Earlswood Lakes. The Engine Pool. June 17th, 2006.

The JINX Series 2006

Match 2.

How can you do a report on a match where 75% of the field blanked?

I arrived early as is my custom when I haven’t been to a venue before, so that I could have a stroll round and try to get a feel for the place.

My 1st impression was “Where has all the water gone?” the level must have been nearly 5ft down with every platform completely out of the water.

Malc had actually arrived early along with his community care worker (Gemma) and with the draw almost happening on time we set off to our pegs.
I had drawn peg 40, a nice short walk and was soon set up……
…….Looks lovely doesn’t it?
Frankly I could have put the whole thing into a glass case and exhibited it at the Tate Modern as a still life.

The only thing that disturbed the water all day were a pair of Great Crested Grebes, and even they didn’t catch anything and departed for more prolific parts.

Geoff (Eggo) to my right had a Bream 1st chuck……..

……….and that was all the action in the surrounding pegs for the whole day.

Poor young David A to my left actually had a bite on the feeder, but didn’t connect. Antwood on the next peg round was looking like a man that needed the phone number of Samaritans……

…….. while further along Paul at least had a smile on his face, but that was probably because he knew he had a can of beer in his bag
During the day of course the banter was flowing, especially from the beach on the right hand side…..

…….. and just to put the finishing touch, Malc (who is now so tanned/burnt that he looks like a stick of Pepperami )Latched into a carp and lands it with 3 mins to go, despite throwing himself in up to his neck.

The 5 anglers who actually caught were…….

1st	Brian Bevan	8lb 04oz
2nd	Malc Doyle	5lb 00oz
3rd	Geoff Eggison	3lb 04oz
4th	Dan Thomas	1lb 00oz
5th	Mark Causer	3oz

Unfortunately the day was marred by both Nick (polepot) and Matt having pole sections smashed by inconsiderate members of the public, both of whom refused to admit any liability and refused to supply any details so that Insurance claims could be made.

So, a 260 mile round trip for sweet FA, and next up for those of us fishing The Jinx Series? another supposed British Waterways Superwater……. DRAYTON!!!!  I can hardly wait.

The Jinx is alive and well and making us all suffer.

Willow Park Fishery. June 10th, 2006.

The Southern Intersite Match.

Well, Saturday morning 8am and we all started to assemble in the Café at Willow Park for the Intersite match. It promised to be a grueller as the temperature was already up to 18°C and would make it to 30°C before the day was out.
Last to arrive were Neo and Brian who had travelled up from Wales at less than 24hrs notice to fill in for people that had to drop out, and Milo who had got caught in a bit of traffic.

The team on the day was as follows with the respective lakes we were fishing on…

1. Vince – Big (Team Captain)
2. Peter – Big
3. Milo(Fred P.) – Big

4. Matt Nutt – Middle
5. Gary Thorpe – Middle
6. Blackhydro (Clive)- Middle
7. NoMoreLongWalks(Paul) – Middle
8. Slimcatcher(Nick B.) – Middle
9. Neo1(Nick W.) – Middle

10. Me (Simon) – Small
11. RonB – Small
12. Badatfishing (Darren) – Small
13. Brian Bevan – Small
14. Andy222 – Small
15. Polepot(Nick J.) – Small

How did my match go??????

This was my draw, Peg 77, looks lovely doesn’t it? 

Unfortunately it proved to be almost entirely devoid of fish, or at least those that were in any way inclined to feed in the heat of the day. 3 hours on the feeder produced not so much as a bite, and the pole line appeared devoid of life as well apart from a few small perch that fell to some worms that polepot had let me have.

A quick visit to vince mid match revealed that he was having an even worse time than me, with just a couple of knocks on the feeder that had come to nothing, although he did lose a beast of a carp right at the death as it dragged his rig through the roots of a nearby bush in the margins.

4pm and the all out revealed the full horror of the battering with Milo weighing 2ozs, Vince recording a DNW and I ended up with 4lbs 4ozs of small Perch, to all finish last in our respective sections.

Our stars on the day were NoMoreLongWalks(Paul), Gary Thorpe and Matt Nutt who each scored section 2nds.

Overall the top 5 on the day was as follows………

1st	Omega Mike        TF	56lb 06oz
2nd	Russell Grimes     TF	52lb 00oz
3rd	Giles Cochrane     AF	51lb 08oz
4th	Micky Davies      TF	46lb 10oz
5th	Dave Pearson       AF	39lb 05oz

Teams………

Total Fishing	38 points
Angling Forums	34 points
Maggotdrowning.com	17 points

Making the running totals for this years series…….

Total Fishing	101 points
Maggotdrowning.com	69 points
Angling Forums	34 points
TalkAngling	30 points

……. with the Northern match still to come.

Rolf’s Lake. Holton. Oxfordshire. June 3rd, 2006.

Matt Nutt’s Charity Matchsupporting
The Disabled-Angler.Co.Uk

Charities Championship 2006

Well 20 anglers assembled in the car park at Rolf’s Lake to take part in this Charity Match organised by Matt Nutt of G.O.T. Baits to support the fund raising efforts of The Disabled-Angler.Co.Uk .
They are running a series of matches over the course of the year leading up to an All Winners Final to be fished at Holly Farm on Sept 30th, and while this match wasn’t a qualifier, the aim was to boost the funds for the chosen charities: Macmillan (Cancer relief) & Francis House (Children’s Hospice).

