Rolfslake on a sunny day
John and Pauline Bennett , Simon and I {Eddie } would like to firstly like to wish all our Rolfslake.com visitors a very happy new year and here’s to hoping that 2010 down on the lake is the best year ever for P.B’s and fishing enjoyment for all our visitors.
Whilst having a well earned break from work after a very busy Christmas , i now have a chance to review the 2009 year from down on the lake and i will appologise to anyone that i may of missed from this report.
January
2009 was a strange year starting as usual very slow in the month of January with the winter league anglers having to contend with very cold weather and the usual frozen lake which normally slows up the fishing. Rolfs Team Gold were going for their 6th league title in a row and the three anglers Captain Phil Powell, Mick Lane and lake owner John Bennett were very up for any challenge that was going to come their way so the competing teams were going to have their work cut out if they wanted to be victorious.
After a very hard fought 6 rounds Rolfs Team Gold again came out on top with 167 points from Liams Boys with 142 points and in third place was Tilleys Lot with 117 points. Individually John Bennett came out on top scoring 59 out of a possible 70 points and very close behind was Phil Powell with 58 out of 70 {well done to the Swindon Bandits}. Other news in January was an open victory for Phil Powell who always does well when the fishing gets tough from peg 28.
Powell, Bennett and Lane aka Rolfs Team Gold.
February
February saw the start of the spring league and a new team Match Fishing Scene entered to try and break the domination of Rolfs Team Gold in these league events. Round 1 was won by Rolfs Team Gold but with the top individual on the day being MFS angler Mark Poppleton with 102-02 from peg 16. Round 2 saw the Match Fishing Scene team of Mark Poppleton , Ron Byus and Ian Hornsby take control of the league with 20 points on the day to go top and with Ron Byus winning individually from peg 16 with the lakes top weight of the year 174-12. The two opens of the month saw victories for Phil Powell with a new top weight of the year 187-00 from peg 26 and Kevin Doulton with 140-06 from peg 13.
March
March saw a busy month for the league anglers with rounds 3, 4, and 5 taking place and after their setback in round two Rolfs Team Gold took wins in round three and five with Liams Lads winning round four. Individually round three was won by Stewart Fletcher with 141-06 from peg 10 just ahead of Mick Lane with 140-03 and round five was won by Phil Powell who made it three top weights of the year with a great 193-06 and just one small carp off the double ton. The only open to take place this month was won by Pete Arnold with 88-00 from peg 24.
April
This month was dominated with the three day Easter Festival, an annual event down on the lake for the last eight years, which bring some of the top match anglers to Rolfslake to add Festival winner to their C.V. The festival is fished over three days with anglers grouped in 7 angler sections and they fish the three section over the three days . The top angler in each section gets 7 points desending down to 1 point for the lowest weight caught by an angler in that section ,but you have to weigh in to score points. The winner of the festival is the angler with the most points and in the event of a draw the festival is decided on weight.
Day one: As usual the event takes a day to get going so the objective is to score good points to get you on your way. Section’s B and C in the big lake fished the best on day one and the top angler was last years festival winner Matt Smith who caught the highest weight recorded at the lake 236-12 from peg 26. The other two section winners were Tim Guise with 162-08 from peg 28 and Mark Bedford with 131-00 from peg 34.
Day two: After the fish had got used to the increased angler activity from day one the anglers were ready for a good days fishing and a better day from A section which had fished hard the previous day. With the weather warmer than day one the fishing got better as the match went on and with anglers fishing all pole methods, up in the water , on the deck fished long and against any marginal feature the fish were responding in a big way. After five hours only one angler had maintained his maximum point scoring from day one and that was Mark Bedford from peg 14 in the big lake with 149-12 so for Mark it was 14 points out of 14. The other two section winners on the day were Dave Harpin with the current top weight on the lake with 263-10 from peg 34 and Mark Malin with 197-08 from peg 25. Rolfslake fished excellent on this day with 10 x 100lb weights and 2 x 200lb weights from 21 anglers and many close to the ton.
Day three: With as many as seven anglers still in with a chance of winning the festival and also with the possibility of Matt Smith retaining his title it was a very tense day three for all the competing anglers. With Rolfslake fishing at its best today it was anyone match to win and the difference of one lost fish could result in an angler losing the title. Again after a hard fought match it was going to be very close in the final weigh-in and after all the figures were added up the eventual winner of the Rolfslake 2009 Easter Festival was Mark Bedford with a brilliant 21 maximum points {very well done Mark }. The results on the final match were section wins for Mark with 185-08 from peg 23, Derek Hammond with 248-12 from peg 40 and Chris Telling with 188-12 from peg 14. Overall this match fished brilliantly with a total weight of 2670 lb caught by the anglers at an average of 127lb per angler.
Final Festival positions 1st Mark Bedford 21 points {466-08 lb} 2nd Matt Smith 19 points {615-06 lb} and 3rd Mark Malin 18 points {509-10 lb}.
