Rolf’s Lake. Holton. Oxfordshire. September 8th, 2011.

A RiveTee Piscatorial Promotion

I’m off down to Rolf’s Lake today for A RiveTee Piscatorial Promotion along with the lads from  TalkAngling  . It’s a match that I fish every year, and it’s always a good day out.  However with it being a weekday and with the kids back at school I knew the trip would take a fair bit longer than my usual jaunt up to the lake at the weekends. With this in mind I asked Maria to get me up early and I’d drop her off at work. So having dropped her off it was back to load the car. Despite the extra traffic, the first port of call was still my customary stop in Battersea for breakfast at the Jimmy’s Griddle Café where a ‘Full English’ was soon dispatched to set me up for the day ahead before heading for Rolfs.

Despite the extra traffic I rolled into the car park at around 9·10am to find John along with Simon and Justin in attendance along with a couple of the other lads. Justin had stayed over as he’d fished the open yesterday, winning it from Peg 4 with 223¼lbs, his first ‘Double Ton’ from the lake. The plan was for a 9·30am draw, but a hold up on the M40 caused delays for a lot of the lads, meaning it was going to run late……

Rive T (Tony) and Larry Teepot (Pete) have been running this match for a few years now, and once they’d arrived, things got underway and the chat among the assembled anglers was that with 2 ‘Double Ton’s’ and 7 ‘Tons’ yesterday hopes were high for a good day ahead. Soon Larry had all the peg fees collected and we were called to order and the draw got under way……

Justin was looking happy having drawn peg 8, but Simon wasn’t looking to enthusiastic having drawn Peg 26. By the time I got to the bag there were 3 pegs left and I was more than happy to find Peg 9 in my hand as it’s one of the most consistent pegs on the lake.

As I made my way round with my gear I found Larry on Peg 16, he’s been trying for a ‘Ton’ since Moses was a boy and has never quite managed it, so it would be nice if he could do it today, and he certainly had a peg that was capable of it. For company I had Alan, a friend of Rive T on Peg 10. Not a match angler, he’d been lured along today with the chance of picking up a big Perch that the lake can throw up.

Settling into the peg it was time to decide how to approach it. On recent matches there I’d seen Steve Akal and Neil Riddy both suffer with numerous foul hookers costing them both top kits and rigs. However Neil sorted it out and won the last Jinx Match off it by fishing a short line straight out in front in the last hour to take a number of weighers, and that was the approach I was going to go with today……

 I picked a line at 5mtrs where a square of white water would make feeding easy and this would be tackled with a 0·3 NG Springer Open Water XT on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finishing with a size 16 Guru MWG. A second similar rig was set up to fish about 2 feet off of the bush to my right, while a 0.2 NG Edger on 0·20 Ultima Power Match finished off with size 16 Guru MWG would take care of the margin swim to the bush on my left. Bait and feed today would be a combination of 6 and 8mm fishery pellets and a tin of corn along with some GOT Baits soft hookers.

 With a little bit of time before the off I strolled down to see Tony on Peg 6. He was talking to Colin B who mentioned that he’d never had a ‘Twenty’ on the pole and I told him that this was the place to do it if anywhere was.

Anyway John sounded the All-In at 11·45am and I fed a small pot of mixed pellet and corn on all 3 lines before shipping a banded 8mm pellet out to my 5mtr line. The float barely had time to settle before it buried and a gentle lift soon told me that I had connected with a substantial Carp. Thankfully it didn’t go steaming off, gentle pressure told and a large Common suddenly popped up in front of my nets, into the landing net and as I went to lift it I realised that it was a bit larger than I first thought. Onto the scales and it went 19lbs which I got Justin to witness, a dream start for me.



With the fish returned it was back out with another 8mm, and after a couple of lift and drops the float buried once more. A spirited fight followed, not such a big fish this one but still a weigher, another Common which weighed 11½lbs. They say ‘Three’s a charm’ and that was the case today as the third put in saw the float bury again. Another good fish which had designs on reaching the bush in the left hand margin, however I managed to show it the error of it’s ways and introduce it to the landing net. A Mirror this time and at 14lbs another weigher.
 

