MFS - Stafford Moor - Silvers Festival, 25th February 2014

Day 2 of the festival and the weather this morning looked like it would be a nice day. The Lodge of Plenty hosted most of the lads last night, although I managed to get to bed just after midnight. Col cooked up a cracking lamb curry. Andy G provided the entertainment as per usual with his impressions of everyone and trying most of the drinks on the table!


The Draw
I would be fishing Woodpeckers today which had fished hard yesterday. Getting to the draw I pulled out Peg 16, a very easy walk from the car park. Col, aka Billy No Fish (BNF) pulled out 12 meaning he would be next to me and I had a chance of getting my second red shirt! Other lads in the same section were Herbie, Jamie (ASBO Twin) and Kenfish.

The Set-Up
I spoke to Tonkin Tommy who had drawn Peg 16 yesterday. The pole lines would be:
  • 13 metres at 2 o’clock pointing to the island
  • 13 metres straight ahead
  • 5 metre line straight ahead, opposite a stump in the water 
I had decided to adopt a different feeding approach today after watching Jamie yesterday which consisted of dampened micro pellets which I would fish either 4mm expander pellets or double dead reds. The 5 metre swim would be fed by caster with a live red maggot as hookbait.

The All-In
On the whistle I went across to the 2 o’clock swim, kinder cupped in a nugget of micro pellets and lowered the double dead red bait down. I was using the ’99’ lift rig and it didn’t take long before it raised out of the water and the first fish was on.

Over the first hour I fished out the swim which gave me 10 skimmers and a bonus tench. I potted in another nugget of micros and left the swim to settle moving on the other 13 metre line straight ahead following the same feeding pattern. Taking 5-6 skimmers from this swim the wind got up and I decided to try the 5 metre line.

Hour 3 and the 5 metre line was producing some nice roach including a bonus larger skimmer until it died off.

Back on the 2 o’clock line my first fish was a carp which lead me a merry dance for 10 minutes until the rig broke. A quick re-tackle and back over the line. I was happily rotating all the lines and producing some fish although the bigger skimmers never come on the line despite pushing the rig to 14metres.

The 5 metre line was to throw up a few surprises in the shape of some bonus tench including a lovely gold tench. With 5 minutes to go I stayed on the 5 metre line, single red maggot hook bait and the float dipped. I thought I’d hooked a carp in the final minutes. The whistle went and after a few more minutes a big stripy Perch popped up which took me by surprise.

I had done enough to beat Colin and avoid the dreaded red t-shirt.

The Result
21lb 7oz, section 2nd and a new personal best Perch of 3lb 1oz

Conclusion
Great advice from Tonkin Tommy and the micro pellet feed approach worked on the day. Mixing between pellets and dead reds on the long line produced for me. I had hoped to get a good Perch while at Stafford Moor and I succeeded with a new PB Perch of over 3lb…. just! Tomorrow on Tanners lake…. maybe the waggler rod might get an airing!

More Pictures...








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lake Semerwater, Wensleydale, 15th May 2022

Image
In a break from the normal commercials and after sorting all the the fishing gear out and finding a load of distance feeders that simply had not been used I decided it was time to tackle a large, wild water close to me. Searching YouTube and finding some videos by Jamie Harrison and Lee Kerry, Lake Semerwater became the target.  I roped in Patrick from work and Mr Curry an old friend I've not seen for quite some years.  The target was set, the prep was done and it was a very early start from sunny Stockton to drive to the beautiful Wensleydale and Lake Semerwater. Arriving at the farmhouse for 6am and catching up with Rich we headed down to the parking areas to be treated to fish in the shallows and a fabulous morning view. Patrick arrived about 30 minutes later and we tackled the bumpy 100 metre walk to where the stream fed into the lake. The Draw Rich as he was first to arrived went next to the stream, I went in the middle and Patrick on the right hand side.  Comfortable close
Read more

Renny Lakes, East Harlsey, 14th May 2023

Image
Well the second trip out in 2023, the first one didn’t go as planned, I didn’t take to many photographs we didn’t catch any fish and I didn’t write a blog post about it… sorry about that. So the fishing whatsapp group voted for a day on Renny Lakes which didn’t mean too much of a long drive for Mr Curry or the rest of us. I’d also invited Sam along, Sam last fished back in 2016 so a great chance for him to get hooked a second time so to speak! The Pegs Renny Lakes has changed from a three lake complex back to two lakes. So a quick walk round the larger lake we found three pegs next to each other with islands and open water to go at. Set-Up I’d brought two rods with me for a simple days fishing while coaching Sam. A waggler rod and a feeder rod with a micro hybrid feeder on. Bait was simple too, maggots, sweetcorn, 6mm and 8mm pellets. All-In I’d just finished plumbing the depth on waggler a few rod length out when Sam arrived. We quickly set his rod up to fish a
Read more

Lake Semerwater, Wensleydale, 13th November 2022

Image
After a very enjoyable trip in May and Jack wanting to learn a bit of feeder fishing together with the weather for November looking pretty good, our little fishing group headed back to Wensleydale and the fantastic Lake Semerwater.  The only one missing was Mr Curry who was on a promise?!   Watching the weather in the lead-up to the weekend it was looking like a great day ahead, overcast, no rain, constant air pressure however maybe a little windy. The Sunday morning drive to get to the lake for first light was very foggy with some rain, had the weather got it wrong? The Pegs Arriving at the lake, it looked fantastic, the water level was a lot higher than the May trip and there was a clear “tide” mark higher up the bank where the level had been some days before.  There was already a pike angler in the area that we wanted to fish however enough room between him and the river inlet for us to get two boxes in the water without disturbing each other.  Set-up When I gr
Read more