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I'm back at Rolfs lake in Oxfordshire today for match 2 of the Jinx series
Malc has adopted the Rolfs winter league section rotation for the series this year
So as I was in C section last match I know I'm in A section this week lets hope it fishes a bit better than it did last match
But with a very hot day forecast we could be in for a bit of a grueller 
I had a nice leisurely drive down to the lake for the 11.30am draw and as I pulled into the car park found most of the Jinx crew there already
Looking at the condition of the lake I was just starting to get a few good feelings about how it was going to fish today 
Then a green Peugeot clattered in through the gates stuffed to the hilt with Doyles 
Surely with that many Doyles in 1 location there could be only 1 outcome
The Jinx effect has landed !
As we waited for the draw to get under way Tony started his usual mind games to try and get me to talk myself into a bad draw
But I had already decided to fight him with the power of positive thinking this week 
And told him that I would be fishing peg 8 today and that drawing it from the bag would just be a formality
So it came as no surprise to me when I pulled my hand from the draw bag and looked down to see peg 8 resting there
I got my gear loaded and set off round to peg 8
I've won a fair few matches from peg 8 and I always fish down the track at 6m and there are always fish there so as I walked round the lake to the peg I had already settled on my approach for today
As I was setting up John Bennett came round for a chat and he told me that the fish were over the far side tight to the bank and I would need to fish long
People that read my blog regularly will know my views on fishing long because to be honest at Rolfs I would consider 8m to be fishing long let alone 16m
But since I have had the Beastmaster I have found myself fishing longer as the pole is so easy for me to hold at length compared to my old Maver and Lerc
So my plan of attack today is
One line at 16m tight to the far bank
Another down the track at 6m
And a third on the end of the bush in the left hand margin
And I also set up my feeder rod just in case it was required
Next door on peg 7 I had Dave Collier for company and he was going for an out and out feeder attack today chucking across to the far bank
Over on peg 34 was my Assassins team mate Steve Wilson
Steve has had some decent weights from peg 34 so he's going to be hard to beat today
The only other person in the section I could see was Mugger who had drawn peg 36
And after the handing over ceremony at the draw was settling into his peg with the Pink Hat for company
On the all in I shipped a pot of pellets out to the 6m line and another across to the far bank then went out to the 16m line with a 6mm catmeat soft hooker on a size 16 B911 hook tied direct to 0.20mm Silstar line under a 0.3g Jon Walker margin float
There were fish over there as my float was being dragged about all over the place but it was only liners and no proper bites
I tried lifting and dropping the bait but that had no effect a swap to corn and then meat had the same response hmmm it was starting to look like it was going to be hard after all
Dave was doing slightly better chucking his feeder across to the far bank and had already had a couple of fish
I was getting desperate now so had a strike at 1 of the little dips that I was getting on the float which resulted in a foul hooked fish which tore along the bank towards peg 34
I managed to stop it but the hook pulled before I had it under any sort of control
By now Dave had caught a decent weigher which went 18lb 8oz
So I gave up on the long line and dropped in over my 6m line with an 8mm cube of meat on a size 12 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 in over the top and sat and waited
Looking down the big lake no one seemed to be catching much
I had seen Al down on peg 19 up at the weigh station so he must of had a bit of luck
Steve over on peg 34 was catching a few fish and also Mugger was getting a few fish too fishing the feeder on peg 36
All of a sudden my float disappeared and my elastic was off and running  It was either a really decent fish or it was foul hooked I soon had my answer when the hook pinged back with a large scale attached to it 
Still I persevered and went back out with another cube of meat on the hook and after a few mins wait the float buried and at last I was attached to a fish after a short battle I slid the net under a common which went 9lb 04oz on the scales and I was off the mark at last
In the next 30mins I had 3 foul hooked fish all from the 6m line all of which I lost it was turning into an infuriating day 
Steve over on peg 34 was catching well now and Dave next door on peg 7 was still catching the odd fish chucking the feeder across to the far bank
So I decided to chuck the feeder across to my far bank and see if I could get in on the action too
