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Showing posts with the label Stafford Moor

Stafford Moor - May Festival, 17th May 2019

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The final day and the final destination for the week is Woodpecker, normally a lake I shy away from during the winter silvers festival however I was looking forward to fishing for to a change and fishing for the carp. The Draw To be honest I wasn't too bothered where I drew today, so Peg 19 in the bay was home for the day. We know that the carp are either here, or not... only time will tell. Set-up Again, another simple set up.  Bomb and Pellet Waggler rods out of the bag.  Pole for the margin, just in case. Bait consisted of Corn, Pellets and worms. All-In The match plan was simple, fish the bomb and pellet in the bowl area in front of me, resisting the temptation to cast long however having the option should I need it. The first couple of hour fishing the bomb I put two fish in the net, makes for a simple blog!  Gary on peg 18 and Bill on Peg 20 only had two fish also.  It was slow going that was for sure. The fish had been showing themselves shallow and I had

Stafford Moor - May Festival, 16th May 2019

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Well my hope of a high finish in the festival is fading fast, but hey its way better than working! Next stop Pines.  The regulars to this festival say that Pines fishes better in the first few days of the festival and then tends to drop off as the skimmers take longer to "recover" from being caught. It will be an experience not to fish it in the cold winter months anyway... The Draw Peg 7, probably the worst draw and this peg is either feast or famine and the weights during the week had not been brilliant from it either. Set-up Peg 7 is very wide and with the wind blowing straight into my face I decided to break out a feeder to target beyond pole range to the far bank. Pole lines 13 metres, uniformed depth (7feet plus) for a number of swims Top two and 3 Margin line Up in the water rig for roach close in Bait today included more natural baits, maggots, caster, worm, groundbait, expander and micro pellets. All-In Todays approach would be negative due t

Stafford Moor - May Festival, 15th May 2019

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Putting the disappoint result from Oaks behind me it was fishing Tanners that I was looking forward to next.  The easterly wind had started to blow after the previous beautiful day so I fancied a draw down around peg 10 - 14, lets see what the drawbar had in store for me today. The Draw Well, peg 2 on the lawns, which is a good waggler and bomb peg so wasn't too disappointed.  I had the pellet waggler master for a neighbour on Peg 1, Dave Stockton and Silvers on Peg 4. Set-up The bomb rod was straight out of the bag together with a pellet waggler set up, really simple! While not a lot had been reported coming out from the margin I just had to set up a margin line to my right and a 5 metre pole line too. Again mainly pellets together with worms and sweetcorn. All-In At least the ducks got a feed! Speaking with Hathers after the draw he mentioned that I'd probably be spending 80% of the match on the bomb and pellet line, which I did to be fair, 5 hours in total

Stafford Moor - May Festival, 14th May 2019

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Section rotation meant that Oak was today's challenge and having only fished it a few times in the MFS winter silvers festival I really didn't know what to expect.  It would also be a pole only match which makes it a little more interesting or challenging whichever way you look at things. The Draw I didn't fancy being on the back bank of Oak which was the deepest area and of course my drawing arm didn't let me down putting me on peg 13 in the deepest area of the lake! Set-up Pole only so I fished three lines with the following rigs. 14 metres with around 8 feet of depth 6 metres with around 7 feet of depth Margin line to the left Shallow rig Pellets (micro, 4, 6 and 8mm) along with some worms for the margin as bait. All-In The weather was extremely warm so my match plan was to try and get some fish on the deck with hard 6mm pellets on the long line.  It was pretty apparent once the very deep rig went in the fish where of course shallow, so I started to