The warmest day of the year so far, with the sun streaming from a clear blue sky greeted those who had travelled from as far away as Yorkshire and Wales, such is the draw that Rolf’s Lake exerts, being the venue where Gary Thorpe broke The World Match Record with a phenomenal weight of 490lb 8oz.

As always Rolf’s proved that it’s not the easy venue that some would have you believe, and while some anglers caught well, others struggled as the fish in some pegs seemed more intent in lapping up the sunshine than feeding. The winner on the day was Matt Nutt with an excellent bag of 231lbs from peg 19 caught on G.O.T 6mm hookers fished up in the water over sprayed caster.

Second on the day was a 1st time visitor to Rolf’s, Stuart Joy with a very creditable 142lbs from peg 8.

While third place was filled by the irrepressible Malc Doyle, better know as The Jinx with a hard earned 114lbs 2ozs.

Spreading the spoils around on the day were the 4 section winners

1st time visitor Wayne Panting from the Disabled Angler website putting together a 70lb net off of Peg 1 late on as the fish made him wait.

Jason Grant with 48lbs 14ozs from a jacuzzi of a swim that proved to be hard work on a day.

Dirk Williams (The Dangler) himself, just missed out on the main frame and his 1st Rolf’s Ton with a fine bag of 95lbs 8ozs.

While the final section place went to Keith Ashby aka Gandhi with a weight of 77lbs.

All in all a smashing day, A Big Thank You to Matt for a very well organised match, and to all the anglers who attended on the day who raised a very creditable £575 boosting the overall total so far raised to £1129. Hopefully we can do it all over again next year.

Results on the day:

1st	Matt Nutt	231lb 00oz
2nd	Stuart Joy	142lb 00oz
3rd	Malc(The Jinx)Doyle	114lb 02oz
4th	Dirk Williams	95lb 08oz
5th	Keith(Gandhi)Ashby	77lb 00oz
6th	Wayne Panting	70lb 00oz
7th	Brian Bevan	69lb 04oz
8th	Jason Grant	48lb 14oz
9th	Colin Sharrard	42lb 06oz
10th	Nick Williams	41lb 08oz
11th	Nick Bryan	37lb 00oz
12th	Dave Webster	31lb 00oz
13th	Nigel Raynor	17lb 08oz
14th	Andy Lewis	17lb 04oz
15th	Dave Collier	16lb 00oz
16th	Dave Ashby	11lb 08oz
17th	Richard Graham	11lb 00oz
18th	Johnney Hohlweg	8lb 08oz
19th	Ron Byuss	DNW
20th	Peter(Mugger)Morton	DNW

_____________________________

From my own point of view the day went something like this……………
Having had an early phone call to Dave, only to find that his Sat Nav was on the blink, I finally caught up with him in the services at junction 8, after he’d finished feeding his face we set off for Rolf’s. Arriving in the car park, it was soon obvious that the usual suspects along with a few new faces were present and with the sun blazing out of the sky a fun filled day was in the offering.

It was good to see Wayne in attendance along with his mum, and a quick look at the lake revealed that the carp were enjoying the sun on their backs as plenty were basking and soaking up the rays.

Into the draw and with Matt drawing 19 a few were already thinking that they were fishing for 2nd at best. I found myself on 38 by the boat in the corner and was soon set up and went for a stroll round. Up on the car park bank a few of the lads could be found discussing the prospects for the day ahead…

Strolling back to my peg I found Malc getting ready on peg 34…

This roped off bay is normally home to a few lumps and a quick discussion ensued as to just how long his trusty Maver Fightback pole would last (to say that it’s seen better days would be the understatement of the year) as he couldn’t reach with his Drag-N-Net. Young David Ashby and I reckoned it would be a matter of seconds not minutes depending on when he got his 1st bite.

The all in sounded and 8 seconds later there was a loud CRACK as Malc’s no4 section expired and his top kit sailed into the lilies.

For me it just didn’t happen, the nearest I got to a carp was a large scale that came back on the hook, apart from that it was just a procession of suicidal silvers that scoffed whatever I put on the hook, be it meat, pellet of large lumps of paste, indeed with 40 minutes to go I tipped back for a DNW and went for a stroll with the camera.

Wayne was into a run of fish at the death that was to give him the section, having patiently waited for them……

Dave (Mr Maggotdrowning) was tucked away in peg 13 and was winkling the odd one or 2 out………

Meanwhile round on peg 19 Matt was doing his best to empty the place, fishing up in the water with pellet over sprayed caster he kept on catching right to the end………

Dirk would be left ruing another missed Ton at Rolf’s, but he would surely have done it if this carp had put a bit of weight on……

Weigh-in done we were all treated to the sight of Malc having his annual bath, with the excuse of him retrieving his top kit……

So that was it for another day. The dreaded DNW for me, but it really didn’t matter given the sum raised on the day. A really well organised match by Matt fished in great company. Thanks Everyone, let’s do it again sometime.