Wednesday 4th May 2011 Open Match
As i arrived down the lake today i was greeted with the regular warm greeting and stick from John and Paul that these midweek opens are famous for.
I was really looking forward to reclaiming my victory back that i lost to John on my last visit so i had a plan to fish slightly different than would of been expected as there was no X4 paste in my bag today but a bag of new X4 version 2 so i was really confident of a good days lump fishing.
With the assorted cast ready at the draw it was nice to see my website partner Simon there as he had travelled from up North to continue on his glory run of two victories in his last two visits. Also another person i had not seen for a while was Geoff Edwards who is my partner in crime in giving John his fare share of abuse and by draw time it was in full swing { i am not sure what the visiting made of this }.As the draw commenced i wanted a peg in the small lake and was not disappointed to draw peg 6 but thought it might of been a little too early to be able to catch the fish up the edge but with Paul Jay on 7 and and John on flyer peg 40 i was certainly going to be amused for 5 hours. Simon was on peg 9 and Geoff on peg 18 with all the visiting anglers drawing flyer pegs 2,4, 8 and 16 hopefully Rolfslake would fish to its usual high standards as is the case in these mid week matches.
The story of the match was in the small lake John Bennett was on to a flyer in the first 40 minutes as his first 4 fish went 70lb on the tip fishing to the rope in peg 39 so it was going to be a tough ask to catch him up and with the big lake fishing hard all the action was going to be reserved for pegs 9 round to 40 as it was black with fish and with the wind blowing into the small lake the carp were following the blossom that had fallen into the lake. Simon on peg 9 had already lost a carp in the big bush to his right but managed to drag the second one out but it was hard going,and with Daz Kelly on 8 fishing the other side of the bush but catching a mixed bag of chub, perch and carp in was going to be an interesting 5 hours. As for Paul and myself it started slow but then picked up in the last 2 hours by which time Paul was losing 5 fish to every one he landed on long pole fishing 8mm pellet on the deck feeding by pot, and all i could do was catch doubles but they were not coming fast enough as my 8 carp went 105-00 {the biggest was 17-14} fishing paste down the ledge towards peg 5 feeding heavy by hand
The winner today was lake owner John Bennett who after catching his big 4 fish on the tip got caught on the rope snapped his rig then went on the 3 metre line lowered his bait of 11mm pellet and saw the float disappear and then coming back with a 19-00 carp on it brilliant i though as he shouted this to me at least 6 times. for the remainder of the match John alternated between long and short pole lines down the edge and at 3 metres to catch big carp { John had 137-00 on the board by weigh-in time} for his final weight of 190-04 and victory to sink the Cartel members and the Pirate in this match { well done John }.
In second place was Simon Mound who after his slow start abandoned the bush to his right and started a new 5 metre line straight out in front which runs down the bar between the big and small lake and by fishing big donkey choker 15mm pellet and feeding positively Simon got the fish lined up with also a good stamp of fish his biggest going over 18-00 but in the end fell short of a victory by only 23lb but by Rolfslake’s standards that could be only one or two fish and he ended up with 167-00 but still a great weight {well done Simon }.
All in all the anglers enjoyed their afternoon out in the sun and cant wait till the next mid week match as with the weekends now fully booked through club bookings Rolfslake can now only be fished on a Wednesday or a night match, so get down to one of these matches and have some fun.
Results.
Position | Name | Peg | Weight |
1 | John Bennett | 40 | 190-4 |
2 | Simon Mound | 9 | 167-0 |
3 | Paul Jay | 7 | 144-4 |
4 | Eddie Taylor Green | 6 | 119-4 |
5 | Wes | 2 | 110-4 |
6 | Daz Kelly | 8 | 86-8 |
7 | Neil Riddy | 22 | 78-2 |
8 | Graham Ridgley | 16 | 67-0 |
9 | Mick Chapell | 26 | 61-4 |
10 | Phil | 4 | 55-12 |
11 | Geoff Edwards | 18 | 48-8 |
12 | Mick Jones | 10 | 41-8 |
– | Pat Pritchard | 13 | DNW TB |
– | Steve Williams | 28 | DNW |
I am away in Glasgow for a week but Simon will keep you up to date with the results so tight lines thanks for reading Simon, John and Eddie.