A cold day down the lake today but strangely no ice on the lake despite minus temperatures.Very hard fishing today down the lake for the anglers.

Today’s winner Pete Archer has not been down the lake for a while but returned to take the win fishing from peg 28. Pete was using maggot on the pole trying for silvers but go plagued with those pesky carp.

Neil Riddy managed to catch 3 carp for his weight from last Sundays winning peg, Peg 13. Neil is currently the peg king for peg 13 so knows how to fish it but the carp had other idea’s today.

Completing the frame was Dave Wightman fishing from peg 10. Dave’s weigh was made up completely of silver fish, he also had 3 bonus skimmers to help build his weight.

 Results

9 Anglers Fished.

Todays winner in Sunnier times down the lake. Pete Archer.

The temperature is set to drop further still and then start to rise again Saturday so hopefully it wont be too cold for everyone fishing the second round of the Spring Pairs League this Sunday.

There is an Open match this Saturday also.

Thanks for Reading, Eddie, John and Simon.

Today was the eagerly awaited pairs series based on 6 matches with you been able to drop your worst result.

I was very much looking forward to this as I have practically been in hibernation since I arrived back from Whiteacres last October. There were 9 other pairs fishing and on paper they all  looked very strong teams so the competition was going to be good along with plenty of banter.

John Bennett conducted the draw for the sections we were going to fish, unbelievably the first 8 pairs all drew A section with only the last pair breaking the sequence of A section draws.

Once the draw for the sections was done, we were on for drawing our pegs for the day. The fancied pegs in A section went to Paul Bennett, Paul Jay and Mick Chappell. I was personally in B section and having fished the section the day before without a lot of success, I was secretly hoping I would of avoided, even more when I drew peg 22 as I had struggled off 18 before

Conditions wise the lake was like a mill pond, well this was until Steve Waters plumbed up the depth and caught a carp on a bare hook. Solid springs to mind. Typical Steve Waters peg then !!!!

With the match kicking off at 10.45, Mark Newbold on peg 26 was running to the weigh station at 10.46 with his first carp. Looking round the lake it looked like the fish were having a bit of a feed as most people seemed to be catching except the guys between 17 and 23 who sat looking at motionless tips or floats.

Come the final whistle the carp had moved to our end of the lake but it was all to late. Mick Chappel on peg 13 was rumoured to have caught well plus Andy on peg 10 next to him. Come the weigh in Mick Chappel was confirmed as the winner catching mainly on banded pellet or corn over micro pellet. Andy next to him on peg 10 was only one fish behind him again catching on corn over pellet.

Overall the battle for B section was won by Mark Newbold on peg 26 fishing 14m fishing double corn over pellet. This was also enough to ensure his team were top pairs on the day with 17 points.

With the next match this coming Sunday, the teams at the top will be looking to consolidate there lead and the ones at the bottom will be looking for an improved performance, However with Baltic conditions forecast, anything can happen !!!

Lastly on the behalf of all the anglers at Rolfs, I would like to wish Phil Powell a speedy recovery and we will look forward to seeing you back on the bank soon.

(Report by Pat Pritchard)

Results….

9 Anglers Fished

The small lake wins todays match.

With the forthcoming pairs match only a few days away and the last match for a while where the big fish are allowed to be kept in the nets, it was decided that todays match was going to be a rover and the anglers could choose anywhere on the lake to fish.

As i arrived at the draw the weather was quite mild with very little wind and carp topping all around the lake, but it was a false dawn as it turned cold during the match and the wind picked up making fishing the long pole as difficult as it did last weekend. With the draw being called I could sense that most of the anglers wanted to fish the big lake so it was going to be an easy choice for me { peg 3 } as I was only one of two anglers that wanted to fish the small lake, the bad news was the other angler was my sparring partner John Bennett who was on peg 6.

The other anglers were facing each other from pegs 13 to 24 so at least they had a bit of space to cast the bomb out. The story of the match was that the anglers had plenty of bites and many lost fish and the average size of the fish were again very big with me having a brute of a fish that i thought was going to be my first 20lb der but how it ended up only weighing 19-08 i will never know. As the match went on it turned colder and the bites slowed down but it still fished better than last weekends matches and even the pleasure angler in the small lake was bagging on the straight lead fishing corn.

Rolfslake's danger man in form angler John Bennett.

In first place today and showing a master class of how to catch fish in cold weather was Rolfslake’s inform angler John Bennett who was on peg 6 and he started on the bomb for one carp but a switch to the 13 mtr pole fishing corn and feeding micros got the carp and silvers lined up. John even had the luxury of losing 10 carp and he believes that he should of caught alot more, but after a tough day with the wind John caught 9 carp and silvers for 72-00 for yet another win { well done John i really mean it }.

In second place was Pat Pritchard on motorway peg 16 and Pat kept pace with John for most of the match but a big lost carp 10 minute from the end put paid to Pat’s chance for the win. Pat was using the long pole fishing on the deck using maggots and corn hookbaits to catch his 6 carp and a few silvers for his weight of 64-08 and only 7-08 off first place. Completing the frame was John Draper who this week swapped his favouite peg 9 this time for peg 14, and after struggling to catch on corn swapped to 6mm expander pellet and had 14-08 0f skimmers early on and then the 5 carp arrived for another 33lb which gave him a total of 47-08.

Results.

