Marsh Angling Club

Last week I received a message from Dave Collier offering me a guest place for the Marsh AC match at Rockells farm

Rockells is a place I have wanted to fish for a long time as it throws big weights up and the fishing is my sort of fishing ie margin and top2 for big Carp what could be better

It's a fair drive from my place to Rockells it shows up at just over 2 hours on the sat nav but it's half way round the M25 and that road can be a nightmare at times the fishery is also in the middle of no where so hopefully the sat nav will get me there

I was up at 5.30am to load the car and set off at 6am as the draw wasn't till 8.30am that gave me two and a half hours to get there

The drive down was quite un-eventful and the sat nav took me straight there without a hitch and I pulled into the car park at just gone 8am seeing the lake for the first time it looked fantastic and well looked after and reminded me a lot of Court farm at Aldermaston with the mature trees and over hanging willows etc

The other Marsh anglers soon started arriving along with another 3 invited guests who were Al and Keith who I have fished with before and Keith's travelling partner Vic

Al brightened my day up as he had turned up in a nice white T shirt well it was when his wife sent him on his way this morning but unfortunately Al had stopped for an egg and bacon roll on the way down and in his hurry to eat it he didn't take the time to check it wasn't armed  and as usually happens in these situations the first bite detonated the egg and it exploded out the side and all over Al's white shirt leaving him with egg on his face and just about every where else too  which left poor Al the butt of a fair few jokes  still it kept us laughing till the draw

At the draw I pulled peg 10 out of the bag from all the information I had been able to gather about Rockells it appeared that the flyers were pegs 1,2 and 3 and the other pegs up at that end of the lake fished better too so 10 didn't seem to be such a good draw

But Vic told me that he had fished peg 10 a couple of years ago and had  200lb fishing the bush right next to the platform and that when he and Keith were pegging the lake this morning peg 10 was alive with fish

So I took off round to my peg with an expectant urgency

As I approached I could see a lot of fish all around the platform on peg 9 but when the guy that was fishing 9 arrived they soon disappeared but it was looking promising

Reading Peter's blog entry from last year I had already decided on my plan of attack today before I even left home and that was I intended to fish paste in the margins and feed pellet and hemp so I had 6 pints of 4mm Sketterings feed pellets 6 pints of hemp and 6 pints of paste

Following Vic's advice I decided to just concentrate on the bush in my right hand margin and set up a paste rig to fish tight into the bush and another to fish about 2 foot out from the bush were I had slightly deeper water I also set up an up in the water rig just in case the fish came up in the water

Once I had my rigs set up I found I had a bit of time on my hands and got tempted by the tree to my left so plumbed up a swim tight to the over hanging tree which was at 7m and decided to try that swim first to give the margin time to get going

Today is something a bit new for me as we are fishing for 3 hours then weighing in then fishing for another 3 hours so really it's going to be two 3 hour matches which will be a bit strange as I usually fish 5 hour matches

Terry setting up on peg 16

10am and Dave blew the whistle for the all in I put a pot of pellet and a pot of hemp under the bush and a pot of pellet out at 7m by the overhanging tree then went out on the 7m line with a 6mm soft hooker pellet on the hook as I was shipping out I could see Peter across the other side of the lake on peg 17 playing a fish already  I could also hear a lot of splashing coming from up above me around Dave's peg so it looked like the fish were having it

Well they weren't in my swim after about 10 min's I had my first bite and it was a dinky little pastie Carp that would struggle to make 4ozs  and to be honest it wasn't really much of a match for my red hydro I had a few more fish of the same size and I lost a lot that I bumped off I then managed to hook the tree and pulling it out my rig pinged back and tied itself in a thousand knots around the tip of my top kit  

This was turning into a nightmare  1/2 an hour gone and all had to show for my effort was about 1lb of fish in the net

I'd been feeding the bush all the time I was fishing the 7m swim and decided that now was the time to give it a go and catch some of these Rockell monsters

So on with a large lump of paste and I dropped it tight into the bush and sure enough no sooner had the float settled it dipped under and a 2oz pastie hurtled out of the water briefly attached to my red hydro as I struck  before it bumped off

