Angling Times Jon Walker big fish challenge 20th October 2009

Specimen hunter John Walker

Today the Angling Times visited Rolfslake to watch Jon Walker fish and see if he could continue catching the massive carp that have been visiting his landing net of late. This is a follow on from his second place in last weeks open where Jon caught 9 fish for 169-00 with a lake record mirror of 27-00 caught on his pole.
At the lake today was reporter Ben Fisk from the Angling Times John Bennett and me Eddie and an amazing day was had but this report will be completed after the Angling Times has come out next week so as not to spoil it for Ben.
What i can tell you is that John B and myself also had a go and with a cold day and a blustery wind i was never going to be easy, and with John fishing meat he had fish to 17-08 and plenty of bites, and with me not having my X4 paste mix with me i had to use some of John's paste mix which had the consistency of mortar but i still had plenty of bites and plenty of fish by fishing in front of the bush to my left on peg 28. Considering how cold it was i was still getting elastic pulling bites from the hungry carp which resulted in fish and broken rigs but still an enjoyable couple of hours and set me up nicely for tomorrows open.

Until the next report tight lines Eddie.

Rolfslake Open 17th October 2009

Report to follow

1st Steve Cantwell 136-00 peg 4
2nd Clive Pritchard 134-12 peg 16
3rd Phil Powell 126-02 peg 24
4th Paul Jay 108-08 peg 28
5th Dave Whiteman 102-08 peg 8
6th Mick Lane 100-04 peg 10
7th Jon Walker 93-08 peg 14
8th Steve Wilson 67-00 peg 9
9th John Bennett 58-04 peg 34
10th Phil McKay 58-00 peg 6

Rolfslake Wednesday Open 14th October 2009

Just one of the beautiful big carp that have been coming out,

18-04 caught by Vespe sponsored Chris Telling.

John Bennet has also been catching big fish recently,
this is a 17-12 common from the big lake.

Me Eddie Taylor-Green with another frame today
11 out of the last 12 matches.

After the massive fish caught by Jon Walker last week i was half expecting to see a lot of bivvies set up around the lake hoping to catch a specimen big carp, but there was not just the regular characters ready for thier mid week bagging session. With the pleasure anglers set up in the small lake and on the car park bank it was decided to use the motorway bank for todays open, and with the weather bright and with little wind hopes for a big weight were looking good.

As the anglers drew their pegs the ones you wanted were the ones that gave you an end peg so that you could draw the fish into your peg from both ends of the lake so you wanted 8 or 18 as they gave you plenty of space. With the anglers going off to their pegs it left only John and myself to draw and when John pulled out peg 18 i was gutted as i fancied this one today, so as i pulled my number out and looked in my hand i was not happy to draw peg 8 in the channel as the last time i fished it 2 years ago i totally messed it up ,plus i did not want to fish more than five metres.

As the all in sounded the only angler i could see was Chris Teling and after about 2 minutes he was showing me a carp of 18-04 to verify for him so i was playing catch up, and 5 minutes later i was showing him a carp of 16-04 to check for me. There were lots of fish blowing and swirling up on the surface sucking the floating leaves in front of me but as i had not set up a shallow rig all i could do was watch them. The pleasure anglers were all catching in front of me from pegs 34 to 38 on the bomb or feeder fished with meat or boilies so i was hopeful that the fish would eventually come to me.

In first place today and on an extended glory run was Me Eddie T-Green who had a bizzare 5 hours fishing on peg 8 and on reflection should of done better. After that first fish of 16-04 safely weighed and returned i put another ball of my X4 paste on and shipped out and as the float settled on my 5 metre line a mass of bubbles came up and the float just burried, after carefully playing the fish for 5 minutes it surfaced at 16 metres and my god it was a massive common of about 25lb ish and i could not get it to turn and come to me. As my red hydro had bottomed out i was just hanging on feeling the bung coming up the top two when the fish managed to pull away from me snapping my rig and breaking the number four section on my Shimano XTA pole {brilliant}. For the next two hours i hooked and lost 8 fish in the left hand bush and two under the peg 7 platform so not very good, then i switched rigs to a Jon Walker paste float fished on the deck with no shot on and changed the top kit to fish with orange Vespe elastic.

