Match anglers should we learn from them?

[Guest bluedun]

If you think any fisherman can teach you something, by all means listen. But I don't really believe that match anglers have any special wisdom to pass on as a group. I spent quite a bit of time in my youth match fishing, and frankly found most competitors fashion victims, full of daft theories, and general show offs. I've encountered a few famous types too, some of whom struck me as gormless. Successful match fishing is as much about polish and efficiency as anything else; everyone knows about methods and techniques.

 

The best fishermen are those who can enjoy their fishing without worrying about this trick or other. That's wisdom, to which I strive, but not too hard.

[John Weddup]

If you think any fisherman can teach you something, by all means listen. But I don't really believe that match anglers have any special wisdom to pass on as a group. I spent quite a bit of time in my youth match fishing, and frankly found most competitors fashion victims, full of daft theories, and general show offs. I've encountered a few famous types too, some of whom struck me as gormless. Successful match fishing is as much about polish and efficiency as anything else; everyone knows about methods and techniques.

 

The best fishermen are those who can enjoy their fishing without worrying about this trick or other. That's wisdom, to which I strive, but not too hard.

 

 

Well said

 

I quite agree

 

John

[Steve Burke]

I've commented before that the average match angler is probably better than the average specialist angler. However I doubt that there's much to choose between the top guys in each branch of the sport.

 

Specialist anglers tend to be better at location, whereas match anglers tend to be better at feeding.

[Phone]

All,

 

Not sure if the American example is worthy of a comment.

 

In the US at the highest level of competition - the top 5% of the anglers regularly take 80% of the money (prizes). Same guys over and over. It is very hard to break into that group. That is statistically significant of something(?). For example, the largest competitions are the B.A.S.S tournaments. Kevin VanDam has won 20 such tournaments and 4 of the last 5 Angler of the Year Award.

 

Who wouldn't listen to VanDam if they wanted to catch black bass?

 

Phone

[Steve Walker]

Phone, the same has always been said in the UK too.

[Guest bluedun]

Well, it's an old saw that 10% of the anglers catch 90% of the fish, but this may be as much to do with motivation as any special insight or skill. Motivation begets skill. I know very little about US bass fishing tournaments other than they're costly, involving boats and expensive kit. I wouldn't be surprised if the most successful are the most driven.

 

Same for over here, except there is the luck of the draw with pegged matches, and the luck which leads to a string of good draws can make reputations.

 

But the special conditions of competitive fishing don't apply to most anglers, so emulating their methods will have its limitations.

[Steve Burke]

Well, it's an old saw that 10% of the anglers catch 90% of the fish, but this may be as much to do with motivation as any special insight or skill. Motivation begets skill. I know very little about US bass fishing tournaments other than they're costly, involving boats and expensive kit. I wouldn't be surprised if the most successful are the most driven.

 

Same for over here, except there is the luck of the draw with pegged matches, and the luck which leads to a string of good draws can make reputations.

 

But the special conditions of competitive fishing don't apply to most anglers, so emulating their methods will have its limitations.

 

I partially agree here, but I don't think that being driven is the main reason for success. Yes, it helps, but the top anglers are usually just better anglers.

 

Yes, luck does play a part, but in the long run luck tends to average out.

 

I've used this golfing analogy before. Anyone, even a complete beginner, can get a hole in one, but they're not going to break the course record. Likewise, a novice angler could win a match or break a national record (as with perch a few years ago), but over the course of a season or two experience will tell.

 

Talking of experience, this certainly helps in catching fish. However there comes a time, as in any sport, that you peak. This happens later than most sports, and for me it happened almost 10 years ago. Yes, I've gained more experience since then, but my mind isn't as flexible as it was.

 

As Bluedun posted, drive does come into it, but for me only up to a point. I've never really been driven. Perhaps I'd have been more successful if I had been. But would I have enjoyed my fishing any more? I seriously doubt it, and have no regrets on this score.

 

Some are born anglers and succeed very quickly, others like me have to really work at it. My breakthrough came in my late 20s when I stopped copying my idols. Instead, I used their experience as a base, stopped being a clone, and started thinking for myself. My only regret is that I didn't do so earlier as for many years I was one of the many unsuccessful anglers.

 

And in my experience, which has been underlined by running my own fishery for many years, the thinking anglers are the most successful.

[gozzer]

That's probably the best post on this thread Steve, especially the last two paragraphs. It's the main thing I try to drill into anyone I've ever taken fishing, THINK, listen to advice, but don't follow it to the letter, adapt it to suit you and the water you're fishing.

 

I've a confession to make, I misread Daves heading for this thread. I read it as 'could we learn', instead of 'should we learn'. Two completely different questions. 'Should we learn? That's up to the individual. Could we learn? A definite yes.

 

As to being driven, I knew many match anglers that were driven to the point of being ruthless in their need to win. They weren't always the most successful anglers though. Theirs was the world of 'secrets'. Secret baits and secret methods, most of which we knew about anyway. The downside was, that because they wouldn't discuss the things they did, they didn't learn from anyone else's experience.

Although I had reasonable success in my match angling, I was never driven/determined enough to progress further. I would be too easily distracted by the wildlife around me, anything from a mole bobbing up, a hungry shrew or kingfisher, would get my focus for a while, and that was lost fishing time.

 

John.

[Steve Burke]

As to being driven, I knew many match anglers that were driven to the point of being ruthless in their need to win. They weren't always the most successful anglers though. Theirs was the world of 'secrets'. Secret baits and secret methods, most of which we knew about anyway. The downside was, that because they wouldn't discuss the things they did, they didn't learn from anyone else's experience.

 

What an excellent point!

 

On the Main Lake at Wingham we've had an old fashioned specimen group with our own Forum here on AN and, in the past, Fish-Ins and meetings.

 

We've shared all our experiences and there are no secrets. The result is that we've all caught more.

[Mark Wintle]

The big problem is that modern match fishing is a shadow of what it was. Club anglers were mostly not that special when club match fishing was the thing to do but the big open match stars were special and not just through the odd good draw. Modern match fishing where 'opens' have 20 anglers is a bit like organised football somehow collapsing over the last 20 years so that the players in the remaining league are the same ones that were playing in the 70s/80s (football isn't like that!) so you'd still have Harry Redknapp playing (only joking Harry - I watched you play in about 72) in the equivalent of the Southern League but that's about what remains of match fishing, same faces from 30 yaers ago except now they average 50+ years old. I have never seen a pure pleasure angler fish a waggler or stick to even an approximation of the skills demonstrated by the top match anglers, and that's just a couple of methods. I was looking through my box of Angler's Mail 72-75 the other day for research and found that Jim Todd had a weekend where he won a 850 pegger on the Welland on a Saturday then was disappointed to come second on the Welland on the Sunday out of 1150, circa 1972. That's class that no amount of drive without natural ability will overcome and people like him, Ivan Marks and co. had it in spades. About 20 years ago a colleague who had limited match fishing skills decided to conquer the world. We did warn him. He spent time watching the experts, spent a fortune on gear but whilst his results improved slightly at the end of the day he was a very average club angler who couldn't even get into local winter league sides. I was only ever a good club angler who won ten club championships, a WL campaign, a few opens and 8 100 peggers with a win record on average match attendance of 40 over 650 matches of 20% (law of averages says 2.5%) with 2nd and 3rd another 20% - I was never pools fodder!

 

To conclude; yes, top class match anglers can teach you a lot but not about everything, especially not big rudd which is the one species I've never seen caught in a match!