Well today is the day of the Maggotdrowning.com Individual Championship, and this year's venue is the Match Lake at Larford Lakes. It meant an early start for me as it's about 150 miles for me to drive. So with the car loaded up by 5am I was off, and a nice smooth trip with just a stop for coffee on the way found me pulling into the fishery car park just after 8am . It's a small world, as I parked next to Andy(andy222)Feltham an MD's member who hadn't posted for a while, and was there to fish a club match on the Specimen Lake.

Soon after people started to arrive in force, Vince who had organised today's match was soon joined by Clive and after dipping our nets we decided to get in quick for breakfast. A Full English for £5 was soon dispatched and fishery pellets purchased. I have to say that I find it strange that you can only feed a maximum of 4 bags of fishery pellets(2 pints of skrettings in a bag costing £2·50p), but you can feed unlimited amounts of meat or corn, which can't be good for water quality Waiting for the draw it was good to catch up with faces, both old and new , The customary side bet of a Golden Nugget was struck with Vince and Gemma(The Minx), while John's good lady Lynn parted us from our cash in exchange for raffle tickets, the proceeds of which will be going to The British Heart Foundation, and by the time that Vince called the draw at 9am, 38 of us were ready to go, meaning that we could leave out the even pegs giving everyone a bit of space . Into the hat and I'm rewarded with peg 37, while Vince asks me to draw for him and receives peg 51 as a present from me .

At least peg 37 being on the clubhouse bank means I can drive up and almost park behind it. It doesn't look to bad to be honest with a chuck to the island on the feeder and a nice bed of lilies in front of the bush to my left and should be good for a few.

Looking around I've got my fellow Marsh AC member,Tony(spamwham)Roberts to my left, so there should be a good bit of banter during the day ..........

To my right I've got Andrew(Marginman)Willet and next up fellow blogger and Jinx Series partner Clive, who appears to be knocking up some groundbait, though he might have had the prayer mat out and be offering up a plea to the fishing gods ...........

Looking across I can see Vince over on peg 51, so at least I'll be able to keep tabs on the likely destination of the Golden Nugget .

The set up today is 2 4X12 Malman Adam's to 0·16 with a size 18 Drennan Carp Match hooks to fish 6mm banded pellet and meat on the deck at 7mtrs straight out and on the edge of the lilies to my left where there's about 3feet of water and a Malman MTD2 dibber, again on 0·16 with a 18 Drennan Carp Match hook for up in the water. I also set up a Malman SC paste to 0·22 Power Match with a size 12 Drennan Carp Feeder hook for paste, just in case any lumps put in an appearance and the feeder rod.
Bait for the day was a mix of pellets, meat and paste, with feed taken care of by dampened 4mm fishery pellets.

So 11am and Vince calls the All-In. A handfull of pellet straight out to 7mtrs and another to the edge of the lilies and before I can ship out a banded pellet to 7mtrs a shout rings out signifying The Minx has her 1st fish in the net, sending a shudder down the spines of more than a few blokes .
Out to 7mtrs and after lifting and dropping the rig a couple of times the black hydro rips out of the top kit and soon a plump F1 of around 1½lbs is safely in the net ...........

This was swiftly followed by a small stockie of around 8ozs and than a bit of frustration started to set in , I had a spate of very finicky bites, but I managed to hit them, only to have them shed the hook as they came to the net for no apparent reason, the hook certainly hadn't blunted. Indeed I wasn't the only one to suffer like this, as I found out talking to others after the match. I was still managing to put a few in the net, though there were a few to many small stockies rather than the better stamp of F1's..........

To clear my head I took a quick stroll along with the camera to see how others were fairing. Dai was getting a few, but it was proving to be a bit of a struggle ...............

Dirk seemed to be happy enough with his lot, and while not pulling up any trees appeared to be catching with a degree of regularity .............

While tucked away on the other side of the lake I could see Malc(The Jinx) on peg 55, and judging by the way he was concentrating, he was obviously catching ............

Tony was looking as if he was in for a good day with a nice lily pad at a comfy 8mtrs he was catching a decent stamp of fish fishing shallow , though he had been seen off a couple of times by lumps that had found the sanctuary of the pads ...........

Clive meanwhile was having a bit of a mare, he was another suffering from lost fish , though he did manage to successfully land one as I looked on ............

Back at my peg I continued to put a few in the net, but yet again they were mostly small skimmers and stockies though as Clive strolled past I was into something a little better .........

