 3rd place . My own meagre 24½lbs was nowhere near enough to save me from a next peg Minxing once Gemma put 33lbs 2ozs on the scales and took a Golden Nugget off me. Steve had a quietly steady match on peg 15 to register 101lbs for 2nd , while Jon took the honours on the day off of peg 17 with 104¾lbs for B Section and the win . Simon E taking C Section and 4th overall with a level 93lbs to round things off .
So 2 Golden Nuggets lost on the day, one to Webbo and the other to Gemma, along with my 1st Minxing of 2009, mind you I was just one of 13( There's that number again) that she added to her list today .

So that's it for today , next up for me is the Maggotdrowning.com Individual Championship at Maver Larford's Match Lake next Saturday. How will it go? I've not got a clue as I've never fished there before, but it should be a good day out. I'll let you know next weekend.

The JINX Series 2009

Match 1.

Well today saw 26 nutters lunatics fools anglers assembled at Rolf's for the start of this years JINX Series . This has become a "Must Fish" series of matches for me since I started fishing it back in 2005, and with 5 rounds to the Series this year, and there's bound to be more than a few tales to tell over the course of the matches .
I'd been looking forward to today with a fair deal of anticipation as the matches are more like great days out with a bunch of mates rather than a match , so I was up bright and early and soon had the car loaded and was off to Battersea for my customary breakfast stop. Suitably fortified by a Full English and with the sun beaming down from a gloriously blue sky it was back into the car for a smooth drive down, with a further stop at the Services for Coffee before pulling into Rolf's car park around 10am, to be greeted by John and a few of the Welsh contingent who were already there, having stayed down for the whole week.

1st things 1st, so the nets were dipped and laid out to dry, before John filled me in with how the place had been fishing and what he'd been up to since my last visit. The most notable addition being the aerators that he's purchased and is in the process of installing. Soon the car park started to fill up, including Simon Enticott along with Dave(Webbo) and Steve(Steak) who'd travelled down from Yorkshire to fish as guests .

 Even Malc (With Liam and Crystal in tow) was early , which was hard to get used to, especially as in a moment of madness he'd volunteered to loose his ponytail to raise money for MD's. I'd brought my clippers with me, so at 11·30am Mugger's Barber Shop was open for business .
Fair play to him, he didn't cry much as his beloved ponytail escaped to freedom ................

swiftly followed by the rest of his locks ....................

With suitable moral support from the assembled crowd ..................

Click this link to see Simon's video of Malc losing his hair.

So with the hairdressing done for the day it was time for the draw. Into the bag and I found Peg 13 was my home for the match. I'd never fished it before, but John confirmed that it could be good, a comfy 8 mtrs out in front and down the edge to the right once the fish move in being the plan . Settling in there was plenty of time to prepare as the All-In wasn't till 2pm. With this years JINX Series being 'Pole Only' setting up was reasonably easy.

A MW 0·4g XT for the 8mtr line on the deck (it's a line through the body design that's nice and strong )on 0·20 Power Match with a size 14 Drennan Carp Match and a MW Trev with similar line and hook for up in the water that could double up down the side, while a third rig consisting of a Malman SC paste to 0·22 Power Match with a size 12 Drennan Carp Feeder hook for paste down the Side. Bait for the day was a mix of various pellets, paste, corn and meat, with feed taken care of by 4 and 6mm fishery pellets.

It was turning into scorcher but a bit of a breeze kept things comfortable. I must admit that I would have preferred to have drawn on the Little Lake today as I'd seen plenty of fish there earlier, but with any peg capable of throwing up a decent weight I wasn't to despondent .
So 2pm and Malc called the All-In and in a matter of seconds a scream arose from the Little Lake as Gemma netted her 1st fish of the day (and had a load of us worrying about being on the wrong end of a Minxing ) Shipping out to 8mtrs with a 6mm expander on the hook followed by a handfull of pellet the float settled and after about 30 seconds buried!!!!!! Fish on and a good un by the feel of it, then the rig flew back with a scale on the hook. Another handfull of pellet out to 8mtrs and another down the edge before I shipped the rig out to 8mtrs once more. Again after about a minute the float buried with exactly the same outcome . Now I've experienced this before at Rolf's and it can be very hard to overcome. I altered the rig to lay a couple of inches of line on the deck and baited with double corn. Keep topping up the pellet in both swims and ship out. Nothing !!! keep lifting and dropping the rig and after around 5 minutes the float slid gently away. Lifting into it there was solid resistance but it didn't power off like a lunatic and gentle pressure saw me soon net the fish, a scale perfect Common and a definite weigher, it went 12lbs 4ozs on the scales, a lovely way to get off the mark .

Unfortunately another 5 minutes went by without a bite. I'd seen that Tony over on peg 31 had a couple of weighers as had Paul on peg 32........

Sprucey over on peg 23 was really struggling and from what I could see hadn't had a bite yet alone a fish ........

and Ant on peg 10 to my right appeared to be in a similar boat and doing a blinding impression of a Garden Gnome .........

My reverie was broken however by the float sliding away to the depths once more, and after a spirited fight another weigher slid into the landing net, this time a Mirror of 9½lbs . Young Ryan Hughes on peg 28 (fishing his 1st Jinx match) was starting to put a few together............