From then on the day turned into a bit of a blur for me  the next thing I knew the whistle was blowing for the half way weigh in I had next to nothing in the net I had loosened off my elastic to try and stop bumping of these poxy little fish but through out the whole 3 hours I had only had 3 or 4 fish that needed netting all the rest I had swung in to hand  and if I'm honest I had no idea what sort of weight I had but reckoned I would be lucky to have 10lb

I set off round to help with the weigh in Peter had indeed had a good morning and lead the way right round the lake with 120lbs until we got round to pegs 1,2 and 3 where Keith put 148lbs on the scales followed by Vic with 133lbs the Martin took the lead with a fine 180lbs from peg 3

My weight turned out to be slightly better than I had expected but was still abysmal compared to some of the other weights as I only managed 22lbs

Having a mare in Essex

Peter getting ready for the afternoon session

back on my peg before the restart I removed my tangled rig from the top2

And plumbed up another swim in the margin tight to my left next to the brambles

And on the all in I fed both margin swims and then set off back on paste in the swim to my right and it was business as usual with 4 oz pastie Carp hitting the bait as soon as it settled and the only difference from this morning was that I was getting the same stamp of fish from the other margin too  and the day went all blurry again I did manage a few decent Carp of around 2lb in the last hour but the vast majority of fish again I could swing in  thankfully the whistle went and put an end to my misery

I'd had a better afternoon but still had next to nothing in the net compared to most of the people that I could see

I went round and helped with the weigh in but I must admit my heart wasn't really in it as there's nothing worse than weighing in loads of fish when you have had a right mare of a day

But Martin, Keith and Peter all had fantastic afternoons with 200lb+ weights in 3 hours and there were another 4 weights all over 100lb

I managed 52lb to give a total of 74lb for the day

Martin won the match with a fantastic 383lb  beating Keith who had 382lb by 1lb

Peter improved his personal best with a fine 330lb for 3rd place

1 strange thing is though usually when I've had a bad day on the way home or the days following you think about things you did wrong or things you should have tried but my visit to Rockells is all a bit of a blur

There just seem to be a lot of bad days this year

Anyone know how much a hand transplant costs ?

Anyway thanks to Dave and the guys and gals from Marsh AC for inviting me down for the day  and I look forward to next 1

Maggotdrowners 

Individual Championship

                2009

 This years Championships are being held at Larford lakes in Worcestershire

We are on the match lake this year and have the whole lake booked which is 80 or so pegs but with only 38 people turning up we should have a fair bit of room

I decided to get to the fishery early this time as last time we were here on the Specimen lake when I arrived the car park was chock a block as was the cafe

So I was up at 5.30am and on the road with the car loaded by 6am for the 2 hour drive up to Larford as the draw is not until 9.30am I should have plenty of time to dip my nets and have a spot of breakie

The sat nav was spot on again and I pulled into the car park at 8am on the dot

Then drove right through and out the other side as the damned car park was full  so I ended up parking along the track behind the match lake

Vince arrived just in front of me and as we walked back to the cafe we met up with Peter and went in for a breakie

Soon all the maggotdrowners started to arrive and we met up with some old friends from other Md's matches and a few I haven't seen since last years indies and a few new members who I hadn't met before and it's always nice to be able to put a face to a name

Soon the banter and piss taking got into full swing as we waited for the draw  spotting Simon(me) I happened to mention that if he was fishing at least I wouldn't be last today as he has a bit of a reputation of fishing a lake stuffed full of Carp and only managing to catch either tiny Gudgoen or the smallest Perch in the lake

Bit a brash comment to make as with my luck at the draw bag recently and the eerie way my pre match comments seem to come back and bite me in the bum at the moment  but who knows today may be different

Never having fished the match lake before I new very little about it so my drawing hand had free reign and no instructions and to be honest the sun was shining the lake looked ok I was in good company what damage could it cause today ?

