By Stewart Lister | No Comments
Last updated: Friday, May 16, 2008

Walkabout Wednesday saw Harry and I joined by Billy Arch, for a trip up the A30 to Stafford Moor for some more Fish and Chips! The journey went without incident. Or so I thought, when we arrived I presumed that we had continued onto the M5 and into Wales! All the accents were Welsh, loads of them. The entry had been bolstered by the Stafford Moor festival that was starting on Monday with anglers keen to get some practice in, Howard Green and a load of his mates from the valleys were in attendance. On the way to the match we were filling in Bill on the methods and the subject got around to favoured pegs. Both Harry and I thought that peg 18 or 20 would be favourite as the wind would be blowing down that way.

The Draw

We entered Andy’s office for the draw to be told peg 20 is still in the bag. I just couldn’t get in front of Harry! He paid his money dipped his hand in and proudly showed us all the peg that we wanted. Unbelievable, that is the third peg on the bounce that he has predicted he would draw. Keep it up especially on Saturday. My turn and out came 17 on Woodpecker a lake I had never fished before. For the second week running Andy kept his head down writing when I announced the number! A clear sign to me that it was one he didn’t fancy. There is nothing you can do about the pegs you draw, apart from get on with it and try your best. Bill drew peg 28 on Woodpecker and was told it was a reasonable peg.

Little Jack

My peg looked quite good, it was in a corner with about 16 metres to the bank to my right. I had some open water to have a go at. The problem was that the wind was off my back and effectively blowing out of my corner. The pegs to my left all had the island to chuck at and the guy to my left had the point of the island. And what’s more the island was solid with fish crashing around!

I set up two pellet wagglers and a straight lead to tackle the open water. My pole line was just going to be down the edge and was again very simple. It was a 10mm SPRO blob on .18 line to a PR28 size 16. I also set up a paste rig with a .2 Cralusso Capri .18 straight through to a PR28 size 12.

I had time to think about feeding before the match and I was in a bit of a dilemma. It was clear to me that the edge line was going to be my main line. I didn’t want to wreck it by feeding to heavy early, so I decided I was going to ping bait at it. I would then feed heavier into the open water to try and draw some carp into the open for the waggler and the straight lead. I am really desperate to have a good day on the waggler!

We’re off

The match started and out went the straight lead with a hair rigged pellet. I catapulted pellets around the 25 metre mark and pinged a few pellets towards the edge. After about 10 minutes my swim was alive with fizzing but no bites! After 20 minutes I had a skimmer and then decided to go on the waggler. No indications for another 15 minutes and then a missed bite, shortly after this I had my first carp which was very welcome, especially as it was about 8lb. I could hear a lot of splashing to my left and asked the question. I was told “I have four and lost four”! Oh man, was I in trouble. Bites were not coming on the waggler despite plenty of feed and working the bait over the feed area. I tried a little shallower and hooked another one of about the same weight, only to lose it trying to bully it in! Why oh why do I do this, especially when not bagging.

After an hour it was time to go long down the edge. I lost one first go, shallowed up and promptly lost another! Changing to 12’’ deep in about 2’6’’ resulted in three quick carp before they backed off. At least I felt better with some fish in the net as I could still hear a lot of splashing from my neighbour’s pegs. A quick look on the waggler and straight lead produced nothing. Back down the edge and I had another couple of carp before it went quite again. This was really how the match went until the end. I did manage a couple more on the waggler and one on the straight lead. But unfortunately lost a couple on the waggler. One I again played too heavily and one that I think was foul hooked.

Simon Poynter who has just signed an individual sponsorship deal with TRICAST came and sat behind me, he had been doing some sign writing for me on the van. He did a great job, if anyone wants any sign work get in touch and I will pass on his number!

We were chatting about feeding and he suggested that maybe dumping some bait down the edge might work. I had nothing to lose as there was about 90 minutes left decided to pot some in. A look on the waggler produced one more. Trying down the edge and immediately I was into a fish. This was followed by a foul hooker and then nothing! A try on paste produced bites that I couldn’t hit probably small stuff. Back on the pellet and I had one more. The end of the match was disappointing as I only had two fish in the last hour for about 15lb I would have expected a few more. I do think it was right to dump some bait as I had to try and get some feeding fish there.

The scales came around and the lad on Woodpecker peg 36 was leading with 138lb the peg to my left put 122lb on the scales with 22 carp and I had 103lb with about 19 fish. I was pleased with the effort but was rueing those lost fish. I think there was a 119lb from Tanners which left me in fourth place but with a section win. Harry had 75lb from peg 20 on Tanners. Looking at his peg after the match and it was clear that the wind was not right for the peg. It just shows that not only do you have to draw the right peg you have to draw the right peg on the right day!

Yellow Card!

A word of warning to anybody that visits this fantastic fishery, make sure you take plenty of keepnets with you. Andy likes to see no more than 65lb in anyone net and silvers in a net on their own. He dished a few yellow cards out this week, it would be a great shame to have a framing weight and get a red!
I must apologise to those lads that framed on the day I didn’t get your names from Andy. He was in a bit of a rush to get to the hospital to join his wife Debbie as she was about to have twins! Early on Thursday morning she had two little girls! Congratulations and welcome to the girl club.