Stafford Moor - May Festival, 13th May 2019

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Stafford Moor May Spring Festival was too good to resist so a quick phone call to Hathers and I was on the festival filling in for one of the lads who couldn't make it this year. Seeing Stafford Moor in full bloom the fishery looks absolutely fabulous and more credit to Paul and Jo for the great job they continue to do.  Festivals full, specimen lakes booked out, life at the Moor is looking very good in deed! Lodging with Hathers, the mighty Spindle (the legend that he is), Hoggy and Perry Stone for the week replacing Dave Boyd for one year only! The format for the week would be rotating around the five lakes, Willow, Oak, Tanners, Pines and Woodpecker and the sections had been drawn by Jo and Paul at the fishery. The Draw My starting lake would be Willow which would also be the first time I'd fished it too. Peg 17, the corner peg looking from Aspen lodge.  Pegging is a little tight if I'm honest and my neighbours for the day were Jeb and Silvers. Set-up A s

MFS - Stafford Moor - Silvers Festival, 1st March 2019

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Now the final day of the festival is a leveller for all of our skill groups. We would no longer be fishing our section as we had completed the lake rotation. I had managed to get into the 3rd group, so one up from the numpties. Today was also a special day for Big Ben, it was his 40th birthday so we all sung Happy Birthday and Jo had kindly got him a lovely cake and some balloons... they never went to the peg with him... The Draw Which lake would we be on? Well Clive W drew for us as I had been banned from drawing and we would be back on Beatties. Not too bad I thought and herbie had removed peg 6 as it simply did not fish that well during the week. So I ended up still in the shallow area again, this time on Peg 8! Set-Up Pole at 14.5 metres to the island Pole top two and two on my left Waggler to fish towards the break between Beatties and Tanners Feeder rod as the island was too much a target not to fish All-In Cupped in two balls of groundbait with chopped worm

MFS - Stafford Moor - Silvers Festival, 28th February 2019

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Everyone survived the Curry night with just about everyone on the festival attending. No naan breads on John Beesley’s head, 76 Trombones challenged the chefs to cook him their hottest curry (silly boy) and Darren Fisher (cannot draw for toffee) tried his first cu rry dish! The Draw Beatties today, a lake we have never fished in the silvers festival and it had been throwing up some mixed weights. It was clear though that nobody wanted the shallow end pegs 6 or 7. So, there was no surprise for me to be sat on peg 6, at least I had Alan Mac as my neighbour. Setup I seemed to be following Jamie Howarth around drawing his pegs. He told me not to even bother with the pole as it was just too shallow and to grab my wellies as it would be easier to sit in the water to clear the cast from the trees. So it ended up quite a simple set-up, one waggler rod and one feeder rod. Waggler was plumbed up in the deeper water at around 20 metres. The feeder rod I search around and found dee

MFS - Stafford Moor - Silvers Festival, 27th February 2019

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Now I’m not doing very well in the competition, two days in and I’m most definitely earning my division 4 ranking! Today I’d be on the lake that is my nemesis, Woodpecker and I was hoping for a good draw. The Draw So I decided to take the final peg in the bag today and I ended up with Woodpecker Peg 12 with Big Ben and Richie Farrow for neighbours. The masked bandit Rob A a little further up the way. Set-up The weather was bright sunshine, very little wind and flat calm on the water so perfect for the waggler and pole. Waggler would be fished between 16 and 20 metres, pole lines were: + 8 metre pole lines – groundbait on the left line and pellet on the right line + Margin line on the left – slop worm and groundbait All-in After chatting with Chris Martin who mentioned that he had some proper bream close in towards the end of yesterdays match I decided to drop three balls of groundbait on the left hand line. The right pole line just a small nugget of micro pellets, stead

MFS - Stafford Moor - Silvers Festival, 26th February 2019

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The lake rotation for my section meant that we would be on Pines today. Again the MFS massive gathered in the tackle shop ready for the draw. The Draw Peg 5, the bridge peg for me today. Jamie Howarth won the lake from here yesterday fishing just off the bridge, so no pressure at all ;-) Neighbours for the day, Big Nige on the left side of the bridge and Pete Merce on my right. Set-up Pole lines Across about 2 metres from the bank To the bridge above the middle stanchion To the bridge below the middle stanchion Inside margin line to the bridge The bridge lines where deep at almost a top two and with the wind blowing quite strongly I opted for a 1 gram rig. Bait was Pellets, caster, worm and maggots. All-In Today I decided that negative feeding would be the way forward so kicked off the far bank swim with a small nugget of chopped worm and the bridge swim a small amount of micro pellet starting with a dead red on the hook. The first hour I put a few fish in the

