Silver Weekend

Its Stafford Moors Silver maniac weekend and it boasts two thousand pounds to the winner! I qualified for the final last year but had an accident as I stepped down onto my peg; I lost my footing and went A over B with my box on my back, I thought I had broken a few bones the pain was so bad! As it was a final I fished on and caught and caught a few but nowhere near the 60 odd pound that Harry Billing had to win the match. I have been looking forward to this weekend for 12 months! The format is simple, win your section on Saturday and qualify for the one off final! The quality of the field is very strong with anglers coming from all over the country to take part, all looking for a big bag of silvers and wallet full of gold nuggets!

Holy cow!

Over the last few week s I don’t think I have had the rub of the green that little bit of luck that we all need, I was desperately looking for a lucky sign, a black cat walking in front of me, a couple of magpies, anything would do! Anyway, I was enjoying the drive to Stafford Moor and probably about 10 miles from the venue driving down a country lane at about 50 mph, I turned a corner and a black cow was in the road walking in front of me! I tried to convince myself that it was a huge cat as it ambled back into the farm yard I thought that this should be a large slice of good luck, I did say I was getting desperate!

The rest of the journey went without incident and I was soon at SM waiting in the draw queue, it takes ages to have a dip. The reason is that Andy is so keen and enthusiastic about his fishery that he has a chat with each angler about the peg and what he expects could be caught there, with over 70 fishing you can imagine how long it takes. My turn came and out came peg 12 on Josephs, I looked at Andy and saw him swallow hard! ‘It’s deep there, very deep you should get some skimmers’ I got the message and I realised that black cows don’t count very highly on the good luck scale. Never mind it’s all about section wins, it’s Sunday when you need to win the match not today, by the time I got to my peg I had convinced myself!

I have never fished Josephs before and was surprised when I got to my peg as I had a small lake that I was sharing with one other angler! It was like a rectangular shaped inlet that was connected in two places to the main lake and I suppose it was about 100 yards by 30 yards wide with two pegs on it! I was at the narrower end with the strong wind blowing straight down into my face. It looked good and the pegging was generous to say the least, I just hoped the fish were there! Information about the peg was not easy to get and the bit I did get was not filling me with hope.

I did not really know what the target species was but figured I would need around 20lb to qualify so I quickly got a rig out of my box to have a plumb around so that I could formulate some kind of plan. The water temperature was a dizzy 10 degrees so it should be spot on for the silvers. I found that the peg sloped away from me and at 5 sections I had about 6’ on a gentle slope and at 11 metres I had about 9’- 10’ and it was fairly level, plumbing over to my left at 45 degrees I found the same depth on the long line. I decided that those three areas would be my main lines and I would also set a 3 metre to hand rig up where I would loose feed maggots hoping for some roach.

Straight in front of me long, I decided to feed groundbait and chopped worms and casters, moving to my left hand swim I was going to feed some dampened micro pellets and a few soft hook pellets as a backup for skimmers. Some groundbait and casters at 5 sections and then loose feed casters over both groundbait lines it sounded like a plan to me. The rigs I used will be no surprise for the deep water it was a Cralusso Capri with a double bulk, one rig had a PR21 size 18 to a .10 Xedion hook length and the other a Middy t6313 size 18 to a .8 hook length. A couple of shallow rigs completed my setup for the day.

The match started and I cupped in some feed and immediately went over my long line with double red maggot and I had a 4 oz skimmer within a few minutes. I couldn’t believe t but it was a loner, 10 minutes later and it was the only fish in my net! I had a look on the closer line and started to catch small roach. I could only see two other anglers in my section and I could see I was catching more than them so I just stuck at it. I hit one bite and my six elastic shot out of the pole I obviously didn’t know what it was but it didn’t feel like a carp so I played it carefully. I was glad that I did as huge perch well over two pound surfaced a few minutes later, I just wish I could have found a few more of his brothers but sadly he was also a loner.

I managed a few fish from all my line including the loose fed maggot line, but could just not keep them coming. I tried up in the water but could not catch anything other than tiny roach so I abandoned that. After about 1 ½ hours I put a 4mm Yorkshire bait scopex pellet and went over the micros. The float buried and I had a 4 oz skimmer. The line was solid but they were only small fish some around the 1 – 2oz mark, I don’t think I have ever caught so many small fish before on pellet. The fish kept coming so I stayed on that line, one thing I have learnt is don’t leave feeding fish. I kept my other lines topped up so could change if it quietened down. I just hoped that some bigger samples came along.

Carp spoil the fun

Well my prayers were answered and some bigger fish did come along. Trouble was they were carp! I ended up landing five of them and they were up to 10lb they pushed the skimmers out and I just could not find any silvers on any of my lines. I did try to start a new line but couldn’t catch over it. I had enjoyed the match but it was very frustrating as I felt like I had a chance until they moved in. On the plus side I am very impressed with Xedion line it seems very strong for its diameter, I really gave it a test with those carp on .10 I have not been using it for long but it fast becoming a favourite.