Well at the draw I pulled peg 41 out which looked to be on the near bank just up past the island and as I was parked half way along the track any way it was a shortish walk so a bit of a result

First thing I noticed was the lack of platforms  in every vidieo I have watched about Larford they have been fishing off nice wooden platforms

All I had was a manky bit of crumbly bank which seemed to consist of red sand

Even worse was the lack of depth for keep nets  I'd hate to catch a big weight of fish from here as the most I managed to sink was 2 rings on 1 net and the other 2 nets were just about all the rings out of the water  

It just doesn't make sense to me if they can dig the other bank deeper then why not dig this bank the same? at least in front of the peg to give some depth for keep nets

Ah well at least the peg looks ok with some nice lily pads to my left

And also some to my right

And I also had a chuck to the island with a nice bush on the end

So my plan of attack today is to fish 1 line out in front at 7m

I line tight to the lilies to my left also at 7m

Another tight to the lilies to my right also at 7m

All 3 swims were about the same depth which was about 3ft 6in and a quick plumb out at 11.5m also found the same depth of water

For rigs I set up 1 rig to cover both lily pad swims which consisted of a Jon Walker 0.3g diamond on 0.18mm Silstar with a size 12 B911 hook tied direct

For the 7m and 11.5m swims out in front I had again a Jon Walker 0.3g diamond on 0.16 Silstar with a size 16 B911 tied direct

I also set up a paste rig to fish out in front at 7m which consisted of a Malman self cocking paste float on 0.18mm Silstar with a size 12 B911 hook tied direct

I also set up the feeder to chuck across to the island

And also the waggler rod just in case

So that was me all set up and ready for the off

Looking along the bank to my left as I took the pictures of my swim for the blog I noticed that a jeering crowd had formed and were trying to attract my attention

And the worrying part about it was the fact that the Minx was part of the crowd and she was looking quietly confident  could this be a second Minxing in 2 weeks

11am arrived and as Malc had been voted the loudest gob on the complex he was given the job of shouting the all in

I filled my pot with 4mm pellets and was just shipping it out to the 7m swim when I heard the Minx scream as she netted her first fish of the day  the next sound I heard was a bit harder to make out but it was either the sound of a lot of hearts sinking or it was 37 chins hitting the floor  I put a pot of pellets into each swim then decided to start out at 11.5m with a 6mm soft hooker pellet on the hook and I had a bite instantly but the fish bumped off on the way in this happened about 6 times before I eventually managed to land my first fish which was a common of around 1lb every time I fed now I had fish swirling on the surface so I decided that the fish must be shallow today so I slipped a shallow rig on and wasted about 30 min's trying to catch a fish shallow but no mater what depth I set the float or what bait they just weren't having it so with an hour gone I had 1 fish in the net

I swapped to the 7m line and went back on the deck with a 6mm soft hooker on the hook and in the next hour all I managed were 3 or 4 small Carp

Vince over the other side for the bay from me hooked and eventually landed a decent fish which looked to be a small double

So things were looking bad as all I had to show was about 2lb of fish

I did manage to hook 1 slightly better fish when Peter came round for a chat which went for about 2lb

But on the whole I was still plagued with loosing fish the float would sail under I'd strike feel the fish the elastic would start to come out then snap back in

I gave the shallow rig another shot on the 7m line as the fish were still swirling on the surface every time I fed but all I managed to do was foul hook a decent fish in the tail which eventually managed to snag me in the lilies to my right

Malc came past on his way back from the club house and told me most people were sacking up below me  thanks Malc!! he also then went on to tell me how great his peg was and that he was catching well some visitors you could do without

I decided to go for a walk and take a few photos of Peter for his blog

And I was most annoyed delighted to see him hook a fish as I was stood there

Which turned out to be a decent looking F1

I went along to the next peg to have a chat with Tony but he was also catching well so I resisted the urge to stamp on his pole section  and headed back to my swim

I decided to chuck the feeder across to the island and see if I could snag a decent fish and after 20 min's and 1 missed bite I eventually hooked a fish and soon had another F1 of about 2lb in the net but it was such a long wait for the bite that as time was getting on I decided to just concentrate on the margin swim to my left

and for the rest of the match I just sat it out with an 6mm hard pellet banded on the hook I managed to get 8 more fish in the net and I lost a couple of lumps both of which bottomed out my elastic as they tore off to the island before the hook pulled  and as with the rest of the day I had countless fish bump off either on the strike or on the way in to the net

