Should casters be banned

[Peter Jacobs]

I must be missing something here.

Match anglers are quite content to fork out two grand for a pole, four or five hundred more for extra top kits, six hundred notes for a seat box and God knows how much more for rods and reels and yet they baulk at £35 for enough casters to compete in an overstuffed commercial venue.

There truly are nowt so queer as folk.

 

[Steve Arnold]

That does surprise me Steve. Although to be fair you do catch more than your fair share of whoppers

On the big, natural river that you fish I would put in at least three or four large droppers of small particles; milled maize, hemp, wheat, maggots, etc plus micro pellets to create a scent trail before I started fishing. I also make my groundbait smelly by allowing it to ferment and including some Oily Bag Mix or Robin Red sauce in it. Then I would top up after every fish. Clip up the dropper rod, transfer the distance to your fishing rod and you should be bang on. Hang a feeder or pva bag on to give them something to home on to.

Since Philip mentioned that Pacific Peche sell maggots at reasonable prices I've been amending my route to the Charente to pick up some on the way. Strangely Angouleme charge €7,40 for half a litre whereas at Limoges last week they were €2 cheaper and they discounted to €5. Lobworms were also €2 a tub cheaper than Angouleme. I freeze whatever maggots I have left over and use them in the dropper on my next session.

Just returned from shopping, Sally wanted some Decathlon camping towels so I went to the fishing section. Made a dent in my fishing budget by buying 1/2 litre of maggots, they were only about 5 euros. I don't often fish with maggots as they catch a lot of small barbel and bring my average fish size down considerably. Actually I do not like sticking hooks in small fish, I really do feel sorry for them. The bigger specimens though, my conscience is clear, they really should have learnt better!

But I did buy a float rod a while back, about time I used it!

When I read how much some UK anglers spend on bait, well, that's why the fish grow big!

I did spend a fair bit testing boilies last year, those that were not instantly accepted got ground down for groundbait and PVA parcels. So this year has been cheap for me.

Now I have two types of boilies with each in two sizes. Those bags last a long time, in fact I split a couple with Alistair.

Maybe I should have given him the 2nd rate boilies? He is catching too much these days!

 

[@Clive]

Just returned from shopping, Sally wanted some camping towels so I went to the fishing section. Made a dent in my fishing budget by buying 1/2 litre of maggots, they were only about 5 euros. I don't often fish with maggots as they catch a lot of small barbel and bring my average fish size down considerably. Actually I do not like sticking hooks in small fish, I really do feel sorry for them. The bigger specimens though, my conscience is clear, they really should have learnt better!

But I did buy a float rod a while back, about time I used it!

When I read how much some UK anglers spend on bait, well, that's why the fish grow big!

I did spend a fair bit testing boilies last year, those that were not instantly accepted got ground down for groundbait and PVA parcels. So this year has been cheap for me.

Now I have two types of boilies with each in two sizes. Those bags last a long time, in fact I split a couple with Alistair.

Maybe I should have given him the 2nd rate boilies? He is catching too much these days!

Steve, don't use the maggots on the hook for barbel. Put them in the swim using a dropper and those that don't get immediately swept away will hide themselves under the gravel and keep any marauding barbel busy for ages. I sometimes scatter a few maggots on the grass at the bottom of the garden if there aren't enough to warrant freezing. There will be four or five blackbirds there all day for at least two days hunting out the maggots from the grass. Squatts and pinkies are even better, but keep the bait tub in a well sealed plastic bag as they are escapologists.

Same principle with hemp seed. The tiny particles lodge in the gravel and barbel have the edge over bream in finding them. Three litres of chillied hemp €15 at pechepromo with cheap delivery to a point relais. That would be enough for ten sessions. Milled maize is about €8 for five kilos. A quarter of a kilo soaked in boiling water then mixed 50/50 with the hemp will do you and Alistaire for the full day. Add your broken boilies for scent attraction and fish with the best boilies. Or luncheon meat, less than €3 a tin at the supermarket in Cajarc. That would give you 9 good hook baits.

Bombs away Skipper!

