Rolf’s Lake. Holton. Oxfordshire. May 30th, 2009.

The JINX Series 2009

Match 1.

Well today saw 26 nutters lunatics fools anglers assembled at Rolf’s for the start of this years JINX Series. This has become a “Must Fish” series of matches for me since I started fishing it back in 2005, and with 5 rounds to the Series this year, and there’s bound to be more than a few tales to tell over the course of the matches.

I’d been looking forward to today with a fair deal of anticipation as the matches are more like great days out with a bunch of mates rather than a match, so I was up bright and early and soon had the car loaded and was off to Battersea for my customary breakfast stop. Suitably fortified by a Full English and with the sun beaming down from a gloriously blue sky it was back into the car for a smooth drive down, with a further stop at the Services for Coffee before pulling into Rolf’s car park around 10am, to be greeted by John and a few of the Welsh contingent who were already there, having stayed down for the whole week.
1st things 1st, so the nets were dipped and laid out to dry, before John filled me in with how the place had been fishing and what he’d been up to since my last visit. The most notable addition being the aerators that he’s purchased and is in the process of installing. Soon the car park started to fill up, including Simon Enticott along with Dave(Webbo) and Steve(Steak) who’d travelled down from Yorkshire to fish as guests .

 Even Malc (With Liam and Crystal in tow) was early, which was hard to get used to, especially as in a moment of madness he’d volunteered to loose his ponytail to raise money for MD’s. I’d brought my clippers with me, so at 11·30am Mugger’s Barber Shop was open for business.
Fair play to him, he didn’t cry much as his beloved ponytail escaped to freedom………

swiftly followed by the rest of his locks …………

With suitable moral support from the assembled crowd…………

Click this link to see Simon’s video of Malc losing his hair.

So with the hairdressing done for the day it was time for the draw. Into the bag and I found Peg 13 was my home for the match. I’d never fished it before, but John confirmed that it could be good, a comfy 8 mtrs out in front and down the edge to the right once the fish move in being the plan. Settling in there was plenty of time to prepare as the All-In wasn’t till 2pm. With this years JINX Series being ‘Pole Only’ setting up was reasonably easy.

A MW 0·4g XT for the 8mtr line on the deck (it’s a line through the body design that’s nice and strong)on 0·20 Power Match with a size 14 Drennan Carp Match and a MW Trev with similar line and hook for up in the water that could double up down the side, while a third rig consisting of a Malman SC paste to 0·22 Power Match with a size 12 Drennan Carp Feeder hook for paste down the Side. Bait for the day was a mix of various pellets, paste, corn and meat, with feed taken care of by 4 and 6mm fishery pellets.

It was turning into scorcher but a bit of a breeze kept things comfortable. I must admit that I would have preferred to have drawn on the Little Lake today as I’d seen plenty of fish there earlier, but with any peg capable of throwing up a decent weight I wasn’t to despondent.

So 2pm and Malc called the All-In and in a matter of seconds a scream arose from the Little Lake as Gemma netted her 1st fish of the day (and had a load of us worrying about being on the wrong end of a Minxing) Shipping out to 8mtrs with a 6mm expander on the hook followed by a handful of pellet the float settled and after about 30 seconds buried!!!!!! Fish on and a good un by the feel of it, then the rig flew back with a scale on the hook. Another handful of pellet out to 8mtrs and another down the edge before I shipped the rig out to 8mtrs once more. Again after about a minute the float buried with exactly the same outcome.


Now I’ve experienced this before at Rolf’s and it can be very hard to overcome. I altered the rig to lay a couple of inches of line on the deck and baited with double corn. Keep topping up the pellet in both swims and ship out. Nothing !!! keep lifting and dropping the rig and after around 5 minutes the float slid gently away. Lifting into it there was solid resistance but it didn’t power off like a lunatic and gentle pressure saw me soon net the fish, a scale perfect Common and a definite weigher, it went 12lbs 4ozs on the scales, a lovely way to get off the mark.