Which proved to be one of the better F1's that gave a pretty good account of itself, I did ask Clive to stay for a while as he seemed to bring me a bit of luck, but for some reason he didn't think much of my offer .........

As the match wore on Vince had managed to bag a couple of what seemed to be reasonable fish on the feeder, but still needed to find something to up his catch rate and avoid the loss of yet another Golden Nugget ............

Weather wise we seemed to have just about everything during the course of the match and with half an hour to go it started to rain , and while my bites had become few and far between, Tony was still catching steadily and continued to put fish regularly in the net right up to the All-out being called at 4pm.

As we packed away at least the rain eased off and chatting to Tony I felt he must be in with a chance of at least a section as I thought he had something approaching the 'Ton'. The scales soon arrived and Tony's fish weighed in at an ounce shy of 97lbs to place him into the lead , while my net went 50lbs 5ozs. Clive had indeed suffered with a mere 19lbs 3ozs to show for his 5 hours . Poor Vince having slipped on the wet bank and pulled his thigh as he was packing his kit away suffered the loss of yet another Golden Nugget with just 17lbs 11ozs . I followed the scales round as far as Malc's peg where he put an excellent 89¾lbs on the scales before I returned to make my way back to the club house.

Back at the club house I was pleased to find I'd avoided a Minxing as Gem had struggled today so I managed to retrieve the Golden Nugget she'd taken from me on the previous Saturday at Rolf's . A buffet was laid on for us, with plenty to go round for all, despite Steve(Steak) doing his best to decimate it single handedly . Vince soon had the results sorted and the presentation underway.......

The section winners on the day being.........

Alan(Genus9)West
Lee(Hicko1)Hicking
Malc(The Jinx)Doyle
Wayne(Baggingman)Panting

The main honours going to ..........
3rd place..........Tony(spamwham)Roberts.

2nd place..........Mark(Bungee)Collinson.

and the winner on the day and MD's Individual Champion 2009...............
Steve (Fordy1) Ford.

The day was rounded off with the Raffle

Which thanks to Lynn's efforts selling tickets
raised £200 for The British Heart Foundation .

A few Thank You's are in order at this point, Firstly to Vince for organising the match, and doing his usual Excellent Job . To Lynn for a great job flogging the raffle tickets . To Phil Briscoe and all his staff at Maver Larford for their efforts during the day . Finally to all those members of Maggotdrowning.com that supported and took part in the match, making it the success that it was, it couldn't be done without you. Looks like we'll have to do it all over again next year .

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.

 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

 

 The JINX Series 2008

Match 3.

Back down to Rolf's Lake today for the 3rd match of THE JINX SERIES, and after my second place and a new PB match weight on my last visit to Rolf's 2 weeks ago on a TalkAngling forum match I was really looking forward to this one .
Loading up the car it was quite sunny, but a stiff breeze was blowing plenty of cloud about and the forecast wasn't the best and when I reached the M40 after my customary Brekkie stop the heavens opened . Thankfully it had stopped by the time I reached the services at junction 8 and as I was running early I stopped off for a coffee where I found Kevin and Jean having breakfast.
We soon arrived at the lake and John was just opening the gate so we were soon parked up and got our nets dipped in readiness for the day ahead.

Soon the usual suspects started to turn up. John (Hatchye) stoically taking plenty of stick that he knew was coming his way over his lost (not) car keys on the previous match . Dave(The Fish) was on tenterhooks as his daughter was expecting his 1st grandchildren (twins) and Mark C was missing as his 1st grandchild had arrived early that morning . However it also appeared that Simon And Gem were loved up again and all touchy feely, with Malc threatening to pour a bucket of water over the pair of them .

The previous night Simon and I had discussed where we fancied drawing and I said that as I'd never drawn between pegs 2-8 I'd love one of them, so into the draw and out popped peg 7 for me . A quick chat with John who said it was an out and out feeder peg at the moment put me right. So gear loaded onto the barrow and round to the peg.

For company I had Colin on peg 8 and Slim on Peg 6 . John had told me that it was possible to catch short on the pole if the feeder didn't produce, but I decided to be single minded and just set the feeder up. The rod I use is a Shakespeare Mach3 11ft medium feeder that I've paired with a Shimano Stradic and although a couple of people have remarked that they feel it's not up to the job I find it spot on. It's got a lovely through action which coupled to the clutch on the Stradic I finds eliminates the risk of hook pulls at the net .
Bait for the session was simply dampened 6mm fishery pellets with a good helping of hemp added to put through the feeder and 8mm fishery pellet and punched meat for the hook.

