Rolf’s Lake. Holton. Oxfordshire. August 7th, 2009.

Dave the Fish’s

Invitation Match.

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

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

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

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

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

Waiting for the All-In I could see Simon, Bill, Budgie and Scott across on pegs 29-32 and Dave and Mick on pegs 9 & 10, while peg 11 waited for Webbo and peg 14 Tony(teepee) on their arrival. So at 3pm the All-In was called, a couple of pots of pellet onto the 6 and 8mtr lines and a handful down the right hand margin and a banded 8mtr pellet was swung out to 6mtrs. Nothing really happened for me though, and I think Scott may have been the first off the mark on peg 32 with a weigher. After 30 minutes Webbo appeared with Tony in tow, and I remarked that I’d been decent enough to wait for him, Bill having been seen off by a couple of foul hookers soon had a real introduction to Rolf’s in the shape of a Common that went 18lbs (a new PB for him) closely followed by a 17½lb’er. I got off the mark with a 12½lb Mirror and Dave on peg 9 seemed to be into steady action………

While Mick having decided to do his own thing settled in with his avon rod awaiting his first action………

Things in general were quiet for the most part though I’d added a Common of around 8lbs, so I re-fed and took a stroll with the camera. Scott was concentrating intently on peg 32…………

While a look down the car park bank revealed a distinct lack of action for the most part ……

Indeed Simon on peg 29 was looking decidedly unimpressed with the way his match appeared to be going.

The only person on the car park bank that appeared to be having any real joy was Al on peg 23, while Tony despite his late start was quietly slipping into gear and sliding a few into the net. Webbo was having a bit of a mare with foul hookers, though everyone was suffering similar frustrations to a degree. Dave sidled up with a Common he was proud of and got Cyber to take a photo with my camera ……

Mick had managed his 1st fish from Rolf’s, not a huge fish at around the 7lb mark, but it certainly left an impression on Mick with it’s spirited fight ……

Simon finally got in on the action, and gave his purple 19 elastic a good stretching ……

…… though Marcus(Budgie) provided the best entertainment as he explored the lengths that his elastic could stretch to with a few sizeable fish on peg 31, resulting in John having to lift the ropes to the aerator at one stage. I was managing to keep the odd fish coming, nothing big, just regulation 7-8lb’ers and while I wasn’t exactly bagging felt that I was on for my best result so far from this peg. Bill was getting a better stamp of fish though and I always felt that he had the edge on me…

Though Bill must have felt it was close between us as he remarked that my last fish could make a difference as I netted it just as Dave signalled the All-Out at 8pm…

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

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

Position	Peg	Angler	Weight
1st	Peg 14	Tony Prentice	110lbs 08ozs
2nd	Peg 23	Al Loader	107lbs 08ozs
3rd	Peg 9	Dave Moore	101lbs 12ozs
4th	Peg 30	Bill Gibbins	100lbs 08ozs
5th	Peg 13	Peter Morton	91lbs 00ozs
6th	Peg 27	Clive Pritchard	63lbs 08ozs
7th	Peg 16	Tony Roberts	62lbs 08ozs
8th	Peg 24	Paul East	58lbs 00ozs
9th=	Peg 31	Marcus Burgess	46lbs 08ozs
9th=	Peg 32	Scott Weston	46lbs 08ozs
11th	Peg 18	Terry Goff	36lbs 00ozs
12th	Peg 29	Simon Mound	34lbs 08ozs
13th	Peg 26	Dave Collier	29lbs 08ozs
14th	Peg 11	Dave Webster	25lbs 00ozs
15th	Peg 19	Tim Westmoreland	19lbs 04ozs
16th	Peg 10	Mick Pearson	16lbs 08ozs