Wednesday saw me on Joseph's peg 8. This is the first peg on the dam wall and can be good, but tricky to fish. I had decided to fish 3 pole lines. My main Corn line would be down the edge at 12.5 going to 14m if needed. This is probably the only area you can fish down this edge due to the amount of weed close in. My next line was at 8m and would be a catmeat line. My last line would be a paste line at 12.5m in around 12ft of water. A bomb rod set up to fish a lassoed pellet bait finished my set up.
The wind was blowing a gale, so I did not set up a waggler rod, as I had nothing to throw at and in the conditions thought it a waste of time.
I started off fishing paste at 12.5 hoping for a quick fish. Placing a large ball of paste on a size 12 B911 and lowering it down, it sank, a small adjustment to the depth and the next put it I lifted into a small carp after around 5minutes. Happy days!!! but this was the only fish I had from this line, mainly due to the wind and not being able to control the pole properly. A look on the 8m line saw no bites coming and a quick look on the bomb on the 12.5m line produced nothing.
After an hour I decided to look down the edge, first put in with Stinky Corn over corn, saw a small dip which resulted in a small common which ran me ragged in the weed before the hook pulled. Out again and this time the float buried and after coaxing the fish into open water I managed to land a good 15lb fish at the first time of asking. I re-fed the line at 12.5m down the edge and had a couple of put in's at both 12.5 straight out and 8m for no bites. So it was back down the edge, I tried worm on the hook to no avail and banded pellet saw a lightning quick bite which was back up before I could react. Another lost fish after 3 hours saw me sticking on this line for the duration of the match. Another carp around 6lb and another lost fish and that was my match over. 31lb for 5th in section. Kevin Wingfield again winning the section with 55lb. Another day where lost fish cost me valuable points. But from this peg I was not going to beat myself up over it. I had hooked 6 fish and got three out from an awkward peg.
Troy had drawn peg 8 on Woodies and had around 36lb for halfway in his section caught on the bomb and pellet waggler. Del was on Pine's and had 19lb for midway whilst Vic was on Emily's and had 90 palm sized crucians for 21lb.
Thursday saw me fishing Emily's 5. A decent peg if the wind is blowing into it. Peg 4 had won the section every day so far and would be hard to beat. I had been told not to feed a lot and with this mind I set up 3 lines. 12.5m with corn over micros in 4ft of water just as the sunken island starts to go up. A line at 5m in the deeper water and a margin line with maggot in case I was struggling. I fed micros at the start but had been warned not to overdo it, so with this in mind I only covered the base of my cupping kit with a sprinkling of pellets and three grains of corn. Starting off at 12.5m and a single grain of corn I started getting a few small carp around the 1/2lb mark. This is the stamp fish in the lake, however it does hold a few larger specimens to 4lb. After an hour I had around 5lb of these carp and was going nowhere. Others on the lake were catching silvers as well as odd carp. I was not out of it but with the 12.5m line going quiet it was time to switch to 5m. A few skimmers and roach came off this line before again it went quiet. Into the margin where I had fed heavily with maggot in an attempt to get a silver line going. I fished this for a good hour and managed another 5lb of silvers with odd roach pushing 8oz and a few decent perch.
I kept rotating all three lines, getting a couple of bites on each of the longer lines before having half an hour on the maggot, I even managed to land an eel of around a pound on white hydro. That was fun with it swimming backwards whilst trying to net it. Pete on peg 4 had clearly won the lake and Lee on peg 2 would run him close. However there was not a lot to choose between the rest of us on the lake. My weight of 21lb 4oz was only good enough for 5th in section and in hindsight I should have kept swapping the lines on a more regular basis, instead of sitting and waiting for a bite. Another lesson learned and in reflection of my normal fishing it is something that I do quite regularly. Another couple of pound would have got me third in section and is something I thought was possible.
Troy had drawn Joseph's and had 3 fish for 20lb for nowhere in his section. Vic had drawn Beatties 11 and had 19lb of bits whilst Del again had a section second with 24lb including a carp of 14lb. Beattie's had thrown up quite a few carp to those fishing it during the week. It is Stafford Moor's pronounced specimen water but when you are targeting roach it can be a problem. Highlighted by Mike Hammond's 22lb 2oz carp taken on a single maggot on number 4 elastic. It took him an hour to land. Paul Barnes had 5 carp out of the first peg on the dam wall of this lake for over 65lb and had a 7lb bream as well as losing another 5 fish.
My festival was probably over after the second day's results but you still keep trying don't you. Del was still in with a shout of a top ten result but the rest of us were out of contention.
Friday was a bit of a chaotic day. It started with Vic feeling unwell at the cottage and making the decision to go home. Troy had drawn his peg and then threw up by the side of his van before getting to his peg. He then went back to the cottage to try to sleep it off. I had a dodgy stomach and coupled this with a cold left me feeling lethargic. Del though felt fine and needed a section win to cement his place near the top of the league and the draw gods were kind to him as he drew peg 35 on Tanners.
I was on Beattie's 5. The "Summer House" peg. It was still blowing a gale and I only had one thought in my mind. To catch a carp. I could have fished for skimmers and roach, but to be honest I did not fancy it. I set up a margin rig to fish to a bush at 12.5m to my left and a bomb rod with a lasso. At the start I fed a pot of Banana Atomic Corn towards the bush and a few pellets out to the edge of a small island for the tip. It's at this point that I would like to say that the tip and pole went around endlessly for 6 hours and I smashed the lake match record out of sight. The truth is after 5 hours I had not had a single bite, despite changes to both depth and baits. At this point I decided enough was enough and packed up early. Not the way I wanted to end the festival but I was still feeling the effects of cold and dodgy stomach and would not skyline or pass anyone on the way back to the car.
Del had finished the day 3rd in section to end up on 13points and out of the top ten. A steady performance throughout the week. Congratulations to Lee "Mushy" Farmer for winning the event for the second time on 5 points and to all the others who fished the event.
Well that's it for another year, thanks must go to Trevor Price at GOT Baits for supplying all my baits requirements for the week. To Andy Seery and the staff at Stafford Moor who conducted the weigh ins in an efficient quick manner, and to Del, Vic and Troy for being good company throughout the week.
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