Rolfslake Wednesday open 28th October 2009

The rare Black Popular tree at Rolfslake

With a lower than normal attendance at the lake today due to a much earlier draw time than normal due to the nights drawing in quicker now, Rolfslake welcomed young 12 year old Daniel Blackwell to try his luck in his first ever Rolfslake open.

Daniel was able to fish today due to the school holidays and his dad Gary had told me that for the last few days he was so excited at the prospect of fishing the lake that he found it difficult to sleep, but with thoughts of big weights and big double fish things that dreams are made the days passed very quickly. Rolfslake also welcomed back Mike Stimson {the judge} from Oakside fishery who was getting ready for the fast approaching winter league series so he needed to brush up on the methods required to catch good weights.

As the draw was called most anglers wanted peg 8 as it had fish bubbling and rolling in the margins before the match, and also because it was an end peg and you could have all the fish from the small lake to yourself. As each angler put their hand in no peg 8 was visable and the though that someone has messsed up the pegging and not put it in was quickly erased when Daniel said is this peg 8 any good, much to the fear of the rest as a battering from the young angler was on the cards. As the match started the usual slow start was again evident and not even the pleasure anglers on the carpark bank were catching, so today was going to be a cautious and patient fishing match and wait for the fish to arrive and not to try and force it by over feeding. The weather today was mild and sunny with a little breeze blowing from the big to the small lake so no real problems for the anglers, but the keys for a good weight were down to presentation and feeding as if you fed to much the fish would just back away and if the presentation was wrong you would suffer foul hooked and lost fish.

Rolfslake's current form angler Paul Jay

The winner today and on a good run of form was Rolfslake's Paul Jay who today was on motorway bank peg 16. Paul started on the long 11 metre line towards the areator with very little success but a change to the shorter 7 metre line fished in front of the bush to his left got his day going. Paul today discarded his normal paste in favour of his now favoured 6 and 8 mm banded pellet and with this fished on a lift and drop it encouraged the fish to have a go. During the match Paul also encountered the usual spell of foulhooked fish which slowed his catch rate down but a run of good double figure fish kept him away from the chasing pack. After 5 hours Paul had put together another winning weight of 156-00 to keep his framing sequence going {well done Paul}.

After the match Paul me the importance of plumbing up correctly and to find the ledges because on some pegs you have two shelves and the fish patrol both of these, and by fishing with the bait just touching bottom it gives you the best bites

Cartel member Mick Lane

In second place today was Rolfslake's cartel member Mick Lane who was fishing on winter flyer peg 10 on the motorway bank in the big lake.

Mick today was also trying out a few methods for the forthcomming winter league as he is a member of the untouchables aka Rolfs Team Gold, and today he was going to try to catch all fish and not just to target the carp. Mick concentrated on 4 lines all to be fished on the deck but would be used with different baits ranging from maggots for the silvers, banded and soft hook pellets and meat. For three hours Mick concentrated on the silvers and caught lovely big perch ,roach and bream on the maggot and for the remaining two hours targeted the carp and was rewarded with fish to double figures in his final weight 146-12 {the silvers went a brilliant 27-04} and just clear of third place.

Daniel Blackwell P.B carp 13-04 {well done}

As for Daniel he went off to his peg armed with all the information on how to fish the peg from the regulars who were hoping that he would have a fantastic days fishing and beat his PB carp of 9-12.

John Bennett and me {Eddie} said to Daniel to beware of the massive fish that live in this peg and over the next 5 hours Daniel experienced the excitement of being attatched to these big fish and mananged to break his P.B carp three times with a common of 10-01, a common of 11-04 and finally a lovely mirror of 13-04 {well done Dan}. Daniel also hooked one of the big fish and after a long battle had his hook bent straight much to his disapointment , but after 5 hours had caught three fish for 35-01 and said he would be back.

Gary Daniels dad also had time to do a small video of his fishing day on peg 8 and it is brilliant and if you would like to watch it go to you tube put in minnowmaster209 and click on the Rolfslake Video i know you will enjoy it i certainly did.

Daniel Blackwell previous P.B carp common 11-03

Eddie failed AGAIN to beat the cartel.

As for me it was my least favoured peg 14 for me today, and all i can say is that after getting the feeding wrong it wrecked my paste fishing as i had too many foul hooked fish and all Paul could hear from peg 16 were bad words. I have been working on a revised version of my paste X4 mix but the only chance i get to try it is in a real match so sometimes it is a real chancey thing to do and today it did not work as it gave me my lowest weight of the year 57-04, but i will try it again on Friday in a practise session.

Results. top 6

1st Paul Jay peg 16 156-00

2nd Mick Lane peg 10 146-12

3rd John Bennett peg 9 141-12

4th Eddie T-Green peg 14 57-o4

5th Mike Stimson peg 13 41-04

6th Daniel Blackwell peg 8 35-01 PB carp 13-04


Until my next report tight lines Eddie.

Here is a video report From Daniel about his visit to the lake.