Friday 6th August 2010

I'm back down to Rolfs lake in Oxfordshire today to fish the Dave Collier invitational match
Dave has booked the lake for the Friday before the Maggotdrowners pairs weekend again
So I will be fishing the match today then staying over night ready for the start of the pairs weekend tomorrow along with most of the others fishing today
By the time I arrived at the lake most of the others had arrived and made a start on setting up camp for the weekend
My set up is pretty simple just pull the car into a prime spot, empty my gear out , set up my table , chair and cooker and I'm sorted 5mins tops
Dave got the draw under away around 12.30ish and we are due to fish from 2pm to 7pm
My start to the weekends fishing at Rolfs was going ok right up until that treacherous drawing hand got involved and once again for the 2nd match running left me sitting on peg 32
As I said last week peg 32 is not a bad peg in fact it has won quite a few matches this year but it's a peg that I don't enjoy fishing and never seem to have much luck on
Still there's always a chance at Rolfs on any peg so I soon had my gear set up on the peg
As for my plan of attack today well it's exactly the same as last week again I'm going to fish 3 swims

The first out in front at 8m in line with the blue hose

(Peg pictures from last weeks match)

The next just in front of the bush to my left

And the last over the back of the bush towards peg 33

At 2pm Dave "The Fish" strangled a duck to signal the all in

I shipped a pot of pellets into all the swims then started off on the 8m swim out in front with a 6mm cat meat soft hooker on the hook and to be honest not a lot happened the float sat their looking dejected and with a very dry tip

Last week I had fish there straight away even though they were foul hookers at least I had signs of fish but today there was nothing at all

As even a swap to the bush to my left produced no bites or indications

This certainly wasn't the start to the Rolfs pairs weekend that I was looking for

I put another pot of pellets into all the swims to try and draw a few fish in

Looking around the lake not a lot of fish were being caught Gem over on peg 9 had a couple Geoff on peg 10 had got off to a good start but the top end of the big lake seemed to be fishing a bit better and Webbo who was fishing his new feederless feeder set up on peg 24 seemed to be bagging up with a fish every cast

Peter who was having a bit of a mare on peg 28 stopped by for a chat on his way round the lake to take a few photo's

Seems he had 1 Carp in the net and had just pulled out of another and had the pole float fly back and go through his finger he managed to get the float out and stop the flow of blood with a plaster looks like I'm not the only 1 having a bad day then

I should really have followed Peters example and gone for a walk too as it always seems to work for him and come to that Malc and Simple go for a walk after a couple of hours as well and on returning to their pegs bag up for the last couple of hours perhaps that's some thing I should look into

Any way I was now fishing over the back of the bush and it was sh!t or bust time I threw 5 or 6 large handfuls of pellet in and was sitting it out for the large Carp that John Bennett assured me would turn up

All of a sudden my float buried and I was attached to a Carp It wasn't the monster I was hoping for but it was a welcome addition to my net and over the next couple of hours I had another 9 fish from behind the bush but unfortunately they were all of a similar size which I reckoned to be around the 5lb mark looks like the pole busting monsters aren't playing today

Eventually Dave strangled another duck to signal the end of the match and I have to say although the duck didn't sound too happy about it I was mighty relieved the match was over

I soon had my gear packed away and set off round to help with the weigh in

The little lake didn't fish too well and Malc won the section with a fine 73lb from peg 38  at peg 9 Gemma put 52lb on the scales to set the Minxed level and sank a lot of hearts mine included but if I'm honest after having sat opposite her all day I already knew she had beaten me

The top of the lake faired a bit better with both Ant on peg 18 and Steve on peg 22 putting just over the ton on the scales 

Then we arrived at the peg of an angling visionary  none other than the inventor of the feederless feeder Dave "Webbo" Webster who had put his new method to good use today to take 136lb of Rolfs finest Carp

Which unfortunately was only good enough for 2nd place today as Simple on peg 26 pipped him with a match winning weight of 144lb from peg 26

Mugger lived up to his name and after having a mare of a match on peg 28 managed to mug 5 or 6 Carp in the last 30 mins to take the section win and avoid a Minxing to boot with a fine 62lb

I was last to weigh in and as expected came up short of the Minxing bar with 46lb

Still things could have been worse and there's still 2 days fishing ahead

Once all the results were sorted it was back to the cars and tents to fire up the cookers and barbies and then time to sit back with a beer and as darkness fell over Oxfordshire enjoy the banter around another Maggotdrowners camp site

 Maggotdrowning Pairs  

      Match 2010

Saturday 7th August 2010

The first out in front at 8m in line with the blue hose

(Peg pictures from last weeks match)

With 2 hours to set up I was kicking my heals a bit as I still had the rigs from yesterday so I was set up in no time and was then sat on my box pondering how I could end up on the same peg 3 matches running and with another match tomorrow I was starting to get that gloomy feeling that this might not be my year



On the all in I shipped a pot of pellets into all the swims and like yesterday started off on the 8m line with a 6mm cat meat soft hooker on the hook and just like yesterday the float tip stayed dry
I kept the feed going in behind the bush as I caught all the fish yesterday from that swim and I'm hoping to draw some of the better fish into the swim today
Budgie next door on peg 31 was getting a few fish out in front
But was also loosing a lot of them



Mugger over on peg 13 seemed to be having a bit of a better time on his Nemesis today and was getting a few fish



After his success with the "feederless feeder" on peg 24 yesterday Webbo was brought down to earth today and appeared to be fishing the "fishless hook" on peg 11 today
Looking along the line it seemed that the lake was fishing better today as just about everyone on the car park bank had a fish on at the same time