Also in April saw the conclusion of the spring league and after 6 rounds the defending champions Rolfs Team Gold came out on top once again so it was another well done to Phil, Mick and John. April also saw the the first 300lb weight down on the lake caught by Spro sponsored Nick Dean who caught a great 302-00 from peg 18 both up in the water and down the edge on corn and pellet. Match wins also for Ian McCulloch on flyer peg 32 with 284-00 and section wins in the Match Fishing Scene’s members match for John Walker on peg 38 with 229-00 ,Chris Telling on peg 9 with 247-04 and Fluffy with 176-14 from peg 23.
Another league victory for Rolfs Team Gold.
May
May saw the lake fish consistently with winning weights in the 200’s to win the matches and it also saw the first signs of paste starting to become a winning bait.
June
With the club matches dominating the weekends the only way that you could fish the lake was going to be on a midweek open, so this saw the increase in attendances in the hope of catching one of the monster summer weights that Rolfslake is famous for.
The two recorded opens this month went to the two form anglers at the lake firstly Phil Powell with a win on a horrible rain soaked day from car park bank peg 28 with 135-12, and secondly Vespe sponsored pastemaster Chris Telling with another big weight 241-04 from little used peg 40 in the small lake.
July
July was a busy time down the lake as it saw the very first night match to be held under floodlights , a great idea from lake owner John Bennett and a great deal of debate came from the weeklys as to whether this was a good thing for angling or not. The match would start at 6.30 and finish at 11.30 and the lights would go on at 9.30 or when the light got very bad at about 9.31. The match fished brilliantly as there were plenty of bites for all the anglers mostly from the Jinx League being fished on the Saturday, and after a very different 5 hours the winner was Simon Endicott who was fishing on peg 16 and ended up with 242-12 all caught on paste long. The results from the match were 19 anglers fished and there were 3 x 200lb weights and 9 x 100lb weights and all the anglers had a fantastic time.
Malc Doyle with a 13lb mirror carp on the first night match.
Also in this month saw three major factors that were going to change fishing for a couple of anglers in the months to come, 1: Paste was going to dominate matches for the next couple of months, 2: The launch of X4 paste that was the most secret paste mix down on the lake and 3: and me Eddie T-Green’s battle with the Rolfslake’s Cartel members that was going to last the next three months.
There were open wins for Chris Telling with 284-08 from peg 16 all caught on paste with me second with 209-12 {2lb off my PB} on the first outing of X4 paste. Also in July was a match win for me Eddie T-Green with a top weight on the lake off peg 28 with a PB smashing 328-12 again caught on X4. The final match this month saw Rolfslake’s top angler of the moment Chris Telling catch a massive 394-08 off peg 8 again all on Paste and also the top weight and a PB for Chris {well done}.
August
The month was started off with the Pete Archer Invitation which had an assembled assortment of anglers from the Match Fishing Scene website and his angling friends. The match was won by Nick Merry from peg 16 with 215-04 again on paste .
August was also a busy month with the Maggot Drowners having their annual 3 day match which normally a practise / open on day one and a pairs match on days two and three. I normally get down to watch these matches and meet some friends that i have made and annoy some others with my so called coaching. These matches are also feared by the male anglers as the resident Minx aka Gemma Doyle [Rolfslake’s top female angler} is on hand to beat her fellow male anglers and give them a Minxing not wanted by anyone but was dished out to 17 anglers well done Gemma. In the two day pairs match saw individual wins for Dave Moore with 116-12 from peg 8 and on day two Gaz Malman put 165-00 from normally unfished peg 37. The pairs cup was won by Dave Collier and Alex Malman with a combined total of 42 points.
In this busy month also saw John Bennett win an open with a good 232-12 from peg 8 on paste and there were also wins for Phil Powell 121-12 from peg 26 , the two night matches this month were won by Dave Moore with 154-12 and Chris Lovelock with 136-00 from peg 9.
This month also saw master float maker Jon Walker put his marker down for the top weight on the lake last year with a massive 370-08 from peg 16 caught on pellet down the edge, and also the very first Rolfslake Open Day which some of the regular anglers gave up their time to coach some of the adults and their children to catch a few big fish {a very big thanks to John Bennett, Paul Jay , Pete Archer and Jon Walker for helping the kids catch fish to 19lb} and a very enjoyable day was had by one and all.
Vespe's sponsored Chris Telling.
September
This was a very busy month down on the lake with plenty of matches and the lake reaching its optimum catching potential, and started with a new name in the winners circle John Beaton who won the first open of the month with 185-00 from peg 32. For the rest of the month it was going to be a massive battle between the top two anglers of 2009 Jon Walker and Chris Telling who were both to win two matches each firstly Jon who won the first of his two with a victory from peg 10 with a massive 354-00 and the second from peg 16 with 220-12, so it was now to Chris who won the night match with 212-00 from peg 30 and then went on to win the midweek match with a hard earned 244-00 from peg 32.
Match Fishing Scene held another of their members matches with members from all around the country coming down to the lake but on this occasion Rolfslake fished very hard and was won by my co-blog partner Simond Mound from peg 30 with 93-12.
MFS match winner Simon Mound co-blogger.