Of course having just the one rod to set up, and that was in a ready sleeve, I had a fair bit of time on my hands to take a few of the photos that I use to illustrate these reports on my blog, but while i was looking for subjects Clive caught me with his camera .................

1pm and the all-in, out with the feeder and the tip pulled round as I tightened up and the resulting Carp was safely in the net before Slim had even cupped his first pot of feed onto his pole line .
Kevin was soon off the mark with a 14lb weigher from peg 34, followed by Colin who also snared an early one on the feeder .

A couple of hours in and Kev's match took a turn for the worse when The Jinx struck as a Carp ripped his rod off of the rest and dragged it out to the pads before he could retrieve it . However Malc was on hand and was soon stripped and in.........

but although he found a few mangled top kits amongst the pads there was no sign of Kevin's rod . I'd had a steady start, though I did experience a lull for around half an hour after Malc's bath, while a concerned Slim finally managed his 1st fish, a Skimmer and that was soon followed by a cracking Perch .........

Colin had a lovely Chub on the feeder that was a new PB for him at 5lbs 8ozs ..........

From my peg I could see up the car park bank on the big lake and there seemed to be a few fish being landed, especially by Tony who seemed to have a fair bit of elastic out at frequent intervals .

As the match wore on I just managed to keep up a steady catch rate and the little lake seemed to wake up for a few of the lads. Dave had a few from down the edge of his peg as did Simon.........

Slim finally managed to get amongst a few, but it was to little to late to enable him to notch up a third double ton in a row..........

Meanwhile Colin decided that as he couldn't match my catch rate on the feeder he would have a look on the pole down by the bush to his left, and although it produced a few fish for him, he had a pretty frustrating time as he lost a fair few as well .

 One of the funniest tales of the day went to Clive on peg 40.........

.......who having fed to the bush on his left at peg 40 during the match, finally went to fish to it, only to find that it had vanished !!!!!!!! The wind being so strong that It had blown it back onto the bank .

With around an hour to go I had 4 weighers on the board and around 10 fish in each of my two nets, so put a third net in, just to avoid crowding the fish that were already in the nets, and by the time the all-out came at 6pm I'd added another five in that net and a weigher to the board . I was pretty confident that I'd beaten everyone that I could see, but felt that Tony could be in contention as I'd seen him catching well up on the car park bank during the match.

So off with the scales, and Clive put the 1st ton on the scales and left him wondering what he could have had if his bush hadn't hidden during the match . With nobody overtaking Clive the scales reached my peg, I nervously watched as the scales gave me a total of 186lbs, and another new PB match weight . Colin also managed to top the ton and we moved on to Nick W-P. Now Nick is a confirmed pleasure angler who only fishes the Jinx matches, and we've all been encouraging him to try and break the ton. Unfortunately he hadn't managed it this time, but his weight of 64lbs 14ozs was a new PB match weight for him so he's getting there . Malc had managed yet another Jinx Ton and we finally came to the car park bank. Gem on 22 had one of her quieter days (Other things on her mind ) and a £1 coin came my way, though she still managed to hand out 7 Minxings. Dai on 23 looked shattered and 129¼lbs was the reason why, his PB match weight and 1st Jinx Ton. Next up Steve finally after 7 years of trying registered 128½lbs for his 1st Jinx Ton. Roy, who seems to have a season ticket for the car park bank weighed 126lbs. Then we came to Tony who with 70lbs+ in weighers on the board was going to run me close. Luckily for me he came up a little short, having to settle for 170lbs, still a great days fishing though. A final mention for young Mitch who was last to weigh-in. It's his 1st season fishing The Jinx Series and he dearly wants a Ton, and has improved his weights on all 3 matches, today it was not to be, but I'm sure he'll get there if he just sticks at it .  