Unfortunately another 5 minutes went by without a bite. I’d seen that Tony over on peg 31 had a couple of weighers as had Paul on peg 32……

Sprucey over on peg 23 was really struggling and from what I could see hadn’t had a bite yet alone a fish……

and Ant on peg 10 to my right appeared to be in a similar boat and doing a blinding impression of a Garden Gnome ………

My reverie was broken however by the float sliding away to the depths once more, and after a spirited fight another weigher slid into the landing net, this time a Mirror of 9½lbs. Young Ryan Hughes on peg 28 (fishing his 1st Jinx match) was starting to put a few together…………

In fact most of the anglers that I could see on the car park bank seemed to be getting the odd one or two with the exception of Pete Thatcher on peg 29. Indeed, not long after he packed up and left!!!
I was still struggling with just another couple of foul hookers and a few bumped roach to show for my efforts as Malc did his customary lap of the fishery offering words of encouragement (Yeah, Right) with Liam and Crystal in tow.

I had a few fish cruising around in pairs in front of me, but despite switching to the shallow rig couldn’t interest them.
Meanwhile Terry over on peg 27 (Who was fishing his 1st Jinx Match) was getting the odd one that stretched his elastic right out ………

Malc returned with news that the Little Lake looked like the place to be today with pegs 4,6,7 and 8 all producing fish.
I had a look down the edge with the paste rig, more in hope than expectation as I hadn’t seen a single sign of a fish there, and after 30 minutes gave it up as a bad job. However there were a few shouts of encouragement from the car park bank directed towards Malc’s swim, so I decided to investigate only to find him up to his armpits in the water. A fish had snagged him in a sunken branch, and as he could feel that it was still tethered he’d gone in to free it. Well that was his excuse, I reckon he fancied a bath to go with his new haircut ………

Up on peg 19 I could see Clive (my Pairs Partner for the Series) plugging away, not the best peg on the day, but if anyone could find a few from it, Clive should be capable as he’s fished that peg more than a few times………

With nothing down the edge or up in the water I decided to concentrate at 8mtrs on the deck for the remainder of the match.
Back out with a single grain of corn on the hook, and after about 10 minutes fish no3 arrived in the form of a 6lb Common, quickly followed by another couple of foul hookers that vanished at a rate of knots towards the Little Lake.
By now Simon E was really getting into the swing of things over on peg 6 and steadily pulling away…………

Dave was making the most of having drawn noted peg 7 and was well on the way to recording his best ever match weight ………

With around an hour to go I managed 2 fish in 2 put in’s, a couple of Commons, both around the 7lb mark. However it didn’t herald the start of a great last hour as I only managed 1 more fish and that was foul hooked in the tail and fought like something twice it’s size.

Malc called the All-Out at 7pm to end what had been a frustrating match for me. As I walked my gear back to the car park it was obvious that the Big Lake hadn’t really produced the goods today, and this was born out as we made our way round with the weigh-in.

Keith Fellows on peg 34 kicked things off with the discovery that one of his nets had a large hole in it, so missing out on a certain ‘Ton’ weighing just 85lbs. Simon leapt into the lead on peg 4 with 161lbs 6ozs, though it would only prove to be good enough for 3rd as next up Simon E on peg 6 put a match winning 222¼lbs on the scales. Next up Dave(Webbo) put a new PB match weight of 138lbs on the scales from peg 7 that would only give him 4th place as it was beaten of the next peg by Al’s 162¼lbs, giving him 2nd on the day.
Nick on peg 9 managed 79¾lbs, a new PB match weight (That first ‘Jinx Ton’ can’t be far away now) while my fish came in at 46¾lbs, which if nothing else saved me a Minxing and got me a £1 off Gemma. Steve won his section with 91¼lbs from peg 16 and young Ryan won his with 96¾lbs from peg 28.

So that was it for the 1st match of the Series. Not quite the result that some of us were looking for, but I’m sure the fish are ready to spawn any day now, so hopefully when we’re back there in 2 weeks time they’ll have spawned and be ready for a proper munch. Well that’s the theory anyway, we’ll see for sure on the 13th.