9 fished

John   3

Eddie 0

When will I catch a 20lb carp ?. this one is only 19-08.

To all the anglers competing in the pairs series we hope you all have a good time and that the fishing this weekend continues to improve especially in the small lake.

Thanks for reading John, Simon and Eddie.

The weather again makes fishing difficult down the lake.

John tells me that todays fishing was again affected with cold temperatures and a swirling wind which make pole fishing almost impossible but in first place today was lake regular Ian McCulloch.

Todays winner Ian McCulloch.

Ian today was fishing a combination of waggler and bomb from little used peg 25 on the car park bank, and Ian used pellet and corn to catch his carp and in the end put a hard earned 86-00 to not only win the match but also claim the peg king for this peg. In second place was lake owne John Bennett on motorway bank peg 13, and talking to John midway through the match he was complaining that the windy conditions made fishing the pole really hard but in the end he caught 2 carp on the pole and 3 on the tip for 52-04 with fish to 18-12.

Completing the frame and the only angler at Rolfslake who now has his post delivered to his peg was John Draper who again had drawn peg 9. John who also caught his first carp on the tip today caught the other two on the pole using corn hookbait and feeding pellet for his weight of 37-08 and an average of 12-08 a fish.

Results.

9 fished.

John has asked me to remind all the Pairs team that on the first day next Sunday they will need to pay for both the team entry and the daily pools.

Also from next Sunday the current lake rules of all fish over 10lb will need to be individually weighed and any fish over 10lb kept in keepnets will not count and any more than one 10lb fish kept in nets will disqualify that anglers weight.

Also the use of Marshmallows is now not allowed from immediate effect as it has been the cause of interferring with anglers fishing when they come off and float away taking the fish with them so please do not bring these to the lake.

John would also ask pairs teams captains to inform him if they are supplying their own reserves for the matches.

Thanks for reading Simon, John and Eddie

John tells me today that it was a very cold daay down the lake, with a swirling wind affecting fishing of the pole as it messed up presentation. With most of the anglers opting to use the bomb it was just a case of waiting for bites and after 5 hours in form angler John Bennett ended up top of the pile with his 3 carp to 12-08. John fished the bomb and feeder at a range of 15 metres using corn hook bait to catch his 3 carp and even missed a few bites on the waggler but it was very hard to workout what the fish wanted today and his weight was a very low 32-08 but most welcome.

In second place was John Draper on peg 9 with 3 carp for 25-08 and third was Paul Jay with 2 carp for 17-08 in what was another frustrating match down the lake.

Results.

10 Fished.

Thanks for reading John, Simon and Eddie.

Cold day down at the lake today.

John tells me that on arriving at the lake today the anglers were greeted with a frozen lake, so the first order of the day was to get out the little used ice breakers to cut each others swims out to a distance that would enable them to have half a chance of catching some fish. As i was busy this morning it meant that i could not fish but i was coming up later to see the guys only to be told the match had only just started and it was 11.30 and the guys were today only going to fish 4 and a half hours.

The pleasure anglers were catching in the ice free small lake as there was a breeze to keep the water moving but no such luck in the big lake as quick as you made a hole to fish the floating ice wanted to close it back up and by the amount of ice on the bank that must of been alot. The story of the match was that most anglers opted to fish the bomb or feeder on the edge of the ice floes hoping that the carp would eventually come out from under the ice which they did not.

8 fantastic carp for 85-04 for todays winner John Bennett.

The winner of todays match was lake owner John Bennett who used both the long pole and bomb/ feeder but caught all his 8 carp on the tip casting as far out of into the lake as he could and by using a combination of corn and 8mm puched meat managed to keep the bites coming but by no means was it frantic. The first 5 carp were caught by John very early in the match but as soon as the ice melted out in the middle John made a longer cast and the fish were there waiting  [the other three that was } and after a very cold 5 hours put a very hard earned weight of 85-04 for the win { well done John }.

Kev Dolton with a 18-08 common.

Always playing catch up today was Kev Dolton on cold peg 13 on the motorway bank and by half way was already 5 carp down to John, but a brilliant last two hours saw Kev catch 8 carp to 18-08 fishing a straight out line on the pole at 13 metres fishing corn on the deck feeding micros which caught him his first 5 fish and a switch to the 16 metre line to the boat saw him catch the last three and in the end fell just one small carp short of John’s weight with his 81-04 ,but still a great effort Kev.

Kev also had 8 carp for 81-04.

Completing the frame was John Draper who was trapped with a 7mtr swim on peg 19 as this was where the ice was the most thickest, and after a quick 3 carp had to wait for his remaining two by fishing the pole to the bush to his right fishing corn on the deck and feeding micro. He was fish for fish with John for the first 5 but they were a lot smaller and in the end John weighed a hard earned 35-08.

John with his 5 carp.

Results

9 anglers fished.

Some photos from the day.

Paul Jay one of the anglers that DNW.

John Draper stuck in the corner on peg 19.

Only three carp and silvers for Phil Powell today.

Always make sure you have a variety of baits.

I will be posting the details for the forthcoming pairs match tomorrow so please come back and have a look.

Thanks for reading Simon , Eddie and John.

Another frozen day at the lake.

Report to follow…

Results.

OVERALL LEADERBOARD

Overall Second Place, Misfits.

First Place Overall. Crabtree's

Second on the day. Derek Hammond and Steve Waters minus Lord Lucan