Dave Collier over on peg 14 for the second day running was having a bit of a gruller



At last my float buried and I was off the mark with a 9lb 04oz weigher
My 8m swim was starting to produce fish although no more weighers I was starting to put a few fish in the net and it was starting to look a bit more promising
Mick the chippy was here again this year and had drawn peg 9 and was starting to get a few lumps on the board
Webbo had given up on the "fishless hook" and had swapped to the pole which brought a bit of success



After a couple of hours my 8m line had all but died so I swapped to the line at the back of the bush first put in with an 8mm banded pellet on the hook and the float buried and I soon had another weigher on the board in the form of a 12lb common
There were plenty of fish behind the bush but getting them out was turning into a very frustrating game I was getting a lot of foul hookers and hook pulls as I tried to get the fish round the bush and out into the open water but it was looking like the big fish weren't playing again today as all the fish I did manage to get round the bush were net fish
John Bennett had a couple of visitors who were fishing the lake in a few weeks time and had come down for a visit to see what the place was like and he had just told them that it was unusual for a pole to get broken and no sooner had he said it their was an almighty CRACK from peg 34 as Mitch's pole exploded Just then my float buried and as I was trying to drag the fish out from the bush CRACK my number 5 section exploded
It took a while for it to sink in that my pole had snapped as I stood rooted to the spot watching the top 4 and half sections of my pole get towed off towards the little lake 
Fortunately John Bennett was a bit quicker and leapt into action casting a line across it and managed to snare the rig
I ran down to peg 33 and managed to grab the pole as John pulled it into the bank
I then discovered that the fish was still attached so had to play it from peg 33 and it took ages to land this was some sort of mental Carp it just wouldn't give up
Eventually I got it in the net and to my amazement it was only about 5lb and hooked in the mouth too



As I'd landed it outside my peg with the help of John and his rod too I released the fish as it wouldn't have counted but I did give it a slap (when John wasn't watching)  for breaking my pole
No sooner had I got my sections back and Alex over on peg 8 had his number 3 snap CRACK John raced back with his rod but Alex's top kit was long gone as John walked back up to the hut there was an almighty CRACK from peg 25 where Malc's top kit had just exploded
By now the 2 visitors were slowly backing away from the lake with worried looks on their faces with John doing his best to convince them that this wasn't normal
So back on peg 32
I'd just about given up the will to fish now  John had managed to trim my section and telescope it so that I could carry on  but if I'm honest my heart wasn't in the match any more
Peter came round for a chat as his peg had died so he was having a walk and taking a few photos we did have a discussion as to how many lorry loads of cement it would take to fill in pegs 32 and 13 but in the end decided that the bleepers on the lorry's would be heard and we'd get caught



I managed another 3 or 4 fish before the final whistle which I was mighty glad to hear
I packed my gear away and walked it up to the car then headed off round to help with the weigh in I must say that once again it was the same people that got stuck in with weighing and returning the fish which is a bit annoying as it ends up with 3 or 4 people doing all the work while the others just wander round talking waiting for some one else to weigh their fish the whole idea is everyone helps with pulling the nets out of the water and dipping and returning the fish it makes it faster and a lot easier and there's nothing more annoying than seeing a young chap half your age swanning about while your sweating trying to lift nets onto the scales and as for the excuse that you can't help because you haven't got your waterproofs on ? it's not rocket science don't get changed until the weigh in is finished (Rant over)
The bottom end of the little lake fished quite well with Jon Hatch on peg 39 just sneaking over the 100lb    mark Gem had a bit of a mare on peg 1 with only 45lb to show for her efforts then Tony put a fine 197lb on the scales from peg 3 for 2nd place he also managed to snap his Beastmaster number 5 section which is a bit spooky but Tony being Tony he also did for a top kit too
Simon on peg 17 weighed in 155lb for 3rd on the day and Malc took top honours today with a cracking 211lb from peg 25 
I was last to weigh again and did slightly better than yesterday with 74lb
So that was day 1 over Gem and I had a terrible start to the weekend and were well out of the frame Tony and Geoff are in first place going into tomorrow
With the weigh in done it was time to fire the cookers and barbies up
Then sit back and relax with a beer and absorb the liberal doses of banter up late into the night

I'm still unsure and starting to loose confidence in the pole but I have put yesterdays broken number 5 down to me trying to drag the fish out from the bush with the tip of the pole under the water which put too much stress on the number 5 section sounds good but who knows

As draw time approached I made note of Muggers location and made sure I was well away from him

I eventually arrived at the front of the line surely I couldn't draw peg 32 out for the 4th time in a row I dipped into the bag grasped a peg and nervously peaked in expecting to see 32 but was pleasantly surprised to see 14

I was getting liners straight away but had to wait for about 30mins for my first bite which resulted in a Carp of about 7lb

The whistle came too soon today as I was enjoying the day far better than my last few matches down at Rolfs

Word had it that Gemma had done well from peg 8 and the Minxing bar could be set quite high today

Chris had the best weight from the little lake and the only weight over a ton today with a match winning weight of 111lbs from peg 7

Gemma had indeed done well today with 50lb from peg 8 which gave her 6th place today and a lot more scalps to add to her Minxed list

On peg 14 I managed to weigh 60lb which gave me 3rd place in the match today and Tony on peg 26 took 2nd place with 90lb

Sundays Results

Final Pairs Results

 Big thanks to Dave Webster for running the match and also to John and Pauline Bennett for allowing us to stay at the lake and fish both days