Just to make me feel better it poured with rain for the last 20 min's or so just enough to get us and all our gear soaked for the drive home

At 4pm Malc called the all out and that was the individuals over for this year

By the time I had all my gear packed away the scales arrived and my fish went for 19lb 3oz to be honest it was more than I thought I had

Tony had a fine 96lb which gave him 3rd overall in the match  and Peter put a reasonable 50lb on the scales

Malc despite his walk round the lake managed to weigh in 89lb for 4th overall

Steve Ford won the match with a fine 116lb from peg 65

After the weigh in it was back to the cafe for the results then a buffet that was arranged by Vince and a raffle which was in aid of the British Heart Foundation and we managed to raise £200 on the day mainly thanks to Bucko's good lady who sold the tickets

All in all I enjoyed the day as it's always good to meet up with the maggotdrowners and always a good laugh

On the fishing front looking at the results the bay I was drawn in from my peg 41 round to Simon on 53 fished really hard and the weights were well down on the rest of the lake but it was still better than last year at the place that can't be named

On a slightly brighter note I escaped a Minxing today  as Gemma had a bit of a mare too

And as usual my pre match comment about beating Simon(Me) came back and bit me in the bum as he beat me by 4lb

Big thanks to Vince for running the match in his usual efficient manner   and roll on next year

The Jinx Series

 The Jinx Series 2009

Match 2

Well the sun is shining there's no wind and it's lovely and warm and I'm on my way to Rolfs in Oxfordshire for round 2 of the 2009 Jinx series Happy Days

After the gruller last week just being here with the sun on your back is a bonus but I have to say the lake is looking in top form but word round the lake suggests it fished very hard on the Wednesday match so it could go either way today

All the Jinxers started to arrive for the 12 noon draw which looks like going ahead on time yet again (Jon Hatch must be getting worried by now )

Webbo and Steak are back down to fish as guests again this round (Webbo must have found a wallet or something  as I can't believe he is paying for all that petrol himself )

Waiting for the draw we were chatting as usual about which pegs we fancied for today as usual I had instructed my drawing hand to grab peg 4 for me but as long as I was in the little lake I'd be happy the one place I mentioned that I didn't want to draw was peg 23

So you can imagine the surprise as I opened the traitor attached to my left wrist to find peg 23 peeking back at me

As I unloaded the car Peter my pairs partner offered to slam my drawing hand in car door for me to teach it a lesson but I declined his kind offer as I have a rather dirty drain at home that needs unblocking and after this latest atrocity I know who is going down to unblock it

Peter had drawn peg 13 again and after struggling on it in the first round wasn't looking forward to it again today  looks like we won't be bothering the top spot for the title this year the way we are drawing at the moment

Any way I got all my gear along the bank to peg 23

It actually looks like a nice peg and when the fish are having it fishes it's nuts off

And with a bush either side I shall be spoilt for margin swims especially as there is no one on peg 24  Christ it almost sounds like I am happy to be at peg 23

For company on peg 22 I had Tony who like me would rather be any where rather than the 20's

And the other side on peg 25 was Fred who surprise surprise wasn't too impressed with his draw either

But this is Rolfs and any thing can happen  that's why we keep on coming back!

My plan today is to fish 2 lines out in front at 7m 1 for paste and the other for pellet/corn on the deck

Another tight to the bush on my left

One on the bush to my right

And I have also set up a shallow rig as it looks like a lot of the fish are up in the water

So that's me all sorted and time to take a pics

Looking across the lake on peg 14 I can see Gemma lets hope I'm not in for a Minxing today

But with the Jinx himself 2 pegs away on peg 20 who knows what bad luck will spread round to me

On the whistle I shipped a pot of pellets into each swim then went out over the 7m line with a 6mm soft hooker pellet on a size 16 B911 hook tied direct to 0.20mm Silstar line under a 0.3g Jon Walker Diamond float set to fish at dead depth I threw a handful of pellets over the top and lifted the float and let it settle I was just about to lift it again when it shot under and I was into a fish  30 secs gone and I've got a fish on perhaps this is going to be a good day after all  the fish didn't feel too big and I soon got it to the surface and saw it was only about 5lb so I gave it a bit of stick to try and get it in the net a bit quicker and lo and behold the hook pulled  what a plonker!! I've been all through this before with bullying fish and loosing them at the net looks like the lesson is still not learnt

