Rolf’s Lake. Holton. Oxfordshire. August 5th-6th, 2006.

Maggotdrowning.com

 Rolf’s Pairs Tournament 2006.

 Well where can I start? I suppose that the beginning is a good a point as any.
Anticipation had been building up for this weekend for a couple of months with Ian(Chin)Ward counting everyone down on the forum to the big day.

9·15 in the services at junction 8a and Adrian(BigladWigan)Wood was the 1st to greet me, closely followed by Vince Gould.
Soon the wafting aroma of chip fat and Chinese takeaway preceded the arrival of Northern Boy himself, Gaz Malman who was already halfway through the umpteenth pie of the day clutched in his right hand as he pulled up. Dave(Red Leader)Webster phoned to announce that both he, Tony Prentice and Geoff Palmer were in the services already so we headed off to join them, along with Ant Haywood, Ian Ward, Tom Little and Chris Ellis.
Dave fancied a Breakfast, but being faced with paying £8 for it brought back his Yorkshire frugality and he settled for a burger.

10am and it was “wagons roll” as a small convoy made it’s way the short distance from the services to Rolf’s Lake.
Into the car park and it’s nearly full already, and there’s a buzz about the place as a number of Rolf’s “Virgins” got their 1st look at the venue, while others were renewing acquaintances and meeting others for the 1st time in person away from a computer screen.

Bivvies and Tents were soon in place for the evenings accommodation while elsewhere nets were dipped with military efficiency and feed pellets purchased for the 2 matches that lay ahead.

At 11am the pairing for the weekend were announced and with those duly recorded and the pools paid, after which the individual draw for the day took place.

I had been paired with Dave Collier, almost inevitable really given the number of times we’ve fished together in the past. Dave getting peg24 on the car park bank, while I ended up with peg 36 on the little lake.
For company on the match I had Geoff Palmer to my right, in the corner on peg 34. While to my left on 37 I found Dave(Red Leader)Webster and Matt Nutt on 38. The sun was already blasting from the sky and we just knew that it was going to be a scorcher, but hopefully with us fishing from 1pm- 6pm hopefully everyone would get at least a couple of good hours towards the end.

1pm and the all in and within 5 minutes Geoff was walking over for me to witness his 1st weigher, all 16½lbs of Common Carp and a new PB for him.

I have to say that I wasn’t inspired by my peg, although I knew it was capable of producing there are no real obvious features in comparison to a lot of the other pegs, so it was just a question of getting my head down and concentrating on putting a few together.

Looking across I could see David Ashby (under a bit of pressure as Gemma was fishing for the 1st time in 5 years) and Ian Ward and Nick Williams in front of me on 4 (though I had to look twice as his grey hair had vanished to be replaced by a deep brown dye job)
Plenty of splashing kept coming from Geoff’s direction though some were doing a Houdini act.

I was slowly getting in on the act fishing paste on the deck at around 9 mtrs, while Dave struggled to get to grips with his peg, and Matt slowly started to edge ahead in the section.

Being pegged on the small lake we were somewhat removed from what was happening on the rest of the lake, though word filtered down that Keith on peg 25 was having a good un, and we were treated to the site of Brian Bevan in hot pursuit of his pole as a carp headed towards us with it, though Brian was fortunate enough to retrieve it, but not the fish.

Vince Gould, a Rolf’s virgin was hidden away on peg13 out of my site but struggled to come to terms with things but still managed 41½lbs, better than some have managed on their 1st visit.
The last hour proved to be the best though a couple of the larger carp saw Matt having to resort to climbing onto his box to net them, while I managed a run of 6 fish right at the end.
So match 1 was completed, and that left the weigh in, a real eye opener for some in terms of the weights recorded and the efficiency with which it takes place.

Keith Ashby on peg 25 soon took the lead, and wasn’t going to be caught on the day having put 242¾lb on the scales for a new PB match weight, nearly all caught on a top 3 with meat GOT soft hookers and GOT Paste. A superb result. Kevin Arathoon had pushed him all the way with a fine 230lbs and Brian Bevan had put together a fine 184¼lbs for 3rd individual on the day.

As the weigh in progressed peg after peg produced tales of new PB’s both for total weights and individual fish.

Attention was however focused on a little match within a match between Gemma, Malc Doyle’s daughter who had decided to fish for the 1st time in nearly 5 years and Keith Ashby’s son David. (No pressure then)
With Gemma putting 92lbs on the scales.
David was always struggling to hang onto his £1 side bet,
even breaking his landing net at one stage, and unfortunately came up short on the day with 79½lbs, leading to a ribbing from all assembled that was to last all the way through the rest of the day and well into the next morning.

