Rolf's Lake. Holton. Oxfordshire. August 18th, 2012.

The Jinx Series 2012
Match 4

It’s back down to Rolfs Lake today for the 4th match of this year’s Jinx Series . With the Series reaching its halfway point there will be a fresh draw for the sections on the final three matches today which could have a big say in deciding the outcome of the Series so there will be a few anxious anglers come draw time.

A peak out of the window today confirmed that it promised to be a scorcher today so having fed the cats and loaded the kit I made an early start. Things went horribly wrong when I reached Battersea however when I found the Café where I usually stop for breakfast closed totally throwing my pre match preparations into disarray, so back into the car and off to Rolfs with a quick stop at Asda’s for a couple of wraps to sustain me which meant that I arrived at the lake around 9am.

A few of the lads were already there having fished the Friday Night Match, and chatting to Malc it seemed that it had fished hard and the general consensus seemed to be that it was going to be more of the same today. The fresh draw for sections today seemed to have ensured that most were there in good time, however three were missing today, Dave Moore, Geoff Palmer and Ade Williams meaning they would have to take their chances on which section was drawn for them, however it did give Michael Corsini and Paul Jay the opportunity to fish today.

Meanwhile Gem had been to Asda’s and returned with Cornetto’s for all. Thanks Gem, much appreciated and it went down a treat. Next up was one of those events that you only see in a Jinx Match, Paul received The Pink Hat much to everyone's amusement with a photo being immediately posted on Facebook for Paul’s wife Jayne to see ……

So around Noon Malc called the draw. I got in early and got peg 24 in C section for my troubles. It hadn’t been fished last night so wouldn’t have had any bait, but at least it would be shaded on the car park bank for most of the match. Side bets of a Golden Nugget were struck with Neil, Gem and Michael and having collected my kit I made my way to the peg. For company in the section I had Nick Williams on peg 28 and Michael on peg 26 (fishing for Ade) while on peg 22 was Nick W-P. Opposite on peg 18 was Paul with Neil on 16 and Budgie on 14 completing C section.

The rigs today were all freshly tied and were my favourite Nick Gilbert handmade Power Pencils in 0·5g and 0·4g sizes that were made up on 0·21 Ultima power match with size 14 Guru MWG’s to finish off to cover a 5mtr line, the bottom of the slope at the end of the right hand bush and a third in front of the platform on empty peg 25. I also set up a bomb rod to fish a banded pellet out by the aerator. Bait was a mix of 4 and 6mm fishery pellets for feed with about 3 pints of them wetted down and 6, 8 and 11mm hard pellets along with some GOT Baits paste and corn for the hook.

At 2pm the All-In was called and with all three lines fed it was out to the aerator with a banded 8mm on the bomb rod to see if I could nick an early fish. It was not to be, however Paul had an early fish over on peg 18 on the pellet wag before taking a look with the pole ……

…… and it looked as if Tony down on peg 32 had some early action as well, but it was Simon on peg 8 who had got off to the best start storming into an early lead with 5 fish.

20 minutes on the bomb hadn’t produced as much as a knock for me so out to 5mtrs with a banded 8mm as there were a few signs of fish over the feed. It really wasn’t happening though for most of us in the Big Lake today and it was starting to look like it would be a real struggle for most and in fact an hour had passed when Neil called over to me asking if I’d had any bites and as I replied ‘No’ the float slid away !!!! Straight away I could feel that the fish was foul hooked as I struggled to control it, however slow steady pressure saw me prevail and finally slide a Mirror tail first over the net and at 11½lbs I was off the mark.

The next bite produced a similar result and produced an 11lb’er, but young Michael wasn’t quite so impressed as he’d suffered with a couple of foul hookers but hadn’t managed to get them into the net which led to plenty of banter between the two of us.

Over the course of the next hour or so a couple of net fish put in an appearance for me to keep things ticking over but the next bite saw a fish power off and in all honesty all I could do was hang on as this fish gave the gear a real work out. I finally managed to get a look at it after around 5 minutes, a big common which appeared to be hooked in the pectoral fin before it charged off again. Of course Michael was full of encouragement and seemed genuinely delighted when I managed to slide the landing net under it, even more so when the scales on the weigh station registered a weight of 19½lbs.