Ah well on with another pellet and back out hopefully there will be more fish waiting

We then had a bit of excitement as Tony on peg 22 dropped his glasses into the lake  and not needing an invite Malc was round in a flash and into the water to try and find them for him

2 bite less hours later

Peter came round for a walk as he was having another mare on peg 13 with only 1 fish to his name and and a couple of lost foul hookers and took a still life memento of me suffering on peg 23

By now I had tried every bait I had with me I'd been up in the water on the deck in the margins and not had the slightest indication from anywhere so now I was pinning my hopes on the margin swims

1 bite less hour later

Back out in front with a soft hooker on the hook yet again

From what I could see I was about the only 1 in the section that hadn't caught a fish yet and even worse Gemma was landing fish at will  well sort of she had at least 2 in the net and a 15lber on the board and a Minxing was looking on the cards

Jon over on peg 17 was catching well as was Steve Wilson on peg 15 as word from the walkers has it the little lake is fishing hard too so either Jon or Steve could be heading for top spot today

While I was pondering this my float shot under and for the second time today I was attached to 1 of Rolfs finest this fish felt a decent 1 so I gingerly played it until it was ready for the net and after what seemed like a life time I eventually slid the net under a nice common that went 15lb on the scales  so at long last I was off the mark

I went for a walk along the bank to give the swim a chance to settle and also to get a photo of Peter on peg 13 for his blog

I also caught Dave (The fish) expressing the way most of us felt today

With only an hour left I decided to see if there was any action in the margins as the 7m line had dried up after my 1 and only fish so I went into the left hand margin with a cube of meat on a size 12 B911 hook tied direct to 0.20mm Silstar under a 4x14 Malman Thicko set to fish on the deck I moved the bait about 2 foot away from the bush lifting and dropping  and after 10 min's of working the bait the float suddenly shot under and I was in again this was a smaller fish of around 6lb and I soon had it in the net without to much drama

Half an hour left now and I can't buy a bite again Jon and Steve are both still catching and from the sound of it Malc is catching now too but Tony ,Fred and my self are staring down the barrel of a Minxing  and to make it worse the Minx had just landed another fish

Just as Malc called the all out my float buried and hydro shot out "FISH ON" I played it for about 5 min's again it was only a smallish fish of about 6lb and for some reason I decided to give it a bit of stick to get it in a bit quick (sound familiar ?) yep what a plonker  some people never learn and yet again the hook pulled  

And as I stood there speechless at my own stupidity I heard Tony say in the background "That about sums your day up" and so it did  started the day off fishing like a plonker and ended it fishing like 1 too

Ah well I packed my gear away and set off round to help with the weigh in

Al had a decent day off the peg I struggled on last week with 74lb off peg 38 Webbo drew another decent peg this week and made his long drive down worth while with 94lb off peg 6 but on the whole the weights were down all round with the only 2 weights over a ton coming from Jon on peg 17 who had a fine 104lb for 1st place overall  and Steve on peg 15 with 101lb for 2nd place  I only managed 21lb from peg 23 which left me well and truly Minxed along with 12 other poor souls Well done Gemma  I told you today was going to be a good day for you

