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

OVERALL LEADERBOARD