 

[markcw]

If someone buys a gallon of casters say on a Friday night , That could be for a match on a Saturday and Sunday .
Just because a gallon has been purchased does not mean it's used all in one go .
I would rather feed a few pints of casters than a few tins of meat .
A lot of fisheries now have bait limits ,which will include groundbait , and so many pints of bait , this includes meat as well as maggots and casters . So if say a 5 pint limit you will have to work out which combination of baits will be best on the day .
I fish maggot and feed caster on some commercials , and can get through 2 pints of casters doing that ,
Reason for feeding casters is twofold .
One ..they make more noise than maggots going in .and we all know that fish are inquisitive.
Two... If I miss a bite on maggot ,I know I can go straight back in , if fishing caster and miss a bite , I know I have been shelled and need to change the caster .
Chopped worm and caster on its day is good , again fish small piece of worm ,feed caster.

 

[markcw]

I must be missing something here.

Match anglers are quite content to fork out two grand for a pole, four or five hundred more for extra top kits, six hundred notes for a seat box and God knows how much more for rods and reels and yet they baulk at £35 for enough casters to compete in an overstuffed commercial venue.

There truly are nowt so queer as folk.

£500 for extra topkits for a 2 grand pole .?
£2000 poles will come with around 7 topkits ,spare number short 4 or number 3 and a cupping kit . Average price for Daiwa kits is less than £100 ,same for most Preston innovations which will fit Daiwa . Other brands topkits with interchange with others depending on ID of the number two section .
I sold my G50 with 10 topkits,got a very good price for it. originally I had 20 all Daiwa , sold a few and swapped a few.
I know lots of match anglers who do not own £600 seatboxes . Or pay stupid money for top range rods and they do very well .
A friend who is an ex England international, consultant for Drennan will happily use their red range series of rods on commercials .
He also knows when certain commercials are ready for a change of bait .From say pellet to maggot , and will buy four pints of maggots and use those and either win or frame .
Like I said paying £,35 for casters does not mean they will be used all in one go . Not all commercials are overstuffed as people think .
Check those with big weights coming out , and see how many anglers fished , now put in every peg in that match and those weights will plummet .
I've done the ton in a match , I used a total of 6 pre drilled 8mm pellets on the end of a method feeder on the pole , fed lighty with a mix of 2mm and groundbait in a small method feeder to the far side . Total bait cost was price of 6 pre drilled pellets out of a £2.50 bag .
Cost of a £3 bag of fishery micros and £3 bag of groundbait .
Total £8.50
Won the match .

 

[Peter Jacobs]

As usual Mark in your rush to criticise you totally missed the point of my post.

 

[markcw]

As usual Mark in your rush to criticise you totally missed the point of my post.

Not at all ,just pointing out that expensive tackle is not needed to compete in high profile matches. Or cost of bait .
You say £2000 on a pole , I had mine over 7 years ,sold it for £800 which is not a bad price .
You mention rods and reels .
What about those who use high end fly rods or cane rods and high end centre pins . ? They may not fish matches but they are using expensive equipment same as some match anglers do.
One of my reels retailed at £140, another £100 I've had them a few years and happy to keep using them . My feeder rod that was a prototype for Jan Porter retails still abroad at around €280, I didn't pay that obviously. I got it off the Shimano rep/consultant who got it off Jan . But I am also happy to use a £30 feeder rod and waggler rod .
I get your point where you say they baulk at £35 for casters after buying fishing tackle .
But again those casters could be for a weekend an possibly a midweek match.
I've had to feed 8 tins of corn from the off just to get a wim going on one complex , wàsnt just me either .Ok there is a price difference but if you want to compete you have to go with the flow .
.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

Why did you end up selling your match gear then Mark did match fishing lose its attraction?

Ten top kits with all the associated hardware must have cost a fair bit.

 

[bennygesserit]

I wonder when a fishery will put limits on the amount you can spend on tackle ? ...someone will eventually claim its cheating to use a more expensive pole or rod.

....I'll add it to the list of places to avoid with a barge pole

might be fishing a bit heavy there

 

[markcw]

Why did you end up selling your match gear then Mark did match fishing lose its attraction?

Ten top kits with all the associated hardware must have cost a fair bit.

I bought a job lot of tackle including two 16 metre poles , Two rod tubes of Daiwa interlastic topkits,spare number 4's and cupping kit .
I paid £30 for those
Plus a couple of reels,a rod and two Preston pole rollers .They were worth over £100,
Cost me less than £300. For the lot .
Sold one of the poles for £800
The other£250.
Sold the rod £30
Kept the reels
Kept the topkits and spare sections , like new ,
If I had bought them from a shop would have cost nearly £1000.
Plus a new tourney pro extension that fit my pole for £30, again a few hundred to buy.
Hence adding some to my collection and selling and swapping the others .
The lad who was selling the stuff had priced it up, I wasn't going to argue .
My mate bought the rest of it ,including two new stradic reels at £30 each . Two fully loaded Preston and matrix seatboxes at £100 each and rods n reels . He paid just under £500 for what he got .