In fact most of the anglers that I could see on the car park bank seemed to be getting the odd one or two with the exception of Pete Thatcher on peg 29. Indeed, not long after he packed up and left !!!!!!!!!
I was still struggling with just another couple of foul hookers and a few bumped roach to show for my efforts as Malc did his customary lap of the fishery offering words of encouragement (Yeah, Right ) with Liam and Crystal in tow.

I had a few fish cruising around in pairs in front of me, but despite switching to the shallow rig couldn't interest them.
Meanwhile Terry over on peg 27 (Who was fishing his 1st Jinx Match) was getting the odd one that stretched his elastic right out ..........

Malc returned with news that the Little Lake looked like the place to be today with pegs 4,6,7 and 8 all producing fish.
I had a look down the edge with the paste rig, more in hope than expectation as I hadn't seen a single sign of a fish there, and after 30 minutes gave it up as a bad job. However there were a few shouts of encouragement from the car park bank directed towards Malc's swim, so I decided to investigate only to find him up to his armpits in the water . A fish had snagged him in a sunken branch, and as he could feel that it was still tethered he'd gone in to free it. Well that was his excuse, I reckon he fancied a bath to go with his new haircut ..............

Up on peg 19 I could see Clive (my Pairs Partner for the Series ) plugging away, not the best peg on the day, but if anyone could find a few from it, Clive should be capable as he's fished that peg more than a few times...........

With nothing down the edge or up in the water I decided to concentrate at 8mtrs on the deck for the remainder of the match.
Back out with a single grain of corn on the hook, and after about 10 minutes fish no3 arrived in the form of a 6lb Common , quickly followed by another couple of foul hookers that vanished at a rate of knots towards the Little Lake .

By now Simon E was really getting into the swing of things over on peg 6 and steadily pulling away.............

and Dave was making the most of having drawn noted peg 7 and was well on the way to recording his best ever match weight  ...................

With around an hour to go I managed 2 fish in 2 put in's , a couple of Commons, both around the 7lb mark. However it didn't herald the start of a great last hour as I only managed 1 more fish and that was foul hooked in the tail and fought like something twice it's size.

Malc called the All-Out at 7pm to end what had been a frustrating match for me . As I walked my gear back to the car park it was obvious that the Big Lake hadn't really produced the goods today, and this was born out as we made our way round with the weigh-in.
Keith Fellows on peg 34 kicked things off with the discovery that one of his nets had a large hole in it, so missing out on a certain 'Ton' weighing just 85lbs. Simon leapt into the lead on peg 4 with 161lbs 6ozs, though it would only prove to be good enough for 3rd as next up Simon E on peg 6 put a match winning 222¼lbs on the scales . Next up Dave(Webbo) put a new PB match weight of 138lbs on the scales from peg 7 that would only give him 4th place as it was beaten of the next peg by Al's 162¼lbs, giving him 2nd on the day .
Nick on peg 9 managed 79¾lbs, a new PB match weight (That first 'Jinx Ton' can't be far away now ) while my fish came in at 46¾lbs, which if nothing else saved me a Minxing and got me a £1 off Gemma . Steve won his section with 91¼lbs from peg 16 and young Ryan won his with 96¾lbs from peg 28 .

So that was it for the 1st match of the Series. Not quite the result that some of us were looking for, but I'm sure the fish are ready to spawn any day now, so hopefully when we're back there in 2 weeks time they'll have spawned and be ready for a proper munch. Well that's the theory anyway, we'll see for sure on the 13th .

The JINX Series 2008

  Match 5.

So down to Rolf's Lake once more for the fifth and final match of this years Jinx Series. Maria had decided to join me for the day as the weather promised to be decent and she'd heard that Paul's wife Jayne and Nick's wife Lisa were going to be there as well. So with the car loaded up with a few extra bits and pieces we set off around 8am and with my usual stop for breakfast and a smooth trip down we arrived in the car park at Rolf's just after 10am. I soon had my nets dipped and after introducing Maria to the assembled throng paid my cash in and topped up on pellets for the match ahead.

The Draw was of course LATE, and surprise surprise Malc had forgotten the days paperwork ensuring that the Series placings would remain unknown at the end of the day, so no change there then . I'd asked Maria to draw for me today and when she pulled out Peg 31 and I was quite happy with that , a nice short walk and a peg with a bit of form. Gem had pulled peg 8 leaving a few to worry about another Minxing and I had Clive for company to my left on peg 32 and Nick to my right on Peg 29.

I was looking to keep things simple today, just fishing a line at around 10mtrs where I had around 5 feet of water and a back up line by the bush to my right.
Both of the rigs were Malman 4x12 Adam's on 0·18 to size 16 Drennan Carp Match hooks and I also set up the pellet waggler as I could see a few Carp cruising around on top. I had the feeder with me in its ready sleeve but left it in there as I didn't think it would come into play today. Bait was 6,8 and 11 mm pellet that would be fished banded along with meat and 6mm expanders and I also had ½ pint of maggots with me in case things proved tough. Feed was simply the fishery 6mm pellets.

So 12·30 and Malc called the All-in. 2 pots of pellet out to the 10mtr line and a couple of hand fulls by the bush took care of the initial feed. A banded 8mm pellet was shipped out to the 10mtr line and I was in business, A yell was heard from peg 7 as Dai netted his 1st fish of the day and within five minutes my float slid away, but all to soon the elastic snapped back as I parted company with my 1st foul hooker of the day and for the next 2 hours I was to suffer this another 4 times without putting anything in the net . Nick Williams was over on peg 13 and was starting to put a few together fishing down the margin to his left...........

