First match

[Sportsman]

Well, I fished my first ever match on Sunday. As predicted the draw was to prove all important. I drew peg 14 and if you had asked me before the match which peg I would most NOT want to draw it would have been that one so as a result I blanked. Just to show that it was not just down to me being a **** angler the total catch for the 6 anglers in our little section was one 7oz tench between us, and believe me he worked hard for that

Top weight was 35lb from the peg next to the one where I had a good bag the week before, and where I was hoping to be drawn.

So, how did I enjoy my match fishing experience? well, to be honest I didn't, and it wasn't just the fact that I blanked. Having to fish a rubbish swim for 5 hours isn't a lot of fun, but having to do it with the anglers either side of you moaning and whinging like a load of old washerwomen just finished a perfect day. I have never heard the like. There was one who kept up a litany of what was wrong with the venue, the organisation, the management of the venue and the other anglers. He sounded like an out of work 70s shop steward. Another spent 5 hours telling anyone in earshot how he hated this venue and would never come back (please God). The rest just complained - about everything!

As a fishing experience it left something to be desired, and as a day out, it stunk

I get one days fishing a week and to be honest I can think of better ways to spend it, and better company to spend it with so I don't see me setting the match scene alight.

Back to fishing for fun.

[Tony U]

Dave

One man's meat is another man's poison as they say, I fished one coarse match many years ago on the Thames at Windsor and although I caught and did not do to bad (didn't win or any thing but did not make a fool of myself either), i decided there and then it wasn't for me.

 

 

Tony

[Dan Dan]

well you wouldn't have known unless you gave it a go! I havent fished a match since the annual juniors one on the wey navigation. they held it on august bank holiday every year. the last time i rememeber catching 1 roach of abuot 10oz, enough to win my section lol but my dad missed the keepnet ;_____;

[bluerinse]

well you wouldn't have known unless you gave it a go! I havent fished a match since the annual juniors one on the wey navigation. they held it on august bank holiday every year. the last time i rememeber catching 1 roach of abuot 10oz, enough to win my section lol but my dad missed the keepnet ;_____;

 

 

I only ever fished one match, which was back in the 1981; I fished on a lake in Northants. (St James lake, Brackley)

I pegged out my keep net, baited up and settled in, I was in a un fancied swim.

I started to catch from the first cast, first of all I was catching perch, a fish a chuck, then I got into some tench about 1lb mark after about an hour I reckoned I was well a head of the rest. The tench and perch dried up, so I decided to fish caster on the drop at range next to a patch of lilies, I started to catch Rudd, I was a again catching a fish a chuck, I was spraying maggot and casters and letting my bait drop slowly, I then had a great take and a good fight as a bright golden Rudd about 1.5 lb slipped in to the landing net,. I was miles a head of the rest who were struggling to catch. I slipped the Rudd into the keep net and watched it swim straight out the bottom of the net. Were I had pegged out the end the little plastic ring that held the end together had separated and the end of the net was open.

I was gutted, I packed up and went home and have never fished a match since.

[Anderoo]

I also have only fished one match, a jumior club match as a kid. Hated every second of it! I was stuck in a dead swim and all my instincts told me to move - but of course I couldn't. I worked hard and scratched a few bits together, but finished a long, long way down the list! I was glad when it was over. Trying to make the most of a random swim choice is not what I enjoy about fishing. Once the freedom is removed it ceases to be enjoyable. Also, I don't like competing against other anglers - I want my competition to be against the water, the fish and the conditions.

[Steve Walker]

I used to enjoy fishing club matches as a teenager; even won a few of them, which was all the sweeter for beating the adults I enjoyed the matches on our club ponds, but the thing I enjoyed most was the outings to venues that myself and my friends would never otherwise be able to get our parents to drive us to. Rivers like the Dane, Severn, Trent, Ribble, other venues like Rudyard Lake, Lymm Dam, Rochdale Canal (I won that one), Trent & Mersey canal, Elton Reservoir, etc. I also enjoyed the camaraderie of a small club, especially on the coach trips. I sometimes think that there must be some similar clubs round here to join; the clubs I remember were more like a social club, the ones I'm in now feel more like joining a gym.

