MFS - Stafford Moor - Silvers Festival, 5th March 2015

Most of the lads headed out for a curry.  The Lodge of Plenty had Colin’s Chilli Con Carne which was packed with finger chillies.  Another quiet night in with the lads, plenty of banter, mainly at my expense ;-)

The Draw
Herbie had seeded all the anglers today.  One of the seeded anglers would pick where we would be fishing today.  Woodpeckers low numbers was my lot for the day, out came peg 10, aka the “swivel” peg.

I’ve fished before a few years ago so I felt confident.

The Set-up
Three pole lines today:
  • 14.5 metres to the left of the peg
  • 14.5 metres straight out from the peg
  • Worm line at 4 metres for the perch or tench
Two rigs served the 14.5 metre lines, a “99” double bulk rig and a red depth rig.

The All-In
Chris Martin had fished this peg the previous day and had killed his peg by putting in too much bait, so it was another negative approach today.  

I kicked off the line to the left of me with a small golf ball of groundbait with some casters and a nugget of micro pellets on the other long pole line.  The short Perch/Tench line I cupped in some chopped worm and casters.

Going over the groundbait line with double dead red the fish started to come.  Infact, I had more fish than the previous day within the first 5 minutes!  Again, the fish were of a small stamp.  The lift bites were showing well on the “99” double bulk rig.

After an hour a had around 15 fish, but no real large skimmers.  The skimmer action stopped and the roach started to come, so I topped up the line with another small ball of groundbait.  Checking the pellet line, nothing, so I topped that one up too.

The action slowed, then I hooked a carp that trashed my rig.  Next put in, another carp, this time I landed it, a lovely mirror of around 6lb.  Meanwhile Whiteman had landed a lovely goldfish and was netting a bonus tench… 

The next few hours were very slow with the odd fish coming to the net.  I checked the Perch/Tench line for 20 minutes, not one indication, so I topped it back up and would try it before the all out.

The final hour I got a decent skimmer and some other small skimmers.  The Perch/Tench line produced nothing.  I called the all-out, could have brought some money to the Lodge pot?

The Result
4lb 6oz for a section 3rd, the best result I’ve had all week, claiming a few pounds from the all of the lads in the Lodge…

Link to Stafford Moors Results page

Conclusion
No bonus fish cost me again.  Where have all the big skimmers gone?





Location: Winkleigh, Devon, UK

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