Wintle's World - Memorable Matches

A good article again Mark.

Back in the late 70's maybe 80's (it was definately post "size rule" era) I tagged along with the usual Christchurch crowd to several matches on the Thames (typically at Marlow or Cookham). I saw Ray Mumford in action several times "bleaking" his way to some big weights.

We tried to transfer those methods to the Lower Stour and for a while they worked. We used to reckon on around 60 Bleak to the pound and my best weight was 11lb+.

I recall one club match being won with 15lb+ with several double figure backing weights (from The Pony Fields).

I went out and bought my first "pole" (a heavy glass thing with a flick tip) in the forlorn hope of cracking the method long term.

I seem to remember both of us using somewhat similar methods at those Witley Park bank matches for the Rudd and Crucians.

Once again, I enjoyed that Mark. I love gudgeon, bleak or rudd bashing.

I was hoping you were going to go into the methods you used.

yes nice enlightning article mark i used to like nothing more than bleak bashing or gudgeon snatching i bought oneof those vey early garbilino glass poles poles with a aliminium crook on the end in the 70s we used to use a match stick to for a float and an eyed hook to stop the maggots getting blown up the line i use to see ray mumford on the trent speed fishing he was a very good float maker

When we were seriously "bleaking" the Lower Dorset Stour, we used to fish the whip just off the keepnet. Feeding 2 or 3 pinkies every "cast" with the left hand, quickly followed up with the whip in the right fishing to hand.

We built bait stands screwed to bank sticks to get the feed pot at the right height. We also had "aprons" attached around the waist and to the top of the keepnet to provide a shute into the net.

Small matchsticks (literally - Swan Vestas were good!) were used as "floats" - top & bottom - with 20/22 hook about 8 to 12 inches below. The trick was to rebait as few times as possible and just find the rhythm. When it really worked, we just counted rather than actually rely on the "float" for indication.

Sometimes the "goer" bleak would be there, maybe 30 to the pound - almost net jobs!

I vividly recall weighing in 8lb of bleak and being totally knackered but thinking I'd won. Some "lucky" sod had 3 chub for 10lb+!!

Matt,

To be honest there isn't that much method to it. The whip, float, shotting and hook need to be spot on. My favourite floats are some tiny Middy ones that are 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 grams with short fibreglass stems, slim bodies and nylon bristles - far better than matchsticks. The line length is critical, and with a whip adjustable. Feeding several swims that are alternated helps. After that it is practice, practice, practice. In those early 80s days I practiced three evenings a week in summer. I've watched the Wye bleakers in action - they are getting big bleak by most standards - some of them use tiny bottom-end only floats. That means the setup including the whip must match the size of the fish perfectly. In other words you need a different action for 5 to the ounce to 2 ounce fish. I think my advantage in my youth was stamina and quickness. I remember an angler trying to match me fish for fish getting a tangle neding a new hooh and putting 20 fish in the net before he was fishing again.
We developed a method once that wasn't allowed in matches - 4 hooks - and the results until you got a massive tangle were scary - we hit 23 per minute but it wasn't sustained for long. You spent most of your time unhooking fish! I never shook fish off - I could unhook fish quicker with debarbed hooks that had a tiny hump where the barb was flattened.

I've never gudgeon bashed much - we don't have enough on our waters though I've had 300 in a match for 8lb but that is hardly speed fishing.

Catching loads of tiny roach on the lake where Ray Mumford fished (long polluted and still tht way) was very different to rudd. It was shallow - 15" yet you needed a rig to go straight down so had a rig with the weight 3" from the hook, and lots of very very fine brown crumb, feeding up to 8lb in a match. Ray had 920, my best was 700 in a match.

Again a good article on match fishing Mark and the sheer hard work that is involved to be successful.

There is a guy from Ross on Wye who is or was the river Wye record holder for bleak fishing, Hadrian Whittle is the man and he is a past master at speed fishing believe me. He is like a whirling dervish when he is bleak bashing and where he gets the stamina from I just don't know, he isn't a big lad by any means. A fish every five seconds is some fishing by anyones standards and over five hours too, phew!

Graham,

Interesting to see the report that you linked to. Hadrian's match record was and still is 51lb but he also had 70lb in a practice (number of fish unknown) which is where Keith is getting mixed up. The match record was 2100 fish which is a record for numbers in match, as was the 1320 when I had it many years before. Hadrian averaged over 400 an hour which suggests a peak of 500 an hour, far faster than my best. No-one has yet done 720 an hour (every 5 seconds) as the world record is 600 odd in an hour. Those sorts of speeds are not sustainable. Tom Pickering did 10 a minute in the late 70s. In practice I did 4 fish in 11 seconds, and 16 a minute with one hook is possible for short periods but there are always times when they shy away and you slow right down.

Understood Mark, a fish every five seconds was slightly out of context because it was only for small periods not overall, do you think I would make a good reporter?

I once watched an international open match at Edgbaston reservoir in B'ham which was part of a fishing festival holiday weekend. I stood behind this London guy who was whip fishing for the thousands of small roach that were in there at the time. I stood fascinated by the speed at which this guy fished and he used bloodworm as well, not maggot. He was feeding a small marble sized ball of groundbait as he was swinging in each fish and these fell in exactly the same spot as his float was landing when he cast out again, such accuracy and at such speed was a sight to behold.

All right his worm caught quite a number of fish but I remember I timed him at one stage and he was catching 7 to 8 fish a minute, I was completely gobsmacked with the whole thing. For all his hard work he weighed in 24lb whilst the winner, Alan Scothorne weighed in 80 odd pound of bream off the dam wall.

Brilliant.

it is a good series of stories, but i think i can say that i had 1000 rudd in a timed 1hr 32min. in 1 hour i had over 780.i caught them on a 4m and5m milo delicia whips with a hardish carbon insert which was hollow allowing you to lift and drag quicker caught 84 rudd on the same maggot a red one a hard dead one was best.the noise of these fish feeding was like chips going into a frier everytime a threw any loosefeed in,buti threw mainly peices of floating bread,which the noise of a fish frier canme from they weighed 32lb. i think it was in the early 1990 s in a pond in devon near paignton zoo,which was in the process of being filled in,i used 2.6 bayer perlon and a 1.7 bayer perlon trace with a size 18 hook,and a 20 kamasan crystal bend. i think,i would of caught faster but the sun was setting and the fish steadly went out of range,following the sun on the water.at the same venue i won a match with 618 rudd for 6lb beeting someone with 3 small tench with 5lb 12oz but earlier maybe 1988,but just for the record i was catching up to 22 fish a minute.dont believe it ? i got witnesses.and well i hammered everyone else who was fishing that evening,it was a sad day as well becase the pond was being filled in to enable expansion of the zoo in paignton.i know it happened and there are still some people who you can contact to confirm what i did.but it was a day to remember or a evening, each one of the fish (piranas)were transfered to another pond near maldon paighton by the water authority of the time.well it happened and thats my claim to be the fastest in the west.it was a experience and i had good concentration and a good style from catching small dace and rudd on the surface at another pond,practise makes perfect,used a rounded bit of wood no varnish so it absorbed the water to make it heavier as time went on.i wish i had had a video of it but there were several people there watching i only fished for 2 hours becase they netted the pond shortly after,