Landing the fish had taken a while though and it had ploughed through the swim wreaking havoc, so I re-fed and took a short stroll to see how others were doing. Tony was up on peg 32 and it looked like he’d had a reasonably good start to the match, but it turned out that he’d suffered with foul hookers and had lost a few fish so was now taking a look down his right hand margin ……

Simon was nowhere to be seen, but he was having such a good match that he’d gone off to get another keepnet. However Simon’s good fortune meant that he was stopping the fish coming round to peg 9 and Malc was suffering a real grueller of a match ……

Clive seemed to be suffering a similar fate on peg 10 with no fish coming round from the right and Paul Jay on peg 13 seeming to stop the fish moving round from the left as he appeared to be catching better than most on the Big Lake……

I could see that The Minx was down on peg 38, but it didn’t look it was happening for her either, though it was one of those pegs where the fish can turn up at any time, meaning she could still be a danger as the match wore on ……

Fred was trying his best on peg 34, but yet again it didn’t seem to be producing the goods today, and that seemed to be the story for most……

Back at my peg there was a bit of fizzing on the 5mtr line to offer some encouragement and the next hour and a half produced another 5 net fish to keep things ticking over for me and Nick W on peg 28 started to put a few together to put pressure on Michael who was still suffering frustrations with foul hookers.

The last hour cost me however as I just couldn’t buy a bite from any of my lines while Neil over on peg 16 started to put a run of fish together ……

and Paul added a couple of decent fish late on as well, along with Budgie getting in on the action over on peg 14 ……

7pm saw the All-Out called leaving me frustrated, as I’d hoped for a decent last hour, but it hadn’t happened and I felt that it had cost me the section, the Weigh-In would tell all though but I wasn’t feeling confident. I soon had my kit packed away and back to the car and chatting to a few of the lads it was obvious that it had been a struggle for a lot of people today.

Round to peg 34 for the Weigh-In and Fred started things off in A section with 45lbs 5ozs followed by Dai with 38lbs 11ozs. The Minx has a real struggle today and could only manage 23lbs 11ozs leaving a lot of very relieved anglers. Mat had managed a decent 90lbs 11ozs closely followed by Terry with 83lbs 5ozs, but it was Kevin who took the A section honours today taking full advantage of peg 4 not being fished with 103lbs 7ozs from peg 6. Onto the first half of B section and Steve had managed 66lbs 9ozs but had been totally eclipsed by Simon who put an excellent 225lbs 2ozs on the scales. Malc’s day didn’t get any better either, his 22lbs 10ozs meaning that daughter Gem added him to The Minx List again. Clive managed 27lbs 1oz but Paul Jay took 126lbs 3ozs from peg 13 to complete the first part of B section. C section saw Budgie weigh 61lbs 10ozs and Neil recorded 91lbs 3ozs only to be edged out by Paul and The Pink Hat with 95lbs 4ozs. Round on peg 22 Nick W-P put 25lbs 9ozs on the scales and at least avoided a Minxing, while my fish came to 81½lbs. Michael weighed 43¼lbs and Nick W put 68lbs 10ozs on the scales to complete C section. Dave C recorded 34lbs 15ozs from peg 30 and Tony was last to weigh with 99¼lbs to complete B section.

Once more it was back to the hut for the results and the winner today by the proverbial country mile was Simon for the second Jinx Match on the trot with Paul Jay in second and third going to Kevin. The section winners were Kevin, Simon, and Paul Roberts.
The Minx claimed just 1 victim today, her Dad (The Jinx) for the second Jinx Match running guaranteeing that he’ll be wearing it on the next match, and while I collected a Golden Nugget from Michael and Gem, I had to hand one over to Neil.

The penultimate match is on September 22nd, and it’s all still to play for in the Series. Can Simon make it three wins in a row? we’ll see on the day.

Overall Result

Position	Peg	Angler		Weight
1st	Peg 8	Simon Mound		225lbs 02ozs
2nd	Peg 13	Paul Jay	Guest	126lbs 03ozs
3rd	Peg 6	Kevin Loveland		103lbs 07ozs
4th	Peg 32	Tony Roberts		99lbs 04ozs
5th	Peg 18	Paul Roberts		95lbs 04ozs
6th	Peg 16	Neil Riddy		91lbs 03ozs
7th	Peg 40	Mat Edwards		90lbs 11ozs
8th	Peg 2	Terry Goff		83lbs 05ozs
9th	Peg 24	Peter Morton		81lbs 08ozs
10th	Peg 28	Nick Williams		68lbs 10ozs
11th	Peg 7	Steve Wilson		66lbs 09ozs
12th	Peg 14	Marcus Burgess		61lbs 10ozs
13th	Peg 34	Fred Parker		45lbs 05ozs
14th	Peg 26	Michael Corsini	Guest	43lbs 04ozs
15th	Peg 36	Dai Thomas		38lbs 11ozs
16th	Peg 30	Dave Collier		34lbs 15ozs
17th	Peg 10	Clive Pritchard		27lbs 01ozs
18th	Peg 22	Nick Watkins-Price		25lbs 09ozs
19th	Peg 38	Gem (The Minx) Doyle		23lbs 11ozs
20th	Peg 9	Malc (The Jinx) Doyle		22lbs 10ozs

Names in Pink are those that were “MINXED”

