Rolf's Lake. Holton. Oxfordshire. July 12th-13th, 2012.

Simple Match Fishing
2 Day Summer Challenge
2012

Today (Thursday) sees me travelling back to Oxford where I’m spending 3 days at Rolf's Lake. The first 2 days are to take part in the Simple Match Fishing 2 Day Summer Challenge which has been organised by Simon Mound for members of his forum Simple Match Fishing. Simon is a regular on The Jinx Series at Rolfs and along with Eddie Taylor-Green they are responsible for the Rolf's Lake Blog . After this on the Saturday I’ll be fishing the 3rd of this years Jinx Series matches.

With this being a weekday trip I had the car loaded and was away early as along with the rush hour traffic to contend with it was the first day that the traffic lights in London had been re-phased for the Olympics. Actually it wasn’t a bad trip up as I was going against the flow for most of the journey and it was just after 10am when I pulled into the car park at Rolf's. A good few of the anglers were already there and settling in, erecting bivvies and sorting their kit, while others had travelled up on Wednesday and fished yesterdays Open match.

One of the first I chatted to was Dave Wall who was waiting at the gate to guide in Gavin (Gavalar) Lee who was paying his first visit to the venue. The forecast for the days ahead wasn’t good with rain forecast and I had decided to once again sleep in the car as I find it pretty comfortable and less aggro than a bivvie. Right now though we had a bit of sunshine, so I grabbed a cup of coffee and caught up with the gossip and checked out what had been caught from the various pegs the previous day……

A lot of the chat revolved where everyone wanted to draw, the format for the 2 Dayer being that the match would be decided on section points and weight in the event of a tie meaning that consistency would be rewarded.

Pretty soon we had everyone in attendance apart from Malc who would be arriving later so around midday Simon got the draw underway and I found myself in B section having drawn peg 29 on the car park bank……

At least it was a short walk with my kit, around 15 yards from where the car was parked. Surprise surprise, guess who I had next door on peg 28, yep Neil Riddy, the two of us seem to be almost constantly drawn together recently, but it ensures that the banter always flows during a match and today was double or nothing on the Golden Nugget I’d had off Neil on the previous Jinx Match. To my left was new boy Lee on peg 31 who was on for a Nugget with me along with Dave Wall down on peg 40 for the second day running having had a ‘Ton’ from it in the Open yesterday and looking to reclaim a Nugget from me and The Minx was on peg 25 and we always have a Nugget as well.

As I settled into my peg it was still quite bright and warm, but the clouds were starting to build ominously. All the rain previously had raised the level despite John having run the pump to keep it in check, so with a couple of hours to set up I decided to make up some new rigs. A couple of Nick Gilbert’s handmade 0·5g Power Pencils were made up on 0·21 Ultima power match with size 14 Guru MWG’s at the sharp end to cover the five metre line (top2 + 2) along with a 0.3 NG Edger again on 0·21 Ultima power match straight through to a size 16 Kamasan B911X for the margin where there was about 18 inches tight against the grass. Bait was a mix of 4 and 6mm fishery pellet for feed, some of which was well wetted down. Hookbaits would be 6 and 8mm’s to band along with some GOT Baits soft hookers and corn.

2pm saw the All-In called and before I could even ship out a pot of pellet Neil was in to his first fish of the day !!!! He soon had it in the net, a carp and it already looked like I would be needing snookers today. I finally managed to get a bait in the water but couldn’t match Neil’s effort though others seemed to be in action quite quickly, most notably young Michael Corsini over on Peg 13 who appeared to be sitting on a shed full today. 15 minutes in and my float slid away, not the hoped for carp but a bream but at least I was off the mark. Another followed then a small carp in the next 30 minutes meaning I had at least caught up with Neil as he hadn’t had another bite after his fast start.

Budgie was up on peg 32 and appeared to be having a rare old tussle with what was obviously a decent fish intent on giving him the run around. Gavin with no previous experience of Rolfs had started on purple Hydro and we had been waiting to see what would happen when he hooked his first carp. We didn’t have long to wait and he was soon watching an awful lot of elastic streaming from his top kit. Fair play to him though he didn’t panic and finally managed to land the fish, though the look on his face told us that he was shocked at the power of the fight……

Rumour had it that Section A was the place to be today though with Ant on peg 34, Terry on peg 4 and young Mat on peg 7 setting the early pace down there ……

Nick on peg 9 seemed to be connecting with a lot of fish, but the truth was that most of them were foul hookers and he was having a real struggle trying to get one in the net. Michael seemed to be suffering in a similar fashion, but at least he was getting a few in the net.

