Rolfs Winter League. Match 5.

17th January.

This morning Marcus Burgess aka Budgie who is mad on Rolfs Lake was coming along too. He would be fishing for Match Fishing Scene team. He loves the lake but how would he fair in the winter and would he still love it as much after….. we shall find out.

Marcus Burgess, aka Budgie

After a nice drive down we got to the lake to find John in the boat breaking the ice up in the boat. It allowed some much need oxygen in the water but left big sheets of ice floating around the lake which I would find out later turned out to be a right nightmare.

John Bennett doing a scene from Titanic.

I was in C section again this week which is usually the best section to be in. Neil Riddy was first in the bag and pulled out peg 14, to say he was not happy was an understatement. Me to draw next and I wanted to be on the car park bank as there was no ice there, so I pulled out peg 16 where the ice was at its thickest. My team mates had drawn ok, Steve was on peg 10 in B section and Clive was on 40 in A section. I could see Budgie over on peg 30 raring to go too.

Budgie on peg 30

My home for the day. Peg 16

Getting ready for a grueller...

I had cleared the ice from my peg to about 14m’s and a nice swim to the left by the bush. Within the first 30 minutes of fishing the Ice all started floating back in to my swim again. Steve on 18 and Neil on 14 were having the same problem too. Great sheets of ice floating around. Me and Steve managed to get the biggest sheet on peg 17 and then punch a hole through the middle of it with the ice breaker, we then tied it to the bank to stop it floating around.

Blooody ICE !!!!

I spent another 30 minutes clearing ice from my peg but more kept floating in so I gave up in the end and had a go down the margin. An hour goes by without so much as a twitch on the float, things are not looking good. Its not just me though. Mick, Danny and Neil are also dry. Steve on 18 and Mike on 22 both have carp. Little Danny managed to hook in to some carp but lost them at the net, least you had some action mate hehe.

My Margin Swim

I fed my inside line in an attempt to get some action going down there and went for a walk round to see Team mate Steve on peg 10. As I was walking round I could see he was fishing down the edge and could see 3 or 4 carp around his float. Despite fish moving in and out of his peg he had not managed to snare one. I settle down behind him and he strikes… fish on. After a short battle he lands a nice double and a big smile beams across his face. Out again and within 2 minutes he has another on. John Bennett over on peg 32 is shouting abuse trying to make him loose it lol.

Well I was jealous and wanted to go back and try and catch one for myself but he would not let me go. I stayed for one more fish which he hooked right away again but lost it. While he was bringing it towards his peg there was another carp following it in, he nearly had two for the price of one.

Eddie Taylor turned up to come and see how we was all doing as he had some time off work. He was hoping to get some pictures for his blog but with the lack of fish being caught was causing him some problems.  In the final hour of the match I knew deep down that I was not going to catch anything but kept going in the vain chance of hooking one of the normally not so shy Perch.

Eddie and Danny on peg 24

At the ‘all out’ my heart sank, I had drynetted for the second time at the lake. Not too worry it probably won’t be the last time hehe.

The weigh in told the story today with not much been caught at all. My Team mates had both won their sections. Fair play well done lads. I did feel a bit guilty picking up money and not having caught a fish but I suppose thats the way it goes sometimes.

The whole lake had fished very hard again but C Section fished the hardest with 4 dryents. I do feel slightly better knowing that venue ace Mick Lane also blanked and he normally good for a few fish.

Steve Wilson managed to win the match with 5 carp for 53lb 4oz. Well done Steve.

As for Budgie…..He managed 3 perch for 7oz and bored me to death on the way home so I went to sleep lol. Well done matey.

The next match is on the 31st January…..Please let us all catch some fish.

Results…. Sorry for the messy Tables, still trying to sort them out

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

Rolfs Winter League. Match 3.

20th December 2009

Today was the 3rd Winter league match. This time I was to be fishing in C section, the little lake. There was a layer of ice over the lake also today so ice breaking was going to be needed for everyone. John wanted to get the draw done as quickly as possible to allow time for this. I have not had much ice breaking experience so this was going to be a learning curve for me.

At the draw since I was last in my section on match 2 meant I had what was left in the bag after everyone else from C Section had drawn, that was to be peg 4. I have fished peg before but that was in the summer. I had brought my trolley today with the possibility of a long walk.

First job when getting to my peg was to break the ice and make a nice area to fish in. I have to say even though it was freezing cold breaking ice soon warms you up.

My Icebreaker, the only thing I could find. Seem to do the job ok but needed a bit of chain on it which I did not have.

Pictures are click-able for larger version

Simps Ice Breaker

Peg 4

Ice broke out in front

Left Margin Swim

Right Margin swim which froze up again

It was a lovely sunny day. Shame peg 4 had a great big bush blocking the sun from me.

Sunny Day

Some of the ice, pushed the rest under the ice and platform.

I knew this was going to be a hard match and I was not wrong, at the all in I shipped out right in front of me with a single red maggot and waited for a bite and waited and waited. 15 mins later still not even a touch. I had thrown 2 maggots and 2 casters in my left margin swim and thought I would drop in there and see if it was any better. It was not but after an hour the float moved and then sank, the result was a 3oz perch. The smile on my face was massive.

I fed again and only had to wait another half an hour for another perch. By this time my feet were so cold I could not feel them so I decided to have a walk round the lake in a bid to warm up a bit. Walking round and talking to the other anglers it was clear to see just how hard it was fishing. A lot of people were blanking. So my 2 perch didn’t seem that bad after all.

After my walk I had warmed up and was ready to try again, without feeding I had another perch right away and slowly caught another 11 perch, 1 of which was nearly a lb. I was hoping for a carp to come along but they all seemed to be in hiding.

At the all out I felt like I had about 4lb but the scales revealed I had 3lb 4oz. I was not last in my section again and had managed to catch some fish so I was quite happy with that considering I have never broke ice before.

A few more pictures from the day and then the results…

Ian McCullock. C Section Winner.

Sunrise on the frozen lake.

John Bennett ice breaking.

The frozen Little lake.

Just before the results. John and Pauline had laid on some hot tomato soup and hotdogs for after the match. Many thanks for that, it was much needed.

Pauline handing out the Hotdogs.

Full Results can be found here… http://si-lad.com/rolfslake/rolfspegs.htm

The next match is on the 3rd January 2010. I am hoping for no ice hehe.

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