Position	Peg	Angler	Weight
1st	Peg 7	Peter Morton	186lbs 00ozs
2nd	Peg 30	Tony Roberts	170lbs 00ozs
3rd	Peg 23	Dai Thomas	129lbs 04ozs
4th	Peg 24	Steve Wilson	128lbs 08ozs
5th	Peg 28	Roy Ravenhill	126lbs 00ozs
6th	Peg 16	Malc Doyle	107lbs 04ozs
7th	Peg 40	Clive Pritchard	106lbs 12ozs
8th	Peg 8	Colin Sharrard	102lbs 04ozs
9th	Peg 38	Dave Collier	87lbs 04ozs
10th	Peg 6	Ade Williams	85lbs 00ozs
11th	Peg 36	Simon Mound	84lbs 00ozs
12th	Peg 32	Mitch Auger	83lbs 04ozs
13th	Peg 2	Ant Haywood	69lbs 04ozs
14th	Peg 22	Gemma Doyle	67lbs 08ozs
15th	Peg 9	Nick Watkins-Price	64lbs 14ozs
16th	Peg 14	Nick Williams	55lbs 08ozs
17th	Peg 18	Jon Hatch	50lbs 04ozs
18th	Peg 26	Paul Roberts	49lbs 00ozs
19th	Peg 4	Keith Fellows	47lbs 04ozs
20th	Peg 13	Dave Moore	35lbs 00ozs
21st	Peg 34	Kevin Loveland	14lbs 00ozs

So that's it but I'll be back at Rolf's on Friday 25th July for 3 days. The Friday is Dave Moore's 40th Birthday Bash and the Saturday and Sunday is the Maggotdrowning Pairs Championship which I won last year with Tony Roberts. It promises to be great fun and of course a report will be forth coming, but before that there's the MD's Southern Championship at Hartleylands and a Marsh AC match at Churchgate Lakes. I'll keep you posted .
 

 

TalkAngling.co.uk Forum Match.

I was lucky enough to get my name down for this match when it was posted on the TalkAngling forum back in January by Ian Hornby as i really enjoy visiting Rolf's whenever I get the chance.

Pulling back the curtains a grey day with rain greeted me, and to think that today was the longest day !!!!!! Anyway car loaded in good time along with the waterproofs and off. With my usual stop in Battersea for a spot of brekkie I made good time with a trouble free trip down, pulling into the car park at around 8·30am. There were a few of the usual faces from the lads that fish The Jinx Series there, though Malc who should have been fishing was a noteable absentee due to the fact that yet again his car had expired on the roadside the previous day , but it was good to catch up with the TalkAngling lads, some of whom I'd met previously and some who were new faces. It was also good to see that not only was the lake back down to something like it's usual level with all the platforms above water, but the colour had returned to somethind approaching its normal hue after the flooding of a couple of weeks ago.

9am and draw time. Into the bag and peg 24 appeared in my hand !!! A bonus for me as it's on the car park bank, somewhere I rarely get a sniff of and it has a bit of form. No barrow today, just a nice short walk. With a grey cloudy sky and rain still falling it looked like it would be a bit of a grueller, especially as we were fishing from 11am - 4pm which is earlier than most of the summer matches at Rolf's that are normally fished from 2pm - 7pm as the Carp don't seem to get their heads down till around 3pm.

Maggotdrowning.com

Individual Championship 2008.

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Well an early start saw me have a trouble free 120 mile run up the M40 and beyond to Packington Somers Fishery arriving around 8am in plenty of time to dip my nets and grab a cuppa and a sausage sarnie, Soon the car park started to fill but a phonecall from Keith to let me know that his car had expired on the M6 put a bit of a downer on things.(Hope it's fixed soon mate )
Linda, Bucko's wife was soon into full raffle ticket selling mode parting us from our pennies, and i have to admit to a bit of a shock when I looked round to see Mark Downes (The England Manager) and Ken Giles unloading their kit !!!!!!!!!! but they were there for another match.

9am and Vince got the draw underway for the 41 of us in attendance with his usual efficiency. Into the draw bag and 48 stuck to my fingers. Into the car and round I drove to find my peg. On arrival I found that I had Nick (Monkey) and Bucko for company on the day.

I have to say that the peg looked 1st rate A solid concrete slab to fish from with a raft of lilies in the margin to my left, a large bush overhanging the right and a comfortable chuck of around 25yds to the island. The only thing was that I didn't see a single sign of fish moving.
I just set up a couple of rigs for the pole, one for the 6ft of water that I had at 11mtrs and another for the margins that would double up as a shallow rig. I also got the feeder out of its ready bag, but did change the hooklength from the one that had been previously employed at Rolf's.
Bait would be a selection of dendra's, casters, corn and pellet with the groundbait being Special'G' with a selection of hook baits added.

With a bit of time to spare I had a stroll over to the pegs behind me to have a chat with Colin and Lee Richards (missabite) from where I could also see Vince setting up on his peg which he had got me to draw for him, and I have to say that it looked like i'd done him proud.

Just before the all in Vince popped over for a quick chat and blew the whistle for the off before returning to his peg.

