Nationals and opens? help.....??

Hi my name is Harry Batchelor and i am new to this forum. Firstly, hello to everyone here! Now, what i wanted to ask is: i am 16 years old and fish for my local club junior "A" Team and (without boasting) a pretty good angler. But, i would like to try and branch out of club level and begin fishing opens and or nationals! I want to do this to try and get my name known among the match angling world, and maybe even the future get involved in a proper team. How would i get interest from proper teams???! Also How do i go about entering large scale matches and where is best to look for them and to look for open matches that i can fish? Any help would be great! Thanks guys!

Harryb

H, where do you live?
Most commercial fisheries have open matches, if its match carp fishing your into.
River matches seem to be on the increase in my area of the midlands and the winter canal open scene has never been so buoyant, so theres a bit of variety.
Check out Angling Times Match pages tomorrow, for results and fixtures in your area.

Thanks terry, im from west sussex. I wanna get into all round match angling, not just carp. I would like to enter some big open matches and the fish o mania next year. My dream is to fish for a proper team but i dunno where to start????????

Harryb

There are plenty of varied venues in your area, I'm sure some of FM's members local to you will post a few suggestions, but I would start with Angling Times tomorrow.

You will be up against some fierce competition Harry but good luck to you.

Pick your matches carefully and watch the ??'s. As you most probably already know it can be a very costly affair.
As Terry says, check the A.T. tomorrow.

Harry,
A long time ago, at the age of 16, I decided that within 10 years I'd get to fish a National, and be there on merit. It actually took 5 years but then I didn't see what opportunities would arise.

But at 16 I was fishing with three mates; we were winning senior matches from 15, and in the senior team from 16. Practice, fishing together, sharing ideas, and spreading our wings, and watching better anglers whenever possible accelerated our progress. I was taken under the wing of several older better anglers who helped a lot, by getting me to new waters to gain experience. We started fishing opens at 17, getting beaten at first but framing within two years.

So my best suggestion is not to do it alone; join forces with a couple of other equally keen and able young anglers and learn together. Figure out where you need to improve and practice, when you need better gear. Make progress and teams will come looking for you.

Good luck