Spring Festival Day 1 Results.

3rd April

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE (click to enlarge)

A cold raining day saw the start to the Rolfs lake’s Easter festival, and the anglers had a chance to meet old friends and rivals they had not seen for a year. I was pleased to see all the anglers arrive down the lake {as i was on stewarding duties today } and surprised to see people who knew who i was due to the website, so new angling acquaintances were made.

With one angler dropping out leaving only 23 anglers, it was left with two sections of 8 anglers and one of 7 so the points would be reversed with the winning angler getting one point decending down to either 8 or 7 points which all the anglers agreed was a fair result. Also with the anglers spread out leaving a long walk to the scales it was decided by John for this weekend only that fish over 10lb could be put in the keepnet but only a maximum of 6 would be allowed in one net but any monster carp 17lb + would have to be weighed there and then.

As the anglers drew their pegs they preferred to have sections B {pegs 9,10,13,14,27,28,30,31} or  section C {15,17,18,19,21,23, 24 or 26} as section A { 34,35,37,40,2,4,7,and 8} usually fishes better on day 3.

The summary of the day was with an annoying breeze making presentation difficult , the anglers found a slow start to the match with section C anglers having a few fish and Matt Smith {champion 2008} was making good progress from peg 15 and right opposite on peg 27 Mark Malin was also having a few carp. Derek Hammond on peg 19 started well but struggled towards the end, and the Swindon Mafia trio of Powell, Lane and Bennett had all drawn in B section so today we would see who would be the Godfather . In the dreaded A section Tim Guise and Mark Bedford {champion 2009} were catching fish but the anglers down the bottom bank 40,and 2 were struggling for bite and also had the wind blowing in their faces so it would be cold for them today.

Phil Powell struggling on peg 10.

As the match progressed more and more anglers started to catch all around the lake as the wind died down and the anglers could see their floats properly and the anglers that were using banded pellett were catching better than the ones using soft pellet and corn and even Chris Telling was catching on the paste .

After 5 hours the top angler on the day was Matt Smith with a fantastic top weight on the lake of 212-04 {sorry Simon} and he started off fishing long 16 metres on the deck and in the end was catching a lot shorter also on the deck fishing banded pellet and two ton weights from Tim Guise and Mark Bedford from A section also fishing the banded pellet made for good viewing from where i was sitting. Normally on days two and three the fishing gets better so i will keep you updated with the progress as it happens.

View from the small lake.

Festival Day 1
A Section PEG WEIGHT PTS
Tim Guise 7 122-12 1
Mark Bedford 8 102-0 2
Chris Telling 2 65-4 3
Jason Astle 40 57-2 4
Andy Chandler 4 52-2 5
Paul Newbury 34 38-2 6
John Hague 37 18-0 7
Lee Giles 35 14-0 8
B Section
Mark Malin 27 93-12 1
Mick Hughes 14 66-4 2
Mark Bowerman 13 62-14 3
John Bennett 28 52-4 4
Mick Lane 9 41-0 5
Phil Powell 10 27-8 6
Andy Johnstone 31 25-2 7
30
C Section
Matt Smith 15 212-4 1
Derek Hammond 19 90-0 2
Dave Whiteman 23 85-0 3
Clive Pritchard 24 65-4 4
Gary Haisman 26 54-6 5
Paul Glenfield 17 47-0 6
Chris Walters 18 29-2 7
Colin Wedgebrow 21 26-13 8
Top 6
1st Matt Smith 1point 212-04
2nd Tim Guise 1 point 122-12 Fishermans Friend
3rd Mark Malin 1point 93-12
4th Mark Bedford 2 points 102-00
5th Derek Hammond 2 points 90-00 Banbury Guns and Tackle
6th Mick Hughes 2 points 66-04 Hydro 2000

Good Friday open 2nd April 2010

Rolfs lake viewed from the small lake.

Today saw the anglers turn up for a chance to practise for the up coming Rolfs lake Easter Festival, so hopes were high for a good days fishing. What the anglers were not anticipating was the skies above as it was going to be a horrible day as far as the weather was concerned as a very windy day with rain was going to spoil the recent good fishing.

