A Flyer

With the tanker driver dispute over and liquid gold in the form of diesel returning to the South West, I decided to have another go at Stafford Moor. I had to travel on my own as Harry is causing carnage at Mawgan Porth winning all three matches held there last week and two so far this week! I arrived around 10am and quite a few had already drawn, I had my dip and came out with peg 6. I needed no help from Andy on this one, as it was next door to where I had 200lb a couple of weeks ago! I really fancied the draw.

Wind, wind and more wind.

I walked my gear to the peg and had an initial look, I was a little disappointed to see the wind coming from right to left but facing me as well, it was really strong. With the island some 40 yards away I knew feeding was going to be the key to this match. I went back to Andy’s shop as I needed some of his elite pellets. These are very dense 11mm pellets with a good uniform shape which helps them fly straight, I knew these were the only chance I had of feeding the swim, but was still unsure if I could reach.
As I returned to the lake I met Nick Jones who has drawn peg 18 and he didn’t fancy it at all with the wind blowing away from him, he is having a good run at the moment which included a win on Sunday at Stafford Moor with 185lb.

Lead Head

Because of the weather I thought it was going to be a straight lead day so I assembled two Spro Escape feeder rods with identical tackle. I used one of the new side line rolling swivels as a quick change adapter for my hook length. It really is a big advantage to have your hook length attached to a swivel. Hooks were pr36 size 14 on .18 line. I also set up a 4 swan pellet waggler in the hope that the weather would change for the better. At the last minute I set up a pole to fish the margin to my right this was also on .18 line with a size 14 pr36 hook.

At the all in I cast a straight lead with a hair rigged 11mm pellet to about 3 yards to the left of the island. Picked up the catapult to fire some bait and had to grab the rod as it was coming off the rest! A four pounder, first chuck, fantastic. It didn’t get much better though I only had three by the end of the first hour. I wasn’t that unhappy as I am really looking to get 5 an hour so there was plenty of time. Looking around at the 8 or so anglers I could see there was not a lot happening. Feeding was a nightmare, I had to fire 11mm pellets in ones and twos hoping that the odd one would reach where I wanted to fish. Next door to my right was fishing short of the island and not catching so there seemed little point in me doing the same. I had been feeding constantly down the edge but couldn’t get a bite there.

After 2 ½ hours I think I had about 7 fish but was going absolutely nowhere. I could see that the people catching were doing so in the lee of the wind. But I could not catch off the island I can only presume that the fish did not want to be there, maybe too shallow? I even tried the pellet feeder for awhile, I had two but it was very slow.

About an hour later my neighbour on peg 7 decided that it was an early bath for him and packed up. I decided that this was my chance and started feeding in front of the island to my right and fished this with a pellet waggler, the water here was a little calmer. After about 20 minutes the float went under and I had a carp, when this was followed by another I was starting to think I could salvage this match. The bites were not fast and furious but I was putting a few in the net fishing about 14’’ deep, so allowing for the waggler the fish were in the top 18’’ of water.

You just couldn’t make it up!

There were a few fish there now and with 15 minutes left I hoped to put a few into the net and sneak a minor place. The wind was getting stronger again and I had a harder cast with the wag, I must have held the rod a little further out as my wag landed in the brambles on the island! It came off but was in a mess! Never mind I picked up one of the lead rods and cast perfectly to the island, clipped it up and the tip flew around, the carp charged off parallel with the island and snapped me. I quickly put on another hook length and cast out again, straight into the brambles the fish must have pulled some line through the clip! Picked up the other rod and promptly threw that in the brambles as well! I was now left with less than 10 minutes to go and no tackle to fish the island!

Surely nothing else could go wrong? I picked up my top 2 and had a look down the edge. The float buried and I quickly had a 5 pounder in the net. Andy turned up behind me and told me that as I was the only one who had ordered fish and chips this week it wasn’t worth the trip. Oh man! I was famished as well! I dropped another pellet down the edge and promptly hit another munter, this charged off down the lake. I couldn’t get to the rest of the pole to add any more, it would have to be a top two challenge! More and more elastic came out until the inevitable happened just as Andy shouted all out.

The scales came and I needed just over 73lb to sneak fourth place. With 15 carp in the net I thought it would be close and guessed at 75lb. I couldn’t believe it when the total was called at 67lb. What else could go wrong tonight! I’ll tell you what, when I got back to the van I was met by a swarming mass of bluebottles, the result of a maggot escape a couple of weeks ago! I had a very, careful drive home letting fly’s escape into the lovely Devon countryside.

Just show what we don’t know, Nick won the match from his unfancied peg 18 with around 130lb and what’s more it was the golden peg to boot, which netted him another 200 smackers on top of his match win! Well done buddy.