Around 3 pm the rain started putting a dampener on proceedings and for me it was just a case of plugging away on the 5mtr line where I kept picking up the odd fish. Neil had started looking at his other lines and managed two gudgeon in two put ins from the bush to his right. Malc arrived just after 4pm, a sure signal that the weather wouldn’t improve and took a slow stroll to peg 22. Daughter Gem was having a grueller on peg 25, the first carp she hooked snagged Paul Corsini’s rig on the next peg and promptly snagged her under the bush and her mood probably wasn’t improved by having to watch fiancée Simon catching opposite on peg 16 ……

The whole of the car park bank wasn’t exactly setting the place alight, but Budgie seemed to be having the best of it on end peg 32. For me it was just a question of waiting for the odd bite and making the most of it, a couple of looks down the margin had proved fruitless but I felt that I was doing enough to stay ahead of Neil and Lee. Clive had started to put a few fish together late on over on peg 14, but as he was in Section C today I wasn’t too worried ……

The margin finally produce for me with half an hour to go, just the one fish, a weigher of 11lbs but welcome none the less but I have to say I was happy to hear the All-Out at 7pm as the rain continued to fall. Packing away a load of soaking wet kit is never fun and most seemed glad that it was over. The look on Gem’s face said it all as she walked past, not happy at all with just a bream and a roach to show for her five hours of effort.

With the gear packed away it was time for the Weigh-In and Ant was first to weigh in Section A recording 134½lbs followed by Dai with 109lbs. Dave W had only managed 68¼lbs from peg 40 today. Pete T had 52¼lbs while Terry had 128½lbs from peg 4. Geoff had 84¼lbs and Mat 111lbs. Onto the first half of Section B and Dave C had 44¼lbs.
Nick had a real frustrating match on peg 9 with just 26lbs to show for his efforts and Simon W put 43¾lbs. Michael put 106¼lbs on the scales and we moved on to Section C.
Clive had 89lbs and Simon 75¾lbs while Kev had 25lbs from peg 18. Round to Malc who had 34¾lbs and Dave M with 12½lbs. Poor Gem could only muster 3¼lbs so no Minxings today and Paul C ended the section with 19lbs. The second half of Section B saw Neil record 52½lbs while my weight was 78½lbs. Gavin’s first Rolfs weigh in saw him put 56¼lbs on the scales and Budgie finished things off with 95¼lbs.

Back to the hut with the rain still falling and Ant, Michael C and Clive were in the pound seats with 1 point each for their section wins, with Terry, Budgie and Simon sitting on 2 points. I’d managed a 3rd in section but had picked up a few Golden Nuggets so all wasn’t lost and with the top 4 weights today all coming from Section A today, it was pretty obvious where most people were hoping to draw tomorrow.

A few of us had decided to retire to The Harvester after the match for a meal so after getting changed we set off for a pint and a meal. It was good to get out of the rain in all honesty and relax and chat about the days events over a meal and when we got back just after 10 pm with the rain still falling I was quite happy to climb into my sleeping bag and get some much needed sleep ahead of the match tomorrow…………

 

Thursday Result

Position	Peg	Angler	Weight
1st	Peg 34	Ant Haywood	134lbs 08ozs
2nd	Peg 4	Terry Goff	128lbs 08ozs
3rd	Peg 7	Mat Edwards	111lbs 00ozs
4th	Peg 38	Dai Thomas	109lbs 00ozs
5th	Peg 13	Michael Corsini	106lbs 04ozs
6th	Peg 32	Marcus Burgess	95lbs 04ozs
7th	Peg 14	Clive Pritchard	89lbs 00ozs
8th	Peg 6	Geoff Palmer	84lbs 04ozs
9th	Peg 29	Peter Morton	78lbs 08ozs
10th	Peg 16	Simon Mound	75lbs 12ozs
11th	Peg 40	Dave Wall	68lbs 04ozs
12th	Peg 31	Gavin Lee	56lbs 04ozs
13th	Peg 28	Neil Riddy	52lbs 08ozs
14th	Peg 2	Pete Tapp	52lbs 04ozs
15th	Peg 8	Dave Collier	44lbs 04ozs
16th	Peg 10	Simon Watkins	43lbs 12ozs
17th	Peg 22	Malc (The Jinx) Doyle	34lbs 12ozs
18th	Peg 9	Nick Williams	26lbs 00ozs
19th	Peg 18	Kevin Loveland	25lbs 00ozs
20th	Peg 26	Paul Corsini	19lbs 00ozs
21st	Peg 23	Dave Moore	12lbs 08ozs
22nd	Peg 25	Gem (The Minx) Doyle	3lbs 04ozs

