Match fishing - not everyones cup of tea

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Ian Grant

Guest
Have you got an old air raid shelter in your garden Mark? if not i think you should build one! you're going to need it i think mate. I'm with you in that match fishing has never appealed to me, and never will it's just not my thing, but neither is spinach and parsnips, YUK! i don't now how anybody could eat such foul tasting food, but my wife loves em, what i'm saying is obvious every man to his own, so to all you match anglers out there, if you enjoy it
more power to your pole !
 
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ian jay

Guest
Because the Match Angler does not select their fishing spot, they are constantly facing challenges that the rest of the angling fraternity (usually) don't. Finding the fish, identifying the species, exploring the topography of the water, and all in often extreme weather conditions is the challenge. Not always easy with 20 others either side of you!
 
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Terry Comerford

Guest
All aspects of angling should be promoted.
The sport suffers too much as it is from a 'were better than you', clique mentality.
Specimen anglers,match anglers,pleasure anglers,one species anglers!
We are all anglers,and the sooner we stop deriding,other sections of the sport the better.
Any one ever heard Michael Shumacer having a go at Rally drivers or Jonathan Edwards knocking Dwaine Chambers?
 
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Mark Williams

Guest
I would never knock any kind of fishing, and I think I mentioned my respect for great match anglers. I just don't get it, that's all. If there's obstacle many anglers place in the way of catching more fish, it's banging in the rod rests and hammering home the bivvy pegs. I do it when I have to, but I'm much happier wandering around lobbing a bait in here and there. I can't see that there's MORE skill (or less) in fishing a random swim for all it's worth, but there's at least as much skill in locating the fish you want to catch, choosing tackle which gets bites, and then catching the fish you WANT to catch.
(from Mark Williams, The Anderson Shelter, Botton of the Garden, Peterborough)
 
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Chris Bishop

Guest
I think it's important to lighten up and have a few laughs at each other's foibles.
 
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Terry Comerford

Guest
I agree Chris lets have a laugh at each others foibles.Privately!
IMO theres too much division in angling for it to be taken seriously, by the public,the media,and outside sponsors.
If we promoted 'Angling' and included all branches of the sport,including Sea,Game,and Coarse,we would gain the same respect,and coverage as other 'Elite Sports'.
Namely; Football,Cricket,Rugby,Athletics,etc.
Who have millions of pounds ploughed into them each year, because they show a united front when its needed.
It should'nt matter which section of 'Angling'anyone participates in, or who needs more skill to be succesfull.
The fact,we do not, All, just count ourselves as Anglers, is I believe, the reason we have been left behind as a sport.
 
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ian jay

Guest
Terry

Fishing is not ready made for TV, unlike the other sports you mention. Is this why it has trouble finding the coverage and thus respect?
 
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The Monk

Guest
I've never match fished but have the greatest respect for those who do, I was very fortunate in watching the late Benny Ashurst fish on numerous occasions when the family took over Pilsworth, he had the greatest repect for all branches of the sport and once he came and had a brew in my bivvy, very sadly missed, a true angler.
 
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Terry Comerford

Guest
Ian,If fishing could be as popularised as those other sports have been,some bright spark would find a lasting tv format for it.
Passion for Angling,was a darn good try.(It covered all branches of our sport).
Bowls,darts,and snooker,have all made it!
 
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Terry Comerford

Guest
In 1970, I watched Benny Ashurst for two hours fishing a stick float against the far bank of a canal.
Sat there in awe as he talked me through each shot as it dropped through the water.
I had never seen roach that size caught from a canal before.(Casters)
I made loads of tonkin cane and balsa sticks that season.
 
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Chris Bishop

Guest
I don't think Mark's trying to cause divisions. I anything, he's doing to opposite by encouraging people to lighten up and have a few laughs.
 
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ian jay

Guest
Terry
Are you sure it was a stick float?
As you know, they are for running water, You can watch the shot drop on waggler with fine insert.
 
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Terry Comerford

Guest
Ian,
yes it was a stick float, Benny made his stick floats with a cane stem and a dense balsa body.
The floats would cock in progressive tiny movements,like the second hand on a clock going backwards
He often used the slow cocking of these floats to catch roach on the drop,from all types of venues.
You could see how each evenly spaced shot, in turn slowly registered and tilted the float to an upright posistion.
When the float finally settled he simply reeled in and cast again.
He went on to win countless matches on canals,stillwaters and rivers, using the stickfloat and another innovation of his casters.
The stickfloat and casters added a new dimension to the sport for 'All' anglers.
 
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Ron Clay

Guest
I count myself extremely fortunate in that I once fished in the company of Benny Ashurst. It was in Ireland near Carrick on Shannon ca 1961.

He was a truly great character and an extremely skilled angler indeed.

I am still attempting to master the stick float technique on rivers. That, together with nymph fishing for trout on still waters I regard as the two most difficult and skillful forms of angling.
 
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Mark Williams

Guest
Someone relayed this true story to me once: Benny was watching Kevin start a match on a big lake venue one day. Kevin was having some swing-tip trouble, and cracked off two or three feeders during the cast. At last, he got one out there and sat looking at the tip for 15 minutes. "There's not a reet lot of fish in 'ere dad," he said. "Ow do thee know? Thee asn't f@@king fished it yet," said Benny.
 
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The Monk

Guest
Early 70,s (ish) just before the Ivan Marks reinvention of the float, wagglers, carrots etc Ian!
 
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