Rolf’s Lake. Holton. Oxfordshire. July 28th-29th, 2012.

Maggotdrowning.com

Rolf’s Pairs Tournament 2012.

This weekend I’m travelling back to Rolfs Lake once more for the annual Maggotdrowning.com Rolfs Pairs Tournament. I normally fish Dave Collier’s Friday match the day before, but this year I wasn’t able to get Friday off. so it was an early start around 6am to try and avoid the Olympic road closures that would be in place. I couldn’t avoid the closures as it happened, but the early start meant very light traffic and it was just after 7·30am when I arrived at the car park at Rolfs. It was already packed as the vast majority had been there since Friday having fished Dave’s match.

As usual Dave Moore was one of the early birds and was up and about and kindly made me a coffee as we discussed the prospects for the two days to come and he filled me in on how it had fished on the Friday. All this as he tied up some fresh rigs for the day ahead, I have to say that Dave deserves a prize for his preparation as he can always be found tying up fresh rigs on the morning of a match.

As usual some were pitching tents for an overnight stay, most notably Steve Wilson who’d arrived with his latest purchase that looked more of a Big Top than a bivvie and seemed to be minus the instructions which caused some chuckles as we watched him trying to erect it……

Chatting away to Tony and a couple of the other lads I asked Tony if he was ready for the New Pairs format, and when he asked what that was I explained that a pair drew a single peg and one fished to the left and the other to the right................... the bite was spectacular till everyone's laughter gave the game away.

 

I’d decided that as I was staying for just one night I would be sleeping in the car rather than go through all the palaver of pitching a bivvie so spent a bit of time catching up with people including Paul’s wife Jayne who had come down for the weekend with their new puppy Hector……

The pleasing thing to see was just how well the lake looked, two weeks previously when I was down the banks resembled a muddy swamp in places, but a week of sun and a lot of hard work by John and his team had dried it out and got it looking good again.

By 11·30am people were assembled outside the fishery hut as the draw for the weekends pairings took place and they worked out like this ……

Dave (dave the fish) Collier & Marcus (Budgie65) Burgess
Scott (methodgob) Weston & Paul (NMLW’s) East
Nick (Neo1) Williams & Ant (antwood) Haywood
Steve (steak) Akal & Geoff (Geoff P) Palmer
Paul (The Turk) Roberts & Gem (The Minx) Doyle
Barry (Bazza C) Cullen & Dave (Paste King) Moore
Tony (spamwham) Roberts & Simon (Simple) Mound
Terry (Wily Coyote) Goff & Clive (black hydro) Pritchard
Steve (smiler) Wilson & Keith (keith74) Powell
Al (al) Loader & Simon (sidev77) Watkins
Jon (hatchye) Hatch & Peter (Mugger) Morton
Dai (dai-fish) Thomas & Malc (The Jinx) Doyle
Kevin (Kev the catch) Loveland & Dave (Webbo) Webster
Dave (drynet) Wall & Terry (Auto) Pearce

So with that done and out of the way it was time for the Day 1 draw for pegs. Jon my partner for the weekend came away with peg 35, one that sees very little use in matches and when I drew peg 10 I wasn’t to happy myself, as with peg 11 in as well I wasn’t expecting great things from it today especially as it hadn’t been fished yesterday. Collecting my kit I made my way round to my peg and on the way struck my usual side bet of a Golden Nugget with Dave Wall on peg 25 and Gem on peg 18.

Arriving at the peg I found that I had Budgie for company on peg 11 and Terry P on peg 9. More worrying for Budgie and I was the large raft of scum that was covering our pegs that was sure to make presentation difficult.

I’ve simplified my approach at Rolfs this year and today would be no different, just 3 rigs all for 5mtr lines, one straight out, another to the edge of the bush on the right hand side and the third for down the left hand margin. The first two were Nick Gilbert’s handmade 0·5g Power Pencils that were made up on 0·21 Ultima power match with size 14 Guru MWG’s to finish off with while the margin rig was a 0.3 NG Edger again on 0·21 Ultima power match straight through to a size 14 Guru MWG. Bait was a mix of 4 and 6mm fishery pellets for feed and 6, 8 and 11mm hard pellets along with some Got Baits atomic paste and corn.