John tells me that during today’s match presentation was ruined to the strong wind which meant fishing long anything longer than 12 metres was going to be difficult, and the very delicate presentation required to get bites went out of the window. The story of the match was that the anglers all caught at least a carp with many lost but as the wind got up which made presentation a nightmare ,the anglers switched to the waggler or the bomb which is a shame as the festival is pole only.

After 5 hours and a good soaking the winner today was John Bennett on peg 24 who tells me a sad story of lost fish and not being able to fish his usual dotted down rig as he could not see it but by switching between the pole and the bomb fishing pellet and corn John was able to catch carp to 12lb in his final weight of 71-08. In second place was Steve Rich with 61-00 from peg 9 and in third place was Mick Hughes with 50-12 from peg 14.

1st John Bennett peg 24 71-08 corn and pellet
2nd Steve Rich peg 9 61-00  
3rd Mick Hughes peg 14 51-12  
4th Phil Powell peg 26 32-08  
4th Mick Lane peg 30 32-08  
4th Earnie Malyon peg 18 32-08  

I will be down the lake tomorrow to help John so i hope to see many of my friends that i have not seen for a while so if you see me with a camera don’t be shy and say hello so I can take your photo for the website .

Tight lines Eddie and Simon.

Rolfslake’s Easter Festival 2010

Well all you eager anglers just waiting for the weekend to come and for a chance to win the Rolfslake festival here is a current lake update to hopefully help you.

Over the last few weeks the carp have started to spread around the lake {in the big lake the fish are around the middle of pegs 14,16,18,22,23,24 and in the small lake around pegs 40, 2,, 6 and 34} and have started to feed confidently as the weather has started to warm up. The current top weight this year is from Simon Mound from peg 22 at 211-12 caught up in the water but last Sunday Maurice Woodley caught a superb 175-12 all caught on paste so John tells me.

As in previous festivals the ideal draw would be sections B,C then A as the small lake usually takes time to warm up and currently the top baits are corn , pellet and maggots if you need to catch silver. The carp are starting to come closer in as Mick Jones who has had a few good results recently has been catching carp closer than 9 metres on the meat, so if it gets warmer don’t neglect the edge swims as there has been a lot of fish in both parts of the lake.

The festival is fished over three days with the winner of each section getting 8 points desending down to 1 point for last place in section ,but you have to weigh-in to get the point. The winner of the festival is the angler with the most points at the end of the three days and in the event of a draw on points it will be decided on section placings count back and if that is the same then it goes down to weight.

Things to remember, the lake provides each angler with three keepnets and a landing net top to use but you will need to provide your own keepnet attachments to fix these onto your seat box as there are none down on the lake to use.

The fishery WILL enforce the no fish over 10lb in the keepnet rule as to be fair to all anglers, and as there are plenty of weigh stations around the lake within a short walk there is no excuse for this rule to be abused. The fish at Rolfslake are in fantastic condition and they have had to endure a really tough winter so John has to ensure that they are well looked after so no pulla bugs or brown hydro are allowed down on the lake. The current rules are on this site so please read them and if you have any questions please ask John before the match starts so there is no confusion.

There will be no bank walkers allowed around the lake except for John, Pauline and their match stewards on the three days so you will not be interupted or have your fish spooked by someone standing up by your swim.

The festivals at Rolfslake are always fished in great spirits and always enjoyed by all the anglers and hopefully everyone has a great time which is the aim for John and Pauline and there will be locals on hand to help our visiting anglers to make the Rolfslake experience a memorable one .

Have a great time from Eddie, Simon ,John and Pauline Bennett.

P.s dont forget to renew your rod license that runs out the end of March !

Rolfslake’s Easter Festival 2010

Are you booked in for the Festival ?.

John has asked me to remind any angler still interested in fishing Rolfslake’s Easter Festival that there is now only one place remaining to bring the total entry to 27 anglers.

If you fancy very good fishing at this time of the year with a very competitive field and a good laugh please give John Bennett a call ,you can find the number on the contact us page.

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