John has informed me that there will be an open next Sunday the 21st of February with a draw at 10.00 fishing 11.00 – 4.00 so if you would like to fish on an improving Rolfslake give John Bennett a call.

The ice skating rink

With Rolfs lake looking like a scene from the film the day after tomorrow and with the anglers not looking very hopeful of a good days fishing it was going to be a fitting end to the winter league series. After losing the lead of the league in round 5 Rolfs Team Gold were going to have to fish brilliantly today to win their eighth league title in a row. What they did not want to see was Rolfs Team Diamond’s captain Jon Walker back at the lake to help his team of Ian McCulloch and Mike Stimpson maintain their lead at the top of the league.

After the anglers had broken the ice for the 5th match in a row, it was off on another 5 tough hours of trying to catch either a fish to gain a point or stick it out to get a carp for mega points. With the weather very cold most of the anglers were fishing the pole only because the ice holes they had cut did not go past 10 metres so the bomb rod was a non starter. As i arrived Ian McCulloch on peg 18 was playing his first carp and after a five minute fight he had it looking at him from the bottom of his keepnet so good points were coming his way. In his section {which was B ] John Bennett who was really struggling to get a bite ,so Ian was at that point 6 points up. In C section the big battle was between Phil Powell and Jon Walker who were both catching silvers regular but with Phil using maggots and bloodworm he was catching slighter bigger fish than Jon.

In the dreaded A section all the anglers were struggling for any action so if Mike Stimpson could just catch one fish he was going to get good points, but when i went to talk to him he had tried all methods without any sort of indication so thing were not looking too good for him, but when i informed him that Mick Lane was also fish-less he had a wry smile knowing as they stood his team would be victorious. Around the lake the other anglers were having the odd fish and even some were taking nap knowing that they would not be far behind, but the general theme was feed and hope your float would go under.

Time for a nap

As the match approached the last hour a few more of the anglers started to catch but after getting loads of stick from his team mate Phil Powell , Mick Lane eventually caught a fish much to his relief and that of his team, so it was two to weigh-in from both teams so it was going to come down to which team could get their third man to weigh. On my last walk round the lake i could see Paul Jay seeking a few perch on peg 14, Steve Palmer getting a few small chub from peg 34 and my co-blogger Simon Mound having a few fish by fishing towards peg 3 in the small lake. When I finally got round to John Bennett he was still without a fish but i must of brought him some luck because as I looked at his float it disappeared and a small perch of an ounce was in the landing net {well done John}.

As the all out was called you could sense a relief that the hardest league series ever was at last over, but the anticipation was all about who had won the league series and with Rolfs Team Gold having three anglers weighing in and Rolfs Team Diamond only having two anglers weighing in as Mike had blanked but they had a 3 point lead it was going to be very close. After all the anglers had weighed in and the points were added up the Rolfs lake teams of three winter series winners were Rolfs team gold who made up the three points and won by a single point { well done Mick, John and Phil but also well done to Mick, Ian and Jon for running them close}.

Phil with a nice bag of silvers.

The individual title ended in a draw between Phil Powell and Ian McCulloch on points but was won by Ian on weight so done to the both of you.

Ian and Phil the top two individuals

Results to follow.

The winners Rolfs Team Gold

Simon’s Blog for this match can be viewed HERE