With plenty of time before the All-In I went for a stroll to see how others were doing. I could see that Webbo down on peg 7 was holding court and extolling the merits of “The Feederless Feeder” to an interested audience……

Gem was setting up on peg 18 and with fiancée Simon just a couple of pegs away on peg 16 would be looking to hand out a few Minxings today……

A few had gathered round by the hut getting a last minute drink and trying to work out what the match had in store for all of us ……

The big shock came when I got round to Malc on peg 39, he had virtually all of his pole assembled, this is a sight that’s beyond rare as he just doesn’t do more than 5mtrs and that’s considered long for Malc as he’s happiest just fishing a top kit, surely he was trying to fool those around him ……

Back at my peg and with the wind blowing into us Budgie and I were resigned to fighting the scum as John called the All-In at 2pm. I had soaked down some of my feed pellets and it was these that I fed down the margin and to the end of the bush before cupping a pot of mixed pellet and corn out to 5mtrs in front and following it out with a banded 8mm. It was a slow start however with no real action, but Terry G over on peg 32 was off to a flyer with a carp straight away ……

Next up came Steve on peg 8 with a weigher of around 17lbs and when Webbo followed up a few minutes later with an 18½lb’er I was starting to fear the worst. However my float soon slipped away and after a brief struggle a common of around 7lbs was soon in the net to get me off the mark. This was soon followed by one of the bream that show more nowadays and another small carp which made me feel a lot better.

Club mate John (tutu) Holdsworth had fished yesterday and had stopped over to watch the action today and take a few pictures and he was on hand when the shout of YEEEEEESSSSSSSSS went out, Never a good sound to hear early in a match as it signifies that The Minx is off the mark and worries a lot of the other anglers around the lake ……

Simon wasn’t one of those today though as he was back on peg 16, the peg he’d had 315lbs from a couple of weeks ago and while he would be hard pushed to beat that today, he was starting to put a few fish together……

I was struggling, Terry P on peg 9 had started catching and it seemed as if he was blocking any fish from coming my way as nothing was coming from the left for either Budgie or Kev on peg 13. Dave Wall was having a bit of a hard time of it up on peg 25, he’s spent a fair few matches on that part of the lake and I was sure that he would rather have been elsewhere on the lake……

As the match wore on Terry G was still picking up the odd fish from peg 32 and Simon Watkins on peg 29 was starting to get a bit of action……

That left Scott between them on peg 31 facing a real struggle with just a couple of small silvers in his net to show for his efforts……

News was starting to filter through from the Little Lake that Ant was starting to get among a few decent fish on peg 6 while Jon on un-fancied peg 35 was also starting to find a few, as was Keith fishing the feeder down on peg 38 ……

Just after halfway through Terry P on peg 9 stopped catching and as if on cue I started catching with a couple of weighers and a bream coming my way in double quick time. A couple of foul hookers didn’t help matters but by taking my time and keeping some feed trickling in they didn’t cause to much disruption and I even managed to land one of them at 13lbs……

Budgie had managed to get in on the act as well fishing paste and although he lost a couple of foul hookers he was rewarded with an absolute belter of a Common that tipped the scales at 22lbs, a new PB for him and one I was happy to photograph……

My peg seemed to get stronger as the match drew to a close with another 5 weighers and I hooked one final fish just as John called the All-Out at 7pm which I safely landed around four minutes later.

Packing my kit away I was actually pretty happy with how my match had gone in the end after my initial misgivings before the start and felt sure I’d managed 100lbs+. I had already decided to leave my kit behind the peg tonight, not that I wanted to draw it again tomorrow, but it was just easier than taking it back to the car park.

Word was already circulating that Ant would be the one to beat as he’d had a good day on peg 6 and Webbo was looking pretty happy with his efforts from peg 7 as we made our way round to peg 34 to start the Weigh-In.

