I am fed up...

...with match fishing.

There, I have said it. I think you have to have a particular mindset to be a match fisher; organised, single minded and competitive. As I am none of those things, it is just not working for me. As many of you may know, I took up fishing very late in life and after only fishing for a short time I was invited to join in a few open matches. It was fun at first and I must say it was very good for me to fish with others who taught me a lot. Two years on and I have not got any better at it, in fact I have probably gone backwards, if the catch weight is the gauge. I realise I could get better if I put the time in to hone my technique but I find myself not wanting to spend time practising when I could be 'pleasure' fishing.

Sitting on my box, at a match this week, struggling to catch fish I found myself looking at my watch and thinking that time was dragging. I have never felt like that before. I couldn't wait for it to be over.

I have given it a good go and I have come to the conclusion that I am not cut out to fish matches. I am not saying I will not fish any more matches but I am not going to do it regularly and more as I find myself just going from match to match with only the odd trip between. I can't fish as often as I would like so not going to matches will give me time to do what I enjoy - Fishing.

Am I alone in not becoming abscessed with match fishing? When I first started, I was keen for a few matched, everybody told me it was addictive and I would not be able to give it up. I never had that problem, I think it is because I don't seem to be the addictive type. One day I woke up and decided to gave up smoking after 30 years and have not touched a cigarette since. I don't miss it at all and that was 20 years 162 days, 14 hours and 24 minutes ago.

Ralph.

new season coming, find a nice local small river and wander up and down with a float rod and a pint of maggots. I think you'll soon forget match fishing.

Never appealed to me, I'm happy sitting catching a few, watching the world go by.

Hi Ralph

To me, one of the real beauties of fishing is that it is a truly multi-dimensioned sport. So if the match fishing scene is leaving something to be desired - try something else? Because it still sounds like deep down, you still want to go fishing?

Sounds like you've spent a couple of years match fishing... so if you rotated that with a couple of years of lure fishing, a couple of years of "pleasure fishing", a couple of years of carp fishing.... then come 2023, you might get the bug for matches again. And who knows, maybe some of what you'd learnt by fishing away from the competitive scene might in to valuable insight when you return to it?

Have you done much river fishing? That could be the next big thing for you. Or fly fishing? Sea fishing?

I truly hope you find something else to keep you in the game.

You're certainly not alone, I was heavily into club and the odd winter league match when was I was in my late teens and all my idols were matchman, many of them local, but I too soon realised I wasn't particularly good at it.

Fair do's to those who enjoy and do well at it but this piece of pools fodder closed his wallet a long time ago

Can't blame you Ralph!
The last 'social' match I fished - a few weeks ago in the pouring rain - had me thinking 'I'm not enjoying this '. If I had my own choice I would not be fishing here, on this lake, on this peg, in this rain!

Why subject myself to this? I wouldn't do it from choice! What am I thinking of? - I do have choice! I could go fishing anywhere I fancy! Why am I here?
The answer really was the banter and craic at the pub after! If I'd saved the match Fee and put it towards the Taxi Fare - I could have a few pints, enjoy the banter, and have a ride home after!:guinness: - and NOT get ****-soaked in this rain!mg:

If you're fed up find something that suits better, I used to enjoy match fishing even though I wasn't particularly very good.
If I were in better condition now with all the time I have I would still be at it.
If you feel it's not for you only you can make the decision. Do whatever suits you better, just keep fishing.

I did the same thing with match fishing I was sitting there one day I thought what the hell and I doing I am not enjoying this one bit. I have never match fished since.

At the moment I am going through a phase where I am losing the passion to even go fishing. This is something I thought would never happen. I haven’t been out now since mid March and haven’t missed it, even my friends talking about their catches doesn’t infuse me. I keep meaning to go but look at the pile of tackle and say to myself do I really want to go. My brother went through the same thing never returned to fishing.

I am looking forward to the start of the river season so hopefully things will change.

Get yourself down to my estate lake for a days tenching, a day on Stonar catching Rudd, or come next week some chubbing on the Stour, give the commercials a break as well as match fishing, it will do your morale the world of good.:thumbs:

I think the worst thing about match fishing on commercials is when your struggling you can look around you and see anglers catching a lot easier than on rivers. Also the draw bag with the venue regulars drawing the flyers.

I do a lot of local club matches on rivers, during the close season do a bit bivvying for tench, bream and carp then during the winter do some roving for chub and barbel. and in the last year done a bit of light lure fishing.

I think that keeps my interest up being able to look forward to and plan varying fishing trips.

but I still love my river matches and never got into commercials.

I've never done any match fishing, other than me and me m8's having one between ourselves and whoever caught a fish would see everyone else's floats being cast next to theirs!
Match fishing has never interested me in the slightest and it still doesn't...just not my scene man .

So I am not alone then...

