A Bit of a Guest Blog

Wednesday 6th February 2008 saw the start of the inaugural Total Fishing.Com Silver Fish Festival at Andy Seery’s superb Stafford Moor complex in Devon.
The following is a report from Festival winner John O ‘Driscoll covering his week’s exploits.
Thanks to John for allowing me to publish it on here and thanks to Colin Ormston (Billy No Fish) for the punctuation !
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I traveled down to Devon on the Tuesday safely driven by Manc (Jim Kirwin) and arrived at Stafford Moor about 2.30pm.Most of the other lads had been there a day earlier or in Crusty and Carpmuncher’s case since Saturday, most people were still out practicing on different lakes so we unloaded the tackle and waited for the noise levels to rise. Being only 50 yards from the Surrey Mafia Lodge of Milo, Jaap, Ricky, Ant, and Billy the Scalp Taker No Fish it wasn’t too long before the asbo group were in full swing. I decided to be polite and say hello at about 4.30pm and knocked Manc up to let me in our lodge about 8 hours later. One beer led to another and the jokes started to fly as well as the insults. Dinner went, and Billy thought he would show us how to drink so I helped him get rid of 4 bottles of red and Milo was very kind to donate 3 bottles of champagne for the table as well.
Weds morning came and getting up at 7.00am the way I was feeling didn’t seem like a good idea, I went for a quick walk for some fresh air and on seeing Billy hanging over the veranda groaning made me feel much better. A quick brekkie and then off to Andy's office for the draw, I drew peg 6 on woodpecker which is a good carp peg but looked good for a few silvers.
The way the draw was done meant that the ten anglers who drew on the same lake on day one would stay together for the other 2 days but the 2 sections were a random draw. My plan was to fish 2 lines one at 4mts at ten past and 11mts directly in front. I had about 4ft on the inside line and about 6ft on the long line. I fished a Wilkie tapered diamond 0.8g on the short line with a bulk 12 inches from the hook with 3 droppers bulked together 4 inches from the 16's pr32 with a 0.10 hooklength and 0.12 mainline. On my longer line I fished a 1.2g Sconee worm float with a 1grm olivette 8 inches from the hook and again 2 droppers 4 inches from the same hook and rig lines as the short set up. My elastics on both rigs were Prestons 9h which was set soft but had enough backbone to deal with bonus skimmers/bream as well as crucians and tench.
My next decision I think was the most important over the 3 days, and it was a very simple one, fish what you're comfortable doing. Easy to say now but how many times do we ignore fishing to our strengths, and then cursing when it all goes wrong. Listening to various people who had fished a few practice sessions was frightening. A kilo of worms and 3 pints of caster had been fed by a few lads who had caught reasonably well, but being a tight Northener, I decided I would feel my way into the match and feed accordingly.
At the all in I fed a big pot of chopped worm and caster on the 4mt line and 2 large balls of Ringers dark packed with worm and caster on the long line. I started on the 4mt line with a worm head for bait and feeding worm and caster by hand every 30 seconds was hoping the heavy bulk would get down to better fish on the deck but the stamp of fish were small to start and mainly roach. I persevered with the 4mt line for an hour which gave me about 4lb of small roach and a bonus skimmer of about 2lb, I re-fed the long line with a large pot of worm and caster and decided this is how I would continue instead of using a kinder cup every put in like a lot of people were doing. I was soon into skimmers averaging about 8-10oz and the bites were un-missable. By using the bulk and bulk droppers very close to the hook the float was lifting 3 or 4 inches out of the water. With about 2 hours to go I had a bad 15 minute period when I lost 4 big fish, so I took the pr32 off and replaced it with a 14's 911 in the next 30 minutes I landed 4 bream for about 12lb and still caught the smaller skimmers until the all out.
I had heard lots of splashing and fish being landed so didn’t really know what the others had, so I was last to weigh and Geeps was leading with 29lb 9oz,the dial swung round and I was relieved to see it settle on 30lb exactly and a section win.
After my performance the previous night I decided to try and not drink as much and to a degree it worked but I still felt a bit rough Thursday morning due to Manc keeping me awake all night with his snoring, paying me back for me doing the same the night before after visiting the Lodge of Plenty. Day 2 saw me draw peg 30 on Tanners which I was quite happy with but would probably struggle to beat peg 36. Milo had been on my peg the day before and had 38lb of good roach fishing 4mts for 5 hours and feeding 4 pints of casters. I had Carpmuncher below me on 27 and Disaster Dave Pritchard to my right. For anyone who doesn’t know Dave he breaks most things he touches, his car breaks down, and he has punctures most weeks. To cap it all on the way to Devon he got stopped by armed police, the man is jinxed.