Section A

Position	Peg	Angler	Weight	Points
1st	Peg 34	Ant Haywood	134lbs 08ozs	1
2nd	Peg 4	Terry Goff	128lbs 08ozs	2
3rd	Peg 7	Mat Edwards	111lbs 00ozs	3
4th	Peg 38	Dai Thomas	109lbs 00ozs	4
5th	Peg 6	Geoff Palmer	84lbs 04ozs	5
6th	Peg 40	Dave Wall	68lbs 04ozs	6
7th	Peg 2	Pete Tapp	52lbs 04ozs	7

Section B

Position	Peg	Angler	Weight	Points
1st	Peg 13	Michael Corsini	106lbs 04ozs	1
2nd	Peg 32	Marcus Burgess	95lbs 04ozs	2
3rd	Peg 29	Peter Morton	78lbs 08ozs	3
4th	Peg 31	Gavin Lee	56lbs 04ozs	4
5th	Peg 28	Neil Riddy	52lbs 08ozs	5
6th	Peg 8	Dave Collier	44lbs 04ozs	6
7th	Peg 10	Simon Watkins	43lbs 12ozs	7
8th	Peg 9	Nick Williams	26lbs 00ozs	8

Section C

Position	Peg	Angler	Weight	Points
1st	Peg 14	Clive Pritchard	89lbs 00ozs	1
2nd	Peg 16	Simon Mound	75lbs 12ozs	2
3rd	Peg 22	Malc (The Jinx) Doyle	34lbs 12ozs	3
4th	Peg 18	Kevin Loveland	25lbs 00ozs	4
5th	Peg 26	Paul Corsini	19lbs 00ozs	5
6th	Peg 23	Dave Moore	12lbs 08ozs	6
7th	Peg 25	Gem (The Minx) Doyle	3lbs 04ozs	7

 

Day 2

6am on Friday morning and I woke to a blackbird singing away on the bonnet of the car and realised that it had stopped raining. First things first and the stove was fired up and a coffee brewed before strolling over to the lake and taking in the atmosphere. It’s a great time of the day to be down by the lake watching the ducks and moorhens going about their business with their fledglings.

Slowly but surely people stirred from their slumbers, bracing themselves for the day ahead. Some started to prepare their kit and their bait for the day ahead while others took a stroll trying to decide which peg they would like to draw. I took the opportunity to pop down to Asda’s with Geoff and his lad and get a bit of shopping and by the time we returned everyone seemed to be up and about. Gem had decided not to fish today and spend some time with her sister Crystal who’d come down with Malc but Dave C’s son in law Nick was coming down and would fish in her place.

Dave and Gavin decided to go double or quits in an effort to recover their Nuggets from yesterday and Neil had accepted double or quits as well, so 8 Golden Nuggets hung in the balance. Although it was cloudy there were enough breaks in it to allow some sun through and if it stayed like that it could be a decent day and offer the chance to dry the kit out a bit. There was definitely a good buzz today with everyone eager to get going and Simon called the draw before 12 o’clock so everyone had time to get sorted. I still fancied Section A and when I drew peg 6 I was more than happy as up till that point I had never fished it on all my trips down to Rolfs.

Having collected my kit I set off round the lake. Geoff who’d fished peg 6 yesterday was on peg 34 today, so I stopped for a chat to find out how he’d fished it. Neil was down on peg 38 so I would be able to keep an eye on him while Ant was on peg 40. Pete Tapp had drawn peg 2 for the second day running (Clive had also drawn peg 14 again) and Dave the Fish was on peg 4, while Terry was on peg 7 to my left to complete the section.

Setting up was relatively simple, just a question of shortening up yesterdays rigs as it’s shallower in the Little Lake and once again I was going to concentrate on a couple of 5mtr lines and the margin to my right toward peg 5 with the same baits as well.

2pm and the all in saw me feeding a cup of pellets with a few grains of corn at 5mtrs and a handful of wetted pellets into the right hand margin before shipping a banded 6mm out to 5mtrs. and after about 5 minutes the float slid away and I connected with my first carp of the day, not a big fish at around 7lbs but a nice way to get off the mark. This was followed by a couple of bream, one of which launched itself like a Polaris missile when it felt the hook. Another carp soon followed, a weigher this time at around 10½lbs prompting a comment from Terry to slow down and give others a chance.