I ended up with just over 10lb and the section was won with 20lb so I was right with my guestimate of a qualifying weight but unfortunately was 10 lb light! Guess I will have to wait until next year to try and qualify again.

Harry romped his section with 55lb from peg 36 on Tanners so he was keyed up for making it two out of two. After the match he tried to talk me into fishing in his team on Sunday at Porth as he was obviously staying at Stafford. I refused despite his best attempts at convincing me. This week I had to keep my promise and stay at home on Sunday!

Driving home and I kept getting text messages from John Forster who by now had heard that Harry was not fishing at Porth and he was asking me to fish. The reason I wasn’t fishing this league in the first place was to have the odd weekend day off throughout the winter to do what I wanted to do without been obliged to fish. But as it happens I love Porth so I was very tempted even though I was not prepared for the match.

When I got in I had a word with Viv and she didn’t mind too much so I called John and put him out of his misery. A little later, I checked the weather forecast and there is no doubt if I had checked it earlier John would have been fishing one short! It looked atrocious with 50 mph winds and rain, perhaps Viv had been looking at the weather?

I didn’t have time to get anything prepared for the Porth match, I had the bait but just hoped I had the rigs I knew I had a couple of heavy ones that I didn’t use in the festival but that was it. The next morning dawned and it was tipping down and very windy, I felt like pulling the duvet over and staying put!

Peter Thomas did the team draw and I was on peg 76 on the far bank, I fancied the peg but would have liked 77 the proper platform, never mind I put my kit on the boat and walked around, the water was really coloured, I haven’t seen it like that for a long time if it was like this in the Spring we would sack on the water! I got to my peg and decided to sit on the small platform on the bank rather than get into the water as I normally do. I was getting a little short on time so this would save quite a bit.

The wind didn’t look or feel that bad when we were setting up and I plumbed a swim at 11 metres and one at 6 metres. On the long line I had a Cralusso Golf 1.5 gram and at 6 metres a 4 x 16 Mosella Manic Impact 7. My Groundbait was Mosella Select All Round and Eurocup in equal proportions. I had casters, maggot and pinkies along with some dendras for bait. The temperature was 10 degrees so everything looked good.

At the all in I fed both pole lines with four balls containing some chopped worms and casters and I started on the GB feeder with a single dead red maggot on the hook. I had a few casts to get a little bait in the area and gave it 15 minutes without a bite. Andy Wilkinson to my left was the first on the pole and I noticed that he had a roach early. That was good enough for me and I was out on the six metre line pronto. I had a roach first go followed by some small perch. After about 6 or seven fish I hooked a snag on the same line! A change of hook length and back again a couple of fish followed by a change of hook length!

Pole wrestling

I had a look on the 11 metre line and was rewarded with a skimmer first go, I also had a lovely roach that was about 12 – 14 oz even though the wind was getting stronger that roach made me persevere on that line as I was looking for some more! It was getting harder to hold the pole by the minute and presentation was a nightmare, the tow was incredible it was ripping through like a river. I really wish I had some flat floats with me as they would have been perfect. It got to the stage that I could not hold the pole properly and a re think was in order. I decided to plumb at seven sections to avoid the snag and also to bring my close line really close to four metres. Five minutes changing around and I fed some more groundbait and was back catching small roach and perch.

The close line didn’t produce and even at seven sections it was hard to hold the pole. On a couple of occasions it nearly turned me around, it was a good job the pegging is generous at Porth or I would have knocked Andy of his box with my pole!

I ended up with 5lb 9oz for about fourth or fifth in the section which was won by Roy Booth with 8lb 12oz followed by Clint Elliott with another 8lb odd. Overall I thought the lake fished really well and there were fish to be caught it was the conditions that spoilt it for us, living in this neck of the woods we get used to wind but Sunday was too much, especially on the far bank of Porth.

To the victor the spoils

The individual winner was Billy Arch with over 12lb he found a couple of ‘propur’ bream and a big perch to add to some roach and skimmers, well done Bill I feel really pleased for you winning that match.

Angler hindsight

Thinking about my match later I have to hold my hands up and say that I did it wrong. For some reason I chose the wrong line to fish I should have concentrated at 5 metres where I think it would have faredmuch better. It would have been much easier to have controlled the pole and therefore I would have had better presentation. I am also kicking myself for not getting myself in the water a little closer to the lake would also have made life easier, oh well you are never too old to learn from my mate hindsight.

I have some family commitments over the next two weekends including Vivs birthday and a wedding in London so there’s no fishing for me, in view of that I’m going to take a short sabbatical from my blog until the start of December, then its festival time again at White Acres! I am really looking forward to the silver fish festival festival as its one of my all time favourites, its normally fantastic fishing. Until next time, keep those strings tight.