13/09/08 - Stafford Moor - Woodpecker

Weight – 35lb 0oz
Catch – 5 Carp, 2 Bream, 1 Crucian
Weather – Rain to start, later warm & sunny. Light breeze.
Water temp – 16.0c > 17.5c
Match – Stafford Moor Pairs – Day 1 – (26th overall, 6th in section)

There were 42 pairs at the draw and you had to choice whether to draw from 1 of 2 bags. Tanners & Pines was in 1, whilst Woodpecker & Joseph’s was in the other. I drew Woodpecker 4 and Mike Etheridge drew Tanners 36. Mike definitely had the better draw, whilst my peg had been fishing well recently, so I felt we had half a chance of doing well.

Following advice from Andy, I decided on a 3 pronged attack. The straight lead towards the point of the island, pellet waggler in open water and finally the pole towards the point of the spit. I decided against a silver fish line, because it was reported there was a number of carp in the area and I didn’t want to be distracted from catching carp.

The flat, bright weather had its effect, I caught most of my fish on the lead, 1 fish on the pole, but no carp on the pellet waggler, despite feeding 8pts of pellet. I was convinced the fish would arrive, but they never did.

At the weigh in it became obvious I had draw at the wrong end of the section, the major weights came from peg 6, 10 & 12. Even the pegs opposite me in the bay (32-36) didn’t fish. James Cooper on peg 36 struggled for 39lb.

Mike did Ok on Tanners, unfortunately peg 36 fishes better when the wind is blowing and he finished 4th in section. This meant we were effectively out of the running for day 2.

Could I have done better? Probably not, I worked hard to catch what I had and the weights around me reflected the fact the fish weren’t feeding. The only thing I should have done was try a pva bag.