First chuck across with an 8mm banded pellet on the hook and the tip flew round straight away and I was attached to a very annoyed fish it had my rod bent round double and I was having a right problem trying to get it under control and from the fight I could tell it was a decent fish and it was also foul hooked 
To make things worse Malc had come round for a walk just as I hooked into the fish so stopped to offer a few quite words of wisdom 
I was still getting nowhere with the fish I had it up to the surface once and it was a lump and by the looks of it hooked in the dorsal fin
Malc eventually lost interest and wandered off to spread the Jinx effect to the others in the little lake
Strangely not long after he left I managed to net the fish as it made an attempt to get under my keep nets and up at the weigh station it went 12lb 8ozs
I cast across to far bank again and the tip flew straight round and after a short battle had a common of about 5lb in the net back across with the same result
Things were starting to look a bit better only problem was all the fish were foul hooked and for the next hour or so I was constantly playing foul hooked fish
Most of which I lost as it was ok playing them across but eventually you have to lift them up to the surface to net them and that was when the hook pulled time and time again 
I also lost a few under the keep nets which for some weird reason today were all floating ? something they haven't done since they were new 
With an hour to go I had 5 fish in my net and 2 weighers on the board Dave was struggling to get a bite now and I reckoned that we were about level on weight Steve across on peg 34 was still catching well and was easily winning the match and Mugger on 36 was still sneaking a few fish in the net too
Looking down the big lake I could see Ade catching a few fish on peg 30 so we should do well in the pairs again this match
I was getting no indications across on the far bank now at all and was sat looking at a motionless tip
So I decided to fish the bush to my left for the last half hour and fishing an 8mm cube of meat on the deck I managed to get 2 fish both around the 4lb mark and to make a change both hooked in the mouth
And that was it Malc called the all out and match 2 was over
As I was packing my gear away I was talking to Webbo and we were saying what a frustrating day it had been etc and I happened to mention that the only thing that could have made it worse was if it poured with rain
And as if to order the heavens opened and we had a 5min downpour this power of positive thinking is starting to get a bit spooky now
I soon had my gear packed away and back in the car and set off round to help with the weigh in
Steve was first to weigh on peg 34 and put a fine match winning weight of 92lb on the scales next to weigh was Peter on peg 36 who put 61lb up and although he reckoned that both Dave and myself had beat him I was sure neither of us had 60lb
As was soon proved when the scales arrived at peg 7 and Dave's total came to 54lb and I just managed to pip him with 55lb for 3rd in section
The big lake really struggled today with no decent weights until we got round to Ade on peg 30 who put 76lb on the scales to take 2nd place over all today way to go partner
In the pairs Ade and I are now in first place with 6 points and we are 4 points ahead of Malc and Simon
Pete Archer was fishing as a guest today and had brought along some prizes from his sponsor Vespe so everyone went home with something
Once Malc had sorted the results and paid the section winners out it was the dreaded moment the 3 people that had been Minxed today were called forward for Gemma to select the person who would be wearing the Pink Hat next match
Step forward Mr Paul Dolby
Position | Peg | Angler | Weight | 1st | 34 | Steve Wilson | 92lbs 08ozs | 2nd | 30 | Ade Williams | 76lbs 00ozs | 3rd | 36 | Peter Morton | 61lbs 08ozs | 4th | 8 | Clive Pritchard | 55lbs 12ozs | 5th | 7 | Dave Collier | 54lbs 02ozs | 6th | 13 | Pete Archer | 48lbs 12ozs | 7th | 25 | Malc Doyle | 47lbs 12ozs | 8th | 4 | Simon Mound | 45lbs 08ozs | 9th | 19 | Al Loader | 44lbs 08ozs | 10th | 23 | Dai Thomas | 43lbs 08ozs | 11th | 2 | Paul Roberts | 41lbs 04ozs | 12th | 6 | Dave Webster | 35lbs 00ozs | 13th | 9 | Scott Weston | 33lbs 08ozs | 14th | 10 | Fred Parker | 32lbs 04ozs | 15th | 14 | Dave Moore | 21lbs 08ozs | 16th | 40 | Marcus Burgess | 15lbs 08ozs | 17th | 31 | Neil Riddy | 14lbs 00ozs | 18th | 11 | Geoff Palmer | 12lbs 04ozs | 19th | 18 | Steve Akal | 11lbs 08ozs | 20th | 32 | Nick Williams | 9lbs 04ozs | 21st | 17 | Tony Roberts | 7lbs 08ozs | 22nd | 38 | John Hatch | 4lbs 10ozs | 23rd | 21 | Kevin Loveland | 2lbs 00ozs | 24th | 26 | Gemma Doyle | 1lbs 12ozs | 25th | 15 | Matt Edwards | 12ozs | 26th= | 27 | Terry Goff | DNW | 26th= | 28 | Paul Dolby | DNW |
Once again it was a good day out with the Jinx squad with plenty of laughs and banter roll on match 3
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