Indeed looking around most appeared to be struggling with most having just one or 2 fish to show for their efforts apart from Keith on peg 9 and Nick. With 3 hours gone I lifted into another bite and realised that I was connected to a decent fish and after a tense few minutes was delighted to slide the net under one of the better inhabitants of Rolf's ...........

Maria was delighted as she was beginning to believe that she had Jinxed me and soon had the camera out to record the event, even capturing the weight recorded on the scales....

.......... 14lbs 04ozs. at last I was off the mark .

Well I wish I could say that it improved from then on, but really it didn't , not for me anyway, and not for most others either. indeed looking down the car park bank it was starting to resemble a still life.............

Clive however was starting to nick the odd fish though he was still suffering from the odd foul hooker. With just over an hour to go I was attached to another fish, this one hooked in the tail, however despite it's best efforts I managed to get it's propeller out of the water and slide it into the landing net. Young Mitch had appeared having weighed a super looking Mirror that was a new PB for him at 15lbs 08ozs and Maria did the honours by getting a photo for him .........

Looking across to peg 14 I could see Alan who was guesting on the day, doing what is commonly know as a 'Garden Gnome' impression, and a particularly good job he was doing of it too ........

With around 20 minutes to go I was attached to another torpedo.........

...... yes another one hooked in the tail, but after another tug of war this one ended up in the net as well and weighed 13lbs 12ozs. Nothing more for me though Clive did manage one final fish before Malc called the All-out at 5·30 pm ..........

Chatting as we packed up it was obvious just how hard it had fished for most, indeed poor young Nick (monkey)to my right hadn't had a single bite during the whole 5 hours .

Come the weigh-in my 37lbs wasn't going to cause any stirs and Clive's section winning 60¾lbs held the lead all the way round to peg 7 where Dai's 88¼lbs wrapped up his section and Gem's 13½lbs saved a lot of people a final day Minxing (and gained me a £1 ). Round to peg 10 and Keith put a match winning 146½lbs on the scales, a very good performance on the day . Hard on his heels came Nick on peg 13 with 119¾lbs to wrap up second place . Slim edged out Steve in their £5 side bet leaving Malc to tie up first place in his own Series with a section winning 56¼lbs from peg 22 .

So that's The Jinx Series over for yet another year. Congratulations to Malc for his series win, and a big THANK YOU for organising what continues to be the friendliest and light hearted set of matches its been my pleasure to fish . Congratulations as well to Clive and Tony for their 2nd and 3rd places, and also to Malc and Dai for taking the pairs title.

This has to be the most successfull series ever with 8468lbs 02ozs of fish being brought to the scales over the course of the Series.(8645lbs 02ozs if you include the fish caught by guests .)

A new Series record winning weight set by Ade Williams at 266lbs 12ozs in match 1 .
Overall there were four 200lbs+ weights recorded. Two for Ade Williams and one each for Simon Mound and Ant Haywood with another thirty four 100lbs+ weights over the course of the series of 5 matches .

Another big THANK YOU to John and Pauline Bennett for allowing us the use of Rolf's for the entire series and all their efforts.

Finally another big THANK YOU to all that have fished the series, it's all of you that make it so enjoyable to fish, and long may it continue. See you all to do it again next year you bunch of nutters .

Overall Individual Series Result.

NB: Anglers were allowed to drop their worst section result during the series so that the Overall Series results were decided by best 4 out of 5 section points.
Overall weight counting in the result of anglers tieing on points.

Overall Pairs Result.

NB: Pairs were allowed to drop their worst points total during the series so that the results were decided by best 4 out of 5 points scores.
Overall weights counting in the result of pairs tieing on points.

Rive T's TalkAngling.co.uk Forum Match.

 The JINX Series 2008 

Match 4.

Well after a gap of eight weeks The Jinx Series returned to Rolf's today for the penultimate round of the Series. Blue sky and sunshine greeted me as I set off which was nice as the weather in the past week hadn't been the best . A trouble free run down after my customary breakfast stop saw me arrive with plenty of time to spare, with just Dave, Tim and Nick along with John there to greet me. First things first, so nets dipped and laid out to dry then a look at the Lake. John's got some plant on site digging out some flood defenses so pegs 19 and 20 are out of the match today as the work is going on right behind them, and I couldn't help wondering if it might just have an effect on the fishing today for those pegged on the Big Lake .

Soon the car park was filling up and the usual banter and micky taking was starting to flow as is customary on these matches . Even Malc was on time as he'd traveled up with Dai (Yes the Rover is still dead ) and today he had his 2 youngsters in tow (Crystal & Liam) could Rolf's survive the presence of 4 members of The Jinx Family ? Indeed many were wondering whether the change in weather would affect things too as a lot of venues have been fishing poorly recently.

Anyway with 23 anglers assembled it was time for the draw (yes it was late ) and I was hoping for the car park bank and a nice short walk, and peg 29 was my reward, a stroll of around 5 yards as my car was parked right behind it .

For company today I had Keith to my left on peg 31 and Mitch on 32 with Kevin to my right on peg 28 and Dave on peg 26.