 

I do remember some stinkers, though; I can't remember us having a river match when the damn thing wasn't in flood, and back in those days my river fishing experience was woefully inadequate. There were crap pegs drawn, and good pegs fished badly without local knowledge, and moral victories where my mate and I came third and fourth behind the only two blokes with bloodworm. It was fun, though, and even when it was bad, it was good. We learnt a lot.

 

I don't think I'd really like to get back into match fishing now, I have so little time available to fish that I want to make the most of it, but I really did enjoy it back then.

[gozzer]

Unlucky Dave, but would you feel the same if you had drawn one of the 'flyers' and got a place?

 

I'm in similar position to Steve. I used to match fish not just in my teens though, through to my 30s.

I had quite a bit of success at club level, some success at league level, and a very little at 'open' level.

 

The camaraderie that Steve mentioned was great within the small club. We had guys that just turned up, every week, with very little chance of catching much, never mind a top three place! It was the company and laughs that was the main attraction.

Then things started to change. It became more money focused. Instead of just the regular pools, a 'super' pool was started. This eventually became the norm, so another 'super' pool was started. Eventually it was costing an 'arm and a leg' to go. It wasn't too bad for those of us that used to be in the money regularly, but I felt for the guys who had very little chance.

Some of us instigated a 'team' match within the main match. We had an aggregate points trophy, for the one who did best over the season. We decided that those in the top half the previous year would draw a name from the bottom half, and they would fish as a pair, with a new draw every match. This enabled some of the lesser able anglers to at least have a better chance at a prize. This worked fine for a couple of seasons, then the old 'super' pool idea was brought into that, and it became all about money again.

Around this time I was made redundant and was forced to stop match fishing for a while. I found that I enjoyed escaping from the restraints (both financial and choice of venue), so much, that I didn't go back except for the odd 'fun' match on my local 'pond'.

 

It's not to everyones taste, but I learnt a lot during that time and I was glad that I did it.

 

 

John.

Edited September 8, 2008 by gozzer

[terry t shirt]

I was very much like yuou gozzer i liked the match scene at club level even up to fishing the annual national and a few opens> I think it was the challenge of getting the best out of a swim you had no choice over. What made me give up was Two things , The money just the way you said. And at the end of our winter league (which i won) i looked at what i had caught to win it My total weight for 4 matches was a respectable 56LBs it was the fact in 4 matches i'd only caught 13 fish that made me realise that match fishing was becoming more like specimen hunting on the venues we were fishing there were no small fish you either caught 5lb plus chub or you caught nothing.

[Sportsman]

Yes, I take your point John, I may have felt very differently on a decent peg ( and with £500.00 in my pocket ) and it seems that within a club there would have been the camaraderie you speak of. There was none of that here.

The thing that really got to me was the incessant complaining. it started before the draw and was still going strong as the prizes were being presented - for those few who bothered to stay on for that.

It was probably because it was an open with a reasonable prize that it attracted a certain "type' but given the absence of the club type match I don't think I would bother again.

I has made some of the quieter, less commercial venues look very attractive though.

[Dick Dastardly]

Its a shame that your first experience of match fishing was like that mate. It can be great fun.The competitive element can actually make poor fishing more enjoyable.The whiners are a pain but you tend to find more of these on the smaller open matchs rather than club matches or big opens.They are normally "pools fodder" anglers whose only way of looking good is to whine and put everyone else down. As you say the type of match it was ie small but big money attracts these.

 

Commercials can be very fair venues, in fact that was the main reason behind the design of the first "snake lakes".Trying to eliminate/minimise the luck of the draw.Trouble is of course as these venues mature features develop and that does obviosly make them more peggier. I know several venues where the draw is all as such I simply wouldnt bother to fish them.

 

A lot of the challenge of match fishing is to be able to make the best of the peg your given and of course beat the anglers either side of you. As they say you cant win if you dont beat the guys next to you but I fail to see the point of fishing venues that even if you do if your not in the right area you cant possibly win!

 

Have a go on another venue thats more even and hopefully with a better class of angler (by that I mean attitude rather than angling ability) before totally giving up on it though.

Edited September 8, 2008 by BUDGIE