Ian (Chin) Ward had managed his 1st ever ton with a fine 115½lbs, and was looking a bit shattered as his arms hurt, and would continue to do so for the rest of the weekend,

Matt Nutt, using all his experience of the venue managed a 149½lb section winning bag, while Dave Webster who had struggled for 29lbs was the meat in a “Ton” sandwich as I weighed in 121½ lbs, Geoff Palmer also beating him with an 89lb bag (His PB match weight) that would surely have been his 1st Ton if he had had more than the 1 weigher.

So match day one ended with everyone retreating for a well earned beer in the bivvy village. Dave being Mr Efficient had brought his large gas barbecue down with him for the weekend and soon had it fired up and Tony(teepee)Prentice soon had a great selection of burgers and sausages flowing off the production line for willing mouths to devour.

With copious quantities of beer, Lager augmented by a bottle of rum and another of whiskey, the entertainment revolved around how much stick could be dished out to yound David, and I have to say that he took it all on the chin. I’m sure you’ll have the last laugh sooner or later David. Things wound down around 1am as bodies retired ready for round 2 on Sunday.

Sunday at 7am and those same bodies in various states of disrepair emerged into the daylight craving nothing stronger than tea or coffee, while once more the Barbecue was fired up to provide breakfast from the mountain of food that was left.

Sundays draw was at 9am with a 10·30 start and joining us for the day were Steve Wilson fresh from his holiday and Gary (Gaza) Thorpe, fresh from a match win at Oakfield the previous day. They paired up with the pair with the worst result from Saturday which meant that Wily Coyote(Terry) was paired with Gaza the venue World Record Holder, so no pressure there then, while Nick Williams paired up with Steve.

I found myself fishing my partners swim from the previous day (peg24) with Matt for company on peg 25 (Keith’s winning peg) and Ant Haywood to my right on 23.

Gary Thorpe drew my peg from Saturday, so I would see the pegs potential with a decent angler on it, with Kevin Arathoon on 34 (Geoff’s peg) Ian Ward was on peg 7, a bit of a flyer, but would his arms hold out. While David and Gemma drew next to each other on pegs 9 & 10 in full view of their dads, Keith being on 12 with Malc opposite on 30.

At the all in I settled on a paste attack at around 7mtrs, a distance I could feed comfortably feed pellet by hand and fed a margin line by the small bush to my right. while Matt started on a longer line up in the water. Ant appeared to be into action straight away, and all around I could see people already into fish.

Terry Goff had somehow managed to draw the same peg twice in a row, but at least managed to put a few together  this time for a creditable 90¾lbs.
Next up on 17 was Dirk Williams who finished just short of a 2nd ton with 93lbs after suffering with a load of foul hookers.
Tony (teepee) Prentice managed a very creditable 164¼lbs from peg 18 to better his Saturday weight of 119lbs 2ozs (Thanks for showing me your paste pots Tony, I’m sure he’ll be sharing the idea soon)
Colin, Keith’s partner was on 19 and just missed out on a 2nd ton with 98lbs on the day.
I had a mare with foul hookers and lost a number of big fish that I had trouble controlling with Red Hydro!!! Thankfully a decent spell towards the end enabled me to get a 2nd ton with a level 110lbs.

Matt Nutt came short to the bush in his margin and had a magic last hour with a ton of weighers for a creditable 173lbs.
While Ant Haywood just made his 2nd ton of the weekend despite only having the 1 weigher all day, putting 104lbs on the scales.

Elsewhere David Ashby restored his pride in his peg to peg with Gemma weighing 85½lb to Gemma’s 41½lbs and so reclaiming his £1 side bet.
Top weight on the day smashing his previous best match weight out of site with a fine display was young Ian Ward with an excellent 272lbs. Well Done Mate.
2nd on the day was Keith Ashby with a fine 230¾lbs again caught on a top 3 down the edge with meat and GOT Paste for 2 double tons in a row, an awesome display over the weekend.
Third on the day was Kevin Arathoon with 228lbs for another pair of double tons.
In 4th was Malc with 224¼lbs for a new personal best match weight.
5th was Gaz Malman with 219¼lbs, while a 6th and Final Double ton was added by Gary Thorpe with 206½lbs off my peg from the previous day. (it must have been down to my feeding on the Saturday)

One of the happiest on the day however must have been Steve Wilson who finally managed a match ton with a dead level 100lbs. It even made him smile, Well Done Steve.