Of course sometimes things go just to well and my next bite proved to be a foul hooker which tore around the peg like a lunatic before the rig came back with just a scale on the hook. After that I re-fed the 5mtr line with a small pot of pellet and corn and had a look over to the right hand bush. Twenty minutes over there proved fruitless as did a quick look down the left hand margin, so having allowed the 5mtr line to settle I had a look back there. Sure enough the float didn’t take to long to vanish, but this time instead of the expected Carp the culprit was one of the lakes Bream, but at around 3lbs it was still welcome. I decided to try corn on the hook, but it just produced lots of knocks and a Roach of around 4ozs, not what I was really after so it was back to the pellet.



Looking around at the other pegs I could see Froggy opposite on Peg 32, unfortunately he seemed to have had his fair share of problems with foul hookers today and had now decided to tackle the bush on his left hand side ……

 Next up on Peg 30 was Tony Williams and despite the fish giving what looked like his purple hydro a good stretching he seemed to be putting a steady run of fish together, leading me to think that it would be pretty close between the two of us if we both kept catching ……

I was soon into another fish, a Common of around 8lbs and my first net fish. This proved to be the start of a run of fish, 3 more Commons and a solitary Mirror, all much of a muchness at around 8lbs each, but very welcome and good weight builders. Then there was a 20 minute gap before I made contact with another foul hooker and the way it charged round in circles made me feel it was hooked in a fin. Well the hook held and as it came to the net it was hooked on the pectoral fin, no wonder it had be so hard to control, but at 12½lbs a nice bonus.

It was just a case of re feeding again and waiting for things to settle down, so I had a look back over to the right hand bush. I missed two quick bites but connected with the third, another Mirror and a good double. Justin however was having a bit of a mare after his win yesterday suffering with foul hookers and also smashing a top kit. Still he was seeing a fair few fish witnessing my weighers.



With just over 2 hours to go I suffered another lull in sport. I already had a ‘Ton’ on my clicker but felt that this could be the day to finally get my ‘Double Ton’ after a long time trying. I added a section on to see if they’d backed off the feed but nothing. Took a section off to see if they’d come closer inside, still nothing. Extra section on and out to the bush still nothing. Leaving the extra section on I took a look to the left on my 5mtr line and fed some pellet round the float. A minute later it buried and I was back in business with a good Common of around 14lbs. Fishing this line meant that I was looking toward Simon on Peg 26 and could see he was also into a fish……

 I’d also heard him encouraging Larry who was opposite him on Peg 16 and from the sound of things today would be the day he finally got his ‘Ton’. Word also filtered down that Colin B on Peg 18 had at last got his ‘Twenty’ with a Common of 22lbs+, and as the afternoon wore on J Mac on Peg 28 was also getting a bit of action……

 With around 90 minutes to go it was just a question of alternating between my two 5mtr lines and I managed a further 7 weighers and another Bream before John sounded the All-Out at 4·45pm. A tally up of my weighers on the board came to 158½lbs after Justin had double checked it and the number on my clicker was 205, so had I got the weight of the fish in my net right? With my gear packed away and back at the car park there was time for a quick chat before the Weigh-In, Larry had indeed got his ‘Ton’ as he had over 100lbs on the board. Colin was well chuffed with his ‘Twenty’ but Simon wasn’t sure if he had a ‘Ton’ and felt he’d struggled on the day.

