Rolfs Spring league - Match 5

Second visit of the weekend down to Rolfs today for the next round of the spring league and it looks like being a wet and windy day to boot

Unfortunately Paul was a no show today so The Assassins will be fishing 1 short

I am fishing B section this week and Steve is in C section and Paul's empty peg will be in A section

At the draw bag I pulled peg 13 out another peg I haven't fished before so I was pleased Steve drew peg 23 and as we set off round the lake the rain started to get heavier and settle in for the day

(All photos today are taken after the match as the rain was too heavy before)

Peg 13 has the trees to shelter it from the wind so I set the brolly up straight away in the hope of trying to keep some of my gear dry

Plan of attack today is to fish pellet/corn at 7m straight in front

And meat in the margin to my right as tight to the bush as I can get it and only on the top 2On the all in I put 2 pots of pellets under the bush to my right and 2 pots out in front at 7m then went out at 7m with a 6mm Cat meat flavour soft hooker on the hook

And not a lot happened I could see fish topping and splashing around the lake and Frank opposite me to peg 28 was already on his Way up to the scales to weigh a fish and looking to my right Larry on peg 10 was playing a Carp but my float sat idle

Of the pegs I could see peg 28 was catching a few peg 10 seemed to be hooking but loosing a fair few and Lloyd and Phil on pegs 30 and 32 were sat like me with not a lot happening

After about an hour the rain lessened a bit and by now I was fishing corn out at 7m and almost as soon as the rain stopped my float shot under and after a pleasant battle I had a 6lb common in the net If nothing else I wouldn't be blanking today

Phil on 32 had given up on the pole and had set up a feeder rod and almost first cast hooked into a Carp

I continued on with corn out at 7m for the next hour but with the rain now hammering down I was unable to get a bite again but looking around with the exception of Phil on 32 who was taking the odd fish on the feeder no one was catching at the moment

Then out of the blue I heard a voice behind me and looking around Ginger from peg 14 was stood there with a 9lb Carp in the weigh sling for me to confirm for him

Having the weigh station right behind me I had expected to be more busy confirming weights that I had been

Frank was off up to the weigh station again Phil had given up on the feeder and was fishing the pole behind the bush in front of peg 33 Lloyd had just landed a small Carp and Larry on peg 10 was playing a Carp but with 7m+ of pole up in the air and elastic out he was living on the edge

He eventually landed a smallish Carp and looking in front of him peg 10 looked solid with fish I still had had no more joy so re fed both swims and decided to have a coffee then try the margin swim

While I was having my coffee peg 10 hooked another fish and again had a lot of pole up in the air and this time it was a decent fish and after an ear splitting crack the top sections of his pole were making their way out to the middle of the lake after a few attempts Phil managed to cast a feeder over the broken sections and get them into the bank by Lloyd who managed to loose the fish after all Phil's great efforts but at least the fish was released and Larry got his broken sections back

After all the excitement I put a cube of meat on the hook and lowered it into the margin on my top 2 and fed a handful of pellets after a few min's my hydro shot out of the top 2 startling me into action and after a hectic battle I slid the net under a 12lb common

Next put in I was ready and struck into another Carp this 1 was smaller but still went on the board for 9lb 8oz

With an hour to go things were hotting up Ginger on peg 14 was up and down weighing fish which I had to confirm for him and I was up and down myself getting him to confirm my fish in the end as the whistle went I had 8 fish on the board for 100lb 12oz the best one weighing 15lb 8oz and 6 fish in my net looking at the board Ginger had 122lb and peg 15 had no weigher's

Its not easy to keep the weigh sheet dry at the best of times but when its raining all day the sheets turn to mush and end up soaked through like ours today

Under the scales at Rolfs there is a dipping tank with the weigh sling in the way to use them is to carry your fish up to the scales in the landing net tip it into the weigh sling in the tank which gives it a dip in a salt water solution then hook the sling on the scales and read weight then carry over to nearest peg to confirm weight then place sling back in tank write weight on sheet transfer fish back to landing net and return it to the lake sorted

I packed all my gear away and headed off round to help with the weigh in

In the small lake John Bennett led they way with 208lb from peg 34 followed by peg 40 with 160lb and with 2 other 100lb+ weights it certainly fished well again

In B section peg 9 weighed 56lb peg 10 had 48lb I had 132lb on peg 13 Frank on peg 28 had 129lb Lloyd on peg 30 had a nightmare match and only had 20lb and Phil on peg 32 had 110lb so I had won the section

In C section Ginger on peg 14 led the way with 261lb for a fine section and match win and with 4 other 100+ weights from the section it looks like the fish are finally spreading out round the lake

As for The Assassins my 132lb 9oz from peg 13 gave me 1st in section and 6 points and Steve had 100lb 8oz from peg 23 for 5th in section and 2 points giving us a total of 8 points today and dropping us down a place in the league which considering we were a man short wasn't to bad

Despite the weather not a bad days fishing and 2 section wins and pick up's in 2 days things must be looking up