I installed my new elastic in all my top kits this week and was a bit keen to give them a try out A quick check on Eddies website and I found that there was a night match on Friday down at Rolfs lake in Oxfordshire A quick phone call to John Bennett and I was booked onto the match
With the draw starting at 6.30pm I could finish work at my normal time and get across to the lake in time for the draw but it would mean getting up early to load the car so I could take all my gear to work with me As soon as work finished I was in the car and off to Rolfs like a shot As the anglers started to arrive ready for the draw it was becoming clear that to make it into the top 10 tonight with the likes of Mick Lane , Jon Walker and Chris Telling to mention but a few in the field was going to be no mean feat and as everyone gathered it was becoming like a who's who of Rolfs venue experts At the draw bag I pulled peg 17 out
Not a good draw as pegs 9 and 32 are winning every thing at the moment But I'm only really here to test this new Vespe elastic and get it set up ready for the next Jinx match so as long as I have a few fish I will be happy As I arrived round at peg 17 I noticed that we were going to be a bit crowed tonight with pegs 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ,17 and 18 all in
Plan tonight is simple First line out in front at 8m
Next on the bush in the margin to my left
And 1 on the bush in the margin to my right
I had a set of lights right behind me so when it gets dark and John throws the switch I should have no problem seeing my float
Setting up next door on peg 16 was Budgie who was down at the lake trying to sneak a practice in before the next Jinx match too and the other side on peg 18 was Chris Telling (looks like I could be in for a whipping off the next peg ) On the all in I shipped a pot of pellets into all the swims All my rigs are my usual Rolfs rigs with Jon Walker floats on 0.20mm Silstar line with B911 hooks in either size 16 or 12 tied direct I started off out at 8m with a 6mm catmeat soft hooker on the hook and after about 5mins my float buried and I had my first fish on The orange Hollow Vespe felt nice and powerful and had more of the feel of red hydro than the red bungee that I have been using this year as I shipped the pole back it became apparent that the Vespe was much better as with the Bungee the fish would have been straight under the bushes either side or round my nets but the orange Hollow brought it straight to the net and I soon had a mirror of about 7lb in the net For the first couple of hours the fishing was a bit difficult as I had the sun full on in my face and as the sun went down the reflection off the water was terrible I was catching a few fish but nothing exciting John Hague on peg 32 was back and forth to the scales like a demon weighing fish and word had it that John Bennett on peg 9 was bagging too But down our end of the lake it was a different story Chris on peg 18 was struggling to find any fish I was catching the odd fish the only person that was getting a few was Eddie over on peg 23 Eventually it got dark enough for the lights to go on and we were soon fishing under flood lights I swapped over and fished the margins for the rest of the match and added a few more fish to the net and a few weighers on the board the best of which went 16lb 04ozs When the whistle went I knew that I had no chance of making the frame as most of B section had all caught well A lot of the others round the lake had struggled with a few packing up early and heading off home but I thought I had around the same as Chris on peg 18 but we had no chance of the section money as Eddie on 23 had beat both of us I ended up with 80lb and Chris just pipped me by 6lb with 86lb which left us 7th and 8th overall and Eddie beat us both with 100lb John Hague took the match win with the best weight from the lake this year of 397lb from peg 32
Position
Peg
Name
Weight
1st
32
John Hague
397lbs 08ozs
2nd
9
John Bennett
233lbs 04ozs
3rd
10
Dave Whiteman
221lbs 12ozs
4th
31
Ginger
166lbs 08ozs
5th
29
Geoff Edwards
134lbs 00ozs
6th
23
Eddie Taylor Green
100lbs 12ozs
7th
18
Chris Telling
86lbs 12ozs
8th
17
Clive Pritchard
80lbs 12ozs
All in all I enjoyed the match caught a few fish and got my elastic set up ready for the 4th Jinx match After the match Pauline had the BBQ fired up with plenty of food for everyone but due to my early start this morning I headed off home to bed
and was a bit keen to give them a try out
and as everyone gathered it was becoming like a who's who of Rolfs venue experts 
and the other side on peg 18 was Chris Telling (looks like I could be in for a whipping off the next peg 
)