Bazza hadn’t really got to grips with peg 34 with just over 23lbs but my Pairs partner Jon had a creditable 88lbs 7ozs from 35. Nick had a mare on 37 and recorded a DNW as Keith weighed 89lbs 7ozs from 38. Malc took 66lbs 9ozs from 39……

 Paul could only manage 27lbs 2ozs from peg 1 and Dai had 52½lbs from peg 3 to edge out Geoff’s 47lbs 9oz from peg 4. Ant had indeed had a decent day recording a fine 202lbs 13ozs from 6 and Webbo managed 135lbs 6ozs on peg 7. Steak chipped in with 62lbs 15ozs from 7 and Terry P 36lbs 15ozs on peg 9. My fish came to a total of 125lbs 7ozs followed by Budgie with 66lbs 13ozs and Kev’s 18¼lbs…… 

Tony had a level 87lbs and Simon took a fine 189¾lbs. The Minx’s first fish had proved to be a solitary individual as her 9lbs 10ozs showed, leaving a lot of very relieved anglers. Al’s 65lbs 13ozs and Dave Collier’s 36lbs 15ozs led onto Paul who was only the second angler to suffer a Minxing today when he came up a couple of ounces short with just 9½lbs. Steve had 94¼lbs from peg 23 while Dave Wall managed 34½lbs from peg 25 and Dave Moore had 41lbs 9ozs from 26. Clive had 72¾lbs and Simon Watkins 47lbs. Scott had managed 3 small carp late on to avoid a Minxing with 17lbs and Terry G was last to weigh with 84lbs 3ozs.

Back at the hut the post-mortem on the days events started as we waited for the scores to be posted and I collected a Golden Nugget from Gem and Dave . Individually today Ant had taken the win, with Simon second and Webbo third. Finally the scores from the day appeared on the board and it was surprisingly close with………

……Tony and Simon leading on 10 points, just one ahead of Jon and I along with Steve and Keith tied on 11 points.

While the results were mulled over Malc returned to his peg with Liam who had a go with dad’s tackle and promptly had a carp himself……

Some decided to barbecue some food, but Dave Moore and I set off for the Harvester with Al and Keith for a meal before returning later on for a chat and a drink with the rest which was still going on when when I left them to it and climbed into my sleeping bag around 1am.

Day 2. Sunday 29th July.

At around 6·30am a sharp knock on the car window woke me from my slumbers to find Dave Moore grinning like the Cheshire Cat. It transpired that Steak had awoken early for a call of nature and as he was in situ his van had locked itself with his keys and everything else inside. Dave being Dave had decided that Steak’s misfortune was to good to keep to himself and he needed an accomplice to help with the micky taking. By pure chance the bolt on the bottom of the back door hadn’t locked, so with twenty stone of Yorkshireman (Dave) persuading it to open a bit and Terry P with a bit of wire, Steak’s keys were rescued, but it made for a fun start to the day……

With bodies rising from their various sleeping quarters a few of us decided that breakfast was called for, meaning that we ended up at The Harvester and after Webbo had played Thunderbirds and rescued Paul’s van with a jump start we were back at the lake in time for the draw which was early as we were fishing from 12 till 5pm today.

Into the draw bag for me and it’s peg 32 today, happy with that, Jon my partner had peg 13, not a good draw as Kev had struggled there yesterday and it didn’t bode well for us in the pairs but we’d try our best. So round to collect my kit and get ready. 32 is an end peg and I’d got Kevin to my right on peg 31 while Terry G was opposite me again on peg 9 with Simon Watkins on 10 and Dai on 11.

 Setting up was just a case of adjusting the depths on yesterdays rigs as I’d be concentrating on just two lines today, one at 5mtrs out to the left of peg 9 and the second over the back of the bush in the left hand margin using the same baits as yesterday.

