Rolf’s Lake. Holton. Oxfordshire. June 2nd, 2007.

The JINX Series 2007

Match 1.

So here we were, back again for yet another Jinx Series. The banter was soon flowing as usual as most of the usual suspects were back again having been released back into the community along with a few new unsuspecting fools that had been attracted in the false hope of not being affected by The Jinx.

The weather in the week leading up to the match had not been kind with heavy rain almost leading the lake to overflowing into the surrounding fields. Thankfully a spot of swift action by John Bennett and a couple of the local lads had saved the day meaning that no fish had been lost. However with every peg was under water and with pegs 16-18 lost to the recent bankside collapse and 19-21 out of bounds as they had been fenced off to keep the fish in, a bit of re-pegging was necessary to accommodate the 29 anglers present on the day.

Oh, and just to add to the problems the Carp had decided that today was the day for Lurvvvvvvve!!!!! thrashing the margins to foam wherever you looked.
Well of course the planned 11·30am draw was never going to happen, This is The Jinx Series after all, as Malc’s car decided to self destruct yet again on the trip up from Wales, so it was more like 12·30pm once the draw was done with the fishing to be done from 1·30pm – 6·30pm.
I had drawn 15, which in reality was somewhere around peg 38 if you had been able to see it, to my right for company I had Monkey (Nick W-P) and Dai for company while Malc had ended up literaly in peg34 (stewards inquiry needed there I think)

How to approach it was going to be the question as the conditions were like nothing I had ever encountered before at Rolf’s. I settled for a margin approach just past a bush to my left which is normally on dry land surrounded by grass and also set up a feeder rod as I had plenty of space down into the corner on my left to throw to.

So 12·30am and all-in sees me put a bit of meat onto the feeder rig and a plug of over wetted feed pellet into the cage feeder and lob it down towards the corner + 3 good handfuls of feed pellet are deposited in front of the bush. A couple of minutes later and the tip wraps round and I’m into a Carp. It actually felt strange to be using a rod at Rolf’s, and despite some encouragement from Malc….”You won’t land it“….. it was soon in the net. Well you can imagine my amazement on lifting the net to find not one but two Carp safely nestling in the bottom of it!!!!!!!!
Apart from the weigher at 9½lbs with my hook in it’s mouth there was another of around 8lbs keeping it company!!!!! However I did the decent thing and put the 8lb’er straight back, a good start none the less.

Straight back out and another couple of minutes pass and the tip wraps round again but this time it’s just a solitary 7lb’er that’s in the bottom of the net. So 10 minutes in and 18lbs+ already, could this be a red letter day?
Unfortunately the next 40 minutes saw not so much as a flicker from the tip, so reluctantly it was out with the pole rig………

Dropping it in to what is normally a shallow margin saw me being plagued by silvers that just whittled away the bait whether it was pellet, paste or meat with the occasional one managing to hang itself just long enough to find itself on the hook.

Conditions were having an effect on most, I could see Eric on 39 fishing his “Margin” and giving what appeared to be some Preston 19h or was it Purple Hydro? a good work out

Brian on what is normally peg 1 was getting amongst a few fish by fishing up in the water, though he did loose a few as they dived under the sunken platform as he tried to land them, while next door to him……
Paul was slipping a few in his net in the hope that he could finally beat Matt off of the next peg as he was suffering from a peg that seemed to be solid with silvers.

Directly across from me was Simon (me)……
who despite the sunglasses wasn’t Terminating to many, while next door to him was Clive………
who despite having spent countless hours over the last few months getting to know the venue by fishing in the various leagues was just having one of those days where it just wasn’t happening for him.

Dirk wandered along with his son who had come down to help him out with a tale of woe involving a 12lb’er and a landing net that split depositing said fish straight back in the water, while monkey having struggled for a bite finally hooked one only to have it strip his rig complete with his newly brought hydro straight out of his top kit!!!!!

Dai finally managed one but it did lead him a merry dance on what appeared to be black hydro, seeming to be ever so reluctant to get it’s head up……
While Malc having finally reverted to the pole was starting to put a number of weighers on the scales.

I finally managed to get amongst a few fish by fishing tight up against the bush in about 12 inches of water over what is grass with a big lump of paste, a tactic which saw me put another 9 fish on the bank though only the last was a weigher, though I probably lost a similar number that just bolted straight through the bush.

Weigh-in time saw me end with 64lbs 8ozs for 3rd in my section and 12th on the day, not the best or worst result on a day that has frustrated many.

Taking the honours on the day was Dave “Yorkie” Moore with a new PB match weight of 150lbs……
a very popular winner as Dave is one of the few originals left that has fished  The Jinx Series since the very 1st series of matches.

Unfortunately Rolf wasn’t present for the match today as a result of having had an operation the previous day, however all our thoughts were with him for a full and speedy recovery and we look forward to seeing him fit and fully recovered on our next visit.
   
So that was it for the first match, hopefully The Minx will be in attendance on the next match at Tunnel Barn Farm so that a few of us can reclaim some £1 coins that we have merely lent her. We’ll see when we do it all again on Saturday 30th June.

Position	Peg	Angler	Weight
1st	Peg 8	Dave Moore	150lbs 10ozs
2nd	Peg 15	Ant Haywood	145lbs 04ozs
3rd	Peg 14	Roy Ravenhill	139lbs 00ozs
4th	Peg 34	Malc Doyle	135lbs 12ozs
5th	Peg 1	Brian Bevan	109lbs 12ozs
6th	Peg 9	Mark Causer	93lbs 04ozs
7th	Peg 2	Paul Roberts	81lbs 00ozs
8th	Peg 25	Nick Williams	76lbs 12ozs
9th	Peg 3	Matt Nutt	75lbs 00ozs
10th	Peg 40	Eric Robathan	72lbs 14ozs
11th	Peg 32	Colin Sharrard	66lbs 08ozs
12th	Peg 38	Peter Morton	64lbs 08ozs
13th	Peg 30	Fred Parker	62lbs 12ozs
14th	Peg 24	Steve Wilson	59lbs 00ozs
15th	Peg 6	Clive Pritchard	44lbs 12ozs
16th	Peg 22	Keith Ashby	36lbs 04ozs
17th	Peg 31	Keith F                     (Guest)	32lbs 00ozs
18th	Peg 29	Nick Jones	30lbs 08ozs
19th	Peg 13	Tim Westmoreland     (Guest)	23lbs 00ozs
20th	Peg 4	Simon Rowley	20lbs 04ozs
21st	Peg 36	Dai Thomas	17lbs 00ozs
22nd	Peg 10	Dave Collier	15lbs 00ozs
23rd	Peg 23	David Ashby	8lbs 00ozs
24th	Peg 27	Paul D                       (Guest)	5lbs 00ozs
25th	Peg 11	Geoff Eggison	4ozs
26th	Peg 7	Jeff Hollidge	DNW
27th	Peg 37	Nick Watkins-Price	DNW
28th	Peg 26	Malc Hawkins	DNW
29th	Peg29	Dirk Williams	DNW