09/08/08 – Stafford Moor - Tanners

Weight – 85lb 2oz
Catch – 17 Carp.
Weather – Wet, wet, wet.
Water temp – 19.0c > 19.0c
Match – Staffo-maniac qualifier – 8th overall, 1st in section

As usual with big matches, I am like a little kid at Christmas waking before the alarm. On this occasion I was up at 4am and on my way by 5.45am, arriving ½ hour before the 8am draw.

Everything was prepared, except some pole rigs, but with plenty of time to set up I reasoned any pole rigs could be made up to suit the peg. To qualify for Sunday’s 14 man final I needed to be in the top 2 of my section and 79 anglers had booked in.

I drew peg 18 on Tanners, which meant my 11 man section was between pegs 13 and 30. Anglers in my section included Matt Parsons (who came 2nd in last years final by 1lb), Dave Stockton, Harry Billing, Steve Lockett, Simon Hembridge, Ray Hayward, plus a few others whose names I didn’t know.

To be fair, I quite fancied my peg if the fish were there. It was in a corner and at the opposite end of the normal flyers on the "lawns" and the 30’s. There is a tree on the right hand bank and the branches extend a long way across a channel where a fresh water spring runs in.

As I was setting up there were a few fish moving under the branches, so I was hopeful of catching a few.
As it happened I was speaking to angler, whilst waiting to draw who had fished peg 18 the day before and he lost a few fish under the branches. With this in mind I set 2 pole rigs straight though to .19, size 14 hook, hair rigging 11mm pellet. The 2 rigs were simply to accommodate the difference in depth from the mouth of the channel to the shallower water further up the channel.

I also set up a lead rod, a pellet waggler and a full depth waggler, to fish further along the right hand bank, but I didn’t expect to catch on the float due to the incessant rain and wind, although I was largely sheltered from the worst of it. I also set up 3 spare pole rigs in anticipation of losing a few.

I started immediately under the tree, without feeding, hoping to catch an early mug fish, but had nothing, so I was soon switching to the lead fishing along the bank. An hour in I’ve got 1 carp. At the half way stage, Andy came along and according to him my 5 carp was good, although someone in my section was admitting to 6 or 7 carp an hour before hand and I knew Ray on peg 13 had caught a few.

The problem I had was to fish my peg properly, I had to turn my back to the rest of the lake, so I really didn’t know what was happening, but Andy reckoned 15-20 carp would do today, so my target was 15.

I kept trying the lead and occasionally the waggler, further along the right hand bank, but I had very few indications and I found myself concentrating more and more on the pole. I had left the shallower swim further up the channel alone, because I wanted the fish to settle in the shallower water and it appeared to be working.

Fishing further up the channel meant I had to get the fish away from the snags quickly and throwing 14m of pole behind me into open water, which made things a little tricky.

Going into the last hour I felt was probably 3rd. I had abandoned the lead swim, which had only produced 3 carp, preferring to concentrate on the 2 channel swims and occasionally trying the near margin. There was certainly a few fish around now, particularly in the shallow water, but they weren’t feeding properly and I was suffering a number of line bites, but importantly I was still catching the odd one. In the last 15mins, 3 carp found their way into the net.

In the minutes after the match, the most fish anyone was admitting to in my section was 14, I had 17, but was concerned that a few of my carp were below the average stamp, so I may still struggle to qualify.

Dave Stockton weighed 77lb, which I thought would win, Ray on peg 13 was admitting to 13/14 carp, but I thought he had more. My 1st net containing 10 fish went 45lb, my 2nd net containing 7 carp weighed 40lb. With only peg 13 to weigh in, I had qualified! Question was would I be 1st or 2nd in section. Ray weighed 71lb much to Dave Stockton’s relief.

I was really pleased to have qualified. In hindsight you could say I timed the match perfectly, effectively qualifying in the last 15 mins.