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