06/09/08 - Rolfs Lake

Weight – 3lb 10oz
Catch – 33 Perch, 2 Roach
Weather – Mostly cloudy, rain later
Water temp – 17.5c > 17.5c
Match – Total Fishing Individual Qualifier

Due to a minor operation, I couldn’t fish last weekend so was really looking forward to today. I had spent most evenings during the week tying hooklengths and rigs and felt confident of doing well.

When I arrived, the surface of the lake was black with fish, which was a surprise considering the heavy overnight rain. General consensus was the lake would probably be fish hard.

The lake had been split into 4 sections, based on form. I drew peg 29, which was in the 4th and worst section. Pegs 10, 13, 25 & 34 were in my section and I could at least keep an eye on everyone except peg 34.

Based on my previous visit, I decided to try the waggler at full depth, fishing the worm, hoping to pick up the off carp and silvers, whilst feeding my short line and margins.

In the end the lake fished really hard. I caught perch on worm, particularly in the margins, but they were mostly about 1oz and I was going no where fast. Although I had periodically tried meat & corn, without success, with only 90 minutes left, all I needed was a couple of carp, but it just wasn’t happening. I briefly hooked 1 on paste, before the hook pulled, but 10 mins to go I hooked another. This 1 I think was hooked properly, but it broke me on its 1st run – not happy. A missed bites next cast suggested the fish might have arrived all a little too late.

I only needed 3rd in my 5 peg section to qualify for the final, so I was really disappointed to finish 4th.

I had decided on an aggressive feeding approach and on reflection that wasn’t suitable, I should have adopted a more cautious approach, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. The problem was for whatever reason the lake fished very hard and only 78lb was needed to win. Had the lake fished normally, then perhaps my tactics would have worked.