@Clive
Well-known member
Don't let the lure anglers off the hook. Here's what you get for around a hundred and fifty quid. It is a foot long and weighs about 5 ounces.....
I
I
no offence taken … and I agree on the landing net shots, not that I’ve ever seen someone so that on a match.I concede my example wasn't the best. I really wanted a pic of a full commie set-up with keepnets festooning a tool bar and side trays, back trays, double-deck trays, the full English of accessories, luggage to rival an airport baggage collection belt ...... I couldn't find one when I looked.
I fish rivers mostly myself but haven't fished a match since 2008, when I added half a dozen stents (the bloke who did the angiogram actually laughed when he saw the screen, and said, I can see why you've been having chest pain, Kevin) to the rheumatoid arthritis that hadn't helped since it set in in 1987.
I use a trolley myself, not surprisingly, but with either a compact Octbox or an old Boss box. Of course, I don't need the kitchen sink, as I know, pretty well, before I go what peg or kind of pegs/methods I'll use. I did try a motorised trolley, Powa walker, I think it was, but it was made out of scaffold pole or similar and the battery alone would give you a hernia to get in and out of the boot.
I'm aware that good match anglers, as all good anglers, have good fish handling, but I have to see I've seen some rough handling on videos of the famous winter hotspots. And, even though I often take a quick pic of my keepnet to stick on a HDYGO post, I really don't care for the business of cramming them into - worse, lining them up so they all point the same way - a landing net head, which is often seen. We know how much fish sometimes have to be messed about to get them to line up for the camera. For me, in shots that are meant to enhance a brand or angler's profile, those pics do the opposite.
So - no offence intended to you and your river match friends.
no offence taken … and I agree on the landing net shots, not that I’ve ever seen someone so that on a match.
He is a bit short on clickers he should have 7. God knows what the stocking level if you need 7 keepnets for a 5 hour match.no offence taken … and I agree on the landing net shots, not that I’ve ever seen someone so that on a match.
this kind of thing?
There’s three clickers by his left hand!
I’ve had two heart valve replacements now … but still carry my AS1 on canals, usually barrow it when there’s a walk on the river
i honestly think more damage happens to fish when you’re trying to race them past lurking pike, especially on finer wire hooks
When I sea fished I won a few club competitions with 80 - 100 lb bags (the "good" old days!). A day like that became hard work, speed fishing is certainly not sporting!
View attachment 32674
I am 72 now and learnt from those mistakes of youth! That was not even a match catch, just me showing an English visitor some good Scottish sea fishing.
Those bags were mainly of cod, but all good eating fish. It did not happen very often fortunately, I hated the filleting and bagging for the freezer.
How anyone can catch so many fish to fill all those nets? All that hard work and not a meal to be seen for that!
Going back to the gizmo theme, I admit I do own a Deeper Start castable sonar! After years of boat fishing I do realise the practical uses for such kit. Perhaps not as a "fishfinder" but for confirming features and obstructions, I use it a few times a year.
Other than that I try to minimise my kit to a shoulder bag, rod holdall with 2 rods and banksticks, lightweight chair. If feeder fishing I add my bucket in a bucket, one for groundbait mix and the inside bucket for feeders, spare hookbait etc. Oh, almost forgot the landing net - not for the first time!
If I cannot walk half a mile with my tackle I start looking at ways of reducing the load. Like most my age I have plenty of health problems, fortunately my heart and legs keep going.
No longer interested in catching LOTS of fish, don't really think I ever was, just the occasional good specimen keeps me happy. But I guess each of us have different needs and ambitions, mine has always been to find that perfect specimen fish!
View attachment 32675
Photo by the late Ian Gillespie
Sea fishing, beach especially, seems more about the tackle and casting distance than the fish caught nowadays!Likewise with sea fishing, I won a few beach and boat championships when I was younger and when I look at match results for Dungeness, Hythe and other well known venues and the weights that I won with would have been more than the total reported weights of the combined anglers in most cases in more recent years.
Even back then the trawlers were in some cases so close to shore that you could have cast into them. We never seem to learn the lesson.