Position	Name	Peg	Weight	Section points
1st	Jon Hatch	17	104lbs 12ozs	1
2nd	Steve Wilson	15	101lbs 00ozs	2
3rd	Dave Webster	6	94lbs 12ozs	Guest
4th	Simon Enticott	29	93lbs 00ozs	1
5th	Keith Fellows	7	77lbs 04ozs	1
6th	Al Loader	38	74lbs 12ozs	2
7th	Mitch Auger	32	60lbs 00ozs	2
8th	Terry Goff	4	56lbs 12ozs	3
9th	Steve Akal	40	56lbs 04ozs	Guest
10th	Ade Williams	37	55lbs 00ozs	4
10th	Dave Collier	28	55lbs 00ozs	3
12th	Ant Haywood	34	43lbs 08ozs	5
13th	Ryan Hughes	2	40lbs 12ozs	6
14th	Andy Spruce	9	36lbs 00ozs	3
15th	Gemma Doyle	14	33lbs 02ozs	4
16th	Nick Williams	8	33lbs 00ozs	7
17th	Dave Moore	10	32lbs 08ozs	5
18th	Malc Doyle	20	31lbs 12ozs	4
19th	Pete Morton	13	24lbs 08ozs	6
19th	Fred Parker	25	24lbs 08ozs	5
21st	Clive Pritchard	23	21lbs 04ozs	6
22nd	Paul Roberts	31	19lbs 08ozs	7
23rd	Tony Roberts	22	18lbs 00ozs	8
24th	Nick W-P	19	14lbs 08ozs	7
25th	Dai Thomas	11	7lbs 08ozs	8
26th	Tim Westmoorland	26	2lbs 00ozs	9
27th	Ieuan Davies	18	DNW	9
28th	Simon Mound	35	DNW	9
	= minxed

Well thats round 2 over even with the poor fishing it was still a good day out in good company at a fantastic venue

Roll on round 3 - my luck has to change soon

Next week I'm off to fish the Maggotdrowners Championships at Maver Larford

A wash out in Oxfordshire

Well I saw a post for a match down at Rolfs lake on the 6th June 2009 and never being the sort to turn down a match at Rolfs I soon got my name down to fish

The match is being run by Nick Williams and is a memorial match for Peter Hope 1 of his fishing buddies who is no longer with us

All week leading up to the match the weather was fantastic and almost summer like. Friday I was up at Riseley in Bedfordshire for a company day out at Sporting Targets clay pigeon shooting and although the weather was supposed to be bad it was in fact a fantastic day  and I assumed the muppets at weather guestimate central had got it wrong yet again!! but after a meal and night out in Milton Keynes I was on my way home at about midnight when the heavens opened and the roads flooded in minuets in fact it was so bad it took me 3 and a bit hours to get home

Even worse when I got up Saturday morning it was still raining hard and by the time I left home to get to Rolfs for the 12.30 draw it was still raining hard and it looked like it would stay for the whole day

I fancied drawing peg 4 today as it has been fishing well and it's also a sheltered peg but as usual my drawing hand had other ideas and I ended up with peg 38

I don't often draw in the little lake in the warmer months so it will be a change for me and 38 has been fishing well in the margins late on in the matches so hopefully I should have a good day

Lucky Mick Lane drew peg 4 so I will probably be sat watching him catch all day

Steve Wilson drew next to me on peg 40

And the other side on peg 36 was Ryan

I decided to sit it out under the brolly today as the rain showed no sign of stopping and by the feel of it, it was getting colder too so I didn't fancy a soaking as well

My plan of attack today is just 2 lines the first out in front at 7m

And the second in the margin to my left tight to the clump of grass

At the all in it shipped a pot of pellets out to the 7m swim and another into the margin swim then went out over the 7m line with a 6mm soft hooker pellet on the hook and thats about it for the first 2 hours I tried soft pellet, banded pellet, corn, meat and paste and had no bites no liners no nowt

Mick Lane over on peg 4 was catching a few fish as was Ryan next door on peg 36 even Steve on peg 40 had a few fish in fact everyone in the little lake had caught apart from me

But I wasn't too concerned as peg 38 always comes good down the edge later on in the match  so I kept on feeding the margin and watched for the signs of movement down there then out of the blue my float shot under and red hydro was streaming out  but my joy was short lived as it snapped back in and I was left with a scale on the hook but at least it meant at last there were fish on my peg

10 min's later I had a repeat with another foul hooker with the same result then after 3 hours without a bite I had my first real bite of the day and was at last attached to a decent fish  after a tentative battle I eventually slid the net under my first fish of the day a fine 10lb 08oz common

And that was it the last 2 hours were as bad as the first 2 the rain poured down I sat on my box shivering wishing I had brought my winter coat with me  and I saw no sign of a fish except for the ones every body around me seemed to be catching and as for the margin coming to life in the last hour well I think there was more life in the puddles in the car park than there was in my margin

