Rolfs Winter league - Match 1

In an effort to fish more matches at Rolfs Lake in Oxfordshire I have signed up to fish the 2006 winter league
The league consists of 10 teams of 3 and is fished over 6 matches the lake is divided into 3 sections

A section is the small lake pegs 34 - 7
B section is the motorway bank pegs 8 - 19
C section is the car park bank pegs 20 - 33

1 member from each team fishes in each section and the sections rotate each match so if you fish A section in first match then you will fish B section in the next match then C section and back to A section again etc

So A quick 45 min drive saw me at Rolfs bright and early this morning

As Rolf was sorting me out a team to fish with I had no idea who my team mates were

After having my nets washed and meeting up with a few other guys I have met before at matches at Rolfs I eventually discovered I was fishing for Team Desperate Danns and my team mates were the Dann brothers Chris and Paul

Chris was going to fish A section Paul B section and I was allocated C section

10am (ish) and time to draw A and B sections drew and disappeared off to their pegs and it was C sections turn when I stepped up to the bag to draw I used my trusty left hand which had drawn me peg 30 out at the previous Saturday open from which I had managed to come 5th with 100lb 8oz and I would have been well happy with peg 30 today








Clive Pritchard
Maggotdrowners
Just managed to record a Ton Up weight with exactly 100lb from Peg 30 - Perfect .
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Unfortunately my left hand let me down and has been banished to sit on the naughty step for drawing peg 25 out

Not that I have anything personal against peg 25 except that I drew it in the bank holiday open and had 1 bite all day and ended up with 1 fish for 12lb 8oz peg 25 is also on quite a steep bank with not alot of room behind and the bush to the left is over grown and awkward to fish





The over grown branches on the bush flapping about in the wind made it a non runner and trying to fish just in front of it put you right on the slope down the ledge



So I decided to fish out in front at 7m and fish paste and also meat and I also set up a pellet rig to fish under the bush just in case

11.30 The all in is sounded and I ship out 2 pots of pellets to 7m and 1 pot as tight into the bush as I can get it. Then I ship out a large lump of paste to 7m and cup it in over the pellets get comfy on my box and await 1 of Rolfs monsters

Today I am using 1 of my new Malman self cocking paste floats I used 1 in the last match here at Rolfs and took 100lb of carp on the same float which is unusual for me as I usually manage to destroy 2 or 3 floats per match

So looks like at long last I have found a decent float that's up to the challenge




I have also been using Malman Thicko's for all my meat and pellet fishing and as yet have not broken 1



You can check out or buy Malman floats from here http://www.malmanfloats.com/

Gaz may be a pie eating northener but he sure makes strong floats

And if they survive me and Rolfs Carp then they cant be too bad

Any way back on peg 25 not too much was happening after about an hour I had had 2 foul hookers which had ripped the red hydro out then jumped the hook looking across the lake no one was catching so it looked as though the cold wind and extra water had put the fish off today

Eventually Lloyd on peg 24 started to catch a few fish he had decided to fish at 14.5m and was using punched bread on the hook

After about 2 hours I did consider going to the van and getting the Armageddon out and giving it a go at 14.5m as now the bugger on peg 26 was catching the odd fish long too

Then all of a sudden my float buried and headed off to the centre of the lake and I was into 1 of the resident Carp a quick battle and the red hydro soon had it under control and in the net a nice common of about 5lb

All thoughts of struggling to hold 14.5m of pole in the by now gusting wind disappeared and I upped my feeding and shipped out another lump of paste assuming the fish had at last moved in onto my feed

Unfortunately I had assumed too much and I spent the next hour watching Lloyd on peg 24 catch fish and the guys on the other side of the lake loose fish at regular intervals

A swap to meat managed to get me another fish and now I had another common of around 6lb in the net along with the first 1 and I managed to hook and loose 5 or 6 fish on the trot which was a bit un-pleasing to say the least

Rolf came round the lake and said it was fishing hard all round the lake and most were struggling so it looked like it was going to be a low weight match today

For the last 30 mins I swapped back to paste and managed to land 1 more fish of around 6lb and that was it the whistle went and summing up the way the match had gone Lloyd shouted fish on and I started to pack my gear away ready for the weigh in

When the scales arrived at my peg I managed to weigh 17lb 4oz A poor weight by Rolfs lake standards but it ain't the dreaded D.N.W

Lloyd on peg 24 managed 145lb 12oz to win the section and the match (looks like punched bread was the bait for today)

Alough watching the slices of bread that were thrown in after the match float about unhindered by the Carp showed they were not feeding too well

My 17lb 4oz gave me 4 points and 6th in section Paul had 40lb 8oz from peg 12 for 6th in section and 4 points and Chris was our top scorer today with 62lb 8oz from peg 2 for 5th in section and 5 points

Leaves us in 6th place after the first match with 5 matches to go looks like a late run is needed

Winter League 2006

Team............................Total

Rolfs Team Gold ............21
Hayes ..........................21
RS Baits .......................20
Fisherman's B ...............19
Fisherman's A ...............15
Desperate Dann's ..........13
Musketeers ...................12
Rolfs Team Diamond ........7
Throwbacks ....................6

All in all another fine days fishing at Rolfs (Beats sitting on the Thames in flood for a few ounces)

I should be on A section next week (the small lake) lets hope the weather holds