Craig Butterfield reflects on a recent feature with a difference. What is a match angler? I’m sure like me the idea you have of a match angler is someone sat on a fancy box with all the trimmings, holding an expensive pole and dressed head to toe in fancy coloured Gore-Tex clothing. On Saturday I was lucky enough to be on the bank with Dean Winsbury shooting some angling videos, now I’m sure all of you are thinking, “Who the hell is Dean Winsbury”? Well he’s a match angler, and a good one at that! He’s a master at bagging on prolific commercials and boasts match catches from venues such as Barston of over 800lb! You may be wondering how a match angler can have such huge catches and never grace the pages of Match Fishing magazine, well he’s a carp angler, or is that a specimen angler, after all, 90% of us fish for carp every week and would never dream of labeling ourselves carp anglers! We’re match anglers!Spending time on the bank with Dean and talking to him about his own style of match fishing was fantastic, you could tell as soon as I mentioned his match fishing a spark was ignited, he began to talk about matches he’s won and the ones that agonizingly slipped through his fingers due to a bad decision on his part. As he reminisced over the near misses and the “if onlys” I realized I could have been talking to absolutely anyone in the pub after one out our “normal” matches.
Home team take first round victory. Eight teams of four lined the banks for this opening round of the 2013-14 Larford Lakes Winter League series. Thirty two anglers pegged equally across both Match and Specimen lakes went head-to-head in a bid to start their campaign strongly and break into an early lead. Conditions on the day were not ideal with a frost the previous day having cleared the water coupled with a low and very bright winter sun.
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Walsall rod scoops £1,000 festival victory. Ian Winter sounded a warning to the rest of the competitors in next weekend's RiverFest 2013 final by taking top spot in this years three day festival with a brilliant 4 point total. The DH Angling grouped angler was delighted with the victory which scooped him over £1,000 in cash plus tackle prizes donated by festival sponsor Shakespeare. "I've had a great three days," a delighted Ian said after the presentation.
River on song - and prize fund receives £4,000 boost!This weekend is set to host the inaugral final of the big money Riverfest competition. Taking place on the River Wye at Hereford, a total of 60 anglers will be competing to win a share of the £25,200 prize fund on offer. The winner will walk away with a £10,000 cheque, and the prestigious title of Angling Trust RiverFest Champion 2013. Organiser, Dave Harrell believes the river couldn't be in better fettle for the weekends match, commenting: "With the weather we have had over the last few weeks, I think the river will be in great shape come the weekend.
Qualifiers grow in size for 2014. Matchroom Sport have announced an increase of pegs for some of the 2014 Fish ‘O’ Mania XXI qualifiers. Over recent years, qualifiers have been limited to 130 pegs, with just the final qualifier at Lindholme Lakes boasting a whopping 300 peg total. For 2014, there will be an increase in pegs for a total of eight of the qualifiers.
Fish worth over £2,000 stolen from Midlands venue. The prolific Barston Lakes near Solihull is famous among specimen carp, and match anglers alike – and has a deserved reputation for being among the country’s most prolific fishing venues. However, last Thursday night it was the victim of a fish theft. Anglers who have visited the venue before cannot have failed to notice the clubhouse’s novel koi carp pond, which is housed in the giant ornamental fountain at the front of the club house.
Stewart Lister reflects on an enjoyable Veterans Festival. I am sure I’m not alone in the belief that we are not getting older, and think we can still do what we did 25 years ago? Sure, the odd niggle here and pain there, are little reminders of the years creeping by. That along with those annoying age category questions that I see all the time on the internet, you know the ones that put us all in nice age brackets like 18 – 24 years, 25 -30 and so on. Well, you know time is marching on when the next bracket that applies to you is over 65! So, what is this all about in a fishing article? Well when you get to the magical age of 55 you become eligible to fish ‘Veterans matches and festivals’ like the Coors Veterans held annually at White Acres! It was really great meeting up with a lot of old friends as I competed in my first vets festival, I am a little annoyed with myself for not doing it a couple of years ago as I have missed out on a really great event, it’s one that will now be pencilled in my diary for as long as I am able.
Garbolino ace takes £1,000 win. Kian Wardle has won the seventh annual Silvermaniac competition at Devon’s Stafford Moor complex. The popular contest, which was this year contested by 66 of the country’s best silverfish anglers, takes place over two days with the first day of the competition being a qualifier, and the second a final for the winners of each section. With several days worth of cold rain pouring into the complex, the fishing was predictably tough and patchy in areas, but Sunday’s final on the usually prolific Tanners Lake still boasted a star studded line up.
Angling's health benefits acknowledged in national press. Coverage in The Guardian newspaper to about a scheme in Newcastle-upon-Tyne which involved GPs prescribing fishing as a tonic for patients suffering from stress and depression has been welcomed by anglers. The article explains how angling is one of several activities which can be recommended by Doctors as a "social prescription". Innovation charity Nesta has found that a majority of GPs are keen to find alternative ways of improving patients' health and wellbeing without dishing out more and more medicines.
