Tom Scholey on why Alex Bones is wrong to say modern match methods require a similar amount of skill.
I love a good debate – and Alex’s response to my last blog has certainly got the old grey matter whirring! As he rightly says, we are good friends – and I have a lot of respect for his opinion.
That said, I believe his argument that all modern match methods require a similar amount of skill to execute is misguided and wrong. In my mind, there is far more skill to, for example, catching a net of roach on bloodworm, or on the stickfloat, waggler or bolo than a net of commercial carp on the Method feeder.
Ex England star, Lee Thornton on why team fishing is going nowhere. I read with interest Mark Downes article in this month’s Match Fishing magazine, and was particularly interested in Mark's comments regarding how the team is treated with contempt here in the UK and like superstars abroad. Well Mark, you are of course correct, I cannot think of many people within match fishing who care one iota whether the England Team comes first or last. This of course shouldn’t be the situation, the guys at the top of the game should be given praise that they deserve but I have been thinking about why this is the case.
Top northern angler Jamie Wilde reveals his all-time top 10 tips for rod-and-line success with carp when the water temperature plummets!
1. Go Large!
Clearly, the size of the fish matters in any match, although every carp counts and adds pounds to the final weight. Taking your time and being patient can be the difference between losing and landing a fish.
Bites can be very hard to come by during winter months so bigger fish like this can really make a difference.
Des Shipp’s Commercial Edges
Who better to give you 10 top tips for catching carp on the short pole this month than England superstar, Des Shipp!
1 - Keep Quiet
One of the most important things to do when you’re planning to catch at close range is to remain as quiet as possible.
Wise fish in today’s commercials are very wary of bankside disturbance, so try to keep any banging and movements on the bank to a minimum while setting up, and more importantly, when fishing.
2 - The Magic Depth
Fishing in the right depth of water is essential if you plan on catching on the short pole, and I often see people fishing far too close for my liking, in too shallower water.
Where possible, the minimum depth that I like to target is four feet.
It's great to see we've finally passed the 2k barrier on our Facebook fan page! We seem to have a really nice community on there with not too many plonkers and just lots of people appreciating the snippets of info, teaser pics, vid trailers and surveys we pop on there. It's also great to see where these people come from. There's a considerable number from Europe and further afield which proves to me that pole fishing is perhaps not quite as specialist a field as we sometimes think. Where do we go from here? 3,000, of course.
Joe Carass recounts an extremely busy few weeks that has seen him catch a lot of fish and receive a few batterings too! Underwater Shenanigans! It has been quite some time since my last blog so I have a lot to catch up on. Firstly I must say how overwhelmed I have been by the response to the Underwater Secrets series in Match Fishing. I fully believe we are all going to become better anglers because of it.
We had a basic list of goals for the first part of the series but, as soon as Rob Hughes got in the lake, one question led to another and before we knew it, it was getting dark! If you haven’t seen the feature already I urge you to go out and buy the magazine, as you will definitely learn something from it.
Tom Scholey on what the Angling Trust do right. As any regular readers of my blog will know, in the past I have been quite critical of the Angling Trust and some of its competitions. I make no apologies for that, because as a journalist with an interest in match and pole fishing it is my job to highlight issues and problems as they arise. However, perhaps one thing that I am guilty of is not giving praise where it is due for some of the better ideas and events that the Angling Trust has come up with.
Lee Kerry on bagging 513lb. I read with interest a few comments following the colossal weights taken in the semi final of the Drennan Knockout Cup at Cob House Fishery “ That’s not fishing” “I would rather catch 5lb of roach on a canal” “Totally Ridiculous”!That's just to name a few. I must say that on my way for my practice session I was thinking along similar lines. I couldn’t believe that fishing such a prolific venue could be much fun.
Darren Cox pays a quick visit to one of his all-time favourite angling destinations, White Acres Holiday Park in Cornwall. I made a flying visit to Cornwall last week when Simon Fry and I were due to present the new range of Garbolino products to the fishing team. They have done lots of work over the winter in ready for the Spring festivals and the seriously busy summer time. All the islands have been cut back nicely so anyone going down this year will be able to drop their feeders as tight as they like now! That’s sure to mean more fish for everyone as the fish cant back off into the vegetation any more as it’s all gone.
On Saturday I had a trip to Fir Tree Fisheries in wigan, to take part in one of the charity qualifiers in association with Adlington Angling centre and Adlington Angling Club to help raise money for Christies.
Fir Tree is a venue I had only fished once before, about 6 years ago, and had a shocker to honest. Today I drew peg 34 which meant nothing, with alot of anglers fishing, I knew fishing the far bank at 16m on the pole would probably be my best bet of catching a few.
Started across on an Marukyu's Amino Focus 6mm pellet, feeding Fishery pellets flavour with a bit of Marukyu's Scopex Amino, within minutes I hooked a 4lb mirror which I lost at the net, the next few hours were slow, nicking to odd small carp and a few stocky F1s, but nothing over a pound.
Tony Curd's first blog for Match Fishing kicks off with the Colemans Cottage Individual Winter League. Last Sunday saw the second round of the first Colemans Cottage Winter League held at the venue. While not being hugely attended this league takes place on a venue I would consider one of the very best in the country and the addition of the new Stepfield Lake, which will hold 65-70 pegs when fully open, only adds to the great sport on offer at the Essex venue. Maybe one day it’ll figure in Fish’O’Mania and Match This qualifiers? The first round was a good start for me - I drew an average area of the lake and while the fishing was tough, mainly due to several hard frosts on the trot, I managed to winkle out 33lb 8oz of small F1s for 3rd in the match and second in section.
Joe Carass was staring down the barrel at the weekend but a blinding last hour saw him come good!
The matches are coming thick and fast at the moment thanks to the arctic weather that put paid to the planned Winter League schedule. However it does mean more fishing which is certainly not a bad thing!
Once again it was to be another round of the Winter League at Tunnel Barn. Regular readers of my blog will know that last week our Match Fishing Drawbags team took the lead in this extremely difficult league. So this week was all about keeping in front!
Jon Arthur was yet again in charge of the draw but this week his drawing arm wasn’t quite so good.
This week I decided to try somewhere new, Lloyds Meadow Fishery. It's a venue which I've hear loads of great things about, but have never had the opportunity to get round to fishing it. I decided to fish a lake called Badger, in hope of a few bites.
The plan was to fish the pole all day, with the chance of catching a few carp.
Well, it’s certainly been a while since I last updated you with my extraordinarily exciting life. It’s amazing how I blink and months disappear. Work has been interesting to say the least and looking back I’m amazed I managed to fish the matches I have.
Being so busy I pulled away from the big majors this year.
Tom Scholey recalls a match when things didn't quite go according to plan!Picture the scene. It was the first day of my first festival of the year, and I was itching for a good result. Rigs were tied, fresh elastics were threaded and tensioned to perfection, and I was ready to take on the world. The draw put me on Peg 35 at Porth Reservoir.
