Starting match fishing

[davedave]

Ive been pleasure fishing for most species on local lakes, canals and ponds, for the last eight or so years. I still love it but am thinking of starting a spot of match fishing. Is it all expensive groundbaits and thousand pound poles or is it more than that? How would you start getting into it?

 

Any advice please? Thanks

[Dick Dastardly]

Start of by joininng a small club that runs matchs

[davedave]

Start of by joininng a small club that runs matchs

 

ok thanks

[Mark Wintle]

You'll find that it's often much harder to catch fish under match conditions than just pleasure fishing. Many successful pleasure anglers have discovered this to their cost; they bag up pleasure fishing on their favourite method on their favourite peg catching more than the match anglers do in matches then discover how difficult it is under match conditions when their favourite method is far less effective. Watch some matches on the waters you want to match fish and see how the match anglers tackle them; if you're quiet and keep well back without disturbing the match you'll learn a lot, and you can ask questions after the match when successful match anglers often drop their guard and let on what they did. Don't worry about the opposition, just concentrate on catching fish from your own peg - you can't catch the other's fish!

 

You'll also find that waters fish differently under match conditions than pleasure fishing; different species may show or not show, you'll need to adapt methods/learn new methods.

 

Be friendly and the others fishing will be happy to help you but will expect to know how you got on if you're successful.

 

Use the gear you've got; two grand poles catch more anglers than fish and there are plenty of good fish catching alternatives. I've done a bit of match fishing this season after an absence of a few years (fished hundreds years ago and won plenty) and done OK with simple 3 metre whips simply because I'm strong on the method, indeed regained some old skills, and knew that I could get a good weight using it on the pegs I'd drawn. That tells you that you need to understand as many of the pegs in a match as possible so that you know what baits and methods to be geared up for.

[davedave]

You'll find that it's often much harder to catch fish under match conditions than just pleasure fishing. Many successful pleasure anglers have discovered this to their cost; they bag up pleasure fishing on their favourite method on their favourite peg catching more than the match anglers do in matches then discover how difficult it is under match conditions when their favourite method is far less effective. Watch some matches on the waters you want to match fish and see how the match anglers tackle them; if you're quiet and keep well back without disturbing the match you'll learn a lot, and you can ask questions after the match when successful match anglers often drop their guard and let on what they did. Don't worry about the opposition, just concentrate on catching fish from your own peg - you can't catch the other's fish!

 

You'll also find that waters fish differently under match conditions than pleasure fishing; different species may show or not show, you'll need to adapt methods/learn new methods.

 

Be friendly and the others fishing will be happy to help you but will expect to know how you got on if you're successful.

 

Use the gear you've got; two grand poles catch more anglers than fish and there are plenty of good fish catching alternatives. I've done a bit of match fishing this season after an absence of a few years (fished hundreds years ago and won plenty) and done OK with simple 3 metre whips simply because I'm strong on the method, indeed regained some old skills, and knew that I could get a good weight using it on the pegs I'd drawn. That tells you that you need to understand as many of the pegs in a match as possible so that you know what baits and methods to be geared up for.

 

thanks that was very useful