Sold my match gear including seatbox side trays etc ,because hardly used it past 4 years , Doing more river and gravel pit and reservoir fishing now .
Kept a pole in case go on the canal . Plus feeder and float rods.And margin pole for a couple of venues .
Using an old ASI seatbox I paid £35 for, bloke didn't have a clue on what it was worth , I drove over hour and a half to collect it.

Match fishing didn't lose the attraction ,I was still going to northwest to fish club matches .
A lot of it round Oxford was all river matches , I was sounded out by one of the Drennan Oxford lads about fishing with them on the rivers .
I would have needed more practice before I would have committed myself .

 

[RMNDIL]

My bait bill for a WL back in very early 80's was at least 15% of my gross weekly salary.

So £32 for casters = an annual salary of £11K. So that baits cheap by comparison.

 

[stevejay]

But casters aren't much more expensive than maggots now are they? Talking to my local tackle shop he told me the price of maggots has escalated as the bait fridges cost so much more to run now given electricity prices. His bill has almost doubled.

I can remember when casters were almost double the price of maggots, now the difference is less than a pound here. I know they don't last the same, but for serious match anglers their cost isn't prohibitive in my view.

 

[markcw]

I'm paying £3.50 for a pint of maggots . Not bought casters for a while so can't comment on those . I think I paid £10 for a large match pack of worms . I remember the days I could get a kilo for £15.

 

[markcw]

I'm paying £3.50 for a pint of maggots . Not bought casters for a while so can't comment on those . I think I paid £10 for a large match pack of worms . I remember the days I could get a kilo for £15.
I think Monument fisheries put a limit on maggots one time a few years ago . Anglers were turning up with say a gallon and using them in feed , and catching fairly well . The response was there was no food value in maggots hence the limit .In other words use high protein baits . I may be wrong on the venue .

 

[markcw]

Slightly off topic , does anyone remember using Sillybait groundbait and pellets .?

 

[markcw]

My bait bill for a WL back in very early 80's was at least 15% of my gross weekly salary.

So £32 for casters = an annual salary of £11K. So that baits cheap by comparison.

Was that river winter leagues Richard ,?
Mine were canals in the northwest .
Bread punch and squats or pinkies main bait.
So a cheap bait bill for us.
One match was that hard I ended up fishing half a squatt on 0.06 to a 24 hook just to get bites of razor blade skimmers.

 

[rayner]

At least Bloodworm and Joker is still a decent price. Winter fishing bait bills should be easy to cope with.

 

[Philip]

Long time ago but I have a vague memory that Mike Stone won the Kamasan matchman of the year title one year basically whip fishing bread punch & liquidized bread in most of the matches.

...both simple & cheap. Maybe he should have got a prize for winning with the lowest budget too

 

[RMNDIL]

Was that river winter leagues Richard ,?
Mine were canals in the northwest .
Bread punch and squats or pinkies main bait.
So a cheap bait bill for us.
One match was that hard I ended up fishing half a squatt on 0.06 to a 24 hook just to get bites of razor blade skimmers.

The 3 Thames matches out of the 6 (3 Thames + Cherwell + 2 Oxo canal). Winter = chub (unless we had rain and it was coloured). It was mostly hard and meant fishing for a chub but there were pegs and even small areas where chub would always be and sometimes even to catch 2 or 3 you'd end up spraying bait to provoke a reaction. Taking 6 pints Bronze, pint of casters, worms, GB, some pinkies etc was totally normal. And a lot of it was just in case you drew somewhere. If you didn't feed it you used it next match (bought some fresh bronze anyway) or turned casters from them. Nothing really got wasted but you paid for it whatever. It's just what you did. And for people like me on a low wage it was expensive.

The Oxo was a blood & joker affair. Other baits as well. Caster worked for bonus fish. I can remember driving to get B&J from Pat O'Connor more than a few times.

I can remember winning a144 peg WL at Godstow though in 1987 with 6 chub all on......................cheese !!!!

 

[Alan Whitty]

The problem is, is that not everyone attending these matches can afford 6 pints of casters, so if the top guys want to keep harvesting the pool money they might want to go with the ban to keep the attendances up a little, add to that these not so well off anglers aren't spending 2 thousand plus on poles etc...