your first match

[Simon Hume-Spry]

i havent fished a match yet but ive got to know the guys in the tackle shop and the offer of comeing to one of the matchs i am a bit nervous as to if i should accept the offer so what happend on your first match did you win or did you embarrass yourself ??or how did you get in to match fishing in the first place???

 

[Wolfman Woody]

Try a club match first, a) they're cheaper and b) you'll find the other members more willing to share their tactics. Open matches are very competitive, theirs usually a better pot to fish for.

Get stuck in, don't feel embarassed, they all started the same way. Just don't expect to win, a newcomer winning is very rare or he's a lucky so and so.

The only time I had a good run of first and seconds was when the club champion fell out of a tree, broke his leg and couldn't fish. Hehehehe!

 

[Kevan Martin]

Simon,

If you think that you want to fish a match then do it. As Jeff says stick to club matches to begin with, the banter is always much better than the open scene, and you have a better chance of framing as the standard is not as good.

I can remember fishing my first match, I was 11 at the time and it was a junior match on my local lake. I knew this place inside out as I spent nearly every day of the year down there after school and weekends watching the match anglers fish. I knew that I needed to fish caster over hemp for the roach and ball it in for the bream.

Now I had asked my dad to get some bait for me on the Saturday, hew came back with a bag of tares and 1/4 pint of maggots. Not exactly the best things but hey I still fished. OK I did crap but I still learnt.

I think that is how I got the match fishing bug, by watching anglers fish, and catch fish, thats what I wanted to do. Even to this day, 25 years later, it's all I want to do. I can not see myself sitting behind buzzers et al, it's just not MY style of fishing.

 

[Kiwi Carper]

Simon

Go for it, take every opportunity and learn all the time......

The one thing I will say is dont set your sights too high......dont expect to be in the England squad next year......

Concentrate on doing what you know well....when I started my match fishing the canals were being torn apart on bloodworm and I couldnt fish it to save my life,,,just couldnt afford the bait as a kid to practice, so I stuck to pinkies and squatts that I knew I could fish well and still got fair results.

Set reallistic targets, match one put one fish in the net, (dont be put off if you blank we all do it and it happens to the best, once you are ahppy catching start aiming for say a finish in the top 50% then go for your section then worry about overall winnings....one word of advice dont be too keen to enter winner takes all side pools as you are more than likely just throwing money away, yes have a couple of quid on it with your mates but if pools are optional i wouldnt even bother until you feel confident that you are in with a chance better to spend that money on new tackle or better bait etc

 

[Andy Key]

Thanks for the above advice. I haven't fished for nearly 20 years and want to try match fishing. There's a match at my local lake every Sunday. Lets see what happens. Tight lines to one and all.

 

[Andrew Burnett]

i've fished club matches for a few years,with differing success.One year I had a couple of wins seconds and thirds,but all of my results seemed to be on commercials such as woodlands now i'm thinking of trying a few opens up there as i've been doing a lot of practice there and have had some mega results when others around the lake seem to struggle for bites,the thing is I don,t know if i,m good enough ,any advice would be appreciated .

 

[Wendy Perry]

When i first started fishing matches i never caught anything because i didn't keep things SIMPLE i tried to keep up with other people and try new things but the new things were done wrong! So then when i realised i used to catch fish when things were simple i went back to...... Simple lol if ya know what i mean

 

[Wendy Perry]

I still never won tho ;p

 

[Andrew Burnett]

I have fished club matches at woodlands,I have always done well,with section wins an outright win,and a couple of seconds and thirds,I always seem to do well at the draw bag as well so I think that makes a big difference to your confidence (or at least it does to mine)

 

[Stuart Bullard 3]

The only match I fish is the fun Keith Culley memorial match.

From this experience my tip is to get someone to drive you there (my brother-in-law) and then get completely lagged up! Apart from doing OK last year it means you soon dont give a damn about catching and just enjoy the "session".

Not much help I guess.

 

[lee stopps 2]

i too have not fished the match scene snice leaving the juniors team at an old local club i was a member, but i have started to get back into the pole fishing and match type of fishing after leaving it behind some 18 years ago. i have brought various tackle and am having as much fun as i used to although i would maybe like to try a club enviroment soon and would be gratfull if anyone knows of any local to brackley northants as i am new to the area ( 8 months ago ) and i only fishin several locals at mo.
good luck with the matchs simon

 

[Mick Goodhand]

I won my first match on Saturday,after a full year of trying to win a match.
Don't give up if you keep being out of the frame.It makes it more special when you do win.