Stafford Moor Friday Residents 04 07 14

With it all to play for in the league everyone was hoping for a decent draw. The match today was on Woodpecker and with 16 Anglers on it was expected to fish harder than usual, so the draw was important to those leading the league and those fighting for minor places.
However the weather may play a major part. Gone were the days of sitting in a T-shirt to be replaced with waterproofs and umbrellas for those that use them. It was raining and was planned to rain for the whole day.
My section would consist of the high numbers from 20 through to 36. Bob was on 20, Nobby 22, Fred 28, Myself on 30 (not a good draw), Cotty on 32 and Gongo on 36. We also had other residents on 26 and Joe on 34, so my work was cut out. Pegs 20,32 and 36 had been throwing up decent weights all week and the best I could achieve was probably a 4th in our league and maybe a section win by default.
I had learnt from the previous day to fish to the feed and to keep feeding and hope they turn up early as you need to keep fish coming throughout the match and not in fits and starts. I had set up a PW rod with a 4AAA Drake set 2ft deep to start off with, two bomb rods and also set the pole to fish into the corner and the pipe as a back up. Feed was 8mm coarse pellets for the bomb and PW and corn for fishing the edges.
At the all in I potted around a tin of corn over both edges and started pinging out some 8mm feed. Baiting up with a single 8mm coarse on the PW I was soon getting dips on the float but no positive takes, shallowing up saw a better reaction on the float with it burying but the wind was making it hard to keep a straight line between rod and float. Eventually I had a fish which promptly smashed me up on the take. A tale which has haunted me all week, hook a fish and get smashed. I was on the bomb sooner than I thought and after an hour I had 3 fish in the net, all about 3lb. Cotty was flying with 8 on the PW to rub salt into the wounds and Gongo was starting to nick a few on the bomb. I had a look on the pole into the corner and after 10 minutes a slight dip saw plenty of elastic coming out and a 7lb soon in the net. With no more bites I was back on the bomb. I was now fishing 10mm coarse on the hook and getting odd fish, nothing regular but managing to keep in touch with Fred on 28. Cotty was slowing down at the same time as Gongo was improving. Word was that Paul and Dave W were struggling over on there pegs in the decider to see who finishes League Champion, Danny in 3rd place prior to this match was catching as was Pedro on form peg 3. Vic was struggling for bites as was Bob on peg 20.
I decided to stick with the bomb until the last hour then have a look on the pole if the wind died down a bit. I was plugging away and with the last hour looming I reckoned on 12 fish, not enough to win but was hoping for decent section points. A look onto the pole saw a few bites on corn for 3 skimmers before I hooked another carp which decided to wrap my rig around the ropey weed in the lake and snagged me up. I ended up on the bomb for another couple of fish to end up on 15 fish.


Overall it had fished hard but it was still the form pegs coming out on top.

Woodies Section

Bob Peg 20 36-00

Nobby Peg 22 71-10

Fred Peg 28 49-13

Keith Peg 30 60-11

Cotty Peg 32 117-10

Gongo Peg 36 93-04

Pedro Peg 3 137-11

Vic Peg 6 35-04

Dave Peg 8 58-09

Paul Peg 10 63-09

Gazza Peg 12 35-09

Danny Peg 16 111-07

I managed 4th in my section and 7th overall with 60-11, Vic had a nightmare on Peg 6 ending up with 35-04 for last in section.


The league was won by Paul with 9 points from 5 matches, an excellent performance by last year's champion. Well done.

1st Paul             9pts                733-09

2nd Dave W     10pts              782-13

3rd Danny        13pts              741-11

4th Cotty          14pts              542-10

5th Pedro          15pts              533-12

6th Gongo         17pts             455-08

7th Keith           19pts             365-13

8th Bob             20pts             535-13

9th Vic             21pts              417-14

10th Nobby      22 pts             390-08

11th Fred          23pts              368-13

12th Gazza       27pts              322-08

Another excellent performance with over 6000lb caught over the week. On a personal note I think my results were fair considering I never drew a flyer all week. It shows that if you work hard for the section points then results can follow. I caught on the bomb again and learnt some more about PW fishing from some cracking anglers only to willing to teach and show you. I would like to thank all the lads for making us feel welcome and cannot wait until next year.


All I need now is a holiday to get over it.