I flicked a pinch of caster and pellet into my 2 margin lines and cupped 3 balls of groundbait onto the 11mtr line before picking up my margin rig and dropping it in next to the lilies with 2 casters on the hook. Almost instantly the float slid away and a small Tench of around 8ozs was soon into the net. Next put in resulted in a hand sized Skimmer. 2 fish in 2 put ins, unfortunately it all went pear shaped after that. The margin line appeared to contain nothing more than 1" long Perch that seemed to be having their own competition to see who could swallow a bait the deepest.

Moving out to the 11mtr line to get away from the suicidal little buggers succeeded, but unfortunately the line seemed utterly devoid of any fish whatsoever. I tried under the bush to my right but apart from a couple of 2oz Roach that was it, while another look to the lilies showed the Perch were still in residence.

Looking across it didn't appear that anyone else was setting the place alight, so the feeder was put into action baited with half a Dendra. After about 30 minutes of inactivity Paul (nomorelongwalks) phoned for an update just as I had a 2" pull and connected with a Skimmer of around 1lb, but my report to him was hardly upbeat . I was having to wait far to long between bites to do any damage. Vince phoned but hung up abruptly, phoning me back to let me know that he'd just lost a decent Carp at the net, but had followed up by netting a decent Tench and Bream .
I sat it out adding the occasional small Skimmer and losing the one decent Tench, a fish of around 4lbs that I hooked when it spat the hook about a foot from the net .

Thankfully 4pm signaled the All-out to put an end to my torture, and at this point I have to say thanks to John Burchell's team on the scales, because I can't remember seeing a weigh-in conducted with such speed and efficiency for a long time, not that my 5lb 9ozs of bits taxed the scalesmen too severely .

So Back to the clubhouse where £1 coins were handed over to Besty, Dave and Dirk though somehow I'd not had a £1 with Vince today , and a buffet was laid on prior to the prize giving and the raffle.

So to the winners the spoils (apologies for the picture quality, must have set the camera wrong )

1st place..... Lee Richards taking the Trophy and a new Matchbox S series seatbox system supplied by Jim Burton of Matchbox.


2nd place..... Matt Nutt and a Matchbox seatbox.


3rd place..... Mike Globe and a Matchbox seatbox.

The Section winners all received Shimano reels supplied by John at The Matchmen, Nottingham.

The raffle was very well supported raising £224 which will be split between the Kent Air Ambulance and Great Ormond Street Hospital, and almost everyone appeared to take home a prize of some sort. .

In closing I'd just like to say Very Well Done to Vince and his team of helpers for his usual Superb Organisation.
A Big Thank You to Besty for all his efforts in sourcing the prizes that were generously donated by Jim Burton and all at Matchbox Tackle and by John at The MatchMen in Nottingham.
Thanks to Jon Burrell and his Team for the use of their fishery .

The JINX Series 2008

Match 2.

Sunshine greeted me as I loaded the car up for the trip to Rolf's for the second match in the JINX SERIES. With plenty of time I was able to make my usual stop for Breakfast in Battersea.
While I was there I phoned Malc to find out the state of the fishery as I knew he'd been there since the previous day with Dai, Mitch & Gemma helping John after the flash floods that had hit the area on Wednesday. Telling me that the lake was high but fishable, he then passed on some information that Nick Williams was threatening to fish in his underpants if the lake was too flooded, suffice to say that it nearly put me off my breakfast . However wiping the image from my mind that Malc had described I managed to polish off breakfast and carry on.

Pulling into the fishery car park at around 10·30am people were already arriving for the 11am draw. A chat with John revealed that at it's height the lake had been within 2 inches of overflowing into the car park. With 2 pumps running the effort that John & Pauline had put in along with his helpers had once again got it to a fishable state even if it was still at least 3 feet above normal.

Mind you just how the lake would fish on the day was open to debate though John felt that the huge influx of water into the lake and the fact that some of the fish were still spawning would lead to a hard match.

Inevitably the draw was delayed as Malc sorted out which pegs were fishable, but it wouldn't be a JINX match if it ran smoothly would it !!!!!!!!!

Into the draw-bag and peg 14 stuck to my hand, quite a shock as I always seem to draw on the little lake. Loading up my barrow I set off round the lake and seeing everyone setting up so far up the bank was a bit strange.............

Anyway after lugging all my gear round I found that I had got Mitch to my right on 13 and Neo to my left on 15.....

