Monday Open Match. 2nd April 2012
Rolfslake switches on Big time.
As i looked out of the kitchen window it was sunny with little wind and i was hoping that when I turned up at the lake that the fish would not be on the suface, forty minutes later when I turned up at the lake there were lots up in the water.
As I was unable to fish the Wednesday open match this week it made a nice change to see a different group of anglers hoping that Rolfslake’s carp would finally get their heads down and have a feed and today Rolfslake did not disappoint. At the draw it was decided that it was going to be a walk off and having the eighth choice of swim I was hoping that no one chose either pegs 6, 9 or 3 and to my surprise all the other anglers were in the big lake and with Geoff Edwards last to draw he looked at peg 32 and said that will do for me { that was our first mistake of the day }.
The story of the match was after a slow start it turned cloudy after two hours and then Rolfslake went fish crazy, as the fish seen on the surface earlier decided to go down on the deck and into the margins and then it was who could catch the fastest and it was a 5 horse race for victory. The last time I fished a match like this the angler that came last in a 17 peg match weighed an incredible 179lb which still is a record for last place in a match that was won with i believe 440lb, and for a brief period that was on for three anglers and maybe more. All of the anglers today had a great days fishing with carp ranging from 5lb to 20lb and everything in between and it took the four of us nearly fifty minutes to weigh the fish in.
In first place today and claiming king of the lake was Geoff Edwards { Reading Angling Centre } who was more than happy to be fishing peg 32 on the car park bank and after a very slow first hour, Geoff managed to turn his swim into a fish catching haven. From where I was I could see Geoff was fishing three lines, the first was to the bush to his left and beyond, the second was a short 5 metre line straight out in front and the third was to the margin to his right and this was to be his main catching line. The bait that Geoff used today was paste fished on the deck feeding 4mm pellet {two bags worth} and after falling 6 fish behind at the start as Kevan Orr on peg 10 was flying Geoff set about catching the field up and by the fourth hour was level with the leaders and by the end had caught about 40 carp to nearly 20lb to seal victory with a fantastic 353-08 and the top weight from the lake this year { well done Geoff }.
King of the lake Geoff Edwards 353-08.
In second place was Paul Jay who drew a low number and chose peg 22 at the bottom of the big lake , and as Paul draws this pegs on a regular basis all his rigs were set and ready to go. Paul started on the wagger catching a couple of carp early but a switch to the right hand margins fished with 8mm banded pellet saw his catch rate rocket, and with regular feeding managed to keep the fish coming for the five hours. Again Paul caught big fish today to nearly 19lb and at the weigh-in was convinced he had over 300lb but in the end fell one fish short with his weight of 291-04 but still a great weight so well done Paul.
Second place Paul Jay 291-08
In third place was me Eddie Taylor-Green, and after chosing my favourite peg on the lake peg 6 I set about making 5 hours of fishing seem very difficult. I started off on the 7 metre line fishing my X4 2012 mix which failed miserably last week and was going to give it one last chance or it was going in the bin, and after the first hour was struggling with 2 carp and 7lb of skimmers, but as i had fed the right hand margin could not believe my eyes as the water was boiling with fish feeding.
I straight away switched to the top two plus one and margin rig and that was the start of fishing fantasy for three hours as every time the bait went in the float buried very soon after which was fantstic until the 5th hour when I ran out of paste and had to fish the banded pellet which caught me 3 fish. Most of the fish buried the float and pulled the pole round but it was was me dreaming of 400lb that messed up my fishing as i started to speed up and lost 15 fish around the platform and the nets in my rush to get the next fish in. After 5 hours I caught over 30 carp to 18lb for my weight of 289-08 and one small skimmer off second.
Eddie with third place and 289-04.
9 anglers fished
| Pos | Name | Peg | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Geoff Edwards | 32 | 353-8 |
| 2 | Paul Jay | 22 | 291-4 |
| 3 | Eddie T Green | 6 | 289-8 |
| 4 | Kevan Orr | 10 | 235-0 |
| 5 | Steve Williams | 18 | 221-12 |
| 6 | John Draper | 14 | 116-0 |
| 7 | Dave W | 8 | 68-4 |
| 8 | Fred | 24 | 52-8 |
With these Monday and Wednesday opens moving forwards I will expect this year that one of the big weight anglers will catch the first 400lb for the first time in a few years. The cloudy weather played a very big part today as the fish followed the bait down as there were less visable fish after two hours and at this point the fishing just got better. There were a lot of big fish caught today to nearly 20lb and all the anglers caught doubles, but the anglers reading this just remember Rolfslake is not an easy fishery where you can just turn up and catch 200lb you have to work it out.
I thourghly enjoyed catching my fish today but not weighing the 1,600lb of fish the 9 anglers caught as it was very hard work for the 3 that got involved cheers guys.
New Lake king in Under a week. Geoff Edwards
Well done Jeff, Cracking weight.
Thanks for reading John ,Simon and Eddie.
Cant wait to read the report on this one!
Well done Geoff, cracking effort.
I looked round after to see how much pole i’d smashed but i managed to avoid the whole thing. Impressive i thought.
Going for a swim normally = smashed pole!
Would have been cheaper to crunch the pole than the box. Lost a fortune in bits gutted. i’ll bring my snorkle in August and pick it up again.
Well done Jeff, that’s a cracking weight from there. Let’s hope there’s a few fish about around the whole of the lake come the Festival
OMG I miss one match and its margin bashing action by the look of it, sensational weight Jeff well done mate!