I was planning on keeping it reasonably simple today and just set up 3 rigs. I to fish paste just on the slope of the shelf at the ends of the bushes to my left and right and this was simply a Mk3 Malman self cocking paste float on 0·21 to a size 12 Drennan Carp Method. The second was to fish pellet straight out at around 6mtrs where I had around 5ft and was a Malman 4x12 Adam on 0·18 to a size 16 Drennan Carp Match and I also set up a Malman 0·3g MTD1 dibber on 0·18 to a size 16 Drennan Carp Match in case they wanted it up in the water. I also set up the feeder as I had it there in its ready sleeve, but wasn't expecting to use it. Bait wise it was just 6 and 8mm fishery pellets and some paste.

With plenty of time till the all in people could be seen discussing the prospects for the day ahead............

...... or maybe not in some cases .....................

So 1pm and Malc called the All-in, a handful of pellet by each bush and 2 big pots of pellet went out onto the 6mtr line which I followed out with an 8mm banded pellet onto the 6mtr line just as I heard Malc's shout signifying his 1st fish from peg 7. After raising and dropping the rig a couple of times the float buried and a Common of around 7lbs was safely in the net to get me off the mark . This was swiftly followed by another Common around the 9lb mark, a great start, but short lived .

Looking to my left I could see that Keith was into his 1st fish of the day which appeared to be a Skimmer while across on peg 10 Clive was also into his first of the day............

I then went through a frustrating spell, suffering from a number of foul hooked fish resulting in a collection of scales on my sidetray but nothing added to the net . Kevin with nothing to show from his pole line except a solitary Roach decided to go for it on the feeder, and it seemed to be the right choice as it produced the occasional fish for him throughout the rest of the match .

Keith meanwhile seemed to be bringing a steady stream of fish to the net, but this was deceptive as a number of them were lost as it turned out . Dave Moore meanwhile having been through numerous variations in an attempt to find a fish had been back to his van to retrieve his pellet waggler rod to implement 'PLAN Z' as he put it .

By around 3·30pm it was obvious that most were struggling. I hadn't seen Tony on peg 14 land a single fish and he was having a stroll around. Slim was having a bit of a mare losing a few fish while Clive next to him on 10 continued to slip the odd fish into the net .........

Having tried my 2 inside lines with no success and with just a lone skimmer taken on the feeder, I decided to concentrate on the 6mtr line which I'd been feeding regularly for the remainder of the match. I soon had a couple of Carp one of which was a weigher, to add to the net and as Tony arrived for a chat I latched into a slightly better one. Into the waiting landing net and it proved to be a weigher and at 14lbs was just the inspiration that Tony needed to get back to his peg and try and avoid the dreaded DNW .

The pellet wag finally produced a very welcome Carp for Dave as I was attached to a rather fed up foul hooker, a decent Common which I briefly saw before it did me underneath the right hand bush. This seemed to kill things for me as i couldn't buy a bite in the following 30 minutes .

With an hour to go I was in again and had a run of fish including another weigher of 16lbs . With around 10 minutes to go I had another 5lb'er and Kevin asked me what I thought I had. I reckoned that one more fish could see me reach the 'Ton'.
Sure enough the float buried once more and an obviously decent fish tore off bottoming the elastic!!! Fortunately the rig held and as a rather disoriented Common with the hook firmly in it's pectoral fin surfaced on it's side I scooped it into the net, a weigher that went 16½lbs and before I had the chance to get the rig in again Malc called the All-out.

Chatting to others while packing up it was obvious that a lot had struggled, though Malc was owning up to a 'Ton' and I was sure that Clive had won the match, but Slim was really worried that he could be on the receiving end of a Minxing. However while we waited for the weigh-in, Slim's good lady showed fine form demonstrating to Slim how it should be done when she had a go .......

What a star she proved to be, even coming round with the iced lollies during the afternoon . While I'm at it, I mustn't forget a big Thank You to Kevin's partner Jean who kept me supplied with cups of coffee during the day and a sticky bun at the end .

Soon the weigh-in revealed just how hard it had been. My fish weighed 113lbs for the early lead that I felt sure I would to lose to Clive. Ant had managed 76½lbs. Gemma managed 31¼lbs from peg 2 leaving Slim looking nervous, much to everyone's amusement . Malc's fish went 109½lbs, a very relieved Slim just avoided a Minxing with a level 35lbs and sure enough Clive took the win on the day when he put 154lbs on the scales. Nice one Clive .

Maggotdrowning.com

Rolf's Pairs Tournament 2008.

Having been fortunate enough to receive an invite to Dave Moore's Birthday Bash the previous day, I woke up to a beautiful sunny morning as I looked out of my bivvy on Saturday morning in preparation for the weekend ahead . However as I stuck the kettle on for an early morning cuppa I noticed Teepee sitting on the bench that looks out over the Little Lake. Strolling over for a chat with him it was soon obvious that all was not well, as his face was as white as a sheet. A quick chat revealed that Tony was in a fair bit of pain, and while he thought he ought to go to hospital, he was reluctant to go in case he got stuck down in Oxford. Luckily a few of the lads that had fished Dave's match had stopped overnight and they volunteered to take Tony home to Rotherham, so we bade him farewell before the weekend had had a chance to begin. ( Subsequently Tony had to undergo an operation to fix a hernia and he's thankfully fully recovered. See you soon Tony, you'll be due a result next year )

So with the Draw for The Pairs not due to take place till 11am to allow those traveling down from far away places ample time, a few that had fished the previous day made some running repairs to depleted rigs etc while others geared up in anticipation for battle with Rolf's "Babies" .
Webbo was manfully struggling trying to tie some hair rigged pellet bands and suddenly realised he could see once I'd popped a pair of reading glasses on his nose, should have gone to Spec-Savers fella !!!!!

