Match 3 of the Jinx series today and I'm looking forward to it as there have been some big weights coming out of the lake recently so hopefully the fish have got all thoughts of hanky panky out of their systems and will be concentrating on some serious pellet munching The weather looks ok for today and certainly as I was loading the car ready for the drive down to the lake the sun was blazing down
By the time I arrived at the lake most of the Jinx crew were there already and the banter was in full flow I was having a chat with John Bennett about pole elastic as he sells Vespe elastic down at the lake I have been trying Drennen Bungee this year and although it was ok at Rolfs in the winter and has been fine at all the other venues that I have fished this year last match at Rolfs I had a lot of trouble trying to get the fishes heads up with Hydro it's no problem but this bungee just seems to keep on stretching when it gets some weight on it So I was considering biting the bullet and swapping all the kits over to red hydro as when it warms up a bit more the fish are going to pull a lot harder But John gave me a try of 1 of his top kits with orange Vespe hollow in it and although it's a bit hard to tell until you get a fish on it but it certainly felt like it had a lot more power than the bungee once it was loaded up So I'm now the proud owner of enough Vespe orange hollow to elasticate 4 top kits Before the draw got under way there was the small problem of the Pink Hat to sort out as Paul D who was selected to wear it for this match had phoned in sick sounds like a case of Minx fever to me Anyway Gem decided to put all the names of the people Minxed in the series so far into a hat and draw 1 out to wear the hat today I have to say that as Gem read the name on the bit of paper that I haven't heard such a loud cheer since Mugger drew peg 13 for the 3rd time running last year And all I can say is "Smiling" Steve Wilson he was not
After the dust settled Malc got the draw under way although Steve Wilson could be heard in the back ground complaining to anyone that would listen about how unfair it was I was due to fish B section today and I was hoping to draw peg 9 or peg 32 as they are both fishing really well at the moment but I came away from the draw bag with peg 11
I've never fished peg 11 before so today is going to be a first for me I soon had the shuttle loaded and wheeled my gear round to peg 11
By the looks of it John had been doing a fair bit of maintenance work on the peg as all the bushes had been cut back and a new platform had been built I've fished peg 10 a fair bit and also peg 13 and from both of those pegs you fish along the bank to peg 11 so its going to be interesting today as Peter is on peg 10 and Simon is on peg 13 and I'm going to be sat right in the middle like a rose between 2 thorns
My plan of attack today is going to be a bit different as I usually opt for a swim at 6m but today I am going for a 9m swim straight out in front
Another 9m along the bank to my left
just to my side of peg 12
And the last swim in the margin to my right at about 4m
I would like to get a bit further along the bank a bit nearer to the pipe but the bushes are a bit too over hanging for that but hopefully I can draw the fish down to me as long as Mugger doesn't draw them up to him on peg 10 On the all in I shipped a pot of pellets into each swim then went out to the 9m swim with a 6mm catmeat soft hooker pellet on a B911 size 16 hook tied direct to 0.20mm Silstar line under a 0.3g Jon Walker Diamond float set to fish at dead depth and as soon as the float settled it buried and it was fish on I could hear a lot of shouting going on from peg 10 and from the sound of it Mugger had hooked a decent fish in the tail first put in and it was giving him a right beating Just as I was netting my fish there was a sound that is quite common at Rolfs at this time of year as Peters top kit exploded with a deafening crack of splintering carbon
All his friends around the lake called out there condolences for the recently departed top kit and wish him the best of luck in landing the fish that was still attached to the now destroyed kit But oblivious to the jeers and laughter Peter managed to land the culprit which ended up being his best fish of the day at a fine 13lb 08ozs
My fish was only about 8lb so went in the net I went back out to the 9m line with another soft hooker on the hook but couldn't tempt another Carp but my next bite turned out to be a decent skimmer of about 2lb and over the next 30mins I had another 3 skimmers 2 around the 2lb mark and 1 about 1lb So with an hour gone I had 1 Carp and 4 skimmers in the net Simon on peg 13 was struggling to find any fish at all and Peter on peg 10 had his 1 top kit destroying Carp and a few silvers too
Peg 9 wasn't drawn today which is a shame as peg 8 was also left in the bag so with 8 out peg 9 would have bagged up today but never mind Jon over on peg 32 was catching a few Carp as was Budgie on peg 28 and they were both making trips up to the scales so it was looking like I was falling behind in the section I decided to give the margin swim to my left a go so I shipped an 8mm banded pellet along just to my side of peg 12 on a B911 size 12 hook tied direct to 0.20mm Silstar line under a 0.3g Jon Walker Margin float set to fish at dead depth
Simon was also fishing along his margin to his side of peg 12 So it looked like we were jousting with poles
