Author: Eddie

The Pirate strikes back in todays match.

Given time off for good behaviour from work allowed me to attend todays low attended open and after the indifferent weights from last weekends league series i wanted to try something i had been working on recently. The weather was cold but very bright turning really cold towards the end so it was a good thing i was well wrapped up as i expected bites to be hard to come by in todays match.

We decided to have a walk off today and i knew exactly where i wanted to go if i drew a low number and as draw was called i wasted no time putting my hand in and to my surprise drew number one PERFECT. The guys already new it was going to be small lake peg 3 as i had been talking about it for the last four weeks but had not been allowed to fish it because it had been out of view from the rest , and the thought of me out of abuse range did not appeal to them.

In the big lake the pleasure anglers were catching carp on the bomb fished with corn and both Taff and the angler on peg 18 were having quite a few indications so at least the carp had not switched off so the signs were good for my fishing plan.

John had decided he had to be near to me so he could keep an eye on me so was on peg 34, Kev Dalton was opposite on peg 7, Paul was on 16 with the rest scattered around. I had not realised that the all in had been called as John had run out of gas for the air horn and i was surprised that he used the whistle as he is usually full of hot air {only joking John } and i was about 10 minutes late starting as they were cutting the grass on the main road and i could not hear him.

Todays winner was me Eddie aka Bandanaman who confused John into thinking that i was only using corn and pellet and that in fact i was using paste just to prove a point to myself that you can still catch on paste when the water gets really cold.

What i was not using today was my trusted X4 but Markyu AFP 300 that i was given to me by Mick Wilkinson earlier in the year whilst doing an Angling Times feature down on the lake. It is so easy to mix one cup of paste mix to one cup of water mix it up and leave it for 5 minutes and thats it.

The one thing that Rolf always told me about peg 3 was that there are always carp in the hole on peg 3 and he was never wrong about that. To just prove it was no fluke today i caught more carp than anyone else 7 and lost 6 on the paste and the nearest one to me today caught 3 so this paste works a treat. I caught my fish either at 11 metres towards peg 4 or against the bush and had it not been for the sun in my eyes i would of seen a lot more of the bites as some even pulled the elastic out. At the end of the match i had caught 7 carp for 41-12 but it was enough to prove a point to me that it can work.

In second place was Barry Crawley fishing peg 11 and Barry caught three big carp on the tip fishing corn casting about half way across towards peg 30 and he weighed 37-00 on only his second trip to the lake { well done Barry }. Completing the frame was John on 34 who could not catch on the tip and corn so ended up fishing the bush to his right on the pole using maggot, which brought him one big carp of 17lb one small one of about 7lb and 3 odd pound of silvers for his final weight of 27-08.

I have left this picture big so you can see John's fish.

John even sent Pete Morton round to see what i was using and i had to hide it in my bag to keep it secret .

I managed to pull one point back on John and the score now stands at John 14 Eddie 10 but i fear time is running out.

P.s thanks to Mick Jones for my KitKat chunky and for Pete Morton for the photos.

Until our next report tight lines Simon and Eddie.

Today only a few anglers turned up for a midweek knock-up so we tried to convince the pleasure anglers to join in but they were having nothing of it. The day was sunny with a slight breeze on the lake making it a very nice morning but i am glad i brought my coat because towards the end it was like being in Siberia as it turned very cold making it difficult to catch fish in the last two hours of the match.

Today we decided to have a walk off and choose whatever peg you liked on the lake and when John drew one {infact it was two as he dropped one he could not find it} he wanted to fish peg 23 in the big lake. Next to choose was me and i chose peg 3, Paul went on 16 and Neil chose peg 18 then realising there was no-one on form peg 14 went there. Then John decided to tell me that i could not fish the small lake on my own something about verifying doubles { in fact it was because he could not shout abuse at me from his peg } so i reluctantly chose peg 9 the furthest one away from him.

It was a slow start to the match with very little action then i saw the elastic coming from Neil pole on peg 14, and with his first carp going 18-12 he was certainly up and running. A short while later i heard shouting coming from Neils peg as he was just landing another carp because this fish was massive and after weighing the fish it went 22-10 and a new PB for Neil { well done Neil }.

Todays winner Paul Jay fishing pegs 16 to 20.

In the next two hours Neil put another 6 carp in his net fishing the pole to the bush to his right and also the bomb straight out in front about half way fishing ith whis special coated corn hook bait. Paul being bored of watching Neil catching carp went off to peg 14 and like a scene from Oliver said “please Neil can i have some of your corn” ?.

That was Neils only mistake of the day as after that Paul caught 11 carp to 19-12 from all areas at the bottom of the big lake fishing the straight lead and hair rigging two pieces of corn. At the end of the match Paul had won with 119-12 to Neils 92-14 { well done Paul }. What about John Bennett i hear you ask well with the sun in my eyes for most of the match i could not really see him, but one thing i know was that he must of borrowed someones pole as he was fishing 16 metres out on to the old bar that runs across the lake.

John again fishing corn on the deck caught carp to 16-12 in his final weight of 75-04.

Neil Riddy and his lovely common of 22-10 and a new P.B

Two photo’s to show off this lovely common.

Photo's by ETG / SM photographic studios.

As for me it was a frustrating day on peg 9 as the bush  was devoid of carp { that was the first time ever i have been to Rolfs and not caught a carp } so in the last 45 minutes i decided to have a go for the silvers and ended up with perch and roach in my bag of 6-12 but at least for now i am on the silver fish peg king board.

In my battle with John Bennett i have now gone down another point as the score stands at John 14 Eddie 9.

Until our next report tight lines Simon and Eddie.

Report to follow.

John Hague with his first Rolfslake 20lb carp this one went 20-01 well done John.

To all the anglers of Rolfslake, now the Open matches are turning to silver fish matches it only seems right that Simon and I put up a new peg king board for silver fish only.

We hope you enjoy the challenge to get your name on the board before the end of the year.

The current Silver fish king is Mick Lane with a great 38-08 can you beat his weight ?.