By 10am the car park had filled up once more as the usual suspects and a couple of new ones assembled. The Malman brothers had arrived, announced by a blast on a airhorn and a few of us had made a beeline to Gaz's motor to stock up on floats while stocks lasted, Others were setting about getting their bivvies and tents pitched, while John and Pauline were doing a roaring trade in pellets and advise about what to expect in the couple of days ahead .

11am and Dave and I did the all important draw for The Pairs. With Teepee's unfortunate departure young Mitch who had traveled up to watch on Friday was the fortunate recipient of the spare place while Steve B was promoted to the Venue Expert/Experienced Matchman class , with the draw over there was quite a bit of discussion as to who would be the pairs to beat and favoured swims prior to the draw for the actual match. Noon and draw time, with us fishing the match from 1·30pm till 6·30pm in an effort to get the best from the venue, however with the temperature steadily rising I did have a few miss-givings .

Into the draw bag and 26 was mine (it had fished well for teepee the day before ), a nice short walk to the car park bank and it would be shaded as the match progressed, which was most welcome after my treks round the lake on Friday, and my partner Paul(tommyturtle)Thompson had drawn peg 40 which I felt would be good for a few fish . Simon had drawn peg 2 for the second day in a row and practically ran to his peg having 200lbs+ from it the day before . Tony(spamwham)Roberts had peg 9 which had fished really well on Friday and appeared to be one of the form pegs .

I had Alex and Ady(biglad) for company on pegs 25 & 24 so £1 side bets were struck for fun, along with one with Chin and another with Vince .

Settling into the swim I elected to keep it simple with a line at 5mtrs straight out in front and another to the edge of the bushes on both sides. I also set up my pellet waggler and feeder rod as I had both of them with me in their ready sleeves. Tommy came along for a chat along with a cold can for refreshment , and soon we were ready for the off.

1·30pm rolled round and with the All-in called we were off, 2 good handfuls of pellet onto the 5mtr line and 1 each to the edge of the bushes, Alex had opted to go shallow at 13mtrs and it would be interesting to see who's approach worked.
Well I wish I could say that the sport was fast and furious, but for the vast majority of us it was anything but, With temperatures pushing into the 30's and fish crashing around I got the distinct impression that the temperature increase had made the Carp think about spawning for a 2nd time . The big problem for most appeared to be foul hooked fish and it didn't seem to matter how you presented a bait, up in the water or hard on the deck, everyone seemed to be having problems. Also the ever present silvers didn't seem to want to play either. Alex was faced with a swim that resembled a jacuzzi and it seemed that every fish he hooked came adrift at some point . By halfway I'd managed 4 Carp when Webbo appeared for a chat as he was fishing my peg (19) from the previous day, Apparently Tony(spamwham) and Vince were doing OK on pegs 9 & 10 and Clive had got among a few on peg 31 but most were finding it hard. Fortunately I connected with another Carp on cue which gave Dave the opportunity to do the honours with my camera ..........

By 4pm we had some relief from the sun on the car park bank as it became shaded by the trees, and John was doing a roaring trade in cold bottles of water and cans of Coke that he'd thoughtfully laid on . I managed another 4 fish in the last couple of hours but others weren't so fortunate and it was probably a relief to most when the All-out was called at 6·30pm. The weigh-in told the tale of the day. Simon on peg2, was unable to repeat his feat of the day before, struggling to put just 52½lbs on the scales , Chris(cybermanc) had got off to a flyer fishing the feeder on peg 7 only to see it die and weighed 81¼lbs. Tony however had made the most of peg 9 with a fine 161¼lbs for the win on the day , Next up Vince on peg 10 put 96lbs 14ozs on the scales for 3rd on the day, just missing out on a 1st Rolf's Ton . My 9 fish came to 72lbs and at least gave me the consolation of a section win while Clive on peg 31 weighed 117¾lbs for 2nd overall and just the 2nd Ton recorded on the day .
So, at the end of day one Ant(antwood)Haywood and Tom(tommodiesel)Little were leading with 25 points from Dave(DTF)Collier and Vince on 23 points and Clive and Tim Westmoreland in third on 21½ points .

So with the gear stowed away it was time to fire up the barbecue and start the inquests. Dave and I shot off to Asda for some grub, but were dragged kicking and screaming into the pub by Dirk, Paul, Chris, Vince & Tom and forced to drink cold beer before returning . Sitting round with a beer later in the evening spirits soon started to rise in anticipation of the day ahead. Tales and jokes were told, beer cans exploded on barbecues and Dave came up with one of those ideas that only he can. Needless to say it scared the life out of John Bennett , but that's all that can be said for the time being . Gradually folk drifted off to bed, and it was gone 1am when I finally climbed into my sleeping bag for some much needed sleep .

Sunday, July 27, 2008.

7am Sunday morning and another bright sunny day greeted us as we rose from our slumbers, I boiled up the kettle for a cuppa while Gaz and Alex got the barbecue fired up to cook everyone breakfast . Time to get the bivvy packed away as it was planned to be a 10am draw with fishing from 11·30am - 4·30pm so that people could get away. After a couple of sausage rolls and a coffee I somehow managed to get the bivvy and all the kit packed away and into the car just as Keith(Fisherman's Blues)Arthur pulled into the car park closely followed by Pete Archer. For the 2nd year running they had both agreed to come down and fish with us on the Sunday(Pairing up with the lowest placed pair from Saturday) and Pete once again brought some goodies from his sponsors Vespe to give out .