We may just as well have been as neither of us were getting any bites After a while I gave up on the left hand margin and gave the right hand margin swim a try and shipped an 8mm cube of meat under the tree on a B911 size 12 hook tied direct to 0.20mm Silstar line under a 0.3g Jon Walker Margin float set to fish at dead depth The float sat motionless for a bit then started to move back and forth then suddenly buried and I lifted into a decent fish which tore off ripping my elastic out of the top kit I eventually got it under control and slipped the net under my best fish of the day a lovely mirror which went 15lb 08ozs up at the scales
For the next couple of hours I stayed with the right hand margin swim and managed another couple of weighers and 3 more net fish Looking round the lake no one seemed to be bagging up and I reckoned that I was keeping up with Jon on 32 and Budgie on peg 28 so I might do all right today Steve was on peg 31 begrudgingly wearing "The Hat" and was catching a few fish
Unfortunately Steve had a mugger moment as 1 of his top kits exploded today as well in fact word from round the lake says that Tony (smasher) Roberts has destroyed 1 of the top kits off his new Beastmaster when he was seen off by a right lump on peg 2 Just to add to the list of destruction for today Kevin on peg 4 destroyed 1 top kit when he trod on it as he went up to weigh a fish and had another kit pulled off the end of his pole as he shipped a decent fish in In the last hour I swapped back to the 9m line and first put in again with a 6mm catmeat soft hooker I was straight into another decent fish
Which gave me quite a battle
And was again another fine looking mirror Carp which went 13lb 08ozs on the scales
Before the match ended I had another couple of net fish from the 9m swim and that was match 3 over I had a quick tot up on the board and I had 54lb of weighers and I reckoned about 30lb in the net so it was going to be a bit tight as from what I had seen both Budgie and Jon had around the same if not more Peter had struggled on peg 10 but thanks to a couple of fish in the last hour thought he had managed to avoid a Minxing
Which is more than could be said for Simon who had suffered a right mare on peg 13 and all he had to show for 5 hours was a nice Golden Orfe of about 6lb and a few silvers well and truley Minxed today
I packed my gear away and headed back off round the lake to put it away in the car and help with the weigh in On the way round I stopped at peg 20 to see how Ade had got on today as going into the match today we were leading the pair competition Unfortunately he seemed to have had a bit of a mare and it was looking like he may have been Minxed If he has it's not looking good for Ade as his is 1 scalp the Minx has been after for the last 3 years and I don't think Ade is going to look too good in Pink Dai was first to weigh on peg 34 and was straight into the lead with a fine 78lb which was enough to win the section again well done Dai your having a good series this year 2nd in A section was Matt on peg 7 with 60lb On peg 10 Peter managed to put 40lb on the scales to get him well ahead of the Minxes 26lb net from peg 5 On my peg I weighed 87lb which ended up being enough to win the section and the overall match By the time we got round to peg 20 quite a crowd had gathered to see slims fate and with only 24lb to show for the 5 hours he had come up 2lb short and was well and truly Minxed Nick Williams took the C section win with 58lb from peg 23 and Keith on his first visit to Rolfs took 2nd in section from peg 15 with 57lb That just left the rest of B section to weigh and Budgie on peg 28 just pipped Jon on peg 32 to take 2nd in B section with 79lb leaving me the winner of B section with 87lb from peg 11 Malc soon got all the results done and I came away with a bit of wedge for the back pocket again
Then all that was left was for Gem to select the pink hat wearer for the next match Simple with a very poor showing today must have been well in her sights big Dave Moore had a bit of a wobble when she mentioned him by name in the warm up speech but there was only ever going to be 1 winner today
Ade Williams Come out of the shade and into the pink
As for the pairs Ade and I are still leading the points after 3 matches by 7 points from Malc and Simon In the individual Dai is having a fantastic series and is leading the field on 2 points and after 3 matches I'm in 3rd place on 4 points behind Ade so still all to play for with another 3 matches to come
Position
Peg
Name
Weight
1st
11
Clive Pritchard
87lbs 12ozs
2nd
28
Marcus Burgess
79lbs 00ozs
3rd
34
Dai Thomas
78lbs 12ozs
4th
32
Jon Hatch
72lbs 08ozs
5th
7
Matt Edwards
60lbs 12ozs
6th
2
Tony Roberts
59lbs 04ozs
7th
23
Nick Williams
58lbs 04ozs
8th
15
Keith Powell
57lbs 02ozs
9th
14
Mitch Auger
53lbs 04ozs
10th
18
Fred Parker
49lbs 00ozs
11th
10
Peter Morton
40lbs 08ozs
12th=
4
Kevin Loveland
35lbs 08ozs
12th=
31
Steve Wilson
35lbs 08ozs
14th
40
Al Loader
34lbs 12ozs
15th
17
Ant Haywood
30lbs 12ozs
16th
25
Nick Watkins-Price
29lbs 04ozs
17th
38
Malc Doyle
28lbs 08ozs
18th
5
Gem Doyle
26lbs 13ozs
19th
20
Ade Williams
24lbs 08ozs
20th
36
Dave Moore
21lbs 00ozs
21st
22
Geoff Palmer
17lbs 12ozs
22nd
26
Paul Roberts
15lbs 08ozs
23rd
29
Tim Westmoreland
14lbs 08ozs
24th
19
Terry Goff
12lbs 08ozs
25th
13
Simon Mound
7lbs 12ozs
I have to say this series is just getting better and better every match the fishing might not be setting the place on fire but the fun side the pi$$ taking and banter is second to none Top format Malc and great choice of Jinxers Roll on next match