So to the Weigh-In and a lot of the lads just had board weights and it wasn’t till we got to peg 4 there were fish to weigh, where Cov Blaze just missed the ton with 99½lbs. Tony having struggled at the start had fish turn up to late in the day and recorded 57¾lbs, and Justin had 123lbs. My 5 carp came up agonisingly short of what was needed for 200lbs but those 2 Bream and a Roach did me proud to take the total to 206lbs. Alan on Peg 10 had 45lbs while Cox62 had 53lbs and M Jones on 14 weighed 55½lbs. Larry had indeed battered the ‘Ton’ with 158½lbs and it may take a while to get the grin off his face……

 Colin B’s twenty had boosted his weight to 154¼lbs. Simon got his ‘Ton’ with 108¾lbs while J Mac had 45½lbs. Tony Williams had a fantastic weight of 197¼lbs and a new PB Match Weight for him, while Froggy was left ruing those foul hookers with 93¼lbs to finish things off.

Back to the hut for Larry to sort out the results and monies and the Winner on the day was……………………………………………………..ME.

 Second was Tony Williams and Third on the day was Larry. Sections went to Justin, Colin B and Froggy. A bonus for me was that I finally got my hands on a tee shirt I’ve been after for a while……

 So ended yet another RiveTee Piscatorial Promotion, a great success as always, and fished in the right atmosphere. Thanks to Larry and Tony for organising it, and the  TalkAngling  members that fished it. I’m looking forward to next years one already.

 

 

Position	Peg	Angler	Weight
1st	Peg 9	Peter Morton	206lbs 00ozs
2nd	Peg 30	Tony Williams	197lbs 04ozs
3rd	Peg 16	Larry Teepot	158lbs 08ozs
4th	Peg 18	Colin B	154lbs 04ozs
5th	Peg 8	Justin Watkins	123lbs 00ozs
6th	Peg 26	Simon Mound	108lbs 12ozs
7th	Peg 4	Cov Blaze	99lbs 08ozs
8th	Peg 32	Froggy	93lbs 12ozs
9th	Peg 6	Tony (Rive T)	57lbs 12ozs
10th	Peg 14	M Jones	55lbs 08ozs
11th	Peg 13	Cox62	53lbs 00ozs
12th	Peg 28	J Mac	45lbs 08ozs
13th	Peg 10	Alan	45lbs 00ozs
14th	Peg 34	R Evans	35lbs 14ozs
15th	Peg 38	Nuddy	18lbs 08ozs
16th=	Peg 7	Alan	DNW
16th=	Peg 24	Cockney Pete	DNW

Rolf's Lake. Holton. Oxfordshire. July 13th, 2011.

Lionel’s day out.

Right, I was off down to Rolfs Lake today. One of the mechanics (James) where I work had wanted to treat his father-in-law (Lionel) to a days fishing there, as a bit of a Thank You and Birthday present and I’d managed to arrange it for them today, and as a bonus it might give me an idea of what to expect on Saturday when I’m back there for the 4th match of The Jinx Series.

I’d arranged to meet up with the lads at Rolfs around 9·30am, which even allowing for the heavier weekday traffic gave me the chance to stop off in Battersea for a ‘Full English’ before continuing on to the lake. Indeed when I pulled into the car park at Rolfs the lads were already there unloading their kit and apparently champing at the bit. Stocking up on pellets and a quick coffee we checked with John to see which pegs were available as there was an Open on later in the day and we were ready for the off. Well James was, Lionel was giving his new Maver seat box it’s first outing and had found after loading it up that the tyres were flat !! Luckily I carry a plug-in compressor in the car and we soon had tyres inflated and made our way down to the pegs. There were a couple of anglers already on pegs 34 & 35 with another on peg 2. James had already settled into peg 38, so I opted for peg 39 while Lionel settled into peg 40.

James is very much a carp angler and was using conventional carp gear, with a running rig rather than his usual bolt rig. Lionel opted for a pole approach and had wanted to go with Black Hydro, but I managed to persuade him to go with Red Hydro. As it was a pleasure day I simply set up a couple of rigs that I had made up to try out some new 0·2g NG XT Power Pencil’s that Nick has just started selling. These were made up on 0·20 Ultima Power Match straight through to a size 14 Guru QM1′s while bait was the usual fishery 6mm hard pellet for feed with some 8mm and 11mm donkey chokers that would be banded onto the hook along with a selection of GOT Baits soft hookers.

