R
Ron Clay
Guest
I have fished for over 50 years. Much of my time has been spent in the Sheffield area, the home of match fishing.
I have never been attracted to match fishing as is seems too organised for me and I have strong objections to being told when I must start fishing, where I must fish, and worst of all when I must stop fishing.
And here lies the difference between match anglers and simple folk such as myself. I go fishing to compete against the fish. The last thing I am ever interested in is to compete against another angler. Somehow, competing against another angler, to me seems wrong.
But don't judge me too hastily. Match angling appeals to many other people and quite honestly I have nothing against that.
What I do object to is the many match anglers who seem to think that match angling rules all. The foundation of tne NFA is based solely on match angling for example.
What we need is for match anglers to understand why specialist anglers fish the way we do. Not only that, but why ordinary pleasure anglers love to go out and catch a few fish. In many cases they don't have to be monsters. But many pleasure anglers of my aquaintance do like to catch a fish that pulls their string.
What we don't want, in many cases, is to be told that a particular stretch of water is matched up and we had better move on. What many match anglers forget is that the ordinary pleasure angler is the salt of the earth and the basic reason why many of us go fishing.
We do not need to compete with other anglers. Competing against the fish is enough.
I have never been attracted to match fishing as is seems too organised for me and I have strong objections to being told when I must start fishing, where I must fish, and worst of all when I must stop fishing.
And here lies the difference between match anglers and simple folk such as myself. I go fishing to compete against the fish. The last thing I am ever interested in is to compete against another angler. Somehow, competing against another angler, to me seems wrong.
But don't judge me too hastily. Match angling appeals to many other people and quite honestly I have nothing against that.
What I do object to is the many match anglers who seem to think that match angling rules all. The foundation of tne NFA is based solely on match angling for example.
What we need is for match anglers to understand why specialist anglers fish the way we do. Not only that, but why ordinary pleasure anglers love to go out and catch a few fish. In many cases they don't have to be monsters. But many pleasure anglers of my aquaintance do like to catch a fish that pulls their string.
What we don't want, in many cases, is to be told that a particular stretch of water is matched up and we had better move on. What many match anglers forget is that the ordinary pleasure angler is the salt of the earth and the basic reason why many of us go fishing.
We do not need to compete with other anglers. Competing against the fish is enough.