A Section

Position	Peg	Angler	Weight	Points
1st	Peg 6	Kevin Loveland	103lbs 07ozs	1
2nd	Peg 40	Mat Edwards	90lbs 11ozs	2
3rd	Peg 2	Terry Goff	83lbs 05ozs	3
4th	Peg 34	Fred Parker	45lbs 05ozs	4
5th	Peg 36	Dai Thomas	38lbs 11ozs	5
6th	Peg 38	Gem (The Minx) Doyle	23lbs 11ozs	6

B Section

Position	Peg	Angler	Weight	Points
1st	Peg 8	Simon Mound	225lbs 02ozs	1
2nd	Peg 13	Paul Jay	126lbs 03ozs	Guest
3rd	Peg 32	Tony Roberts	99lbs 04ozs	2
4th	Peg 7	Steve Wilson	66lbs 09ozs	3
5th	Peg 30	Dave Collier	34lbs 15ozs	4
6th	Peg 10	Clive Pritchard	27lbs 01ozs	5
7th	Peg 9	Malc (The Jinx) Doyle	22lbs 10ozs	6

C Section

Position	Peg	Angler	Weight	Points
1st	Peg 18	Paul Roberts	95lbs 04ozs	1
2nd=	Peg 16	Neil Riddy	91lbs 03ozs	2
2nd=	Peg 24	Peter Morton	81lbs 08ozs	3
4th	Peg 28	Nick Williams	68lbs 10ozs	4
5th	Peg 14	Marcus Burgess	61lbs 10ozs	5
6th	Peg 26	Michael Corsini	43lbs 04ozs	Guest
7th	Peg 22	Nick Watkins-Price	25lbs 09ozs	6

 

Hartleylands Farm Fishery. The Reservoir. August 11th, 2012.

Marsh AC club match.

I’m off down to Hartleylands Farm just outside the village of Cranbrook in Kent today for the seventh match of the Marsh AC year. It’s a match that I really look forward to fishing as it’s one of my favorite  waters with the potential for a cracking days sport. An early start was in order as I was meeting a few of the lads for breakfast at The Knoxbridge Café and with the promise of some decent weather for today it didn’t take long to get the gear loaded into the car and set off.

A nice smooth drive down saw me pulling into the car park at around 7·30am just as Al and Keith Powell who was guesting today arrived. Kevin and Jean were already there along with Keith and Mick who’d made their usual trip down from Milton Keynes and Rusty who was also guesting today and we were soon joined by John, Martin and Zack. With the pangs of hunger taken care of by a Knoxbridge Special it was time to get up to the fishery for the draw, but not before Keith Powell noticed Keith’s wallet that had dropped on the floor by his seat and phoned him to let him know he had it.

Arriving at the draw most of the usual suspects were in attendance along with our third guest today Mick the Chippy who I struck a side bet of a Golden Nugget with as usual. Dave soon had the monies collected and the draw underway. Peg 25 proved to be mine today, a short stroll from the car park and shaded by trees. Kev had peg 29 and it looked good for a few today while Mick the Chippy was next up on 28 with Rusty to my left on 26 and Mick W next up on peg 23.

Settling into the peg it was time to decide how to approach it. I’d considered fishing the pellet wag today but with the wind blowing from right to left across the peg it was going to be very awkward, so although I set one up I was pretty sure that it wasn’t going to figure. Instead it was going to be 3 pole rigs, one at 5mtrs straight out with another for the willow to my right and a third for the left hand willow. The first two were once again 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 third rig was a 0.3 NG Edger again on 0·21 Ultima power match straight through to a size 14 Guru MWG. Bait was 4 and 6mm pellet for feed along with some hemp while hook bait would be 8mm hard pellet with some GOT Atomic paste if I needed it.

Kev provided a cup of coffee courtesy of Jean when he popped down for a chat and Dave called the All-In at 10am and I fed a couple of handfuls of hemp and pellets to the two willow swims and a handful of pellet straight out at 5mtrs before following them out with a banded 8mm to 5mtrs. I could hear that Rusty was in almost straight away but I was being plagued by sharp bites that I couldn’t connect with and I suspected that these were from roach snatching at the 8mm pellet and this was confirmed when I landed one of around 6ozs that had somehow managed to engulf the pellet.

Thankfully my first carp of the day was soon on its way, the carp in the reservoir give a good account of themselves with the deep water encouraging them to keep their heads down and making you work to get their heads up and into the net but after a spirited fight a nice mirror of around 7lbs was safely in the keepnet.

You couldn’t class the sport as fast and furious though and the general banter around the lake made it obvious that most were struggling after around an hour, apart that is from Kev who was into a steady run of fish and Mick the Chippy if the rumours were to be believed. I was picking up the odd carp on my 5mtr line but looks over at both willow swims were producing nothing apart from the odd roach and skimmer. Rusty had taken a few carp fishing shallow but they weren’t really having it either and gradually faded away.