With the wind coming over my shoulder I could feed the 6mm’s by hand out to 7mtrs so that was my chosen line, with another line fed to the edge of the lilies to my right. With the wind blowing up into peg 34 and the Big Lake coupled with the change in the weather I wasn’t expecting sport to be to prolific today on our pegs. Out with a banded 8mm to 7mtrs and a few dinks suggested Roach might be responsible, but after about 5 minutes the float slid away, a gentle lift connected and it was obvious that it wasn’t a Carp but one of the Bream that have been showing this year. It soon slid over the net and at around 3lbs it was a welcome start to the day.

Lionel had started at around 10mtrs and soon had fish fizzing in his peg, but was struggling to connect with the bites that were forthcoming, but got of the mark with a Bream. Another couple of Bream followed for me before the first Carp of the day put in an appearance. A Common of around 5lbs that gave a good account of itself before it slid over the net.

Looking across Lionel was into a Carp and it was giving a good account of itself, but Lionel appeared to be gaining the upper hand ……

…… however the fish had other ideas, and with Lionel down to his top kit it dived for the platform and snapped him up round the platform legs.

James was having a real struggle and just had a solitary skimmer to show for his efforts and in an effort to change his fortunes had set a waggler up on one of his carp rods to target the bush to his left, but he wasn’t having any joy with it at all. I plugged on, another couple of Bream coming my way before a better Carp put in an appearance to liven up proceedings, a nice chunky Common that James took a photo of for me……

Sport couldn’t be described as either fast or furious for either James or Lionel and it was probably even more frustrating to see the lads on 34 & 35 starting to catch regularly, and to rub it in a bit more Lionel had parted company from his second carp of the day. By now the anglers had started the Open Match and Phil Powell who was on peg 4 seemed to be having a bit of a struggle at the start, so it wasn’t just us ……

Around about 2pm I decided to stretch my legs and take a look to see how the anglers on the open were doing, but before setting off I fed 5 big pots of pellets onto the 7mtr line to see if I could make anything happen. I found Neil Riddy halfway down the car park bank and he reckoned it was all a bit slow but was hoping things would pick up later……

 I could see that John was over on peg 18 and it looked as if he was on the paste down the side of the bush ……

 …… and it seemed that it was doing the trick for him as by the time I’d walked round to him he was slipping the net under a 15lb’er ……

 next up on peg 17 was John’s fellow Rolf’s Cartel member Mick Lane who also appeared to be having a slow start to the match ……

Down on peg 9 venue regular Paul Jay was hoping for a decent match as the pump had been running all morning before the match and he was hoping that it had drawn the fish to the area ……

 Back to my peg and Lionel was reporting loosing a third Carp and was still trying to fathom out how to connect with the bites that were beginning to frustrate him. Back at my peg and first put in I connected with another decent Bream ” Now you’re starting to take the micky Pete “  was Lionel’s reply to this feat of piscatorial endeavour as I held it up for him to admire. Unfortunately the next two put ins resulted in a couple of trashed rigs as foul hooked Carp set off for the Big Lake at a rate of knots, however they didn’t spook everything and I soon had another couple of Bream and another Carp once I sorted myself out. I could see the lads on 34 & 35 packing up so told James to get himself up there once they left as it just wasn’t happening for him on 38. Lionel had another couple of Bream and Roach, while I added a few more Bream and Carp before I decided to call it a day around 4·30pm.

James had indeed settled into peg 34 and placed a bait out as close as he could to the lilies in the corner ……

 …… and as I packed away my gear I looked up to see that he was finally landing a Carp which was swiftly followed by another and as I strolled round to Lionel he was ringing the changes once more in an effort to convert those bites into fish. Bidding him Good Luck I set off with my kit to the car park, stopping to say goodbye to James on the way. Well as I looked back there was Lionel with a fair bit of elastic streaming from his pole……

 ……. it had to be a Carp but would he land this one? I popped back to see, and to say that he played it gently would be an understatement, but finally he had it in the net, his first Rolfs Carp, a nice chunky Mirror and his smile just told you that it had all been worthwhile.

