most important item of match gear.

[caught any mate]

mine,a copy of matchfishing,i put down my trousers,i find it helps when i get my arse kicked.

 

[arthur2sheds]

Me rod bag..... I'd be screwed if I didn't have that with me:wh

 

[peter crabtree]

Bait... :wh

 

[binka]

Flask full of roach?

 

[robtherake]

A cast iron bladder.

 

[bracket]

A golden hand at the draw bag. If you don't have that you may as well leave your gear in the car. Pete.

 

[trotter2]

Drawing a flyer out of the bucket

 

[Peter Jacobs]

Even though I was fastidious about my baits when match fishing my main attention was always on my hooks.

Ensuring that they were super sharp and always changed out after about 2 or 3 fish. If you have many hook lengths prepared then it only takes a few seconds . . . .

I can honestly say that in 10 years I probably only bumped maybe 30 fish.

 

[robertroach]

So if you catch about 50 fish which I would think is do-able in a match, you would change your hook about 20 times? I am sure you are right to do so, based on your own experience, but I must admit I couldn't be bothered!

 

[Peter Jacobs]

So if you catch about 50 fish which I would think is do-able in a match, you would change your hook about 20 times? I am sure you are right to do so, based on your own experience, but I must admit I couldn't be bothered!

Easy to do but you do need to have 2 or 3 identical set-ups.

Then when you switch over it is simple to change the hook length on the set-up you have just used/discarded . . . . . . .

Match fishing is all about having a baited hook in the water at all times and reducing the amout of "air time" accordingly.

In the final analysis it is really only the hook that connects the angler ot the fish, so why risk a blunted one?

 

[Lord Paul of Sheffield]

must be keep net - without that you';; never win

 

[kenpm]

Confidence in your ability to win.

Mostly gained by practice on the venues and methods you are going to use.
If you don't think that you can compete you are simply paying to gain experience.

 

[bracket]

Interesting the question of changing hooks. Two extremes come to mind. Way back in the 1980's my club used to fish regular matches on the Witham . At one period the bream were hard to find and matches could be won with eels. My mate and I would tie 100 hooks up each. They would be 6 inch long and looped.We made rails topped with polystyrene, with 50 hooks stuck in either side, which could be attached to a bank stick. The idea was to fish exclusively for eels and if you could not unhook them immediately you just snipped the line at the hook and put on another. You could get pretty slick at it and I recall winning one match with over 300 eels, or bootlace as we used to call them. The other side of the coin is illustrated in a Nottingham Anglers match I fished on the Trent at Hamms Bridge. I drew one peg below a great Nottingham angler, Johnny Moult, who proceeded to give me a right banjoing. He won the match with 27lbs odd, I just managed double figures. I went to have a craic with him after the whistle and he was carefully removing his hook, which was a mustad 90340, and putting it back in the packet. "You ain't saving that are you John?" I asked. He looked at me in astonishment and said "I've just had over 20lbs on this. You don't throw a hook like that away Pete ". At that time it was said that Mustad had several machines stamping out that model of hook and every so often they would produce a hook with a long point. These were as rare as rocking horse sh@t and we would spend hours in the tackle shop sorting them out. So there you have it different situations require different approaches. Pete


.

 

[no-one in particular]

Interesting the question of changing hooks. Two extremes come to mind. Way back in the 1980's my club used to fish regular matches on the Witham . At one period the bream were hard to find and matches could be won with eels. My mate and I would tie 100 hooks up each. They would be 6 inch long and looped.We made rails topped with polystyrene, with 50 hooks stuck in either side, which could be attached to a bank stick. The idea was to fish exclusively for eels and if you could not unhook them immediately you just snipped the line at the hook and put on another. You could get pretty slick at it and I recall winning one match with over 300 eels, or bootlace as we used to call them. The other side of the coin is illustrated in a Nottingham Anglers match I fished on the Trent at Hamms Bridge. I drew one peg below a great Nottingham angler, Johnny Moult, who proceeded to give me a right banjoing. He won the match with 27lbs odd, I just managed double figures. I went to have a craic with him after the whistle and he was carefully removing his hook, which was a mustad 90340, and putting it back in the packet. "You ain't saving that are you John?" I asked. He looked at me in astonishment and said "I've just had over 20lbs on this. You don't throw a hook like that away Pete ". At that time it was said that Mustad had several machines stamping out that model of hook and every so often they would produce a hook with a long point. These were as rare as rocking horse sh@t and we would spend hours in the tackle shop sorting them out. So there you have it different situations require different approaches. Pete


.

Pete-your a one off, classic.

 

[wanderer]

The knowledge and venue info, forget it otherwise, not my cup of tea but venue knowledge will win you most matches, the draw, essential at certain times of the year.