By 12·30pm I had around 6 carp and a few silvers to show for my efforts so took a little stroll to see how others were doing on my bank. Mick W reckoned that he’d had a few but seemed to be doing OK to me judging by the amount of elastic coming from his top two as he played a carp and it was obvious that he had hopes of taking the MK Nugget from Keith today……

but the pegs in the early twenties didn’t seem to be producing as I would have expected them to. However over on the other side the one person that did seem to be getting among a few was Terry and with the wind blowing into the margins there I fancied that he had the chance of a good weight on the cards today ……

Back down on peg 29 Kev was enjoying himself taking a succession of fish from under the willow to his left……

Mick was enjoying himself as always but had suffered with a few lost fish in the course of the morning and looking to up his catch rate ……

and while Rusty was his usual jovial self, with his shallow line having dried up was looking to explore other lines in an effort to put a few more in the net……

Back at my peg it was just a question of keeping some feed trickling into the three lines and waiting for some fish to turn up, which I was certain would happen at some point given the head of fish present in the water. Dave the Fish popped round for a stroll and it obviously wasn’t going well for him and you could sense his frustration with not being able to get to grips with things today.

As the afternoon wore on things did start picking up for me. I had to rotate round the three lines, but by doing this I started to pick up carp on a regular basis, nothing big, most were around the 4-5lbs mark but good weight builders if you can keep them coming.

Others weren’t so fortunate and I could hear Al bemoaning the fact that he couldn’t reach the spot where he felt the fish were in his swim ……

Things had picked up a bit for Tony, but he’d still found time to pop along and check out what Keith Powell was doing on peg 13 as it was obviously starting to produce for him ……

Keith was having one of those matches that we all dread, putting a few fish together but having to watch travelling companion Mick W catching just a few more which would surely result in the loss of an MK Nugget today……

My afternoon was then rudely interrupted by a pain in the neck .......... I’d been stung by a bee. Fortunately Rusty came to my aid and removed the sting with the aid of a pair of styl pliers, ad hoc surgery at its finest which allowed me to resume fishing again.

Things seemed to pick up for most as the match drew to a close, unfortunately not for Dave who had to suffer more frustration as Tony on the next peg found a late run of fish to save his day while Dave got seen off by a couple of foul hookers.

The All-Out was called at 4pm and with a set of scales on our side Kevin and I decided to get the weigh-in underway before packing up. We started with Rod on peg 19 who put 26½lbs on the scales followed by Simon with 79½lbs. Next up was Graham with 33lbs and Chris with 36¾lbs. Mick W recorded 94¾lbs and my 19 carp with a few silvers weighed 114½lbs. Rusty had managed 96¾lbs but Mick the Chippy had suffered a frustrating second half to his match with just 36½lbs meaning a Golden Nugget was coming my way. Finally Kevin put his fish onto the scales and recorded 132½lbs and a new PB Match Weight……

Time to pack away the kit and get back to the car park where Dave worked out the results and sorted out the section money. First today was Terry with a fine 163½lbs, Kevin had secured second place and I had finished in third.
Today’s sections had gone to Al, Terry, Mick W and Kevin to bring an enjoyable day to a close.

The next club match is at Colemans Cottage on September 15th, but we also have a midweek match at Alders Farm a couple of days before that which Keith has kindly organised for us, so plenty to look forward to.

 

Position	Peg	Angler		Weight
1st	Peg 15	Terry Goff		163lbs 08ozs
2nd	Peg 29	Kevin Loveland		132lbs 08ozs
3rd	Peg 25	Peter Morton		114lbs 08ozs
4th	Peg 13	Keith Powell	Guest	106lbs 00ozs
5th	Peg 26	Russell Graves	Guest	96lbs 12ozs
6th	Peg 23	Mick Wright		94lbs 12ozs
7th	Peg 20	Simon Watkins		79lbs 08ozs
8th	Peg 16	Zack Johnson		76lbs 04ozs
9th	Peg 9	Tony Roberts		75lbs 08ozs
10th	Peg 1	Al Loader		75lbs 00ozs
11th	Peg 11	Keith Ashby		68lbs 04ozs
12th	Peg 7	Clive Pritchard		64lbs 12ozs
13th	Peg 5	John Holdsworth		40lbs 12ozs
14th	Peg 22	Chris Withall		36lbs 12ozs
15th	Peg 28	Mick Pearson	Guest	36lbs 08ozs
16th	Peg 21	Graham Manning		33lbs 00ozs
17th	Peg 4	Martin Hucker		27lbs 12ozs
18th	Peg 19	Rod Turner		26lbs 08ozs
19th	Peg 8	Dave Collier		22lbs 12ozs