With a bit of time to kill Dave Wall came down for a chat as he was on peg 23 today and keen to finally take a Golden Nugget back off of me, we would have to see about that later on as I fancied my chances of taking yet another yam yam Nugget today…

At Midday John signalled the All-In and after feeding some wetted down pellets over the back of the bush I fed a pot of mixed pellets and corn at 5mtrs and followed it out with a banded 6mm and after a couple of lift and drops the float buried and I was into my first carp of the day, a mirror of around 7lbs to get me off the mark.

I have to admit that I feared that fishing from 12-5pm would mean that fish would be hard to come by early on as they normally tend to feed late at this time of the year but that didn’t seem to be the case today as most seemed to pick up fish early doors. I picked up another carp, a weigher this time and the obligatory bream before a foul hooker went mental in the swim before shedding the hook and killed it for a while.

Terry G had started to get some action over on peg 9……

And Simon had got of to a good start over on peg 10 with a decent weigher but then suffered a blank period which I felt was down to the fact that he was fishing further out past the area that I’d fed yesterday ……

YEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSS had been heard from down on peg 3 and I felt that a few Minxings could be on the cards today as Gem would be determined to have a better day today……

Things were starting to look up for me again as the bites returned at 5mtrs with another couple of net fish and another weigher and although I had another couple of foul hookers they swam well clear of the swim before the rig had come flying back on both occasions. Ant had drawn peg 7 today and was enjoying a head to head with Simon over on peg 34 and looking to get one over him again ……

Malc had moved one peg to 38 today but was having no joy at all and struggling to tempt as much as a bite from there today……

while Simon had suffered a torrid start to the match with a number of fish escaping through the bush in the right hand margin of peg 34 while Clive seemed to be finding some fish on peg 35 ……

Back on the Big lake I could see Webbo up on peg 38 and today his “Feederless Feeder” hadn’t worked for him forcing him into fishing the pole and it has to be said that he didn’t look as he was having a lot of joy with that……

Looking up the car park bank it didn’t seem to be going to well for most there either…

especially Al who’d broken the tip of his pellet waggler rod and smashed a top kit as well today, meaning it was turning into an expensive weekend as he’d broken a number 5 on the Friday as well and to add insult to injury Tony was catching better from the bush between their two swims that they were both targeting. The final straw was probably Tony catching a 14lb weigher less than a minute after Al had weighed and returned it to his peg.

With a couple of hours left I took a look over the back of the bush and the float buried straight away, a weigher at 12lbs and the next 2 put ins produced fish of 13 and 14lbs. Meanwhile on peg 8 Keith was starting to catch a few as well, obviously the coaching session that he’d had with Andy May at Cudmore on Thursday was starting to pay dividends ……

With about an hour to go Kev was really struggling but a few words of advice from John Bennett saw him finally start to find some fish to save his day. I just kept alternating between my two swims which saw me catching regularly right up till the end of the match when John called the All-Out at 5pm. Packing away my kit I was happy enough with my day as I was sure that I had around 150lbs to show for my efforts and thankfully with the car so close I soon had my kit packed away before the Weigh-In started.

Simon kicked things off on peg 34 with 78lbs 10ozs followed by Clive’s 60lbs 11ozs and Steak’s 21lbs 14ozs but on 38 Malc suffered with a DNW much to daughter Gem’s delight. Steve had 34lbs 7ozs and Nick 29lbs 10ozs before Gem set The Minx Mark with a much improved 52lbs 1oz today. Terry P fell victim with 45lbs 15ozs while Scott suffered another mare on 6 with just 8lbs 5ozs. Ant had another good match with 139lbs followed by Keith with 88lbs 11ozs. Terry had 83lbs 1oz. Simon 57½lbs and Dai 42½lbs while my partner Jon took 59lbs 6ozs from peg 13 ……

Dave Collier had 37lbs 6ozs while Budgie managed a creditable 91lbs 11ozs from peg 16 while Webbo had just 34lbs 6ozs for his efforts today. Geoff had 56lbs and Bazza 12½lbs while Paul managed a slightly better 30¼lbs from peg 22 today. Dave Wall weighed in with 37lbs and Tony had won his peg to peg battle with Al by 114lbs 2ozs to 57lbs 10ozs. Paul had 44lbs and Dave Moore 37¾lbs.