So Presentation Time, and with two pairs,Keith Ashby & Colin Sharrard and Kevin Arathoon & Clive Pritchard tied on 26 points apiece it was probably appropriate that it was finally decided on weight with the verdict going in Keith and Colin’s favour by 706½lbs to 638lbs.
Congratulations to them both.
A Big vote of Thanks to Dave for getting the whole thing up and running, I’m pretty sure that it will be an annual fixture from now on, and another Big Thank You to Rolf, for allowing us to use what is a very special fishery for the weekend.
Finally Thanks to all that attended and made it one of the Best Maggotdrowning Weekends I can remember, We must do it again sometime, now form an orderly queue for the next one.

Here’s the full results list starting with the Pairs:
Saturday

Keith Ashby & Colin Sharrard	377lb 12oz	14 points
Kevin Arathoon & Clive Pritchard	304lb 08oz	13 points
Brian Bevan & Gemma Doyle	276lb 04oz	12 points
Ant Haywood & Geoff Palmer	253lb 12oz	11 points
Malc Doyle & Simon Rowley	243lb 00oz	10 points
Ian Ward & Tony Prentice	234lb 10oz	9 points
Peter Morton & Dave Collier	234lb 00oz	8 points
Gaz Malman & Vince Gould	215lb 15oz	7 points
Matt Nutt & Tom Little	207lb 10oz	6 points
Dirk Williams & Adrian Wood	197lb 08oz	5 points
David Ashby & Steve Bowman	163lb 12oz	4 points
Dave Webster & Chris Ellis	138lb 15oz	3 points
Nick Williams & Terry Goff	71lb 08oz	2 points

Sunday

Ian Ward & Tony Prentice	436lb 04oz	14 points
Kevin Arathoon & Clive Pritchard	333lb 08oz	13 points
Keith Ashby & Colin Sharrard	328lb 12oz	12 points
Malc Doyle & Simon Rowley	304lb 04oz	11 points
Gary Thorpe & Terry Goff	297lb 04oz	10 points
Gaz Malman & Vince Gould	277lb 04oz	9 points
Matt Nutt & Tom Little	265lb 05oz	8 points
Ant Haywood & Geoff Palmer	222lb 00oz	7 points
Peter Morton & Dave Collier	175lb 00oz	6 points
David Ashby & Steve Bowman	166lb 08oz	5 points
Dirk Williams & Adrian Wood	154lb 00oz	4 points
Dave Webster & Chris Ellis	152lb 06oz	3 points
SteveWilson & Nick Williams	131lb 08oz	2 points
Brian Bevan & Gemma Doyle	63lb 08oz	1 point

Total Points

Keith Ashby & Colin Sharrard	26 points  706lb 08oz
Kevin Arathoon & Clive Pritchard	26 points  638lb 00oz
Ian Ward & Tony Prentice	23 points
Malc Doyle & Simon Rowley	21 points
Ant Haywood & Geoff Palmer	18 points
Gaz Malman & Vince Gould	16 points
Peter Morton & Dave Collier	14 points
Matt Nutt & Tom Little	14 points
Brian Bevan & Gemma Doyle	13 points
Gary Thorpe & Terry Goff	12 points
Dirk Williams & Adrian Wood	9 points
David Ashby & Steve Bowman	9 points
Dave Webster & Chris Ellis	6 points
SteveWilson & Nick Williams	4points

Individual Total Weights.

Keith Ashby	473lb 08oz
Kevin Arathoon	458lb 00oz
Gaz Malman	393lb 12oz
Malc Doyle	387lb 08oz
Ian Ward	387lb 08oz
Matt Nutt	322lb 08oz
Tony Prentice	283lb 06oz
Ant Haywood	268lb 12oz
Colin Sharrard	233lb 00oz
Peter Morton	231lb 08oz
Geoff Palmer	207lb 00oz
Gary Thorpe	206lb 08oz
Brian Bevan	206lb 04oz
Dirk Williams	197lb 00oz
Chris Ellis	193lb 05oz
Clive Pritchard	180lb 00oz
Dave Collier	178lb 00oz
Steve Bowman	165lb 04oz
David Ashby	165lb 00oz
Aidrian Wood	154lb 08oz
Tom Little	150lb 07oz
Simon Rowley	142lb 04oz
Gemma Doyle	133lb 08oz
Terry Goff	105lb 12oz
Steve Wilson	100lb 00oz
Vince Gould	98lb 07oz
Dave Webster	98lb 00oz
Nick Williams	88lb 00oz

Total weight caught over the weekend was 6,134lb