So Mission accomplished, both of the lads had caught their first Rolfs Carp and I left them to carry on for a while. Had I learnt anything to help me on Saturday? Probably not as the way Rolfs fishes seems to change by the day, but it would only be 3 days till I found out.

Wyland International Angling Centre, near Battle, East Sussex. December 11th, 2010.

Maggotdrowning.com

 

Southern Fur & Feather.

Once more it’s time for the annual Maggotdrowning Southern Fur & Feather match and once again we’re down at Wylands on House Lake. Various things conspired against me this morning meaning that I was running a little late as I loaded up the car, so I rang Mick the Chippy and asked him to draw for me if I was a little late arriving. Now after last year when there was no hot food to be had from the tea hut I made a quick stop on route for a couple of sausage & egg McMuffins to fuel me up for the day ahead. Thankfully a smooth trip down saw me pulling into the fishery car park at around 8·20am ahead of the draw to find 10 other hardy fools idiots anglers assembled for the day ahead. Indeed it was only Mick and granddaughter Rosie who were missing, but a quick phone call confirmed that they were on their way. Just time for a bacon sarnie and a cuppa then.

Now Mark being the organised fellow that he is had put 14 pegs in, all in the main bowl, so with only 13 fishing took one out (peg 14) come draw time, however when he came to take the last peg from the bag it was missing, Somehow peg 9 had escaped, but rather than redraw it went to Mr Organiser. The Bailiff had called pegs 2,3 and 4 as potential winners, so I was a little bit out with peg 13.

We’d been hoping that despite the cold snap the lake wouldn’t be iced up. No such luck however, so we agreed to delay the start till everyone had cut out a swim. It wasn’t to thick in front of me and I made a start breaking out a swim with my Drennan landing net handle, before strolling round and borrowing Squeaky’s ice breaker to finish off with.

The Fur and Feather is always a light hearted affair and everyone goes home with a prize so I wasn’t planning on taking a serious approach, simply one top kit with White Hydro and a single rig that I made up consisting of a 4×12 KC Carpa Tricky on 0·12 Ultima Power Silk finished off with an 18 Guru WMG hook. Bait for today was simply red maggots with a few micros for feed.

With some still setting up I took the opportunity to stroll round and get another cuppa from the tea hut. Inevitably I ended up having a chat with Mick and Rosie, and by the time I made my way back Mark was ready to call the All-In. For company today I had Stuart aka squeaky roller to my right on peg 1 on the island while to my left was Simon Elsey.

So at 10·40am we were off, double red maggot impaled onto the hook and a pinch of maggot and micros potted in. A shout from across the lake signified that young Rosie had bagged the first fish of the day, no pressure there then as a 10 year old girl took an early lead. A few lift and drops and my float slid gently away resulted in a small roach residing in the keepnet to save the dreaded blank.

It was far from fast and furious, but there was plenty of banter flowing back and forth across the lake. It was soon obvious that the Bailiff had been right about the pegs to be on as they seemed to be producing decent skimmers while all I could find were  small Roach…

 At least I was getting bites though and the fish while small were keeping me busy. By about 1pm I reckoned I might have had 5-6lbs in the net and the lure of a cheeseburger and another hot cuppa from the tea hut proved far too tempting so I set off for a stroll.
Jay was tucked down in the corner on peg 10 and was sliding what looked to be a decent skimmer towards the waiting net……

…… he protested that it was his biggest fish of the day, but Jay knows Wylands well and may have just been fibbing.
Mark was alternating between a couple of lines, taking a couple of fish from each before swapping back again……

He was having a good battle with Greg on the next peg and it looked as if it would come down to whoever nicked a few bonus fish between them……