.....along with Clive on 16 for company today. A quick chat with Clive who spends a fair bit of time at Rolf's reveals I'd got the end of the bar at around 20yds straight out, so I set up the pellet wag and feeder and plumb up a pole line at around 6mtrs where I could feed by hand to fish pellet and paste, though I also had sweetcorn and meat as change baits. Feed was the fisheries 6mm pellets and hemp.

So 1·30 and the all in, 2 big handfuls of pellet and hemp onto the 6mtr line and a pouch of pellet out to the bar followed by the pellet wag, and straight away it buries, softly softly into the net, a nice Common Carp around 6lbs , another pouch of a dozen pellets, into the keepnet with the fish, another dozen pellets followed by the wag which buries again and another Common joins its pal in the net . Well it slowed a bit after that, it seemed that there were a ton of silvers pecking at the pellet and I did connect with a couple of Skimmers, I tried upping the feed but that just turned it into a jacuzzi . I kept altering the depth and managed another 3 Carp, but in all honesty I wasted far to much time trying to make it work . With the swim still fizzing I went out with the feeder onto the bar, but had only had a couple of half hearted taps after about 20 minutes when the rod was ripped off the rest!!!!! This was a big old lump and it just plodded around stubbornly refusing to get its head up. Slowly I gained ground on it and it finally popped to the top, a bleedin great Common, it was certainly the largest fish I've ever hooked at Rolf's, but just as I reached for the net it rolled on the line which parted like cotton.

Now at that point I should have changed my approach as the lads on the car park bank had all started to catch, but I re-tackled and went back out on the feeder and wasted another 40 biteless minutes .

Out onto the 6mtr line that I'd been feeding regularly and 1st put in the float buried resulting in Carp number 6 in the net, then a couple of foul hookers that I parted company with followed.

Roy over on peg 28 was starting to motor taking decent fish regularly...........


Paul on 24 also seemed to be over his Rolf's block, and having got his Ton in the previous match was motoring on towards another ............


While Dave Collier on peg 30 was also romping along after a slow start to the match ..........


I'd blown it after letting my frustration get the better of me and chopping and changing rather than sticking at one approach. With an hour to go I picked up the shallow rig with a banded pellet, shipped out to 13mtrs and just kept firing hemp & pellet at it and had my best hour of the match with another 7 Carp including a weigher that I mugged as the all out was called  ..........

It was to little to late though as I knew in my heart of hearts that I didn't have enough in the net to compete on the day.
The scales told the tale of the day however with their slow progress round the lake. Kevin Loveland had drawn the same peg as his previous match where he'd had a mare, however today he'd managed 136½lbs, to record his 1st ever match TON . Paul had broken the 150lb barrier and Roy put 177lbs on the scales which would only be good enough for 3rd on the day !!!!!!

Meanwhile down on peg 40 Ade Williams (Slim Shady) following up from his DOUBLE TON on the 1st match had managed a 2nd successive DOUBLE TON.........

 but had still been beaten by Simon, fishing his 1st JINX match of the year he had a battle with Ade throughout the whole match............

.......Finally coming out on top with an excellent 221¾lb, a great performance on the day .

My weight? 92½lb only good enough for 15th on the day, though I did have one small consolation in that at least I managed to get my £1 back from Gemma and avoid a Minxing. .

Position	Peg	Angler	Weight
1st	Peg 2	Simon Mound	221lbs 12ozs
2nd	Peg 40	Ade Williams	206lbs 04ozs
3rd	Peg 28	Roy Ravenhill	177lbs 00ozs
4th	Peg 32	Malc Doyle	154lbs 12ozs
5th	Peg 24	Paul Roberts	150lbs 04ozs
6th	Peg 22	Kevin Loveland	136lbs 08ozs
7th	Peg 30	Dave Collier	128lbs 04ozs
8th	Peg 35	Mark Causer	126lbs 00ozs
9th	Peg 34	Keith Fellows	122lbs 08ozs
10th	Peg 16	Clive Prithard	121lbs 12ozs
11th	Peg 9	Colin Sharrard	118lbs 12ozs
12th	Peg 6	Tony Roberts	112lbs 12ozs
13th	Peg 7	Jon Hatch	110lbs 00ozs
14th	Peg 15	Nick Williams	100lbs 12ozs
15th	Peg 14	Peter Morton	92lbs 08ozs
16th	Peg 4	Dai Thomas	69lbs 08ozs
17th	Peg 13	Mitch Auger	69lbs 04ozs
18th	Peg 23	Ant Haywood	68lbs 04ozs
19th	Peg 37	Dave Moore	61lbs 00ozs
20th	Peg 8	Tim Westmoreland       (Guest)	48lbs 04ozs
21st	Peg 38	Gemma Doyle	23lbs 00ozs

The JINX Series 2007

Match 4.

