As the anglers gathered for the 2008 Rolfslake Easter Festival in the car park, its was time for some anglers to be reunited with some angling friends they had not seen for some time.

The weather was something that we could not control, and with a horrible cold ,swilrling and gusting wind the order of the day ,the anglers were hoping for a kind draw out of the wind. As draw time got closer some anglers believed that the winner of the festival could be decided in todays drawbag as with a bad draw today and the weather due to improve on Sunday and Monday ,it could be difficult to catch up.

It was strange not seeing Rolf at the lake today, as he would of been chatting to all the visiting anglers and giving them his thoughts for the three days, but he has been poorly and will not be able to come down to the lake this weekend. [Rolf we hope you feel better soon, and all your angling friends will be missing your company - we hope your feeling much better soon and look forward to seeing you].

The format for the Festival is there are three section of nine anglers {sections A,B and C,} which the anglers fish in rotation dependant on their day one draw. The angler that wins their section gets 9 points and the rest of the anglers in that section get 8 points down to 1 dependant on their weight {highest to lowest weight} . All anglers have to weigh in to get at least a point, and the angler with the most points at the end is the Festival winner. In the event of anglers tied on the same points, it will go on total weight.

Day 1

The winner of todays match was one of Rolfslake returning anglers Stan Robak who was drawn on little used peg 15, and who battled with the long pole 13 mtrs fishing into the wind fishing at full depth, fishing corn feeding pellet for his weight of 81-00 and a very deserved win and 9 points.

Day 2

After the strong winds from day 1 the anglers were greeted by a calm lake for day 2 of the Easter Festival and were raring to go. After the tough times the anglers had in the small lake on Saturday, the pegs least wanted were 37,38 and 5 as there were very few bites to be had on these pegs ,so there were no smiling faces as the anglers drew Section A.

Day one winner Stan Robak was one of the first anglers to draw in this section and was faced with peg 37 and a very frustrating 5 hours lay ahead, and also in this lake was Pete Archer who was going to have to endure another bad draw ,this time peg 5.

Just as John Bennett got the match under way you guessed it the wind picked up and the temperature got colder ,so the anglers that had shelter were now back out in the wind again, and the long pole line again began to look very hard work.

In first place today was Rolfslake angler Jon Walker who was drawn in the big lake and with the wind to his back on peg 18. Jon fished for most of the match on the long pole 14mtrs + to get to the deeper water where the fish were, and fished at full depth fishing a combination of corn and pellet  hookbaits feeding very little for his weight of  103-02 and a very deserved win.

In second place was Mark Bedford who was fishing good cold water peg 25 and again fished the long pole fishing corn and pellet catching fish to double figures in his weight of 99-00.

Completing the frame was Mick Lane who was fishing off flyer peg 28 and who had a challenging 5 hours fishing at 16mtrs in the swirling wind which hampered his presentation ,but in the end put together a good weight of 89-04 and a section win.

EASTER FESTIVAL DAY 3

As the anglers prepared for day three of the Festival ,the weather report for today promised to be sunny spells and a light breeze so the anglers were hoping for an improvement in sport.

Any of the top 10 anglers on the leader board were in with a chance of winning the festival, but with  4 of the top 7 fishing in A section {Matt, Jon, Mark and Clive}the other 6 looked to have a great chance of climbing up the leader board to victory.

When A section was called all eyes were on what Matt Smith the festival leader over 2 days had drawn, and when peg 37 was called out you could feel the sense of relief as there had not been a fish caught on this peg over two days. The other main contenders Andy Johnstone {1 point back} had drawn big lake peg 22, Ian McCulloch {2 points back} had drawn peg 28, Jon Walker {2 points back} had drawn small lake peg 40 and Mark Bedford {2 points back} had drawn corner peg 34.

As the all-in was sounded it was great to see all the long poles go out ,with the anglers hoping to catch a fish early just in case the weather changed later in the day. After the first hour most of the anglers fishing from pegs 13-26 had already caught a carp so they could relax a bit and get into a rhythm for the next 4 hours. In the small lake the biggest news to filter down was that Matt Smith on 37 had caught his first carp {12-04} so he was going to score at least a point. Jon Walker was struggling on peg 40 only having caught a few silvers with no sign of carp in that area.

Andy Johnstone was catching carp and silvers steadily so was on for good points as was Mark Bedford on peg 34 by the rope, who was catching smaller carp but more frequently.

As the hours went by you could feel the tension as the anglers tried everything to up their catch rate without over feeding and were rewarded with a few carp and silvers but no-one was pulling away ,except Mike Stimpson and Mick Lane who were catching fish for fish on pegs 15 and 26 . Mike was fishing the long pole at full depth using corn and pellet hookbaits to catch the winning weight on the day with 118-13 and the top weight in the Festival. In second place on the day was Mick Lane who was fishing right opposite Mike and fell one fish short of a win with 117-06 fishing corn on the long pole. Third on the day was Rob Kite who fished similar to Mick on peg 25 for his weight of 96-01.

After the all out sounded the anglers were recalling their days fishing when news that Matt Smith had eventually caught 5 carp from fishless peg 37 and that Jon Walker on peg 40  had an exciting match when on one occasion when he was fishing down the margins he  hooked a 18-14 pike which he managed to land after a struggle which put him 3rd in section.

After the weigh-in was completed and the points were counted ,the new Easter Festival winner was Matt Smith who had fished brilliantly on day 3 to weigh 57-12 and 7 points for a total of 24 points and a very deserved win {well done Matt}