Sunday 29th April 2007

Stafford moor open.
Approximately Sixty plus of us lined the banks of Tanners, Woody & Josephs for this Sunday open.The weather forecast was sunny spells with a risk of the odd shower. Temperatures had dropped slightly because of high pressure & a cold night coupled with a chilly wind.Being that this was my first match here since last August, I was very excited at the prospect. I have fished matches here on & off pretty much since it opened, but this was by far my biggest break. So although excited, I wasn’t expecting too much of myself today as I lacked a bit of confidence. Although I have kept in touch with the fisheries form through mates & the press, I didn’t really posses that all-important hands on experience that you need to get a result. I was going to need a big helping of luck & would be very happy just to catch some fish & possibly sneak a section.At the draw I pulled out peg 25 on Josephs & my initial reaction was one of disappointment. The peg itself is a very good one to look at, with loads of features. The main ones being an island & a load of partially sunken rotting tree stumps charmingly called ’the mangrove swamps’ at about 40-50 m out in quite a vast expanse of water. The margins either side are an abundance of plant life & more decaying trees.After a bit of advice from Andy I decided to target the ‘mangroves‘. The going method was hair rigged big pellet on the lead, but as I always like to do my own thing, I rigged up a free running feeder instead. I incorporated a snap link swivel, so I could change over to a lead if necessary. The reason for the feeder being that I like to fish positively, often to much so, but that is my style.Mainline was 5lb maxima to a .20 ultima power plus hook length & a fox series 2 eyed barb less hook, completed the set up. My plan was to fish the big pellet, run some 4mm pellets through the ground bait & feed some 11mm pellets over the top with a catty. This should hold some fish in the swim, or so I thought.Andy shouted the all in & first chuck the tip whacked around instantly catching me by surprise. Needless to say the fish headed straight for the ‘mangroves‘. I held firm & it turned. A couple of minutes later & a pristine mirror of about 3lb went in the net. Nice one.Second chuck & exactly the same thing, only this one didn’t get a chance to head for the mangroves as I hit & held it, turning it instantly. However at the net it decided to bolt for those tree stumps in the margins & I had stupidly forgot to set the clutch on my reel. Needless to say it was too tight & I felt that horrible grating feeling as the main line shred & every thing went slack.A couple of minutes later & I had rigged up again, however I had that horrible feeling that I was going to run out of tackle!!!!Third chuck & unbelievably the tip whacked around instantly again, however for some reason I pulled out of this one. So with just 10 minutes gone I had 3 casts, 3 bites & 1 fish in the net……. Briefly, the thought ‘shed full’ came into my head.Now this is where the wheels fell of slightly, you see there had obviously been a few fish present in the swim, but as bites started to slow up, I got the feeling that the feeder landing on there heads in the relatively shallow water was having an adverse effect. It appeared that I was spooking them, as apposed to attracting & holding them. Now this is a funny situation because in the past there have been times when the fish react positively to the feeder & come straight to the splash & you need to keep casting very frequently in order to keep the fish coming. With this in mind I continued to cast every 3-4 minutes or so, but with just the odd fish to show & couple of hours gone I think it was a mistake.I think what happens is that it is such a prolific fishery that it is easy to get carried away wit the feed. On a flyer or in the height of summer it probably wouldn’t be a problem, but with he fine weather it is easy to forget that we are still in April & the water hasn’t really warmed up yet. With that I then decided to switch to the lead & cut right back on the feed. It worked & although I needed to cast within inches of the ‘mangroves’ over the next 4 hours I put about another dozen fish for 50lb in the net Although not a huge weight, under the circumstances I was pleased with it & felt that towards the end just about sussed it out. With hindsight if I had fished a bit more conservatively & a bit more accurately I recon I could have doubled my weight. On a more positive note, I did beat both anglers either side of me, one of whom was Clayton Hudson , former fisho’mania qualifier no less…coupled with a few good draws & that has got to be good for the confidence.