Well, off to Stockton today for the 4th round of the Jinx Series. A nice trouble free drive up saw me arrive in plenty of time enabling me to take a leisurely stroll round what I consider to be one of BW's most scenic waters and to have a look at the pegs we would be fishing today.

 In previous Jinx matches I've fished on the venue we have fished "The Boards" pegs, but for this match we were on those to the right as you enter from the car park including those known as The Animal pegs due to them being surrounded by masses of rushes which can make extracting any of the resident Carp something of a challenge. They are also home to plenty of bird life too.....................

Most of us arrived in good time allowing for a pre match drink in The Blue Lias Inn and the chance of a chin-wag and a chance to catch up.
As usual Malc had forgotten a number of things including the weigh sling and draw sheets so the draw was a little delayed, meaning that we would be fishing from 1·30 - 6·30pm.

The draw bag had dealt me peg 41, right on the end of the Animal Pegs so that I had relatively open water with just the end of the reeds reachable with a short cast on the feeder. To my left I had Paul Roberts accompanied by his good lady Jayne (Though rumour has it that she's really his community care worker ) on peg 42. While to my rightt on peg 40 was young Ant Haywood, current leader of this years Jinx Series, and only needing another section win to tie up the series with one match to go.

My plan of attack was going to be simple, just setting up a feeder rod  for the chuck to the edge of the reeds alternating baits between meat, catmeat, corn, pellet or worm until I could find what they wanted. Initially I didn't set up my pole intent on sticking with the feeder.

All in and most started on the feeder but Ant fed heavily at both 16mtrs and 8mtrs before spending a short time on the pole. Paul soon discovered that with Colin to his left and myself to his right he was surrounded by "Cockneys" and it would be fair to say that it set the tone for a sustained 5hrs of light hearted banter and mickey taking.

Sport was so slow that it was almost none existent, even this fella didn't seem to be having any luck..............

..................though Ant managed to foul hook a Carp and played it patiently to the net with plenty of encouragement from yours truly and a short while later this was followed by another similar fish.............

............ Me? I couldn't buy a bite and after 2½hrs out came the pole.

Dave Collier came up for a chat and almost right on cue the float dipped up up popped a foul hooked Perch, straight into the net and at least a DNW had been avoided, this was soon followed by a Rudd that swallowed a worm twice it's size, I was positively baggin..........NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Paul was getting a few bites on the paste by now but was having trouble keeping them out of the reeds, but at least he was getting some fish into the net. I sat the final hour out on the paste over pellet and was briefly attached to a couple of Carp before they vanished into the distance, but the reality was that the final whistle was a blessing, as I had the feeling that I could have sat there for another 5 hours and progressed no further.

So yet another £1 coin handed over to young Gemma due to her MINXING me as I weighed in an incredibly generous 4ozs from the scales-man.(The cheque's in the post Malc.)
Paul edged out Ant for the section, but he's still in pole position for the series. Matt Nutt won on the day with 6 Carp all caught on the pellet for 48lbs.

I still love the venue but it can be incredibly frustrating and it beat me today but I will return as it's one of those venues that I really enjoy.
Next weekend I'm out with the members of Marsh AC at Hartleylands Farm where we're fishing the Reservoir, hopefully I'll manage a few more fish than today, but who knows? I'll let you know the outcome. 

Maggotdrowning.com

 Rolf's Pairs Tournament 2007.

So there i was 6·30am on Saturday with the car all loaded up and ready to get off to Rolf's Lake for the 2nd Annual Maggotdrowning Pairs Tournament.
A quick stop off on route in Battersea for a spot of breakfast followed by a trouble free run down the M40 saw me pulling into the services just after 8am, closely followed by Paul East (NoMoreLongWalks) along with Dai and his good lady Anne and Vince (vg1037).
A short phone call soon revealed that Ady (BigLadWigan) was doing a passable impression of lost & confused driving around Holton trying to remember where the lake was, so he elected to return to the services and follow us down there.

Soon it was a case of back into the cars and down to Rolf's, arriving just after 9am you can imagine my shock to find Malc and his daughter Gemma already there, indeed the car park was almost full as various Maggotdrowners arrived from all corners of the country.
Geoff P had taken the long distance award, having been chauffeured down from Scotland by his son for the weekend. While looking around you could see a mini Maggotville emerging as a number of bivvies went up.