I then suffered a period that’s all to easy to happen at Rolfs, 3 foul hooked carp in a row that charged around the swim before the hook came back with just a scale attached and a couple of bream that rolled off the hook before they were in netting range. Meanwhile over on peg 34 Geoff had started to put a few in the net ……

I stuck with the 5mtr line however as I didn’t want to disturb the margin line to early as I wanted any fish to settle there for later. I could see that Neil over on peg 38 was having a quiet time. It’s one of those pegs where the fish can suddenly turn up often late in a match as they’d done for Dai the previous day ……

I could see that Dave the Fish was getting a few down on peg 4 and that Pete T was also starting to find a few on peg 2 for the second day running. Ant on peg 40 was fishing long down the edge toward the platform on peg 39 and seemed to be getting some action as well ……

In fact the only person who seemed to be struggling in our section was Terry on peg 7 and to make matters worse for him Mat on peg 8 was starting to catch as well. Another couple of weighers put my match back on track though the bites were proving a little harder to come by and another couple of bream helped to keep things ticking over. I took a quick look down the margin at around 4·30pm and took a couple of quick fish, the second being a weigher of 11½lbs but went back to the 5mtr line to let it settle, increasing the feed at the same time.

The fish had settled at 5mtrs again and I started to put a run of weighers together, all around the 10-11½lbs mark and at the same time I noticed that the fish had started to show up for Neil over on peg 38 ……

As I went up to the scales with another fish there was an almighty BANG from peg 9, A carp had taken Kev’s rig straight through the bush and his topkit and number 4 had collapsed under the strain, reducing the top kit to 8 pieces which may well be a new record at Rolfs ……

At the same time Simon was on his way to the scales with a decent Mirror that weighed 15½lbs so I took a quick picture for him ……

Elsewhere along the Bank Simon W had taken a nice Common of 17½lbs and luckily Malc was on hand to do the honours with a photo ……

With just over an hour to go the bites had started to fade on the 5mtr line so it was time to target the margin. An 8mm pellet was banded and dropped in resulting in an instant take and yet another weigher. Terry popped round to see what I was doing as he was still struggling for bites on 8mm pellets. I suggested he tried 6mm’s instead and It seemed to do the trick for him as it finally produced a few fish ……

I had a really strong end to the match with another 7 weighers, the biggest being 13½lbs before the All-Out was called at 7pm. Dave the Fish added up the fish on the board to find I had 166lbs and with 5 net fish and a few Bream I was hopeful that I may have my second Rolfs "Double Ton". Packing the kit away was a leisurely affair as I would be fishing A section in The Jinx Match tomorrow so was going to leave my kit behind the peg tonight.

The weigh-In was soon under way in Section A, Geoff kicked things off with 119lbs a new PB match weight for him. Neil put 124¾lbs on the scales but was pipped by Ant with 128¾lbs. Pete T had trebled his Day 1 weight from peg 2 with 159½lbs and Dave C was just short of a ‘Ton’ with 99½lbs. My weight proved to be a very pleasing 204½lbs and Terry managed 73¾lbs. The first half of Section B saw Mat put 170¾lbs on the scales followed by Kev with 22½lbs and Simon with a level 124lbs. Malc had 44¼lbs from peg 13 and then it was onto Section C where Clive on peg 14 for the second day recorded 121½lbs. Paul C had 40½lbs and Simon W 78lbs. Round to the car park bank where Dave Wall put 63½lbs on the scales followed by Michael C with 66¾lbs, Gavin was chuffed to have his first Rolfs Ton with 100½lbs and Nick W 46lbs. The final part of section B was finished of by Budgie with 89lbs, Dave M with 102¾lbs. Dai had 61lbs and Nick B finished up with 67½lbs.

Back to the hut and while Simon collated the results from the two days the banter flowed as usual ……

Soon the results were in which Simon announced in reverse order and in third place was Mat Edwards with 4 points and a total weight of 281¾lbs ……

In second place with 4 points and a total weight of 283lbs was your truly ‘Mugger’ (got to love those Bream)……

And in first place with a perfect score of 2 points from 2 section wins and a weight of 223½lbs was Clive ……

So a BIG THANK YOU to Simon, I think it’s fair to say that for a first attempt at organising a match it was a first class effort and I’m sure that I speak for every one in voting it a huge success and it looks like the SMF 2 Day Summer Challenge will become a permanent fixture in years to come. Another bunch of Golden Nuggets had come my way thanks to Dave W, Gavin and Neil and while a few were heading home and farewells were bid the majority were staying over for The Jinx Match tomorrow.