During this time i was feeding down the edge to my right towards peg 7 and after 2 hours i saw fish swirling on the pellet and on my first put in i had a carp of 18-12 on paste at a range of 2 metres. In the next two hours i had 15 more fish for a combined board weight of 206-00 and then ran out of paste so i had to make some more out of my feed pellet but it was never the same ,and to make matters worse on my last put in i hooked another mirror of about 20lb that smashed my rig at the net. After 5 hours i had caught 248-00 felt frustrated that i should of had 400-00 but at least i had beat John Bennett so all was not bad.

Giving me a run for my money was Paul Jay on 14 who was struggling to catch on paste today so opted to fish long at a range of 10 metres fishing banded pellet fished on the deck. Paul found that by lifting and dropping his rig he had a better response from the carp and again caught big fish to 16-00 but only feeding through a toss pot as when he fed through by a catapult the fish just backed off the feed. After 5 hours Paul had put together another big weight of 225-00 and only three fish off a match win.

Completing the frame was Vespe sponsored Chris Telling on form peg 9 but he struggled with missed bites and lost fish as the fish would not settle, but a change of rigs helped him up his catch rate by fishing on the deck using his paste hook bait and he fed his peg also by cup as to not spread the fish around his peg. At the end Chris also had a run of big fish in his final weight of 187-00 and one fish off the double ton.

In this match there were 47 doubles to 18-12 and at the moment the big fish are very happy to feed , so take care with your rigs and top kits as i am not sure some poles are designed for this type of extreme fishing. Also The Angling Times paper are doing a feature on Jon Walker down the lake next week on the big fish of Rolfslake.

Until the next report tight lines Eddie.

Results Top 7

1st Eddie Taylor-Green peg 8 248-00

2nd Paul Jay peg 14 225-00

3rd Chris Telling peg 9 187-00

4th Tony Dickinson peg 16 150-00

5th Derek Hammond peg 10 146-08

6th Cameron Sims peg 11 120-00

7th John Bennett peg 18 106-04

Atomic Club match Sunday 11th October 2009

Today Rolfslake welcomed the anglers of Atomic angling club from Didcot for their annual visit to the lake. The weather was drizzly with no wind but was at least it was warm, so the anglers were hoping that the fish would respond.

In first place was Carl Jefferys on peg 9 who also drew the same peg last year and had a nightmare, but this year he got it all right fishing at 11 metres fishing in line with peg 32 and 33 and caught fish to double figures in his weight of 217-08 {well done Carl}

Results

1st Carl Jefferys peg 9 217-08

2nd Martin Olsen peg 16 139-00

3rd Steve Cantwell peg 4 125-00

4th Bob Alder peg 32 118-00

5th Cliff Duke peg 30 92-12

6th Roger Jefferys peg 22 90-08

John Bennett hopes the anglers enjoyed their day and hopes to see them soon.

Rolfslake Saturday Open 10th October 2009.

Firstly i would like to thank all the vistors that have taken the time to visit my blog on the life and times down on the lake. In the last 9 days since i installed the counter we have had over 1000 visitors to the blog so hopefully the work that Simon and i have done have made your visits to Eddie at Rolfslake enjoyable {thanks again}.