Andy was facing the handicap of not having a pole to fish with, but he was having a good battle with Rosie on the next peg. Cheeseburger consumed I found Mick chatting to Terry(Wily Coyote) who had popped down as he lives locally to see how we were all doing. Mick was regretting not having broken out a larger swim for himself and Rosie but was doing his best to make the most of it.
Jeff, Wayne and Nick were definitely sitting in the pound seats however, and it was obvious that it was just a question of what order they would finish in the top 3……

Returning to my swim Simon reported having been seen off by a good fish that he thought  was a Carp, while Toby had shown him how it should be done as he’d landed a Carp of around 8lbs, a real bonus on a day like today.


Simon renewed his efforts after this but it obviously wasn’t going to be his day as he then latched onto what he described as a decent Bream only to see that come off short of the net.

I carried on till the end and managed to pick up a few better examples before Mark called the All-Out at 3pm. We soon had everything packed away and in all honesty it didn’t take that long to do the Weigh-In, the results of which are in the table below…


 

Position	Peg	Angler	Weight
1st	Peg 3	Wayne (map) Taylor	42lbs 10ozs
2nd	Peg 4	Jeff Driscoll	33lbs 06ozs
3rd	Peg 2	Nick Gilbert	32lbs 00ozs
4th	Peg 10	Jay Lay	22lbs 02ozs
5th	Peg 8	Greg (splitshot1) Andrews	19lbs 06ozs
6th	Peg 9	Mark (MoleMan) Hathaway	16lbs 14ozs
7th	Peg 1	Stuart (squeaky roller) Wilson	13lbs 02ozs
8th	Peg 11	Toby (vassago) Wells	12lbs 00ozs
9th	Peg 13	Peter (Mugger) Morton	11lbs 08ozs
10th	Peg 12	Simon Elsey	8lbs 02ozs
11th	Peg 5	Mick (The Chippy) Pearson	6lbs 00ozs
12th	Peg 7	Andy (greentura) Green	1lb 10ozs
13th	Peg 6	Rosie	1lb 04ozs

All that remained was for Mark to work out the results and collect up the prizes for those assembled……………

We added a little twist this year and reversed the prize giving so Rosie got first pick, while Wayne received the Winners Trophy and the honour of organising next years Southern Fur & Feather.

Same again next year please Wayne, I can’t think of to many venues that would have produced such good sport in those conditions. Thanks to Mark for organising todays match.

That’s probably it for me this year, Roll on 2011.

Churchgate Lakes. The Bottom Lake. April 24th, 2010.

Marsh AC club match.

Well it’s the second Marsh match of the year today. There’s a slight change of plan however as we were supposed to be fishing the Top Lake, but with only 22 pegs on there after some recent changes, and with 20 anglers booked in for todays match the decision was made to change to the Bottom Lake. I have to say that the last couple of matches that the club has had on there haven’t really been resounding successes so hopefully it will fish a bit better for us today.
 

I’d arranged to meet up with Dave at his house at 7am, and it’s a good job I did. As I got out of the car I saw that I hadn’t put my pellets in the car, Luckily Dave always has loads so I blagged some from him. Cars loaded and a quick trip through the Dartford Tunnel into darkest Essex saw us pulling into the fishery car park just before 8am.

It promised to be a glorious day weather wise with the sun shining out of a clear blue sky, but the first order of the day was breakfast in the café cooked by Tony Runnalls (the Fishery Manager) while everyone caught up with the latest gossip. It was Dave’s Birthday  today and his good lady Gladys had come with him on what has become her annual outing with the club. There’s a bit of history here as on her first visit here in October 2007 she had beaten Dave off the next peg, while on our last visit in July 2008, I was the one being beaten, so the pressure was on to avoid being “Gladys’d” so avoiding frightful amounts of stick in the future.