Position	Peg	Angler	Weight
1st	Peg 6	Simon Enticott          (Guest)	222lbs 04ozs
2nd	Peg 8	Alan Loader	162lbs 04ozs
3rd	Peg 4	Simon Mound	161lbs 06ozs
4th	Peg 7	Dave Webster           (Guest)	138lbs 00ozs
5th	Peg 28	Ryan Hughes	96lbs 12ozs
6th	Peg 16	Steve Wilson	91lbs 04ozs
7th	Peg 34	Keith Fellows	85lbs 00ozs
8th	Peg 9	Nick Watkins-Price	79lbs 12ozs
9th	Peg 19	Clive Pritchard	75lbs 00ozs
10th	Peg 32	Paul Roberts	66lbs 12ozs
11th	Peg 31	Tony Roberts	64lbs 08ozs
12th	Peg 14	Malc Doyle	56lbs 08ozs
13th	Peg 27	Terry Goff	56lbs 04ozs
14th	Peg 2	Steve Akal                (Guest)	54lbs 04ozs
15th	Peg 38	Nick Williams	53lbs 08ozs
16th	Peg 13	Peter Morton	46lbs 12ozs
17th	Peg 17	Dai Thomas	45lbs 04ozs
18th	Peg 40	Mitch Auger	41lbs 08ozs
19th	Peg 25	Ade Williams	40lbs 12ozs
20th	Peg 21	Ieuan Davies	32lbs 08ozs
21st	Peg 18	Jon Hatch	30lbs 04ozs
22nd	Peg 36	Gemma Doyle	20lbs 08ozs
23rd	Peg 24	Dave Moore	7lbs 12ozs
24th=	Peg 23	Andy Spruce	6lbs 08ozs
24th=	Peg 10	Ant Haywood	6lbs 08ozs
26th	Peg 29	Peter Thatcher	D.N.W.

Monk Lakes. Match Lake 2. May 9th, 2009

Faye’s Match.

Organised by Maggotdrowning.comWith all proceeds going to support

Back in December last year a young lady contacted the Maggotdrowning.com website with the following appeal……………….

Dear whoever is reading this letter.

My name is Faye and I’m 19. I have been seriously ill for 7 years and am bedridden, in a wheelchair and fed by a tube. My doctors have told me that I don’t have long left now and that this will more than likely be my last Christmas. I am trying to make it special for my family so we have great memories. If you would like to find out more about my illnesses you can look at this site http://www.lovequiltsuk.com/FayeT.html . I don’t have any money to buy any nice presents for them so I was wondering if you could help out at all. If there was anything you could send me to give to my Dad who loves fishing and fish, it would mean so much to me and I would never forget your kindness. I do understand completely if you are unable to help me though.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this letter, I know you must be very busy.

Faye.

 

Needless to say the members of the forum rallied round, and you can read about the results of their efforts HERE.

Anyway Faye remarked that she would love to meet up with as many of us as possible, so Bill arranged this light hearted match down at Monks, where Faye could come down and meet us, and as a bonus we could raise a few bob for an organisation that is close to Faye’s heart Post Pals . Which is why we are down at Monk’s today.


Well Dave(Webbo)Webster had stopped overnight at my place, having travelled down from Leeds the day before to fish this match, so there were 2 loads of kit to load up as we set off around 7am in bright sunshine, and good trip down saw us pulling into the car park at Monks at around 8am. Most of the usual suspects were in attendance along with a few new faces who had travelled from further afield to support the day and the reason behind it. Various combinations of rolls and sandwiches were soon consumed by the assembled company and around 8·30 Bill got the draw underway aided and abetted by Matt.

Vince walked past having drawn peg 54, so of course being a polite sort of chap I was duty bound to draw peg 55 and did. It would give the day a little extra edge as Vince had previously suggested that the loser of todays Golden Nugget would add an extra £5 to the charity pot and he was feeling confident having done a bit of “homework” on the venue and sorted his tactics ahead of time.

Thankfully “The Management” allowed us to park up by the lake today, so our kit was quickly in place and setting up commenced. Peg 55 is a corner peg, but not one that I was particularly chuffed to have drawn, as it never seems to produce like the others.


 Setting up was pretty easy. I’d earmarked 2 pole lines, the 1st at around 7mtrs and the other down the left hand margin. The rigs were actually the 2 that I’d used previously at Mansfield’s, a 4X16 Preston Bazzerla PB19 on 0·16 to 0·14 bottom with size 16 Drennan Match Carp hook, and a smaller 4X12 Preston Bazzerla PB19 on 0·16 to 0·14 bottom with size 16 Drennan Match Carp hook. I also set up a 3AAA waggler on my Shakespeare 11ft Micro. Bait was red maggot, pellets and meat with pellet for feed.