So the final whistle went and I packed my gear away in the wet and trudged back to the car

It looks as though it had fished hard all round today with 7 blanks and a few decent anglers with low weights

Mick lane won the match with a fine 122lb from peg 4  but from then on the results took a sharp downward curve

But even with the poor weights and bad weather I have had worse days at Rolfs and as I always say a bad day at Rolfs is still better than a good day at most other fisheries

The Jinx Series

 The Jinx Series 2009

Match 1

It's time for the Jinx again and like last year all 5 rounds of the series are being run at Rolfs lake in Oxfordshire

Well I've been waiting ages for this series to start  and with the sun cracking the paving slabs I headed off to Rolfs for the 12 noon draw

I arrived about 11.00am as Malc was due to have his ponytail cut off

Peter of course was more than willing to oblige him

And he was also having his head shaved to raise some money for the Maggotdrowners site  

I reckon it's a ploy to get a free hair cut myself  

And what's the betting he manages to sneak in a free bath before the days out too

With all the excitement over and everyone assembled and all the nets washed dipped and put out to dry

The draw got under way

The little lake is the place to draw today and my drawing hand had strict instructions to pull peg 4 out for me

Unfortunately as I approached the bag I saw peg 4 sitting on the table having already been drawn

I came away from the bag with peg 19 a peg I've fished the odd once or 20 times before so I wasn't too unhappy (looks like my drawing hand won't be getting accidentally shut in the door this time)

Peter my pairs partner for this year pulled peg 13 out usually a good draw but I fear today it's gong to be little lake or nothing

Dave Webster founder owner and head honcho of Maggotdrowners had driven down for the day with Steve Steak to fish as guests and were both rewarded with decent pegs in the little lake Dave drew peg 7 and Steve pulled peg 2 out of the bag so the long drive will have been worth while as they should get a few fish

The other guest fishing today is Simon E and he is standing in for Fred Parker who can't make it today and judging by Simons recent draws at Rolfs he seems to have a golden hand as he pulled peg 6 out  and should be sat on a shed load today

Peg 19 looked nice and fishy as usual

At least the fish aren't in the margins spawning yet so we might be in for a decent days fishing

I had a lot of time to set up as the match wasn't due to kick off until 2pm (not always a good idea to have too much time as I tend to change my mind and formulate silly plans etc )

But my eventual plan for the day turned out to be along the line of my usual line for peg 19 with a line out in front at 7m

Another tight to the end of the bush over to my right

And a line on the bush to my left

I also set up a shallow rig in case the fish came shallow

And as all the Jinx matches this year are pole only  that was me set up and ready for the off

2pm arrived and Malc called the all in

I shipped a pot of pellets out to the 7m swim and was just shipping back in when I heard the thud of 25 hearts stopping as the Minx made it known she had netted her first fish of the day

I tipped a pot of pellets into the other 2 swims then went out over the 7m line with a 6mm dampened fishery pellet on a B911 size 16 hook tied direct to 0.20mm Silstar line under a Jon Walker 0.3g Diamond float set to fish at dead depth

I threw a hand full of pellets over the top of the float and lifted and dropped it a couple of times and as the float settled after the 2nd drop it sailed away and I was into my first fish of the day  and after a spirited battle I slid the net under a fine 8lb common

I then spent 10 bite less min's watching a motionless float

A swap to a grain of corn on the hook brought an instant response and I was into a decent fish and soon had my first weigher of the day on the board a nice common of 14lb 04oz but again the swim died so I tried a cube of meat on the hook and once again had an instant response and soon had a mirror of about 9lb in the net

I re-fed the swim and gave the bush swim a try to my right over by the boat

The rig for this swim is a B911 size 12 hook tied direct to 0.20mm Silstar line under a Jon Walker 0.3g Diamond float set to fish at dead depth

I lowered the rig in tight to the bush with an 8mm hard pellet banded onto the hook and fired a pouch full of pellets out with the catty

3 or 4 mins passed then the float shot under the bush ripping my hydro out  after a lot of tooing and froing and a fair bit of standing on tippy toes I had another common of around 9lb in the net