Today saw another open and another record set at the lake which i will tell you about later. After reading my report from last Wednesday lake owner John Bennett took my advice and was seen making up some rigs just in case he did not draw peg 9 today, which on previous history was never certain. Also at Rolfslake today we had five visitors from the Isle of Wight who were hoping to catch some carp to make their trip to the lake worthwhile. With a good turn out both the small and big lake were in use today and most anglers wanted an end peg to give themselves a little space and hopefully a few fish.
With the leaves still falling off the trees around the lake John Bennett told me they are still causing a problem for the anglers as they hamper the presentation and just get in the way. As the draw took place Jon Walker drew his favourite peg 30 {not really he does not rate this peg} so a short walk from the car to his peg would give him plenty of time to sell some floats. Amazingly John Bennet did not draw peg 9 but he was not far away as he had drawn peg 10 so at least his tackle was on the right side of the lake so he could spend a little time helping the Isle of Wight anglers settle in. Paul {drawer of flyer pegs} Jay was on peg 6 so the locals were spread all around the lake so it was going to be a quiet match at least.
The weather was warm sunny and bright which is not normally good for big weights but at least keeps the anglers warm which has been a contrast to the cooler temperature of late and also no rain which would at least keep them dry. As the match started it was evident that the anglers that were going to catch were the ones that were prepared to work their rigs and change bait to find out what the fish wanted so today the fishing was not going to be easy.
The winner today was one of Rolfslake regulars Clive Pritchard who was lucky enough to draw one of the end pegs ,peg 24 on the car park bank and this would be an advantage as he could draw the fish from the end of the lake. Clive fished at 6 metres in front of the bush to his left and was able to put a run of big fish together by fishng on the deck using pellet and meat hookbait after five hours Clive was well out in front with his weight of 233-12 {well done Clive}.
In second place was form angler Jon Walker on peg 30 and today he was going to set two records the first the biggest weight for 9 fish ever recorded at Rolfslake 169-00 and the second the biggest fish ever caught at the lake a beautiful 27-00 mirror{well done Jon}. Jon fished over the bush to his right to catch his fish using meat fished on the deck, but after 3 hours was fishless but a look down by the bush saw the carp feeding on the fry as when Jon caught a carp they were coughing up little fry. Even catching these big fish{Jon's 9 fish went 12-08, 14-12, 17-00, 17-08, 18-08, 19-08, 21-00. 21-04, and the final fish 27-00} Jon had time to hook a pike of about 20-00 which he tried his best to land it before it broke him, so not a bad two hours .
Completing the frame was Mick Jones who was lucky to witness the big carp and who said it was massive but failed to take a photo so back the fish went. Mick caught at his usual short range of 5 metres fished on the deck using his special meat hook bait feeding quite heavy which brought him a few doubles in his weight of 129-08.

Todays winner Clive Pritchard

Jon Walker nearly added to his preditor list in todays match,

but set an lake individual carp record with his 27-00 mirror

Results.

1st Clive Pritchard peg 24 233-12

2nd Jon Walker peg 30 169-08 NEW FISH RECORD 27LB MIRROR

3rd Mick Jones peg 26 129-08

4th John Bennett peg 10 122-04

5th Chris Lovelock peg 14 120-12

6th Ryan Creswell peg 32 50-00

7th Mark Orchard peg 34 47-00

8th Paul Jay peg 6 43-00

9th Richard Doolan peg 38 37-04

10th Lee Davidson peg 8 38-08


Until my next report tight lines Eddie

Rolfslake Wednesday Open 6th October 2009

Todays winning peg little used peg 11

Another sweep win for Vespe's Chris Telling

With not many anglers down on the lake for a proper match and the pleasure anglers did not fancy giving their money to one of the regulars, it was decided to have a winner takes all sweep today. The anglers decided to draw the motorway bank and it gave them shelter from the rain that was chucking down today and also this was the bank gave the best results from last weekends open.

As the draw took place you would not believe that John Bennett could draw peg 9 again and as last week he was in trouble as the only two rigs he has for peg nine he had to remake them to fish peg 16 on Sunday so again he had to remake them {clue John make more rigs up}.

