Winter league round 5.
The only thing feeding down on the lake in the previous week.
After the recent snow and very cold weather the anglers were greeted with another frozen lake, even after the very hard efforts of lake owner John Bennett in the previous week. Armed with ice breakers the anglers still had to work hard breaking and removing the ice to allow them to fish any distance and even when they saw before the match John Bennett in the boat trying to create a channel they knew the day was going to be a challenge.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luqXZ5bVeAM
With Rolfs Team Gold at the top of the league it was imperative that each of their anglers caught to ensure that they gained good points, and with Rolfs Team Diamond in second place and closing the gap but without John Walker who was away in China they were going to have to put in a big performance to keep up their good work and give them a chance to win the league in round 6.
So with the draw completed the anglers went off to their pegs hoping to spot a swirling fish to give them confidence of life in their swims but Rolfslake was motionless so a hard 5 hours was on the cards. Rolfs Team Gold had drawn flyer pegs 32, 26, and 38 in the small lake and their nearest rivals Rolfs Team Diamond had drawn 13, 22, and peg 4 so both teams were evenly matched in respect of good solid pegs. Elsewhere around the lake Steve Wilson had drawn peg 10 and was fishing down the edge towards the inlet pipe where water comes in from the stream, my blog/site partner Simon Mound was on peg 16 but was suffering from floating ice coming into his peg all match, Clive Pritchard had drawn the coldest peg on the lake ,Siberean peg 40 where the sun never shines ,and guesting for Match Fishing Scene was young Daniel Blackwell on winter peg 24.
All i can tell you about the match which was very tough, was that Clive Pritchard on peg 40 on his first put in on the corn rig was shocked to see his float dissapear straight away and after 3 minutes had a carp of 9-04 in the net and never saw another bite for the remainder of the match. All around the lake the carp really did not want to feed so the anglers were scratching around for silvers, but with the ice melting making the lake water even colder even the roach and perch did not want to feed. When and if the anglers got a bite they responded with i can’t believe it i have had a bite in true Victor Meldrew style, and any size of fish caught today was going to score big points so concentration looking at the float or the tip was more important than ever. Young Daniel had four carp on the led but lost them all which would of put him in the final frame but went to show him how cruel Rolfslake can be when it does not want to give you any of its fish.
I would like to tell you of the lake picking up in the final hours but in reality it was really hard and only Steve Wilson who hooked 7 carp but landed 5 on pole fished worm and Mike Stimson who hooked 3 carp landed 2 on corn and Paul Jay on peg 28 who caught 7 perch were the only anglers who had any kind of action. Most of the other anglers weighed in 1 or 2 perch in what was a desperate match for every one, and at the weigh in [which was one of the fastest i have seen at Rolfslake] the big news was that Rolfs Team Gold had lost their lead to Rolfs Team Diamond due to a blank and no points from their star angler Mick Lane, although RTD also had a blank their remaining two anglers Ian McCulloch and Mike Stimson both scored big points.
Rolfslake's Mick Lane.
As the anglers reflected after the match on their struggles the big question that was being asked was, “are Rolfs Team Gold about to be beaten in the league for the first time in 2 and a half years ! or can captain Phil Powell motivate his team for one final effort in the biggest come back this year ?. You will have to look out for the results of round six which is being held on the 31st of January .
Until the next report tight lines Eddie and Simon.
Results..
| A Section | ||||
| 1st | Clive Pritchard | peg 40 | 9-5 | A |
| 2nd | Fred Parker | peg 7 | 0-2 | MFS |
| 3rd | Phil Powell | peg 38 | 0-1 | RG |
| 4th | Lloyd Moss | peg 34 | DNW | TS |
| 5th | Derek Hammond | peg 4 | DNW | RD |
| — | — | — | — | RP |
| B Section | ||||
| 1st | Steve Wilson | peg 10 | 53-4 | A |
| 2nd | Ian McCulloch | peg 13 | 2-9 | RD |
| 3rd | Paul Jay | peg 28 | 1-2 | RP |
| 4th | Ernie M | peg 9 | 0-10 | TS |
| 5th | Marcus Burgess | peg 30 | 0-7 | MFS |
| 6th | John Bennett | peg 32 | 0-1 | RG |
| C Section | ||||
| 1st | Mike Stimpson | peg 22 | 15-6 | RD |
| 2nd | Steve Palmer | peg 18 | 8-3 | TS |
| — | Simon Mound | peg 16 | DNW | A |
| — | Danny Blackwell | peg 24 | DNW | MFS |
| — | Neil Riddy | peg 14 | DNW | RP |
| — | Mick Lane | peg 26 | DNW | RG |
| DAY TEAM POINTS |
POINTS | ||
| 1st | Assassins | 12 | A |
| 2nd | Rolfs Diamond | 11 | RD |
| 3rd | Team Spro | 8 | TS |
| 4th | Match Fishing Scene | 7 | MFS |
| 5th | Rolfs Gold | 5 | RG |
| 6th | Rolfs Platinum | 4 | RP |
OVERALL LEADERBOARD
| TOTAL TEAM POINTS |
POINTS | ||
| 1st | Rolfs Diamond | 62 | RD |
| 2nd | Rolfs Gold | 59 | RG |
| 3rd= | Rolfs Platinum | 44 | RP |
| 3rd= | Assassins | 44 | A |
| 5th | Match Fishing Scene | 35 | MFS |
| 6th | Team Spro | 32 | TS |
