When will it ever get warm ?.

It was nice to see a few more anglers down the lake hoping that the carp would finally have a feed but a very cold day put paid to that except for Ade Williams who tells me that it was not cold { Ade it felt like -2 buddy } so a tough day lay ahead .

There was a breeze blowing into the carpark bank making it very tough to fish the long pole but on the motorway bank it looked flat calm so John decided that we were all going to fish C section pegs 13 round to 26 where there was not even a sign of a fish so most anglers started on the bomb rod fishing either maggots or corn to try and induce a bite but it was very cold so you had to drop a bait right in front of a fish to get a fish which only Pete Arnold managed to do for his one and only carp and the only fish caught on the rod today.

In first place today was Les Darvill who was sheltered on peg 13 who managed to catch 4 big carp fishing a combination of corn and maggot hookbaits fishing on the deck at a range of 9-11 metres for his first win down at Rolfslake with his weight of 42-04 which also included a few silvers { well done Les }.

Todays winner Les Darvill.

In second place was Acorn Anglings owner Tony Gee who was fishing peg 15 and it was also a case of wait for the fish to move in and from where i could see Tony was fishing short feeding quite heavy for this time of the year but managed to catch 3 big carp for 36lb and a few silvers for his weight of 38-09 which were caught on i believe also on corn and maggots

Second place Acorn Anglings Tony Gee.

Completing the frame was Mike Allen sandwiched between Les and Tony on peg 14 and after catching a carp by the bush to his right Mike found two more fishing 7-8 metres straight out in front but again it looked like Mike was also feeding quite heavy on both lines using again what looked like Maggots.

Ade Williams down for the day.

After the match Pete Arnold fished on for about another half an hour and was rewarded with 3 big carp for about 40lb fishing a pellet feeder using corn as he was convinced the fish would come and he was not disappointed.

Pete Arnold with another big Rolfslake carp.

One observation that Pete Arnold and i made today was although it was very hard going the fish wanted some bait to feed on as both Tony and Mike proved . Even Pete after fishing the bomb with a single grain of corn produced only one carp when he switched to the pellet feeder after the match he caught 3 fish straight away. In my case i had been using a small pot to feed with but when i changed to a big pot i caught two carp straight away { coincidence we were not sure } but it could of been the carp were happy to feed later in the match who knows.

Results.

9 fished

The Pirate pulls another point back against John.

As for me and John it was a tough day as John managed a very small carp for Rolfslake all of 3-04 which was his only fish of the day although he tried the bomb, pole and waggler but he could not buy a bite and even though he struggled to catch that did not stop him from giving me my normal dose of abuse which all the anglers love to hear. That stopped with about 45 minutes to go as i had only caught 8 silvers including a1lb perch because when after putting on 4 maggots and going back out on my 14 metre line the float settled then buried and a 10lb carp was on its way to the net only to hear John call me a lucky chap or something like that as i could not hear him properly due to me laughing at him. Next put in and the same thing happened and this time the carp was only 9lb but i did not hear anything from the other side of the lake as my final weight went 20-07 to John’s 3-04 but we both had a good laugh as is the normal way down the lake during the Wednesday opens.

The score now stands at

John using the old telescopic arms trick to make his fish bigger. This fish was only 3-04.

 John 4

I could not do Johns trick as my fish were too big.

Eddie 3

Thanks for reading John, Simon and Eddie.

Another tough day down the lake.

Today as i arrived there was a club match just about to start in the big lake which had about 10 anglers all lined up along the car park bank pegs 22 to 32 leaving the 5 anglers that turned up to fish a walk off match anywhere else on the lake.

The weather was sunny but cold, getting very cold towards the middle and end of the match with the added bonus of a brisk snow shower just for good measure and compared to the same time last year was a whopping 16 degrees colder so that currently explained why the carp are reluctant to get around the lake and have a feed. The story of the day was that the club anglers were struggling to catch carp with only a couple landed during the day and Graham who was pleasure fishing on peg 34 had caught 4 carp to 15lb but it was very slow going.

In our match the only one into fish early was John who had caught 5 tiny perch from peg 13 but apart from that the bites were hard to come by. After Graham had packed up from peg 34 Pete Arnold casted a bomb over to the bush on the far bank fishing corn and was rewarded with 7 carp to 7lb to win the day with 43-04 { well done Pete }. Just to prove that perseverence does pay off to those that stick at it John Bennett who only had 8 ounces up to the last hour managed to catch a small carp of 4lb and the carp that eventually beat me that went 14lb { thanks John } for his final weight of 18-11.

.

Pete with another winning catch of 43-04.

Pete’s 7 carp.

John with his carp of 14lb. { that carp is not my friend }.

Results

5 fished.

John gains another point

It serves me right that at the weigh-in i left two keepnets in the water to trick John into thinking that i had caught some carp so when he came round there was no smile thinking i had beaten him so i weighed my silvers first for 5-01 and on bringing in the second net he was waiting for the splash only for the net to be empty only for him to say was that all.

John was telling everyone he had caught only 5 perch so when they came up they were really small and only weighed 8 ounces and just as i was laughing at his poor attempt he pulled his other net that was hidden from view. There was me thinking that John had tried to play the same trick on me as i had done to him my heart sank as i heard the the two carp splashing in the water as he raised his net from the water only to see him laughing behind me { very funny John }.

The two carp in Johns hidden net.

The score now stands at.

John 4

Eddie 2

Thanks for reading John, Simon and Eddie.