In first place today and Rolfslake top angler of the year to date was Vespe sponsored angler and paste expert Chris Telling, who had drawn very little used peg 11 in the corner of the big lake. Chris today fished at a range of 7-8 metres just in front of the bush to his left, and fished his rig on the deck again using paste as his hookbait which he has had all his success on this year. Chris managed to draw his fish in from the bay and from peg 13 where they normally hide, and during todays match Chris managed to catch one of the biggest board weights for the number of fish that he caught 8 fish for 131-00 {including 3 fish over 18lb and the other 5 for 77-00}. Chris fed relatively heavy to keep the fish coming and at the end of the day had another big weight of 295-00 well done Chris.
In second place just was John Bennett on peg 9 and caught again big fish but not from his favoured down the edge swim but out at a range of 7 metres out in the open water just where Jon Walker caught last week but at shorter range. John used corn and meat fed heavy with pellet fished on the sunken float method lifted and dropped and again this helped him put together another big weight together of 191-12. Completing the frame was Paul Jay on peg 10 who was keeping up with John but in the end fell 1 small fish off second place. Paul fished with paste at 6 metres fed quite heavy and again also had big fish as they start to pack weight on for the winter and after five hours Paul had 190-04.
Paste is still a very good bait down on the lake and has been producing big weights even as the weather gets colder but do not forget to bring either a change of bait and you tip rod as the weather starts to get colder and windier.

Results
1st Chris Telling peg 11 295-00
2nd John Bennett peg 9 191-12
3rd Paul Jay peg 10 190-04
4th Jersey Jim peg 8 83-00 PB also a 17-00 common PB.

The rest to follow.

Congratulations To Ian and Amilia on their recent wedding

Photo courtesy of Picksee Photography

All the anglers would like to congratulate Ian McCulloch and Amilia on their recent wedding at the Protea Kruger Gate Hotel near Skukuza in Africa. Not only does Ian draw flyers down the lake he is also a very lucky man in choosing Amilia's to be his wife. In the link Ian sent me Amilia looked stunning in her wedding dress and Ian looked very smart and they looked very happy, all your friends would like to wish you both a very happy life together.



Until my next report tight lines Eddie.

Rolfslake Sunday Open 4th October 2009

Jon Walker on another flyer peg 9 this time

Today was just like the good old days down on the lake, a full carpark of eager anglers hoping to catch one of Rolfslake's big carp hauls on a very rare Sunday open. It was also nice to see some of my friends that i have not seen for a while plus my fishing hero Colin Wedgebrow was also down to have a go or spend 5 hours feeding the fish.

The weather was mild to start with getting colder as the match went on but with very little wind the floating leaves were again going to cause a problem, as it interfeared with presentation . As the draw was about to start John Bennett's trick of drawing peg 9 was rumbled as when we looked at the peg numbers the peg 9 block had all of a sudden turned from a round block to a square one {it was only a joke that John was playing on the other anglers}. As the draw was called everyone was watching John to see his draw but today he decided to draw second last to give everyone a chance, not a good idea as John Walker put his hand in a drew peg 9 so John was in trouble as he had only two rigs and they were plumbed for peg 9. I as normal drew last and was not amused to draw peg 14 on the motorway bank as i have never got to grips with the methods to fish this peg so a hard five hours was on the cards, plus i had the added problem of having John B on peg 15 Phil Powell on peg 17 and last Wednesdays runner-up Tim Guise on peg 13.

As i was bracing myself for a beating from both sides i decided to pull my ace card from my carryall my X4 paste mix which has helped me pick up money 9 out of my last 10 visits so i was going to go for paste or bust.

As the whistle sounded to start the match there was not a lot of fish activity on the surface so i was hoping that the fish would respond to my 5 metre line as that is where i was going to fish all the match and within 10 minutes i was putting my first carp 0f 8lb in the net and not another carp visited my net for the next two hours {brilliant}. Elsewhere around the lake fishing was slow but still there were people around catching the odd fish but not Bennett and Powell so i kept giving them stick to keep them amused but i got it back from them and also from anglers on the other side of the lake. As the match got into later stages Jon Walker and Andy Morrison started to catch a run of big fish to 18lb and also Steve Wilson on 34 and Ernie Malyon on 38 in the small lake were also having a good run of fish. In the big lake anglers on the carpark bank were struggling but on the motorway bank all the anglers were catching as the sun was still on the lake and keeping it warmer.