Into the draw and I found peg 2 sticking to my hand, a nice short walk from the car park but not the best of draws as it’s always struggled to produce in our matches on the lake. The peg itself looks glorious……

…….with the corner of an island that can be reached at around 20mtrs. For company today I had Keith on peg 1 ……

…… so the competition would be stiff, but at least the banter would be good while peg 3 wasn’t drawn.
I decided to be positive in my approach today targeting the larger fish that are present in the lake. I set up a couple of Shakespeare 11ft pellet waggler rods and a feeder rod with a small method feeder to attack the point of the island, while I just set up 1 pole rig for a late look down the margin as a back up. Bait for the day was simply 6mm hard pellet and some corn, while the groundbait for the feeder was the new GOT ‘Yellow Peril’ with some added Atomic micros.
There’s a huge head of smaller fish that can be caught fishing maggot, but the matches always seem to go to those who get amongst the better specimens, especially the Carp and Bream, so they were my targets for today.

So at 10am Dave called the All-In and we were underway, the method feeder being dispatched to the corner of the island with a banded pellet on the hook, while I pinged a few pellets over in preparation for the waggler later. Keith started on the lead to the island and was soon off the mark with a small Tench. I stuck at the method for 45 minutes before I was rewarded with my first fish, a small F1 that promptly dived at the keepnet and transferred the hook to it before I had the chance to net it. Carp 1-0, Was it going to be one of those days?

Out with the waggler and I was finally rewarded with an Ide of around 1lb+ to get me off the mark. Dave was on an early stroll round and informed me that Gladys was catching well and already had 35 fish to crank the pressure up. Gladys always fishes maggot on a top 2 for whatever swims and while I knew most of her fish would be small there was always the chance of the odd bonus and she would probably put 10lbs+ on the scales at the end, so no pressure there then.

A Bream was my next fish and at around 2½lbs more than welcome, this was swiftly followed another, unfortunately this one was nearer 2½ozs. Keith however was reporting rather a lot of black Hydro being pulled from his topkit !!!!!!!! The culprit proved to be a decent Common that was soon residing in the bottom of Keith’s landing net………

I was then briefly attached to something that decided to vanish at a rate of knots round the back of the island before shedding the hook and killing sport in the process. Carp 2-0. I took a look down the margin that I’d been feeding regularly from the off with a grain of corn on the hook but without an indication to give me any encouragement after 15 minutes I decided to have a stroll with the camera.


Tony on peg 25 was getting amongst some decent Ide down on peg 25, but the chap that seemed to be doing the best on that bank was Clive fishing meat long he’d picked up some decent Bream and a couple of Carp, but had lost a Bream that he reckoned was bigger than his landing net !!!!!……..

Gladys had slowed down a bit (Thank heavens for small mercies) while Dave fishing his customary 4 sections had the contented look of a man who felt he had the measure of his wife ……

Over on the far side the wind was putting a nice ripple onto the water and Jim could be found steadily putting a net of small fish together, but was a little frustrated that he couldn’t find any bonus fish ……

…… especially as Mick (fishing as Keith’s guest having accompanied him down from Milton Keynes) was quietly putting together a good net with some decent Bream fishing his right hand margin………

…… Colin was having a bit of a struggle and had reverted to fishing the maggot, but Al was fishing hemp & tares up in the water and was finding a few Ide and bream. Tony (Wily Coyote) was tucked away in peg 5 but was having better luck catching the sun than getting the fish to co-operate ……

……. and young Zack was sticking at it, but struggling to find a bite with just a couple of fish to show for his efforts…….

Back at my peg and the waggler still failed to produce so I decided to fish the method for the remainder of the match in the hope that I could find a decent Carp to get me out of Jail. Tony meanwhile had hooked a decent Carp, a right lump in fact and was gingerly playing it on his new pole, and getting plenty of encouragement to give it a bit of teddy …….
……. needless to say the hook pulled, but at least he got plenty of Sympathy ……..NOT !!!!!!!!