Tony(spamwham) had remarked on my arrival, that he couldn’t believe that the lake was flat calm without a ripple on it. He should have known better, because as 10am approached I could feel the wind starting to get up and a few grey clouds coming into view. Both aerators were running that I felt would generate a tow as well……

As we waited a look down the bank to my right revealed Vince taking a photo of me (Surely this would be used in his Blog when he related how he’d battered me and finally taken the Nugget today)

So 10AM and with the breeze making things feel noticably cooler I slipped on my fleece just in time before Bill called the All-In. I potted a large cup of maggot and pellet onto the 7mtr line and a handfull of pellet into the margins……….

………while Vince fed 5 balls of groundbait onto his pole line. I shipped out 2 maggots to 7mtrs, while Vince started off on the pellet waggler.

 

The float soon slid away and the 1st fish of my day, a small Ide was soon residing in the keepnet, a couple of small skimmers soon arrived to keep it company followed by a humble Gudgeon, but alas nothing substantial.

Looking across the lake Al appeared to be into a fish every time I looked………….

and Steve(badpegpicker)Oswick opposite on peg 66 seemed to be trying to find out just how far his elastic would stretch as he was into a regular run of fish ………

NB: I must give a mention at this point to Jon(Mutley)Reed who while not fishing himself, spent the day strolling round taking photos and gave me permission to use as many as I liked for this report. Nice one Jon.

In general though, the fishing wasn’t as good as everyone was hoping for, though most were putting one or two in their nets. Although I couldn’t see from my peg, rumour had it that the far side of the causeway was proving just as hard. MD’s answer to Jan Porter, Matt Love having a bit of a grueller on a water that he knows well………

It can’t have been that bad though as I could see that Mike(Omega Mike) Jameson was still at his peg, which meant that he must have been catching something…………

Tony(spamwham)Roberts was reported as having his own “Mugger Moment©” (payback for him taking the micky when I’d had a mare in a recent club match) and was having a real struggle to find anything to add to his net…….

while Kevin(the catch)Loveland under the watchful eye of partner Jean was having a most enjoyable session, netting a regular succession of fish………

For some of the watching audience though, the excitement of the day was proving to be just too much ………

Simon Elsey was having fun on his end peg next to Al, and while not able to keep up with his catch rate was still sticking a few decent fish in his net…………

Over on peg 46 Mick the Chippy was having a fine old day, having drawn between Trevor(MT Net)Little and Clive(Black Hydro)Pritchard, he was simply fishing the feeder and regularly popping fish in the net………

In fact poor Clive was having one of those days when no matter where he looked, it seemed that everyone appeared to be catching more than him……

with Steve(jessebobs)Burgess in his pink sweatshirt to his left enjoying his first visit to Monks and finding the fish in his swim in a particularly obliging mood…………

Which is more than could be said for Vince and I. I had managed to add a solitary small Barbel from my margin swim………

while Vince converted his waggler rod over to the feeder in an attempt to put something in the net……

Indeed with the feeder seeming to produce for so many, I took mine out of it’s ready sleeve and rigged it with a maggot feeder as the pole was proving hard work for little reward, but I’d noticed that Colin on the peg to Vince’s right was starting to get a few on his feeder rod………

Further up my bank could be found Linda(mermaid)Billington, who despite claiming little or no knowledge of match fishing had turned up with a fully equipped Rive seatbox along with a sherpa in the form of hubby Chris to transport it all………………

Jay over on the causeway appeared to be making hay with a good run of fish and appeared to be giving Al a run for his money………

while Roger(upyah)Harris had started to get the odd one or two from peg 49…………

The feeder seemed to have the desired effect for Vince as he put a run of 3 Carp together, threatening me with the loss of a Golden Nugget, but by dropping a maggot feeder up against the marginal rushes to my left, I managed to keep enough Barbel coming to stay ahead………

Around about 2pm Dave T arrived with wife Liz and the young lady the day was in aid of ….. Faye, and they spent the last hour of the match touring the lake with Bill meeting the anglers.

