Rolf's Lake. Holton. Oxfordshire. June 2nd, 2012.

The Jinx Series 2012
Match 1

Well it’s game on as The Jinx Series 2012 gets underway with the first of six matches in this years series down at Rolf’s Lake. The weather didn’t hold any great promise after a lovely week previously and with various road closures promised for the forthcoming Diamond Jubilee celebrations I decided to break with my usual routine on the morning of a Jinx Match and forgo my usual breakfast stop in Battersea and head straight to the lake. In the event the trip was pretty trouble free and I pulled into the car park at around 10·30am. A few of the lads were already there having travelled up before as they were planning on stopping over for the whole of the Bank Holiday.

The car park soon filled up, a good turn out for the first match with only 2 members of The Jinx Squad missing, Dave C who was suffering with a savage bout of Man Flu and Budgie who was raving it up in Ibiza. Paul Jay was guesting though so there were 20 of us lined up by the time Malc called the draw just after midday.

Into the bag and I had to be happy with my draw, Peg 8 though John Bennett did mention that it had been patchy recently and that he’d had a DNW from it the previous Saturday. So with my gear collected I made my way round to the peg to find that I had Dai (who almost counts as a resident) for company today on peg 7. Settling into the peg it was hard to believe that it was June with a cool wind blowing across from the Big Lake to the Little Lake.

Just a couple of pole lines for me today, 6mtrs down the track and around 4mtrs to the edge of the bush to my left. These would be taken care of by 3 rigs, two of Nick Gilbert’s handmade NG Power Pencil’s, both 0·4 gm made up on on 0·21 Ultima power match straight through to size 16 Kamasan B911X’s covering depths from 2½-4 ft and a 0·4gm NG XT Gimp on 0·21 Ultima power match straight through to a size 16 Kamasan B911X that would cover the track line if the wind or tow picked up making presentation awkward. I also set up my feeder rod to fish tight to the far bank. Bait for today was just a couple of bags of 6mm fishery pellets with some 8mm and 11mm hard pellet, corn and various GOT Baits soft hookers for change baits with some 6mm’s soaked for use in the feeder.

With a bit of time before the All-In I had a stroll round to collect a coffee from Jean. Gem was down on peg 2 and the peg looked spot on for a few fish today and there were bound to be a few worried anglers listening out for her customary shout during the day.

One of those was bound to be fiancée Simon tucked away on peg 14, he’s a regular at the lake and gets his fair share of results there, but is fully aware of just how fickle it can be just as you think you’ve sorted things out……

Back at my peg Neil popped round from peg 9 for a chat about the prospects for the day ahead, while Simon had now taken a stroll with his camera gathering some pictures for the Rolfs Lake Blog ……

2pm and the All-In was called, a small pot of pellet was deposited onto the 6mtr line along with a small handful by the edge of the bush. A banded 8mm pellet was then shipped out to the 6mtr line. Lots of dips and dinks on the float were had but there was nothing to show for it apart from a couple of tiny roach that were bumped off on the strike.

Dai however was soon off the mark, obviously a carp Dai soon had it safely in the net, a weigher giving him a good start to the match ……

A look with the feeder to the far bank was next up for me and after a couple of minutes the tip pulled round, the strike met with resistance and I soon had a common of around 7lbs safely in the net to get me off the mark, but subsequent casts produced no indications at all.

Fred was over on peg 34, one of those pegs that is always good for a few fish even on a hard day. he was fishing the pole down his right hand margin toward the pads and was starting to pick up the odd fish ……

Dai had added another carp as well, but in general the lake had its grim face on today and sport was hard to come by for most. The next incident of any note was the sound of The Minx’s shout of YEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSS, a chilling sound especially when you’re struggling and Gem’s sitting on a decent peg with the wind blowing into it and a lot of worried faces turned to look in her direction at the sound of it.

The whole match became somewhat of a struggle for most, just 3 more carp coming to the feeder for me in the next 3 hours and the word in general was that most were struggling to put any sort of weight together today, the exception being venue regular Paul Jay who having drawn peg 4 was making the most of his extensive knowledge of the lake to put together a decent bag and Steve Wilson who was getting a few up on peg 16 despite having The Jinx for company on peg 18.

The only people that I could actually see catching with any frequency though were Ade Williams on peg 32 who was starting to put a few together as the match wore on ……

and Clive further down the car park bank on peg 26 who was also  starting to pick up the odd fish ……

Kev was having a real struggle on peg 36, not a peg that most would choose given the choice, but finally managed to pick up a carp on the feeder ……

With around an hour to the track line finally produced a fish for me, not the hoped for carp but one of the better bream which now show up regularly in matches……

When this was swiftly followed by a carp my hopes were raised that a final decent hour may be on the cards, but it was not to be and apart from another couple of small roach that was to be my lot today.