Kevin mustered 27¼lbs and I was last to weigh in with a level 166lbs.

Webbo and Dave Collier retired to work out the Pairs results while the banter got into full swing around the hut. I had taken the Individual win today with Ant in second and Tony third. Ant had managed to draw level with Simps on 18 matches each in their long running duel and I collected another Golden Nugget from Dave Wall and Gem. Gem was happy enough though with 15 additions to The Minx List today including a first time entrant in Dave Wall and sweetest of all, her Dad once more.

Finally the two Dave’s returned with the all important Pairs results to be read out, and the trophies awarded by Mr Maggotdrowning himself , Dave(Webbo)Webster to the winning team of………..

 Tony Roberts & Simon Mound  

Congratulations to them both, maintaining their 1 point lead from day 1 to take victory from Jon Hatch and myself,
no complaints as they caught 30lbs more over the 2 matches to prove worthy winners, In Tony’s case for the Third Time.

Finally a few words of Thanks are due to the following people………
John, Pauline & Ollie for once again allowing us the use of their superb fishery over the weekend.
Dave Webster, for bringing us all Maggotdrowning.com and Dave Collier for organising the whole weekend.
Finally, to all those Maggotdrowners that took part, It’s you that make the weekend the success it is.

Pairs Result

Position	Pairs	Saturday	Sunday	Points	Weight
1st	Tony (spamwham) Roberts & Simon (Simple) Mound	8+2=10	3+7=10	20	469lbs 08ozs
2nd	Jon (hatchye) Hatch & Peter (Mugger) Morton	7+4=11	9+1=10	21	439lbs 04ozs
3rd	Terry (Wily Coyote) Goff & Clive (black hydro) Pritchard	9+10=19	6+8=14	33	300lbs 11ozs
4th	Steve (smiler) Wilson & Keith (keith74) Powell	5+6=11	20+5=25	36	306lbs 13ozs
5th	Al (al) Loader & Simon (sidev77) Watkins	13+17=30	10+11=21	51	222lbs 15ozs
6th	Dave (dave the fish) Collier & Marcus (Budgie65) Burgess	19+11=30	18+4=22	52	226lbs 13ozs
7th	Nick (Neo1) Williams & Ant (antwood) Haywood	28+1=29	23+2=25	54	371lbs 15ozs
8th	Steve (steak) Akal & Geoff (Geoff P) Palmer	14+16=30	25+12=37	67	188lbs 06ozs
9th	Dai (dai-fish) Thomas & Malc (The Jinx) Doyle	15+12=27	16+28=44	71	161lbs 09ozs
10th	Kevin (Kev the catch) Loveland & Dave (Webbo) Webster	24+3=27	24+21=45	72	215lbs 04ozs
11th	Dave (drynet) Wall & Terry (Auto) Pearce	21+19=40	19+14=33	73	154lbs 06ozs
12th	Paul (The Turk) Roberts & Gem (The Minx) Doyle	22+26=48	15+13=28	76	132lbs 13ozs
13th	Barry (Bazza C) Cullen & Dave (Paste King) Moore	23+18=41	26+17=43	84	115lbs 02ozs
14th	Scott (methodgob) Weston & Paul (NMLW’s) East	25+27=52	27+22=49	101	65lbs 01ozs