Looking around the lake I could see Dave (Webbo) on peg 7 catching well and a few others along the car park bank catching the odd fish but no one seemed to be bagging I was just sat pondering how badly this end of the lake was fishing as there had been a match on the lake every day last week with the exception of Friday so a lot of bait had gone in and we were expecting it to fish it's nuts off today but I suspect that pegs 19 and 21 were left out as there weren't that many people fishing the matches in the week then all of a sudden my pole shot under the bush and woke me up  I shipped it back and eventually got the fish under control and after a bit more tippy toe action I got my second weigher of the day on the board another common of 15lb 12oz

So with 2 hours gone I had 2 weighers on the board and 3 fish in the net but looking round my section I wasn't doing too bad so might be there or there abouts but this is Rolfs and anything can happen it's possible to get 150lb in the last hour if not more if the fish suddenly turn up

So I was a bit surprised to see Pete Thatcher packing up and going home after 2 hours because he wasn't catching  because as I said it's possible to win the match in the last hour even if you have been blanking for the first 4 hours but hey ho

Malc came round for a walk and stopped for a chat seems my partner Peter had a senior moment and recorded his first weigher on the board under Malcs peg instead of his own must be his age  bless him

For the next 3 hours not a lot happened I tried all the baits I had and gave all 3 swims a shot but the fish just weren't having it I had 3 or 4 foul hookers that I lost and I managed to land 2 more fish both about 9lb 1 caught from the bush to my right on meat and the other out in front at 7m on banded pellet

At one point I noticed Malc slipping in for a wash under the pretence of freeing a snagged fish from the bush

And that was about it 7pm Malc blew the whistle and round 1 of the Jinx was over all I had to hope now was that Gemma hadn't had another red letter day and Minxed the lot of us

I got the gear packed away and back in the car and headed off round to help weigh in

Simon E won the match with a fine 222lbs  and got into the Jinx 100lb+ club on his first attempt Also joining him in the club are Al, Simon and Dave

At the other end of the table a few more made in onto the Minxed list  (you know who you are)

Position	Name	Peg	Weight	Section points
1st	Simon Enticott	6	222lbs 04ozs	Guest
2nd	Al Loader	8	162lbs 04ozs	1
3rd	Simon Mound	4	161lbs 06ozs	2
4th	Dave Webster	7	138lbs 00ozs	Guest
5th	Ryan Hughes	28	96lbs 12ozs	1
6th	Steve Wilson	16	91lbs 04ozs	1
7th	Keith Fellows	34	85lbs 00ozs	3
8th	Nick W-P	9	79lbs 12ozs	2
9th	Clive Pritchard	19	75lbs 00ozs	3
10th	Paul Roberts	32	66lbs 12ozs	2
11th	Tony Roberts	31	64lbs 08ozs	3
12th	Malc Doyle	14	56lbs 08ozs	4
13th	Terry Goff	27	56lbs 04ozs	4
14th	Steve Steak	2	54lbs 04ozs	Guest
15th	Nick Williams	38	53lbs 08ozs	4
16th	Pete Morton	13	46lbs 12ozs	5
17th	Dai Thomas	17	45lbs 04ozs	6
18th	Mitch Auger	40	41lbs 08ozs	5
19th	Ade Williams	25	40lbs 12ozs	5
20th	Ieuan Davies	21	32lbs 08ozs	7
21st	Jon Hatch	18	30lbs 04ozs	8
22nd	Gemma Doyle	36	20lbs 08ozs	6
23rd	Dave Moore	24	7lbs 12ozs	6
24th	Andy Spruce	23	6lbs 08ozs	7
24th	Ant Haywood	10	6lbs 08ozs	9
26th	Pete Thatcher	29	dnw	9
	Tim Westmoorland		Did not fish	9
	Dave Collier		Did not fish	9
	Fred Parker		Did not fish	9
	= minxed

As for the pairs Peter and I are in 7th place after match 1

All in all it was another great day out with a great bunch of guys and gals  and 7 fish for 75lb ain't a bad result from any fishery

Next round is back at Rolfs on 13th June 2009