Weight – 88lb 2oz
Catch – 14 Carp, 4 Bream, 3 Roach.
Weather – Cloudy, breezy, warm start. Rain later.
Water temp – 20.5c > 20.0c
Match – Open – 11th overall, 3rd in section
I decided to fish the open at Stafford Moor, fished on Tanners and Woodpecker to practice for next weeks Staffo Maniac weekend.
Peg 5 on Tanners was OK, however it hasn’t shown any recent form, although I was confident of catching a few I felt I could be struggling to win any money. Peg 5 is also a bit of jinx peg for me, I never seem to do very well off it. I had the end of the island to target, but the problem was there was a number of snags, plus any hooked carp either went around the island or dived behind the bar shredding your line.
The previous day I have tied loads of hook lengths so at least I was fully prepared. Rig wise I had set up 2 pellet wagglers, 1 skud, a lead rod and finally a margin pole rig.
90 minutes into the match I had 1 carp & 1 skimmer, both on the tip and I was beginning to wonder if it was going to be 1 of those days. I had lost 3 carp, which broke me on the bar, and I lost a couple of hook lengths on the snags – frustrating times.
I had to concentrate on the lead, because the wind was quite strong and the fish didn’t seem to want the pellet waggler, despite varying the depth. I kept feeding 8mm pellet and eventually I started to pick up fish. As soon as I hooked a carp, I had to hold the rod high to ensure I didn’t lose any fish on the bar.
In the last 2 hours the rain came down and kept coming. The only good news was the wind had dropped and I managed to catch a few late on the waggler, but I had to cast tight to the island to get a bite. At least I had an opportunity to practice my casting.
As for my margin line, it only produced 3 roach on 11mm pellet!
At the end of the match, I knew I wouldn’t frame. James Cooper on peg 3, which was the form peg and today’s golden peg worth £300. James had caught well throughout the match on the tip, however a 4lb carp jumped out of his net, which James felt would cost him. Pegs, 34, 35 and 36 had all caught well and from what I could see peg 36 would be James biggest challenger.
James was the last to weigh in (peg 1 did not weigh). I was surprised to weigh as much as I did and so far only peg 11 was beating me for the section. Top weight on the lake was peg 36 with 150lb. James weighed 148lb, so that lost carp cost James £300. Fair shout to him, he took it really well (on the outside anyway).
As for my match, I was disappointed to lost fish the way I did, but when I held the rod high on the strike, I didn’t lose any more. My weight was the best from peg 5 in the 2 months, so really pleased with that.
Confidence is high – just hope for a decent draw next weekend.
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