And well done Eddie for putting a proper weight together out of the little lake, it’s been a long time coming!
How come Eddie saves his best for when JB’s not there.
where my message gone?!
lake king didnt last long, Jeff must have got some tips off me and mark last wed 😉
Good come back from a Harry Ramsden!
contemplating going tomorrow Andy but the weather is supposed to be shocking!
Light drizzle in the afternoon, what a Wussy!
Light drizzle!
my forecast said 5 degrees and 22 mph winds and heavy rain!
I’ll put the gear in the car and see what i think at 12 noon. It wont be busy i know that for sure!
I doubt it he was fishing 3m to the bush not waving his pole round like Paul Daniels wand lol 😛 😀
I reckon you’d have broke 20lb from his peg lol
25mph bang north winds and heavy rain
strong north winds for next week, itll plummet with 24 on the festival
good luck if you go Mark, I wont be there that is for sure
fishing the festival though
I can’t fish the festival have a weekend of shopping and national trust properties to contend with. Will be more bearable if its blowing a gale and raining, at least I won’t be missing out on some serious bagging.
it’ll be crap I reckon, dropping cold suddenly, near spawning(ish) time, cold rain, and 24 on the lake
on the last day last year pegs 22-30 were virtually blanking. 1 fish was the norm and it was lovely and warm.
Derek hammond was winning festival, drew something like 26, had a fouled carp first put and not another bite!
Think I’ll stick to getting brownie points
Hurrah, Tax Office have finally agreed they have been over Taxing me since September!
I might even be able to afford a social life again (Lots more trips to the lake, roll on the 11th)
All good mate, you new tax code should be £8,105 from 5th April 2012 unless you have any other taxable benefits in kind or any kids that could effect it.
I can take a look at your correspondence tonight if you want, FOC of course!
I am happy now.
Hope you have a good match.
Wrap up warm!
he even tried mugging LOL
well done jeff great weight its usually andy or mark catching the big weights lately i dont no all the anglers on mondays match but looking at the top 3 was it a pensioners match
si monday 16 is not a open as lake is booked ok
Ok mate, Deleted that one matey
Cold aint the word for it. I went in, big splash both feet wet up to my bollo<!@ frozen half to death cross draws on my seat box smashed to bits!!
Anyone want a match box minus the cross draws?
Is that the method of landing fish Pellet King recently refered to!
Snorkelling like a grizzly bear isn’t against the rules actually…… John might put that on the board after this week’s performance.
My feet have never felt so cold!
I’m in the market for a new seat box, anyone got any recommendations for me? I carry chunky gear, serious wagglers to 24gram and loads of feeders. 30mm deep draws essential.
space station is good Mark… also holds my weight easily!
its on the short list. Not that fond of the styling, allot of plastic. What are the clips like? Are the strong?
If it can be broken i will break it. I’m a bit heavy handed.
Mark matchboxes for me all the way. Had you not fallen in then you would not be buying a new box. I have two and they are brill. So save yoursef some money contact matchbox and buy two new draws.
Phoned them this morning, they stopped making my box 8 years ago. They said they’d have a look out the back for me and if they find any they will send them to me FOC! Not in demand then!
Won’t be out for a while, lost so much kit it will take me a while to get it together again!
and you slag my box off 😉
modulator rules!! 4 years and still in perfect working order apart from the foam lid has seen better days
I assume you also struggled for bites?
Eddie how on earth did you lose 15 fish under your platform..did you not learn after the 4th, 5th, 6th…..time?
thats probably 130-200lb thrown back
in fact it was so hard a reverted to the bomb against the rope on 7 for a bite. All fish on corn…… shocker! winter league here we come!
rock hard. Nothing by the bush, nothing over at 14.5m bottom of the shelf, Nothing on top of the shelf, no liners, no foul hookers. All fish taken from down the track fishing as far left as I dare with 32 getting the hump. That line died after i splash landed in my peg funny enough. only got one bite after that
lol
I told you, your not missing anything with the festival, come really cold today, stick 24 on and itll be rock hard
when the going gets tough….the weak go shopping ha
couldn’ tfish if i wanted to, got no box and no gear! must be £100 worth of gear in peg 8, not kidding everything went in when my draws folded in half.
New box this weekend. Rive or Preston?
you lost all your hooks and line and stuff obviously
I get those gaffs you use sank like stones 😉
with your money get a Rive mate
http://www.fostersofbirmingham.co.uk/522502
what do you think of that?
put another 30mm cross draw on the box and a 60mm tary on the unit that pulls out – job done
Mark, speak to Cameron at Nathans of Derby. Tell him Pat sent you. He might be able to sort you out a deal on something.
awesome!!
get it bought
I nearly fell in on saturday at Pans, slipped on the platform and luckily regained myself
i fell into the grand union canal in 1995, that was worse than rolfs the silt was unreal.
i’ll have a look in my local tackle shop, be disappointed that the bloke thats serving me know less about fishing than my misses then order the RIVE on tuesday……
I was thinking of getting a RIVE
then I can stand on top of it like everyone seems to think I was last wednesday LOL
step ladder attachment yeah? i liked that one
your might come with a scuba diving attachment
you took mugging to a WHOLE new level lol
Maybe in an effort not to break a Top 2 Mark was trying to tickle them out!
its a good job mark fell in and not mick lane or paul jay we may have had rolfs first tsunami well done to michael on his win
John, i have a festival at rolfs on 15/16 september if you’re interested?
Your a funny guy John! gonna miss ya this year
Lol