MFS - Stafford Moor - Silvers Festival, 25th February 2019

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With the arrival of 2019 another visit to Stafford Moor for the MFS silvers festival comes around. Organised by Herbie, our intrepid leader supported by Kenfish and Hathers. I had arrived early on the Saturday morning having suffered some sleepless nights in excitement for the week ahead and had some opportunity to practise on both Woodpecker and Pines. Over the weekend the weather report was shaping up for a cracking week considering 2018 we suffered from the “beast from the east” this week promised to be totally the opposite and around a 20-25 degree C difference in temperature! Monday morning soon came around and we all gathered at the JoOp, “the tackle shop with everything” ready for the start of the MFS Stafford Moors Silvers. The Draw Today would be an open draw across all the lakes, Woodpecker, Tanners, Pines and a new addition for this year Beatties (the specimen lake). It would also determine the section we would be fishing in for the next 4 days. Tanners and Pe

MFS - Stafford Moor - Silvers Festival, 28th February 2018

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The third day of the festival and the beast from the east was closing in on us fast.  Herbie had taken a measured decision that today would be our final day as the weather forecast for tomorrow could see us snowed in at Stafford Moor.  Now we had plenty of beer and food to last but it was definitely the right decision given the conditions.  After all we still had curry night to enjoy too. Today I'd be on Tanners and was really hoping for a draw on the lawns, not too far from the comfort of the lodge. Again the lakes had frozen lids on them so it was going to be a tough one. The Draw Peg 17 on Tanner would be my home for the day.  This is directly opposite the lodge, not quite next to it as I'd hoped.  I'd have Rob A and Silvers for company. Pete Bailey had drawn 18 and once he saw the lake he quite rightly said he was off home! Set-up The wind was really gusting so today was most definitely a rod only day.  The bonus of the wind was that it would shift the ice

MFS - Stafford Moor - Silvers Festival, 27th February 2018

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Ice, ice baby! We were greeted to the second day with ice on the lakes and a very cold easterly wind.  The beast from the east was heading our way that was for sure. Animal was heading down for the night and he was cooking for us too, bonus!  Yesterday was a tough day for all with Captain and Col Merce leading the festival so far. Today it was our turn for Pines that mostly had a thick ice lid on top of it!  Negative feeding would be the order of the day.  I was also up against Big Nige in today's knock out. The Draw Well at least I'm not on Woodpeckers!  Peg 3 would be my home for the day however before I could even set up it was time to break out the ice breaker.  Luckily Peg 3 I was able to access from both banks so could break the ice across the lake. It took an hour of effort however I was rewarded with a lovely clear wide channel to fish.  My neighbour was John Nugent one of the new ASBO's. Set-up Pole setup today as I was guarded from the wind by the

MFS - Stafford Moor - Silvers Festival, 26th February 2018

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Day 1 of the festival and a great night in the Lodge of Plenty with spirits high even though the weather wasn't looking it's best and set to get worse! Everyone gathered at the Tackle shop, Kenfish doing a great job of collecting the pools money and organising the rabble, then it was our leaders turn, Herbie.  But of course before he could speak a rousing welcome of, "Herbie is our leader, la, la, la, la" was sung in his honour. The Draw Please not Woodpecker was my thought having spent two very fruitless days on there already.  The peg came out of the bag, it was red which meant Woodpecker again!  This time I'd be again on the high back although peg 17 in the corner which was a bit more sheltered from the wind. Neighbours for the day, Chris Martin and Pete Bailey.  I mentioned to Pete I don't mind seeing him, but not on the next peg!  At least I could observe his angling approach I thought to myself. Set-up I was not going to make yesterdays mista