All to soon 10am rolled round and it was draw time. Peg 32 for me.........

.......and another short walk to the car park bank peg that Malc fished yesterday. Clive drew well with Peg 8 but had Pete Archer for company on peg 7.

Paul my partner was on peg 23, a peg Colin struggled on yesterday. I'd got Chris(looney)Kendall for company on peg 31 with Terry(WilyCoyote)Goff opposite on 9 and Alex and Webbo on 10 & 11. A quick chat with John Bennett led to me choosing the end of the bush and out at 8mtrs as the 2 lines of attack for the day. It was double or quits for the £1's I won from Alex and Chin yesterday and the chance to get my £1 back from Vince that he took from me yesterday .

11·30am and at the All-in I fed a handful of pellet to the end of the bush and a big pot of pellet at 8mtrs. Straight over the potfull with an 8mm banded pellet and the float buried!!!! Happy Days NOT as a foul hooked Carp took off at a rate of knots towards the Little Lake before the hook pulled. So started one of the most frustrating 5 hours fishing I've experienced in all the time I've fished at Rolf's .
Pete Archer was off to a flyer , fishing shallow at 16mtrs he'd taken 3 weigher's in his first 3 put ins. Chris next to me was fishing long on the deck and soon had a swim that was bubbling away, but he started to suffer with foul hooked fish. Me? 3 more bites resulted in 3 more foul hookers and no fish in the net .
Terry was starting to find a few fish and seemed to be alternating between Carp and 2" Perch ...........

While Webbo appeared to be doing a serene impression of Bhudda  ..................

I finally managed a weigher to get me off and running, but I was already trying to play catch up. Dave"Yorkie"Moore was tucked away on peg 5 and starting to find a few close in at the bottom of the shelf ...................

opposite him though things appeared to be slow with Vince and Paul(nomorelongwalks)East struggling to get any action from their pegs .............

Halfway through and I was struggling with just 1 more weigher and another in the net while Chris was starting to put a run of fish together, Clive was getting into his stride on peg 8 as well and had probably edged ahead of Pete Archer .........

Looking around I could see that a lot were struggling like yesterday, Dave the Fish was sticking at it over on 14 with little to show for all of his efforts ........

but Webbo finally had a fish on only to have his landing net head fall off. Alex lent him his landing net, but then hooked a fish of his own while Webbo was still playing his, and Terry could't lend his to Alex as he was also into a fish of his own. Great entertainment for all of us watching and finally resolved with all fish landed safely .
Steve B over on peg34 in the corner was plugging away and finally getting a few .........

Keith Arthur had taken a Carp that would prove to be a contender for Largest of the Day at 17lbs 07ozs, while Dave(rockyroads)West had a happy smile on his face having bagged a PB carp of 17lbs 04ozs ....................

In the last couple of hours Chris(looney)Kendall was absolutely flying and well on the way to a Ton+ bag ...........

Chris(Cybermanc) and Tom(tommodiesel) had been having a rare old tussle during the match on pegs 29 & 30, and Chris was more than a little chuffed to get a new PB in the shape of this glorious 14lbs 4oz Common Carp  .........

My day was summed up with a half hour to go as what would have been my 7th Carp disappeared under my platform and smashed me . 4·30pm and the All-out signaled the end of my torture and at least I didn't have far to carry my gear to the car.

Once again the weigh-in told the tale of the day. Steve B missing out on a Ton by just 8ozs from peg 34. Dave Moore's 101½lbs giving him 4th on the day while Pete Archer's 116½lbs took 3rd place. Clive had come good, using his experience of Rolf's to muster 166¼ lbs for the match win  while Terry had managed a very creditable 90¾lbs. Chris had managed 148lbs for 2nd overall on the day, but for many the shock of the day had to be Malc's DNW .

So prize giving time and the Winners and MD's Pairs Champs for 2008 proved to be Ant(antwood)Haywood and Tom(tommodiesel)Little, finishing 10 points clear of the field with 49 points after a very consistent weekends fishing  .............

Thanks must go to John & Pauline Bennett for allowing us the use of their fishery for the weekend, a pleasure to visit as always .

To Webbo for making sure it all happened , Keith Arthur, Pete Archer and Vespe .

 Finally to all of the anglers that attended and helped to make it the event it is .
Let's do it all again next year .

  Dave"Yorkie"Moore's Birthday Bash.

Well 24 of us assembled at Rolf's Lake at Dave Moore's invitation to help him celebrate his 40th Birthday .
An early start so that I could drop Maria off at work meant that my favorite Café in Battersea hadn't opened by the time I got there , but rather than wait for it to open I pressed on reasoning that if I arrived early it would give me a chance to get my bivvy set up in preparation for the weekend, ahead of the draw for the morning match . A couple of burgers and a coffee on route sufficed and saw me arrive at Rolf's by 7·30 am. A good few of the lads from the North had traveled down the previous afternoon and were already buzzing with anticipation, as quite a few of them had never visited before.
So 1st things 1st, nets dipped and laid out to dry, then bivvy pitched and with Dai providing a welcoming cup of coffee I had time for a brief chat with John Bennett before the draw. John had been a busy chap since my last visit and it was good to see that he'd managed to finish the refurbishment of the hut..........