Today I would be fishing very similar the only difference being my long line which would be 9mt, the 4mt line was again about 4ft deep. I used a Wilkie tapered diamond again on my short line and the Scone worm float on the long line with the bulks moved even nearer to the hook. I had hoped that like Milo the day before the short line would be solid, but even though I was getting regular bites again the stamp of roach was small. My long line had been fed as day one with a couple of large balls of Ringers dark full of worm and caster and then topped up every 15 minutes with a decent pot of feed. The 4mt line started to improve with a few skimmers mixed in and 3 crucians, then I had a lovely bonus 3lb golden tench. After about 2.5 hours the short line was getting any better so I decided to move out to the 9mt line. Again bait was a worm head and feeding via a large pot.
This line was absolutely solid but even though I was catching a lot of fish very quickly I was worried that the stamp of fish wasn’t as good as Geeps on peg 36 and Chris Martin on 34. At the all out I knew I was probably looking at third in the section and that's how it turned out. Geeps reckoned he had 40lb and weighed a nice net of 56lb with some big 3lb hybrids, but the day belonged to Chris on peg 34 with a brilliant 76lb. Even Chris said it was the best days fishing he had ever had. Well done mate.
The breaking news though was echoing across the lake. Billy No Fish had won his section, putting Steve May second. I would like to say I didn't have a drink, but I'm glad I did as 2 new songs were sung by all the drunkards gathered in the Lodge of Plenty.
The first song was to recognize Chris's great catch and 76 trombones was soon belting out soon followed by Billy don't be a Hero, class. Chris overdid the wine that night and pictures of his rubber neck will no doubt be appearing shortly followed by Matt Nutt who also drinks red wine and then can't be understood by anyone.
The final day arrived with the usual headache, and to be honest I thought I had blown any chance of winning with 2 anglers on a max 10 points and a couple on 9 points. A big well done must go to Happy Dangler who was one of the 10 pointer's , 2 section wins courtesy of a 5mt whip to hand approach.
My lake for today was Pines which had been well behind the other 2 lakes with 20lb being a good weight and probably 4 pegs out of the 10 not very good. I went in the bag and out came peg 8 which had done alright the day before with Krayner weighing 19lb, but I had the man of the moment Chris Martin on the next peg which had won the section on day one. I had asked Krayner how he fished and was told 3-4 different lines, but when I plumbed up I couldn’t believe how shallow it was. At 14.5mt to my right I was only getting 12 inches. I also plumbed up at 14.5mt to my left towards an aerator where I got about 4ft. I then took what turned out to be a good decision and decided to only fish the one line.
I set up 2 rigs a 0.4g tapered diamond on 0.12 to a 0.10 bottom and a 16's 808 and a KC Carpa Raisor 4x18 same set up but with the heavier bulk. At the all in I cupped in 2 balls of the Ringers dark again but smaller than the first 2 matches and a modest amount of worm and caster. Bites were at a premium in the first 40 minutes and the sun had also decided to move right on top of my 1 and only line. Thankfully the reflection moved enough to allow me to start catching a steady run of skimmers which averaged about 10oz, bites would slow down and then another small run of fish and this was the pattern for the rest of the match. At the all out I thought I had about 20lb and that Chris Martin had done me. Billy No Fish had also had a good run of skimmers so it was tight, I weighed first 25lb 2oz , then Chris 19lb, then Billy 20lb.
Another section win putting me on 13 points but at least 5 or 6 people still who could win it. As the results started to filter through I thought I was in with a chance I was tied with Ricky and Krayner on 13 points, but had a better weight. The only 2 who could now do better were Nutty and Russ Evans both on Tanners. Thankfully Tanners hadn't fished as well as the first 2 days and it dawned on me that I had won the festival, with what I think was a very average amount of feed.
Over the 3 days I only fed a kilo of worm and 3 pints of casters. In fact on the last day I only fed 1/2pt of each. Friday night came and a coach picked us all up and off to the Duke of York at Iddesleigh. A few beers, naturally something to eat, the presentation and then a hastily arranged darts match against the locals.
Then I'm sure you can guess a visit to the Lodge of Plenty and another brilliant night. Plenty of insults, plenty of laughing, and of course another headache in the morning. A big thank you to Andy Seery for a fantastic venue and digs. To Geeps and Ken for the organizing, and daily running, but most off all to all the lunatics that make me want to go to another get together and end up with my usual headache.