It all got to much for Mat on peg 38 and he packed away with 30 minutes to go, with just 1 carp to show for his efforts today after having had to watch Paul opposite catching regularly all day. Dai’s paste line finally produced for him, another couple of decent carp being added to his weight before the All-Out was called at 7pm ……

Packing the gear away I have to say that I was glad it was over, a frustrating match where what I felt was a decent draw had failed to produce the hoped for result for me today with just an estimated 35-40lbs to show for my efforts. So with my gear packed away and back in the car it was time for the Weigh-In.

Fred had managed just 33½lbs, Kev 24¼lbs and Mat 13½lbs. Tony managed 50½lbs. Next up was The Minx and her 58½lbs took the A section win and set The Minx Mark producing a lot of very worried faces. Paul put 127¼lbs on the scales, a good weight on a hard day. Dai’s 49¾lbs beat my 40¼lbs as did Neil’s 56¾. Terry had just 13¾lbs and Nick Williams 24lbs from peg 13. Onto the start of C section and Gem’s fiancée Simon joined the growing band of The Minxed with 49lbs. Steve had a level 127lbs which would be good enough for the section win and The Jinx managed 79¼lbs. Round to the car park bank and Dave Moore put 40½lbs on the scales, Nick W-P a level 40lbs and Clive 65lbs with Paul managing just 15lbs 10ozs. To finish off B section Geoff had 48¼lbs and Ade took the section win with 72lbs.

So back to the hut and the results, Paul Jay taking the win on the day by just 4ozs with Steve 2nd and The Jinx 3rd on the day. The all important section wins going to Gem, Ade and Steve and 14 victims for The Minx. Who’ll get The Pink Hat for the next match? One thing’s for sure she’ll be spoilt for choice but we’ll soon find out when we are back for round 2 on June 16th.

Overall Result

Position	Peg	Angler	Weight
1st	Peg 4	Paul Jay                 (Guest)	127lbs 04ozs
2nd	Peg 16	Steve Wilson	127lbs 00ozs
3rd	Peg 18	Malc (The Jinx) Doyle	79lbs 04ozs
4th	Peg 32	Ade Williams	72lbs 00ozs
5th	Peg 26	Clive Pritchard	65lbs 00ozs
6th	Peg 2	Gem (The Minx) Doyle	58lbs 08ozs
7th	Peg 9	Neil Riddy	56lbs 12ozs
8th	Peg 40	Tony Roberts	50lbs 08ozs
9th	Peg 7	Dai Thomas	49lbs 12ozs
10th	Peg 14	Simon Mound	49lbs 00ozs
11th	Peg 30	Geoff Palmer	48lbs 04ozs
12th	Peg 22	Dave Moore	40lbs 08ozs
13th	Peg 8	Peter Morton	40lbs 04ozs
14th	Peg 24	Nick Watkins-Price	40lbs 00ozs
15th	Peg 34	Fred Parker	33lbs 08ozs
16th	Peg 36	Kevin Loveland	24lbs 04ozs
17th	Peg 13	Nick Williams	24lbs 00ozs
18th	Peg 28	Paul Roberts	15lbs 10ozs
19th	Peg 10	Terry Goff	13lbs 12ozs
20th	Peg 38	Mat Edwards	13lbs 08ozs

Names in Pink are those that were “MINXED”

		A Section
Position	Peg	Angler	Weight	Points
1st	Peg 4	Paul Jay	127lbs 04ozs	Guest
2nd	Peg 2	Gem (The Minx) Doyle	58lbs 08ozs	1
3rd	Peg 40	Tony Roberts	50lbs 08ozs	2
4th	Peg 34	Fred Parker	33lbs 08ozs	3
5th	Peg 36	Kevin Loveland	24lbs 04ozs	4
6th	Peg 38	Mat Edwards	13lbs 08ozs	5
	Peg 6
		B Section
Position	Peg	Angler	Weight	Points
1st	Peg 32	Ade Williams	72lbs 00ozs	1
2nd	Peg 9	Neil Riddy	56lbs 12ozs	2
3rd	Peg 7	Dai Thomas	49lbs 12ozs	3
4th	Peg 30	Geoff Palmer	48lbs 04ozs	4
5th	Peg 8	Peter Morton	40lbs 04ozs	5
6th	Peg 13	Nick Williams	24lbs 00ozs	6
7th	Peg 10	Terry Goff	13lbs 12ozs	7
		C Section
Position	Peg	Angler	Weight	Points
1st	Peg 16	Steve Wilson	127lbs 00ozs	1
2nd	Peg 18	Malc (The Jinx) Doyle	79lbs 04ozs	2
3rd	Peg 26	Clive Pritchard	65lbs 00ozs	3
4th	Peg 14	Simon Mound	49lbs 00ozs	4
5th	Peg 22	Dave Moore	40lbs 08ozs	5
6th	Peg 24	Nick Watkins-Price	40lbs 00ozs	6
7th	Peg 28	Paul Roberts	15lbs 10ozs	7