Talk as usual was about just how many "tons" would come out over the weekend but as I took a walk round the lake, nagging away in the back of my head was a little voice telling me that things might prove to be a lot harder than many people thought owing to all the water that had been in and out of the venue during the preceding weeks.

It was good to see that pegs 16-18 had been reinstated opening up the choice of pegs available, indeed standing in the car park it was hard to believe that the lake had been bursting it's banks the previous weekend and it was a tribute to the efforts of John and his helpers even going to the trouble of running a pump round the clock in order to make sure that the venue was eminently fishable, leading many to wonder why another website's match due for the Friday had been canceled by them the previous Monday.

Finally Dave Webster (RedLeader) arrived, having collected Tony Prentice (teepee) on the way he'd obviously had a "Blonde" moment setting the Sat Nav so that the route from Yorkshire to Wheatly was via the M25??????

So finally we're all assembled and the draw takes place for pairs, which finds me paired for the weekend with Tony Roberts (spamwham) a fellow Marsh AC member, and then the draw for pegs. Dave and I were the last to draw and I found myself holding Peg 34, considered by many to be a flyer, so no pressure. However on arriving I found that the rope that marks the far edge of the swim had been moved away from it's usual position???? Tony. my partner had drawn peg 38 so at least we could keep an eye on each other.

Settling into the peg I set the box up on the submerged platform and elected to concentrate on the margins which were about 18" deeper than usual, but also taking advantage of the new ruling that allows the use of rod and reel, set up a feeder rig to cover my options.

Next door on peg 35 I had Dave "Yorkie" Moore for company, a fellow competitor in The Jinx Series of matches, so if nothing else a good bit of banter was assured.

12noon and the all in sounds, and it would be nice to say that we all got off to flyers, but it was Gazmalman who had flown off his platform before the match had even started, Malman Floats? well it would appear he does, even if he is well dotted down due to consuming a few to many pies ..................

.............the crazy bit is that he did it again during the match, this time losing a weigher in the process that probably cost him the section.

For a lot of the anglers it proved to be a hard old day, most had fish in their swims at some point in the day but getting them to show an interest in a bait was another matter. Try as they might it proved to be a struggle, some like Dave grafted away for 5 hours and were only rewarded with a single fish proving once again that there is more to it than just turning up at Rolf's to guarantee a ton-up bag.

I was lashing in the pellet on the margin line while fishing the feeder out by the rope but for no reward, while teepee opposite on peg 6 had landed 1 and lost a couple. However we all had to watch as Ian Ward (Chin) on peg 7 and Gemma on peg 8 caught steadily from the off and with the lake not fishing to it's potential strolled away from the rest of us. Ian winning the day with 108lbs 8ozs, while Gemma was unfortunate enough to lose a good fish in the final minutes that could have pushed Ian all the way, but still finishing in overall 2nd place with 98lbs, a really top performance on the day allowing her to take more than a few £1 coins off of the assembled company.

I had been fortunate enough to nick a  few decent fish at the end with a final 12½lb'er with 5 mins to go, my 73¼lbs pushing up to 9th on the day while Tony had found out about the power of Rolf's fish, putting 45lbs on the scales for 13th overall but losing many more. A lesson learned hopefully.

As most know Rolf's health has not been the best so it was especially good to see him put in an appearance during the afternoon and have a gentle stroll round having a chat with those present.

The weigh-in proved just how hard it had been for most with only the 1 "ton" and more weights under 50lbs than above it, Rolf's had indeed shown us it's hard side, though hopefully with plenty of feed having gone in, things would improve on Sunday.

Soon the Barbecue was lit and the beers cracked open with Rolf stopping on for a bite to eat before returning home.
Around 9pm the rain stared to fall, but with Dave's gazebo and countless brollies available the banter continued for some long into the night.

Sunday dawned dry and sunny and with breakfast cooked once more on the barbecue for most it was just a question of waiting for Pete Archer (Vespe) and Keith Arthur (Fishermans Blues) fresh from his morning radio show to join us for the draw. Both duly arrived and the draw was underway.

I found myself on peg 9 this time while Tony had draw sock on with peg 8, while I had Chin to my left on 10.
with the all in at 12noon, Ady on peg 31 was looking like Raison, Nudd & Wilson rolled into one as his paste attack brought immediate rewards, alas it was not to last, but he looked good while it lasted, unfortunately all to briefly.