Just to clarify, it is match fishing I am fed up with, not fishing in general. My 'problem', if that is what it is, is that I can only get out fishing a couple of times a month, three if I am lucky. If I match fish one of those times and practise another day, it leaves me very little time to just fish for pleasure, although I have fond the odd day here and there as you can see if you scan my blog, which is really a personal diary of my fishing journey from day one when I did not even know what a plummet was, let alone what it was for!

If I do not commit myself to a match fishing I can make up my own mind when and were I fish, plus I am not just pool fodder.

I am going to do some river fishing and I already do a bit of light lure fishing, which is great fun. I will also take you up on your offer of a day at the Estate Lake, Mr s63! Recently I have been looking at fly fishing for coarse fish which fascinates me. I have always been interested in entomology, as my 90 year old Mum confirms at every family gathering...

"Ralph always had a matchbox in his pocket with something creepy-crawly in it"

Tying my own flies looks like it could become addictive too. It seems to me, there is just not enough time in my fishing world for serious match fishing, but that is okay with me.

Ralph.

Never matchfished although I did as a kid go on coach trips with local clubs who travelled to distant places and fished matches, I just wandered off on my own and fished where I fancied.

I don't think I have ever had the skills required to become a reasonable match angler being more of a trapper than a tempter as I didnt mind putting in the time required to be one. That and the fact that I never liked the idea of being told where I could fish and for how long.

Match anglers that are successful are imo some of the best anglers there are particularly those that fished the river matches where the fish could move to wherever they felt like moving to.

You mentioned giving up the fags. I quit just over three years ago after forty years of smoking and dont miss it at all.............well there is an exception of course.

I occasionally got up for work as early as 3-30am, the thought of a smoke that time of day repulsed me but stick me beside a lake as dawn is breaking with a cuppa in hand, that's a smoke I dearly enjoyed.

Ralph,I matchfished from about 18-19,first at club level for Vauxhall AS,then added summer leagues and nationals for Vauxhall,this went on for about 4-5 years where I won a few bob,plus trophies,then I got poached by Blackhorse MG(which went on to become Image Blackhorse),winning winter league titles and many open matches for another 6 or so years,maybe more,but in all that time I fished Saturday and Sunday,I rarely fished matched both days,giving myself some time to actually catch some fish,after I packed it in I caught a shipping order of fish,because of what i'd learnt at that level.My advice to you is to get on venues you enjoy,with people you like and enjoy your days out. :w

I used to match fish at club level and would represent the club in the lower rank nationals.
I would spend money on hotels, fuel, bait etc.

During one expensive trip entailing a trip from London to Liverpool and a hotel, I sat on the Leeds and Liverpool canal and I could actually see the bottom all the way across and see there were no fish present.

I stopped matchfishing shortly after that and actually started catching more and bigger fish locally at practically little cost.

John,i'm not saying there were any fish there in your case,but I had a similar thing in an open on the Ouse above Bedford,I walked miles to find I could see every stone in a shallow clear river,so I got the hump and bu$$ered off,well what a mistake,all bar one of the top weights came from where I was pegged,a lesson learnt for me on that occasion i'm afraid.mg:

Not my scene either not that I would be remotely good at it if there was a match dedicated to catching that rare Cheshire fish called the Abyssinian Tench I would walk it. That is all I catch

I don't really understand anyone spending their own time doing anything that they don't (or no longer) enjoy. That's what work is for.

I haven't match fished in years. I did a bit as a kid which continued into adult life as I had a job that allowed for time off for sports (including match angling). No worries about accommodation and travel expenses either. I rather enjoyed it and was reasonably successful, though I suspect that I was lucky rather than particularly good. However, commercials were in their infancy and I don't recall ever match fishing on one. We fished the likes of the Trent, Nene, Thames, Yorkshire Ouse and Warwickshire Avon. Venue specialists were those that happened to live, or be based, locally. There wouldn't be many of them. You weren't competing against lads that fished the venue two or three times a week.

Though I probably have the time, I don't have the money or inclination to join the local commie match scene, let alone the national. The rather reduced river match scene is marginally more interesting to me, but it's not quite tempting enough. I rather enjoy doing what I want, when I want. The prospect of having to spend good money going to fish a peg I wouldn't choose on a day I wouldn't necessarily choose, really does not appeal much.

At one time i'd be on the bank and fishing as soon as it was twelve bells but nowadays i'm not so enthusiastic. Actually I do put my loss of enthusiasm down to the fact that my m8's and long time angling partners have all pretty much given up on angling and seem to prefer the boozer or to sit at home arguing with their spouses whist watching the box and opening cans etc!
So, I never like to commit myself really, I might get out on opening day, but then again I might not....Comme ci, comme ça. Obviously one big decider is the weather and river levels, although after saying that if the levels are up I could always do some legering so there's no excuse for not going really other than the lack of drive.