Meanwhile Clive had come for a stroll round complete with camera, and right on cue the tip on my feeder rod shot round, Fish on, softly softly as it was obviously a Carp that could save my day……

……. Well retribution for taking the micky out of Tony was swift as everything went slack, a pigtailed line showing that a knot had failed at the swivel ……

…… Mugger had been well and truly mugged. Carp 3-0.

So a couple of hours to go and it looked like I needed snookers. I tied a new rig up, paying special attention to the knots this time and set up a hair rig to take 3 grains of sweetcorn, sh*t or bust time. Time ticked on, Keith managed another a smaller Carp from his margin, but not so much as a rattle on my tip.

3·55pm and just 5 minutes to go, time for one last cast before the inevitable stick that I just knew would be coming my way. 3 fresh grains of corn on the rig and back out accompanied with a little prayer……………. Well the tip had barely settled when it steadily pulled round and just kept going . I just had to lift the rod and as soon as I felt it I knew this was the fish that I needed. A nervous couple of minutes followed, not helped by various shouts of encouragement (or was it disbelief) from around the lake, before I slid it safely over the net accompanied by a shout of relief that could be heard around the lake, a definite double, I slipped it safely into the keepnet just as Dave called the All-Out.

 

As I packed my kit away I have to say that I felt pretty relieved, though I’m sure I could hear “Two Minutes,Two bloody Minutes “ coming from Dave’s direction. Keith and I were on the scales today and as we set off round the lake Tony on peg 25 took an early lead with a level 20lbs. Clive on peg 20 soon overtook that however with 45lbs. Gladys set the target of 12½lbs to avoid humiliation, which Dave sailed past with 22½lbs. Jim put 17lbs on the scales, but the main man on the day was Keith’s guest Mick who comfortably took the win with 63¼lbs of mainly Bream. Al’s 23lbs was to prove good enough for 3rd overall. My moment of truth arrived and that late Carp weighed just over 11lbs and boosted my total weight to 16¼lbs, so no ‘Gladysing’ for me. Keith rounded things off with a hard earnt 17¾lbs.

 

Back to the car park for the results, and most seemed to think that it hadn’t fished that badly, and after a chorus of HAPPY BIRTHDAY for Dave we said our farewells.  

 

Position	Peg	Angler	Weight	Points
1st	Peg 10	Mick Wright              (guest)	63lbs 04ozs	n/a
2nd	Peg 20	Clive Pritchard	45lbs 00ozs	30
3rd	Peg 7	Al Loader	23lbs 00ozs	29
4th	Peg 18	Dave Collier	22lbs 08ozs	28
5th	Peg 25	Tony Roberts	20lbs 00ozs	27
6th	Peg 1	Keith Ashby	17lbs 12ozs	26
7th	Peg 11	Jim Boase	17lbs 00ozs	25
8th	Peg 2	Peter Morton	16lbs 04ozs	24
9th	Peg 8	Colin Sharrard	15lbs 12ozs	23
10th	Peg 14	Roger Noakes	12lbs 08ozs	22
10th=	Peg 19	Gladys Collier             (guest)	12lbs 08ozs	n/a
12th	Peg 12	Ken Walker	9lbs 08ozs	21
13th	Peg 9	John Holdsworth	8lbs 04ozs	20
14th	Peg 5	Terry Goff	8lbs 00ozs	19
15th	Peg 16	Martin Hucker	6lbs 08ozs	18
16th	Peg 21	Eddy Dobson	5lbs 08ozs	17
17th	Peg 26	Judy Hermite	4lbs 12ozs	16
18th	Peg 4	Zack Johnson	3lbs 00ozs	15
19th	Peg 24	Kevin Loveland	1lb   00ozs	14
20th	Peg 22	Rod Turner	DNW	5

 

My next trip should be down to Monk Lakes for the Faye Match in support of http://www.postpals.co.uk which should hopefully raise a good few quid for a very good cause. A full report of the day will appear here in due course.