Saturday Individual Result

Position	Peg	Angler	Weight
1st	Peg 6	Ant (antwood) Haywood	202lbs 13ozs
2nd	Peg 16	Simon (Simple) Mound	189lbs 12ozs
3rd	Peg 7	Dave (Webbo) Webster	135lbs 06ozs
4th	Peg 10	Peter (Mugger) Morton	125lbs 07ozs
5th	Peg 23	Steve (smiler) Wilson	94lbs 04ozs
6th	Peg 38	Keith (keith74) Powell	89lbs 07ozs
7th	Peg 35	Jon (hatchye) Hatch	88lbs 07ozs
8th	Peg 14	Tony (spamwham) Roberts	87lbs 00ozs
9th	Peg 32	Terry (Wily Coyote) Goff	84lbs 03ozs
10th	Peg 28	Clive (black hydro) Pritchard	72lbs 12ozs
11th	Peg 11	Marcus (Budgie65) Burgess	66lbs 13ozs
12th	Peg 39	Malc (The Jinx) Doyle	66lbs 09ozs
13th	Peg 19	Al (al) Loader	65lbs 13ozs
14th	Peg 8	Steve (steak) Akal	62lbs 15ozs
15th	Peg 3	Dai (dai-fish) Thomas	52lbs 08ozs
16th	Peg 4	Geoff (Geoff P) Palmer	47lbs 09ozs
17th	Peg 29	Simon (sidev77) Watkins	47lbs 00ozs
18th	Peg 26	Dave (Paste King) Moore	41lbs 09ozs
19th=	Peg 20	Dave (dave the fish) Collier	36lbs 15ozs
19th=	Peg 9	Terry (Auto) Pearce	36lbs 15ozs
21st	Peg 25	Dave (drynet) Wall	34lbs 08ozs
22nd	Peg 1	Paul (The Turk) Roberts	27lbs 02ozs
23rd	Peg 34	Barry (Bazza C) Cullen	23lbs 05ozs
24th	Peg 13	Kevin (Kev the catch) Loveland	18lbs 04ozs
25th	Peg 31	Scott (methodgob) Weston	17lbs 00ozs
26th	Peg 18	Gem (The Minx) Doyle	9lbs 10ozs
27th	Peg 22	Paul (NMLW’s) East	9lbs 08ozs
28th	Peg 37	Nick (Neo1) Williams	DNW

Sunday Individual Result

Position	Peg	Angler	Weight
1st	Peg 32	Peter (Mugger) Morton	166lbs 00ozs
2nd	Peg 7	Ant (antwood) Haywood	139lbs 08ozs
3rd	Peg 25	Tony (spamwham) Roberts	114lbs 02ozs
4th	Peg 16	Marcus (Budgie65) Burgess	91lbs 11ozs
5th	Peg 8	Keith (keith74) Powell	88lbs 11ozs
6th	Peg 9	Terry (Wily Coyote) Goff	83lbs 01ozs
7th	Peg 34	Simon (Simple) Mound	78lbs 10ozs
8th	Peg 35	Clive (black hydro) Pritchard	60lbs 11ozs
9th	Peg 13	Jon (hatchye) Hatch	59lbs 06ozs
10th	Peg 26	Al (al) Loader	57lbs 10ozs
11th	Peg 10	Simon (sidev77) Watkins	57lbs 08ozs
12th	Peg 19	Geoff (Geoff P) Palmer	56lbs 00ozs
13th	Peg 3	Gem (The Minx) Doyle	52lbs 01ozs
14th	Peg 4	Terry (Auto) Pearce	45lbs 15ozs
15th	Peg 28	Paul (The Turk) Roberts	44lbs 00ozs
16th	Peg 11	Dai (dai-fish) Thomas	42lbs 08ozs
17th	Peg 29	Dave (Paste King) Moore	37lbs 12ozs
18th	Peg 14	Dave (dave the fish) Collier	37lbs 06ozs
19th	Peg 23	Dave (drynet) Wall	37lbs 00ozs
20th	Peg 39	Steve (smiler) Wilson	34lbs 07ozs
21st	Peg 18	Dave (Webbo) Webster	34lbs 06ozs
22nd	Peg 22	Paul (NMLW’s) East	30lbs 04ozs
23rd	Peg 1	Nick (Neo1) Williams	29lbs 10ozs
24th	Peg 31	Kevin (Kev the catch) Loveland	27lbs 04ozs
25th	Peg 37	Steve (steak) Akal	21lbs 14ozs
26th	Peg 20	Barry (Bazza C) Cullen	12lbs 08ozs
27th	Peg 6	Scott (methodgob) Weston	8lbs 05ozs
28th	Peg 38	Malc (The Jinx) Doyle	DNW