Once again some of us went to The Harvester for a meal and a pint while we chatted over the events of the last two days. and this continued into the night when we returned and ended up chatting to the rest till about 1am, when once again I climbed into the sleeping bag for a kip ………

 

Friday Result

Position	Peg	Angler	Weight
1st	Peg 6	Peter Morton	204lbs 08ozs
2nd	Peg 8	Mat Edwards	170lbs 12ozs
3rd	Peg 2	Pete Tapp	159lbs 08ozs
4th	Peg 40	Ant Haywood	128lbs 12ozs
5th	Peg 38	Neil Riddy	124lbs 12ozs
6th	Peg 10	Simon Mound	124lbs 00ozs
7th	Peg 14	Clive Pritchard	121lbs 08ozs
8th	Peg 34	Geoff Palmer	119lbs 08ozs
9th	Peg 29	Dave Moore	102lbs 12ozs
10th	Peg 25	Gavin Lee	100lbs 08ozs
11th	Peg 4	Dave Collier	99lbs 08ozs
12th	Peg 28	Marcus Burgess	89lbs 00ozs
13th	Peg 18	Simon Watkins	78lbs 00ozs
14th	Peg 7	Terry Goff	73lbs 12ozs
15th	Peg32	Nick Bondeu	67lbs 08ozs
16th	Peg 23	Michael Corsini	66lbs 12ozs
17th	Peg 22	Dave Wall	63lbs 08ozs
18th	Peg 31	Dai Thomas	61lbs 00ozs
19th	Peg 26	Nick Williams	46lbs 00ozs
20th	Peg13	Malc (The Jinx) Doyle	44lbs 04ozs
21st	Peg 16	Paul Corsini	40lbs 08ozs
22nd	Peg 9	Kevin Loveland	22lbs 08ozs

Section A

Position	Peg	Angler	Weight	Points
1st	Peg 6	Peter Morton	204lbs 08ozs	1
2nd	Peg 2	Pete Tapp	159lbs 08ozs	2
3rd	Peg 40	Ant Haywood	128lbs 12ozs	3
4th	Peg 38	Neil Riddy	124lbs 12ozs	4
5th	Peg 34	Geoff Palmer	119lbs 08ozs	5
6th	Peg 4	Dave Collier	99lbs 08ozs	6
7th	Peg 7	Terry Goff	73lbs 12ozs	7

Section B

Position	Peg	Angler	Weight	Points
1st	Peg 8	Mat Edwards	170lbs 12ozs	1
2nd	Peg 10	Simon Mound	124lbs 00ozs	2
3rd	Peg 29	Dave Moore	102lbs 12ozs	3
4th	Peg 28	Marcus Burgess	89lbs 00ozs	4
5th	Peg32	Nick Bondeu	67lbs 08ozs	5
6th	Peg 31	Dai Thomas	61lbs 00ozs	6
7th	Peg13	Malc (The Jinx) Doyle	44lbs 04ozs	7
8th	Peg 9	Kevin Loveland	22lbs 08ozs	8

Section C

Position	Peg	Angler	Weight	Points
1st	Peg 14	Clive Pritchard	121lbs 08ozs	1
2nd	Peg 25	Gavin Lee	100lbs 08ozs	2
3rd	Peg 18	Simon Watkins	78lbs 00ozs	3
4th	Peg 23	Michael Corsini	66lbs 12ozs	4
5th	Peg 22	Dave Wall	63lbs 08ozs	5
6th	Peg 26	Nick Williams	46lbs 00ozs	6
7th	Peg 16	Paul Corsini	40lbs 08ozs	7

Overall Result

Position	Angler	Points	Weight
1st	Clive Pritchard	2	223lbs 08ozs
2nd	Peter Morton	4	283lbs 00ozs
3rd	Mat Edwards	4	281lbs 12ozs
4th	Ant Haywood	4	263lbs 04ozs
5th	Simon Mound	4	199lbs 12ozs
6th	Michael Corsini	5	173lbs 00ozs
7th	Marcus Burgess	6	184lbs 04ozs
8th	Gavin Lee	6	156lbs 12ozs
9th	Pete Tapp	9	211lbs 12ozs
10th	Terry Goff	9	202lbs 04ozs
11th	Neil Riddy	9	177lbs 04ozs
12th	Dave Moore	9	115lbs 04ozs
13th	Geoff Palmer	10	203lbs 12ozs
14th	Dai Thomas	10	170lbs 00ozs
15th	Simon Watkins	10	121lbs 12ozs
16th	Malc (The Jinx) Doyle	10	79lbs 00ozs
17th	Dave Wall	11	131lbs 12ozs
18th	Dave Collier	12	143lbs 12ozs
19th	Paul Corsini	12	59lbs 08ozs
20th	Kevin Loveland	12	47lbs 04ozs
21st	Nick Williams	14	72lbs 00ozs
22nd	Nick Bondeu	14	67lbs 08ozs
23rd	Gem (The Minx) Doyle	16	3lbs 04ozs