Rolfs Winter league 2 - Match 5

Forecast for today did not look good with howling gales and torrential rain expected all day

As I arrived at Rolfs in Oxfordshire it was still dry but the wind was starting to pick up and the black clouds were gathering

This week I am fishing B section and there is 1 peg in B section that I hate with a growing vengeance and as I got out of the van I had the prickly feeling that I could hear peg 10 taunting me from the other side of the lake

A section were first to draw as usual and Steve pulled peg 2 out then it was B section and when my name was called I reached into the bag and as soon as Rolf said "I hope it's not 10" I knew all was lost with dread I opened my hand and looked at the peg ...

This week we have Chris fishing for Team JCS again and he had a great draw by pulling in form peg 23 out on C section

I must admit I have never believed in negative vibes, fate, destiny or for that matter bad luck but as I trudged round the lake heading for my nemesis I was beginning to believe that the curse of 10 is going to haunt me

Due to the forecast gales today my plan had been to sit under the brolly and fish bread on the feeder and hope to snag a few Carp

But having drawn peg 10 yet again I had to put the pole up in the hope of catching something to try and break my run of blanks from peg 10

So my plan is to fish bread on the feeder just my side of the middle

I also set up a pole line at 11.5m

Another at 4m

And a margin swim next to the bush to my right

For bait I had 6mm and 11mm soft hookers, bread, red maggots, meat and corn

And for feeding I had hemp, white crumb and 1/2 a bag of Roach groundbait

On the all in I fed a pot of hemp next to the bush to my right and 2 balls of groundbait at 11.5m and 2 balls at 4m

Then I started on the crumb feeder fishing a large lump of bread flake on the hook

By now the rain was hammering down and the wind was gusting for all it was worth from left to right sitting out in the open on peg 10 all I could do was hang on to the brolly pole and hope for a wrap round on the rod

Looking round the pegs I could see most people were sitting it out for a Carp on the tip with a few catching a few silvers on the pole line so I sat on the tip like the rest hoping for a bite which never came not even a liner

After about 2 hours I gave up on the feeder and went out on the pole at 11.5m I decided to try fishing bread and 11mm pellets to try and get a Carp as most of the people in my section had by now had a fair few silvers and if my last attempts at catching from this peg were anything to go by I was going to need a Carp to get in the points

On my second put in with an 11mm cat meat flavour pellet the float buried and I felt a decent fish on for a fraction of a second but it shook the hook instantly

Spurred on I shipped another pellet out and spent the next hour battling the wind to try and keep the pole in my swim and trying to hang on to the pole and brolly at the same time

Eventually I decided enough was enough and as the brolly was getting blown inside out every other gust now I gave up on the 11.5m line and moved on to the 4m line

3rd or 4th put in on the 4m line with red maggot on the hook I caught a small Roach no blank today for the next 2 hours I managed to keep a slow succession of small Roach and skimmers coming from the 4m line fishing maggot and by feeding a few grains of hemp every put in I had hoped a decent fish might put an appearance in but no such luck eventually Rolf blew the whistle and made us all stop

From what I could see Ian opposite me on peg 31 had blanked but the rest of the section looked to have caught a few decent skimmers and Perch in their silvers and no one on B section had had a Carp so at least I was likely to get a couple of points

I packed my gear away which was by now totally wind swept and soaked and wheeled it round to the van then set off to help with the weigh in A section were first and peg 34 took top weight with 5 Carp for 26lb followed by peg 7 with a few Carp for 19lb

Then on to B section best weight on the section was 19lb from peg 29 I managed to weigh 4lb 10oz

Then on to C section which once again fished better than A and B with best weight coming from peg 24 with 70lb of Carp for an easy section and match win

As for Team JCS Steve had 3lb from peg 2 for 6th in section and 2 points I had 4lb 10oz from peg 10 for 6th in section and 2 points and Chris was our best scorer with 46lb 4oz from peg 23 for 2nd in section and 6 points giving us 10 points today

Still last in the league but we are 2 points closer to the Thame tackle guys and poised to over take them in the last match in the league

Not a good day tbh but I didn't blank even though I managed to draw the 1 peg I hate yet again I should really have set out for the silvers from the start then I might have been more in contention for the section points but 1 Carp would have taken all the points today just a shame I never had 1 still it's getting warmer and soon the Carp will be pushing the silvers out of all the pegs