Pride of place however went to the Rolf's Memorial Bench paid for and provided by the members of the total-fishing.com forums, that John's sited looking out over the Little Lake, one of Rolf's favorite views. A great gesture from a really decent bunch of lads .

So with an 8am draw planned for the days 2 matches, the car park soon filled up, though as Dave had asked Malc to organise the draw it was bound to be late of course, even though he'd arrived the day before . Anyway by the time Malc had finished embarrassing  Simon and Gemma , the draw got underway, with everyone going round twice to draw for both matches. I ended up with peg 40 for the morning and 19 for the afternoon. Opposite ends of the lake !!!!!!!!! and definitely a barrow job.
For company on peg 2 I had Mr Maggotdrowning himself, Dave(Webbo)Webster.
It's quite rare for matches to start so early at Rolf's and the general feeling was that the morning could prove difficult, with hopefully better weights coming on the afternoon match. Arriving at the peg I found a Party Bag, thoughtfully provided at Dave's wife's insistence which straight away set the tone for the day ahead .

With the sun shining and a gentle breeze blowing into the peg I was quite hopeful of a few fish to kick the long weekend off and opted to keep things simple, just 2 pole rigs, the 1st to fish at depth at 6mtrs and a margin rig to fish the bush to my left, that would double up as an up in the water rig. I also set up the pellet waggler and my feeder rod as I had them both with me in their ready sleeves. A quick stroll before the off revealed Gemma on peg 7 with just a feeder rod set up, could another Minxing be in the offing ?..........

Clive was tucked round the corner on peg 9, a peg that in the past has been his Nemesis as he'd blanked on it the 3 times he'd previously draw there .

Looking across to the hut I could see the Birthday Boy  himself chilling out with his thoughts prior to the off................

So All-in and a big handful of pellets by the bush to my left (it wasn't hiding from me, unlike the last time Clive fished the peg ) and 2 similar ones at 6mtrs and straight over it, but no instant action. However Gemma was soon shouting signifying her 1st fish of the day (could this mean that another Minxing was on the cards ) and Paul Roberts was off to a quick start as well on peg 4.................

Dave was fishing long and shallow on peg 2 but having no joy, and I had just had a single steamer that resulted in a scale coming back on the hook .
Dave the Fish having had a quiet start, had come down to compare notes with Colin after about an hour and a half...........

and the word was that Clive was actually going well on peg 9 while most were struggling . Tony(Teepee) had drawn peg34 which is normally good for a few fish, but like most he was finding it hard going this morning.....

With nothing much happening for me on the Little Lake I decided to fill it in on the 6mtr line and have a stroll round while it settled.
Clive was indeed having a decent time on peg 9 and although he was having a lot of foul-hookers he was managing to get most of them out...............

Dave Lloyd had managed a couple from peg 19, my peg for the afternoon, so I made a mental note of where he was feeding and filed it away for later use . Next door on peg 20 I found Eric(ejayar) having his 1st visit to Rolf's for a while as he hasn't fished The Jinx Series this year, and it wasn't going well for him (maybe it had something to do with his taste in football shirts ).................

Meanwhile Dai on peg 22 was having a grueller too and was beginning to wonder whether he was going to get as much as a bite, let alone a fish as it was proving to be a real struggle ............

While Steve Wilson had managed a decent Carp that weighed in at 16lbs 4ozs putting him in pole for the mornings largest Carp ..........

Malc was winkling a couple out on peg 28, but Simon was obviously worried that he was on for a Minxing and had decided to distract Gemma .........

Returning to my swim I could see that Dave was still sticking at it on peg 2, still without any reward though ...............

 

Settling down I shipped back out to 6mtrs where there was now a healthy patch of bubbles, and I was soon rewarded with a weigher to get me off the mark at last , which was swiftly followed by a net fish. Cyber and Tommo arrived at this point and must have thought that it was o so easy, and although it wasn't, I managed a fish about every 20 minutes till the end .
So with the All-out called I got busy and quickly shifted my kit the length of the fishery up to peg 19 prior to the weigh in. Come the weigh-in and my 7 fish scaled 60lbs and proved to be enough for a section win . Gemma despite having got off to a flyer had only managed 46lbs for 2nd in section, losing her £1 to me as I avoided a Minxing .
Clive had managed the only Ton of the match with his 139¼lbs giving him the match win and firmly burying his peg 9 hoodoo . On the next peg Mick King had taken 62lbs for 3rd overall, while up on peg 16, 3 late Carp had allowed Simon to take 2nd place with 75½lbs. Dave Lloyd on peg 19 had managed a section winning 35lbs, while Dai had managed to snare a solitary Skimmer and took the prize for largest Silver and on peg 28 Malc had managed to win the final section with 55½lbs .

So time for a quick drink and a sandwich and it was onto the 2nd match of the day. Starting at 4pm, it had started to cloud over and I had Clive for company on peg 20, a peg he'd been eager to fish as it's one of the few he'd never fished before . I was pretty relaxed having decided to concentrate on the bar at around 7mtrs that Dave Lloyd had fed in the morning match.

