Rolfslake Wednesday Open 5th May 2010.

After Saturdays full match attendance it was back to normal for the Wednesdays open where the anglers were hoping for another Rolfslake’s bagging session. With last weeks winner Ginger back for another go at taking the regulars money back up the motorway and master float maker Jon Walker in attendance, the one thing that was a cert was that if the fish were feeding a big weight was on the cards. Also returning to the lake after a brief absence was Rolfslake elite cartel member Mick Lane who was eager to catch some fish and add his name to the peg king board, and hopefully give his shallow rigs a good work out.

With todays weather at the start being sunny quite warm with no wind and fish topping all around the lake it looked like a near perfect day for a serious weight to be put together, so with this in mind the anglers were eager to get the draw going with first up being the judge {Mike Stimson} who picked up flyer peg 4 in the small lake. Next up was Jon Walker who picked peg 32 and the groans from the anglers could be heard miles away but with Ginger drawing peg 8 at least he would be battling to draw the fish from the far bank. With the draw completed the anglers headed off to their pegs ready for another battle with Rolfs monsters, as in the last few weeks the big carp { to 20lb } had been putting in an appearance so strong rigs were the order of the day together with pellet or paste being the main hookbaits.

As Paul J called the all in the expected fish frenzy did not happen just as the weather changed from being warm to the wind picking up and getting cooler. From where i was on peg 13 in the bay on the motorway bank the only anglers i could see were Jon, Ginger and Paul J on peg 30 who were picking off the odd few fish on either the pole fished shallow or in the margins, with my main challenge being John Bennet on peg 16 who i could not see but i could hear as he was giving me stick from behind the bush. As the hours went by i could see the fishing getting better as more anglers were visiting the weigh stations around the lake and i could see ripples coming from John Bennets peg, so maybe a big weight was on the cards after all.

The winner for the second match in a row was Ginger on peg 8 in the gap between the big and small lake, who opted to fish across to the far bank grass which is a good 16 metres and quite difficult for most anglers but not Ginger. After fishing on the deck with little sucesss, he change to a shallow rig about 18 to 24 inches and was rewarded with a lot of carp to double figures and the odd chub to 4lb. Ginger was using 8mm hard banded pellet feeding regular across with 4mm pellets and he could hear carp sucking the grass as the pellets fell in from the far bank , so by lifting and dropping he was able to keep the fish coming. Every now and then he would try the bush to his left and was rewarded with only 6 fish but was always drawn back to the long line every time he heard the fish sucking, and after 5 hour was rewarded for his efforts with a great weight of 256-06 and only 10lb weight off the top weight on the lake this year.

In second place was Jon Walker on peg 32 and after a slow start John Was able to catch a few fish shallow in the junction between the big and small lake, but Jon was also able to catch fish over the bush to his left towards the platform of peg 33. John used a combination of shallow and deep rigs used with soft pellets and paste to keep the fish coming and Jon was rewarded with big fish {Jon had over 100-00 of big fish on the board at the end ] in his final weight of 182-04, and another place on the peg kings board. Completing the frame was Pat Pritchard on peg 18, and Pat fished close in to pick off fish in his final weight of 134-00 and just two fish off the chasing pack.

Results.

As for me it was also going to be difficult form me to complete with pegs 32 and 8 with very good anglers on them so the best i could expect was 3rd, so set about trying to beat Cartel members Bennet, Lane and Jay.      

I set up two line one right out in front at a range of 8 metres and one down the edge towards my right at range of 10 metres down the edge. To cut a long story short i struggled with the line out in front only catching a couple of bream, but when i went down the edge to my right i caught big fish to 15-12 all on paste and should of done a lot better as the bite were brilliant ,not dips just one minute it was there and then it was gone with elastic coming out. My X4 paste was used with conjunction with with one of Jon Walkers new long bristle paste floats {only available down on the lake } and they worked an absolute treat giving good indications.

After 5 hours i put only 118-08 on the scales but should of done better { Rolfslake is the only place you can be disappointed with a ton} but at least i beat the three Cartel members so it was not a bad day after all.

The current score between me and John stands at John B 3 – Eddie Bandana man 2.                              

John beaten by Bandana man Eddie.

Cartel member beaten by Bandana man Eddie

Cartel member beaten by Bandana man Eddie.