The last two matches of the month were won by Paul Jay with 139-00 from peg 13 and finally John Bennett with a hard earned 255-12 from peg 9.
October
October saw the continuation of domination of matches by Chris and Jon and also saw lake regular Ian McCulloch get married to the lovely Amila and also the engagement of Phil Powell to the lovely Aldonna so it was good news all around.
Ian and Amilia McCulloch married in South Africa.
The first open of the month saw Jon Walker continue his run of super weights continue with a win with 283-00 from peg 9 all caught on pellet, then Chris Telling not to be left behind won the midweek match with 295-00 from peg 11 all on paste. Then the lake changed in a way that i had not seen before as all of a sudden the massive fish made an appearance and in most match weights the anglers were weighing 100 to 200lb of weighers on the board which made the Angling Times paper take note. In one match that was won by Clive Pritchard with 233-12 it was Jon Walkers second place that made all the news as he had only 9 fish for a fantastic 169-08 with a monster mirror of 27-00 {a new lake record }included. With this news featured as a story in the paper the Angling Times agreed to do feature on Jon Walker and his big weight and the big fish he had been catching.
So it was on a not so perfect Tuesday that Ben Fisk from The Angling Times turned up to watch Jon try and catch a big carp but as it was cold and windy things were not looking good , but by the time i arrived John had already caught about 200lb and when he asked me to lift the 6 fish out of the water he forgot to tell me that the smallest was 17lb so up the bank i went with over 100lb of fish {thanks Jon}. In the end Jon caught over 250lb of fish with the biggest going 21lb so it was mission acomplished ,well done Jon on your second live feature of the year.
Jon Holding one of many Double's from the Lake
In this busy month there were victories for me Eddie T-Green with 248-00 from peg 8 again on X4 paste, Steve Cantwell with 136-00 from peg 4 then it was Adam with 116-12 also from peg 4. Paul J won another match from peg 16 {he spent a lot of time on peg 16 last year} with 156-00 then the last two matches were won by Jon with 285-00 and Chris with 240-00 from peg 28 again on paste.
November
There were very few opens in November but saw the start of the Winter league for 2009/ 2010 so back came the teams for another crack at Rolfs Team Gold.
The only match in this month was the first round of the league which was won by Rolfs Team Gold and the individual winner was Mick lane with 48-04 from peg 9. This was a tough match as the temperature had dropped which resulted in the lake freezing over so it was the return of the ice breakers and all anglers switching to trying to catch silvers and if you caught a carp it was like a bar of gold.
December
The only two matches of note were rounds two and three of the winter league and again the anglers found the fishing to be very hard and the lake to be frozen with up to 6 inches of ice. Round two was won by Rolfs Team Gold with Mick Lane again being the top individual with 67-00 from peg 18 , and round three was won by Rolfs Team Diamond with again the top individual being Mick Lane 26-04 from peg 7.
So that was the review of the year for the year that was, and i hope that i have got everything right and not forgotten anyone.
I would like to nominate a few people for awards and if you would like to vote through the comments it would be fun.
1st Award Rolfslake angler of the year: [A] Jon Walker [B] Chris Telling [C] Phil Powell
2nd Award Rolfslake pole of the year [A] Tricast Finnese Competition [B] Garbolino Power Maxim [C] Diawa Yank and Bank
3rd Award Rolfslake Team of the Year [A] Rolfs Team Gold [B] Rolfs Team Diamond [C] MFS
4th Award top swimmer award [A] Malc Doyle [B] Mitch Auger [C] John Bennett
5th Award Rolfslake top bait award [A] Pellet [B] Paste [C] Corn
6th Award Rolfslake top float brand used [A] Diawa [B] Drennan [C] Jon Walker
These awards are just for a bit of fun take part if you want, i will give you the results at the end of January.
I would just like to say a final thanks to a few people that make a huge difference to Rolfslake and the pleasure had by many anglers.
Firstly i would like to thank both John and Pauline Bennett for their relentless work down on the lake, be it cutting the grass pruning the trees repairing the the platforms providing the teas and hot food on a cold day, it takes a lot of bloody hard work and a lot of money to keep a lake like Rolfslake in such top condition with the fish in fantastic health. During this year John has installed 3 aerators to keep the oxygen right in the lake, installed a toilet for use for all visitors, flood lights for the night matches and allowed the lake to be used for magazine and newspaper features that have made Rolfslake one of the top lakes in the country and enjoyed by thousands of people each year.
Secondly i would like to thank both Paul Jay and Ian McCulloch for their hard work keeping an eye on the lake and helping John when help is required at short notice. To Paul for turning up every Wednesday helping filling the water tanks, selling bait, running the midweek opens .
Thirdly i would like to thank Jon Walker and Chris Telling and Phil Powell for raising the profile of Rolfslake with their monster weights and their helpfulness in putting anglers on the right method for the day and then winning the matches and taking their money [only joking guys}.
Finally i would like to Thank my co-blog reporter Simon for helping me with the blog and adding new features which hopefully make people’s visit to the site enjoyable.
Until our next report tight lines Eddie and Simon.
The minx Gemma Doyle.