So All-in and out to the bar with some pellets followed by the rig and within 5 minutes I had my first Carp of the session in the net . Clive was fishing at a similar distance and had plenty of fish fizzing in his swim but was having trouble getting bites while I was nicking a fish around every 15 minutes, Then when he did get one it wasn't staying on the hook .
All through the afternoon more of the lads that were fishing the MD's weekend turned up and as they strolled round watching word came back that Simon was really bagging up on peg 2 and Paul was going well from Clive's morning peg . Malc of course had one of his moments leaping in at one point to retrieve his landing net head complete with Carp that came off as he tried to land it !!!!!!!!!
Clive and I both had loads of trouble with foul hookers during the match , with both of us playing the same fish on more than one occasion as they ploughed through our swims, needless to say Clive pulled out of all of them . I had one snag me by the boat that's moored in the swim, and with a few of the lads watching I climbed into it to try and retrieve the rig. Of course the mooring rope came free much to the watching lads amusement and while I managed to get the rig back the assembled company had a right good laugh at my expense .
That was the highlight I suppose, and I just fished steadily after that taking a dozen fish by the time the All-out was called at 8pm. The Lake had certainly fished better than the morning, with Simon taking the win with an excellent 204½lbs (his best ever match weight), which is some going in 4 hours . Paul Roberts with 159¼lbs and Steve Wilson with 151½lbs taking 2nd and 3rd . Dave(Webbo) managed his 1st ever Ton in a match with 132½lbs , as did young Mitch...........

............ who had fished the afternoon match in place of Dai putting 122½lbs on the scales from peg34 to win his section , while Malc and Tony(teepee) took the other sections with bags of 146¼lbs & 137½lbs respectively . My weight of 117lbs was the final Ton of the match. Mick King just missing out on a Ton by 4ozs but was probably most relieved that his £3000 worth of Airity pole had survived the day in one piece (mind you he fished the feeder down the edge for most of the 2nd match, playing safe) .

So with the fishing out of the way for the day the pools were distributed amongst the winners as some of Big Dave's lads were returning North that night. Then the barbecue got fired up and the beers cracked open as everyone relaxed and discussed the days events and looked forward to the weekend ahead .
Of course someone had to provide the amusement as the day drew to a close, and on this occasion it was Malc who decided to remove all the tent pegs from the tent that Simon and Gemma had retired to for the evening. It's amazing how quickly an erection can collapse, at least I think that's what Malc said before we headed to our bivvies in anticipation of the matches that lay ahead, but that's for another report .

		Morning Match
Position	Peg	Angler	Weight
1st	9	Clive Pritchard	139lbs 04ozs
2nd	16	Simon Mound	75lbs 08ozs
3rd	10	Mick King	62lbs 00ozs
4th	40	Peter Morton	60lbs 00ozs
5th	28	Malc Doyle	55lbs 08ozs
6th	7	Gemma Doyle	46lbs 00ozs
7th	26	Steve Wilson	35lbs 04ozs
8th	19	Dave Lloyd	35lbs 00ozs
9th	30	Terry Oaks	29lbs 08ozs
10th	4	Paul Roberts	24lbs 12ozs
11th	5	Keith Fisher	18lbs 12ozs
12th	34	Tony Prentice	18lbs 00ozs
13th	20	Eric Robothan	16lbs 00ozs
14th	38	Ken Leedham	13lbs 12ozs
15th	2	Dave Webster	13lbs 08ozs
16th=	14	Phil Shackleton	13lbs 00ozs
16th=	24	Dave Collier	13lbs 00ozs
18th	36	Colin Sharrard	12lbs 04ozs
19th	11	Geoff Eggison	9lbs 08ozs
20th	8	Jim Leedham	8lbs 00ozs
21st	23	Robin Clarkson	5lbs 00ozs
22nd	32	Dave Moore	4lbs 04ozs
23rd	22	Dai Thomas	1lb  04ozs
24th	18	Nick Williams	1lb 3½ozs
25th	13	Tim Westmoreland	DNW

		Evening Match
Position	Peg	Angler	Weight
1st	2	Simon Mound	204lbs 08ozs
2nd	9	Paul Roberts	159lbs 04ozs
3rd	4	Steve Wilson	151lbs 08ozs
4th	16	Malc Doyle	146lbs 04ozs
5th	26	Tony Prentice	137lbs 08ozs
6th	11	Dave Webster	132lbs 08ozs
7th	34	Mitch Auger	122lbs 08ozs
8th	18	Colin Sharrard	121lbs 12ozs
9th	19	Peter Morton	117lbs 00ozs
10th	28	Mick King	99lbs 12ozs
11th	7	Terry Oaks	84lbs 08ozs
12th	36	Phil Shackleton	79lbs 12ozs
13th	24	Eric Robothan	72lbs 12ozs
14th	22	Dave Lloyd	70lbs 08ozs
15th	40	Dave Moore	70lbs 00ozs
16th	5	Geoff Eggison	68lbs 12ozs
17th	13	Nick Williams	67lbs 00ozs
18th	32	Dave Collier	64lbs 08ozs
19th	14	Keith Fisher	54lbs 08ozs
20th	20	Clive Pritchard	53lbs 00ozs
21st	30	Ken Leedham	38lbs 08ozs
22nd	10	Gemma Doyle	34lbs 00ozs
23rd	38	Jim Leedham	24lbs 00ozs
24th	23	Robin Clarkson	21lbs 04ozs
25th	8	Tim Westmoreland	15lbs 04ozs