The winner today was Jon Walker {who was keeping up his incredible run of form on the lake} who was fishing form peg 9 and after being given bum advice by John B to fish down the edge which resulted in no fish after two hours, but was given an amazing piece of good fortune by John Camden on peg 8. John C was fishing across towards the far bank grasses using his sons pole when it suddenly just broke and he could not fish across and then had to fish with the bomb rod so Jon Walker being the sporting chap just added 4 sections of pole and fished in the gap and drew all of John's C fish away {nice move}. Jon fished a combination of soft and banded pellet fished on the deck and two feet off the deck just on top of the bar and just on the down slope and was rewarded with big fish {Jon had fish to 18lb in his board weight of 241-00} that boosted his weight to 283-00 and another match win.

Only four fish behind was Andy Morrison on peg 10 and Andy fished at short range 5 metres out in front using banded pellet fished on the lift and drop method on the deck and again was rewarded with big fish to 17-00 in his board weight of 130-00 which helped him amass his final weight of 246-00. Jon told me at one point Andy was catching that fast that he caught 60lb of fish in 10 minutes just to show that you can still put a big weight on the scales in little time.
Completing the frame was Ernie Malyon on little lake peg 38 and Ernie caught on two lines both at a range of 7 metres and both fished on the deck. Line one was straight out in front using pellet hookbait and the second was down the edge to his left towards the clump of grass again using pellet hookbait feeding positively which also brought Ernie big fish in his final weight of 182-04.

Rolfslake the only place to TRY and get Jon Walker floats

Me Eddie T-Green with another frame in todays match 10/11

As for my match after that 1st fish and not having another for the next two hours i decided to abandon the 5 metre line and go and add some sections to my pole to fish at 11 metres {i have not used my pole sections from 5 to 11 metres for about ten months and they looked like brand new compared to the fist 5 metres} in line with peg 29 on the car park bank. As the rig settled on my first put in a mass of bubbles errupted from the bottom and then my float just popped up and layed flat on the surface, thinking that my paste had come off i lifted my pole to find myself connected to a beast of a fish of about 20lb that i had on the surface about three times before it smashed my rig in the bush to my right.

After putting on another Jon Walker rig on and a ball of paste on i shipped out to the same spot dropped my rig in and exactly the same thing happened except i was ready this time and a beautiful 16-12 common was landed much to Phil and Johns disgust.In the next hour and a half i had a run of 9 fish for 131lb and lost another 9 or 10 as they were happy to run me around then get to the bush to my right and come off. While i was losing fish Phil and John started catching me up but a few small fish towards the end kept me in front of John who weighed 121-00 and god did he get some stick from me. All in all i had an enjoyable day catching fish beating the cartel and keeping my framing run going, then spending some on some new Jon Walker floats.

Cartel member John Bennett v Eddie Taylor -Green

Winner Eddie {again}

Cartel member Phil Powell v Eddie Taylor-Green

Winner Eddie

Results

1st Jon Walker peg 9 283-00

2nd Andy Morrison peg 10 246-00

3rd Ernie Malyon peg 38 182-04

4th Eddie Taylor-Green peg 14 158-12

5th Jason Astle peg 6 145-00

6th Tim Guise peg 13 139-05

7th Ada Walker peg 4 131-04

8th Steve Wilson peg 34 126-08

9th John Bennett peg 15 121-00

10th Steve Palmer peg 32 101-12

A piece of news that has just got to me is the engagement of Phil Powell to his girl friend Aldonna and all the guys down on the lake would like to send their congratulations to you both.

Until the next report tight lines Eddie.