fishomania

[mooserx]

After watching 5 hours of fishomania yesterday, i had a thought, and was wondering if anyone else was in agreement.

i am sure that the anglers who took part are top notch fishermen (otherwise they wouldn'y have been there), but i think, although i have fished them regularly, that commercial pools are mereley water filled holes stuffed with carp which are starving for 95% of the time. To me there is no real art in fishing one of these venues as the resident fish are always hungry due to the amount of fish present, i refer to this type of fishing as "catching". There is no real sport in fishing one of these venues as you are 99.9% guaranteed to catch a netful, as i said i'm sure the anglers who fish matches on commercials are all supremely competent at what they do , but, i feel that if they were put on a club water then they would struggle.

 

it would be interesting to put one of the fishomania finalists and the top match angler from any local angling club on a neutral stillwater venue (not a commercial) and see the results, i think a few people would be surprised.

 

Does anyone else have an opinion, as i said im not knocking anyone who fishes commercial pools, i was wondering if a commercial match angler would fare well against a club match angler?

[Newt]

Since they are all fishing the same water, it should still favour the best angler.

 

Why not suggest putting them on a real lake like Windermere or at least on one of the Norfolk Broads?

[mooserx]

Since they are all fishing the same water, it should still favour the best angler.

 

Why not suggest putting them on a real lake like Windermere or at least on one of the Norfolk Broads?

 

thats exactly the point newt, i was wondering if due to the fact that 99.9% of the fishomania anglers fish on a commercial venue then how would they fare ona lake thats not stuffed to the gills with "f1s" or "pasties".

[Anderoo]

A more accurate test of skill would be to try to catch something - anything - from a lightly stocked water. But the problem there is that vast areas wouldn't hold any fish, so it's not a 'fair' situation. I expect commercials are popular with match anglers because they're designed so that the fish don't prefer one area over another.

 

I.e. it's completely artificial.

[Tony U]

Remember the event is also designed for television and not much happening does not make for good TV, it's not a test of angling skill as many on this forum would define it.

 

 

Tony

[Alan Stubbs]

Remember the event is also designed for television and not much happening does not make for good TV, it's not a test of angling skill as many on this forum would define it.

Tony

 

 

Exactly.

 

Moreover, it's not about enjoying the fishing, it's about the thrill of catching more than anyone else on the day to win however much it was.

 

I'm not decrying match angling, but whatever the pleasure of it is, it certainly isn't the 'being there' which gets me out fishing.

[lutra]

Given Keith Arthurs views on fishing in Scotland i would not have thought lake Windermere would be very far up his places to fish list for the same reasons. So don't hold your breath on fishomania going to such a fine water.

[Errrm]

Remember the event is also designed for television and not much happening does not make for good TV, it's not a test of angling skill as many on this forum would define it.

Tony

 

Couldn't you also argue that it is more of a test because there are no 'hot pegs' so luck plays less of a part in it? I don't like fishing these types of venues but for a competition I don't see a problem you still need to catch a greater weight than anyone else. Saying that though I have only fished 1 junior competition about 12 years ago and I probably will never fish another competition again :-).

[mooserx]

Couldn't you also argue that it is more of a test because there are no 'hot pegs' so luck plays less of a part in it? I don't like fishing these types of venues but for a competition I don't see a problem you still need to catch a greater weight than anyone else. Saying that though I have only fished 1 junior competition about 12 years ago and I probably will never fish another competition again :-).

 

surely on the commercials there are hot pegs, especially hayfield where all the finalists of fishomania wanted a corner peg, and a corner peg won it the last 2 years, all the pundits refer to pegs 1, 5, 12 and 16 as the hot pegs on hayfield as the provide natural features that hold the fish, so surely if i am on say for example peg 7 and someone of equal ability is on peg 16, then surely he would have an advantage as he has access to a natural fish holding feature, where as muggins here is stuck facing a mass of open water

[ColinW]

I think you'll find that the "top" matchmen started off as club anglers. In my experience club matches tend to be won by a very small number of people, unless someone else gets lucky enough to draw a flier. Open competitions are far more competitive, if simply because each angler is "putting his money where his mouth is." To get to the point the fishomania guys are, you need to be a VERY good open match winner.

I never fish matches any more (and never did very much) but I have the utmost respect for these guys. The carp bashing is just an up to date version of the old bleak bashing but slightly more interesting to spectators. It's a test of co-ordination and timing more than "fishing skill" but that doesn't make it less valid as a competition. The ability to get fish feeding can be taken for granted with anglers with so much experience, so that isn't really what is being tested.