3pm and the All-Out was called, and with Faye taking the weights down and Bill and Kevin performing the weighing duties it was soon apparent that although the weights hadn’t matched the expectations a few scalps had been taken on the day and Golden Nuggets exchanged, with Al taking the honours with a final weight of 94¾lbs for a fine win.

The final 2 to weigh were Vince and I, and for Vince it was an all too familiar story with his 13½lbs not matching my 25¼lbs meaning he waved farewell to yet another Golden Nugget.

Back to the car park for the results, and a number of the days winners generously returned their winnings to the pot, Then the fun really started with Bill removing his beard for the cause (and a few bob in the pot), only to reveal that he was actually “Razor”Ruddock in disguise !!!!

More good news followed when it was announced that Monk Lakes owner Guy Harrison was returning £5 from every £8 peg fee to add to the pot, and that the fishery staff had been round the rest of the fishery with a bucket raising over £100 on the condition that Fishery Bailiff Andy sacrificed his curls to the cause which duly happened………

  

To round things off Faye got stuck in and drew the raffle, which went down a treat with plenty of banter flying around as some improbable prizes found new homes. Bill announced that the total raised on the day was £580 and with more to come as a result of a tackle auction, a very decent effort.

Dave T made a little speech of Thanks on behalf of Faye and her whole family, and very moving it was, I’m sure I saw a tear in the corner of a few rough, tough fishermen’s eyes.
A team photo of the day to bring proceedings to a close  …….

……… before farewells were made, and we departed for homes far and wide.

A few Thank You’s are in order at this point……

Bill G who organised the whole thing and didn’t even fish, spending the day walking the banks offering help and encouragement, as well as taking the pee on the day. Well Done fella, a great effort.

Matt, Kevin, Vince and Paul for helping Bill at various points during the day, and to Jean (Kevin’s partner) for doing the business flogging the raffle tickets.

Guy Harrison, the owner of Monk Lakes and his staff at the fishery for all their help and support on the day.

Finally, all the members of Maggotdrowning.com and the anglers who attended on the day, as well as those who supported the day from afar, a very big Thank You as we couldn’t do it without your support. The day was a real success, we may just have to do it again next year.

Position	Peg	Angler	Weight
1st	Peg  57	Alan(Al)Loader	94lbs 12ozs
2nd	Peg  61	Jay Lay	81lbs 06ozs
3rd	Peg  64	R Lovewell	72lbs 08ozs
4th	Peg  66	Steve(badpegpicker)Oswick	67lbs 08ozs
5th	Peg  48	Steve(jessebobs)Burgess	62lbs 12ozs
6th	Peg  74	Kevin(the catch)Loveland	52lbs 08ozs
7th	Peg  76	Chris Withall	49lbs 12ozs
8th	Peg  46	Mick(The Chippy)Pearson	49lbs 00ozs
9th	Peg  52	Paul(nomorelongwalks)East	45lbs 00ozs
10th	Peg  56	Simon Elsey	42lbs 08ozs
11th	Peg  72	Mark(MoleMan)Hathaway	41lbs 08ozs
12th	Peg  45	Trevor(MT Net)Little	40lbs 00ozs
13th	Peg  75	Dave(Webbo)Webster	35lbs 08ozs
14th	Peg  47	Clive(BlackHydro)Pritchard	35lbs 00ozs
15th	Peg  49	Roger(upyah)Harris	32lbs 04ozs
16th	Peg  67	Brian(Croydon Angler)Gray	30lbs 14ozs
17th	Peg  70	Mike(OmegaMike)Jameson	29lbs 08ozs
18th	Peg  59	Paul(paulvis69)Slater	29lbs 02ozs
19th	Peg  68	Dave(the Fish)Collier	27lbs 10ozs
20th	Peg  55	Peter(Mugger)Morton	25lbs 04ozs
21st	Peg  50	Linda(mermaid)Billington	22lbs 00ozs
22nd	Peg  71	Matt Love	20lbs 09ozs
23rd	Peg  65	S Foot	16lbs 12ozs
24th	Peg  53	Colin(The Pike)Sharrard	15lbs 08ozs
25th	Peg  54	Vince(VinceG)Gould	13lbs 08ozs
26th	Peg  69	Tony(spamwham)Roberts	13lbs 00ozs
27th	Peg 62	Chris Billington	5lbs 04ozs