The future of match fishing

[andy driver]

I don't catagorise myself under any banner, choosing to fish a variety of methods as and when the mood takes me. But over the last 10 years or so, the number of Carp fishermen on my club waters has increase dramatically to the point where float and feeder fishing is dying out on some lakes, despite the presence of a good head of quality 'match' fish like Tench and Bream.

With the growing popularity of Carp fishing, am I alone in thinking that match fishing as well as float and feeder fishing in general, are in danger of becoming marginalised as most of the youngsters coming into the sport seem only interested in buying buzzers and baitrunners?

I don't fish matches but wonder what the knock on effects would be for matches if this trend continues. Where will the sport be in another 10 or 20 years?

 

[Mark Wintle]

Andy,

You're certainly not alone in thinking this. I have yet to see evidence of this reversing either.

Decline of match fishing

 

[Rickrod]

the same thing is happening on my local lake

 

[andy driver]

What concerns me most is the effect on our rivers. Without anglers, many of our rivers would be sadly neglected. Also, I would not want to see long stretches of river dominated by bivvies and buzzers, being as the latest trend in Carp angling seems to be targeting rivers.

It sounds a bit like I am taking a swipe a Carp anglers, but nothing could further from the truth - I beat my pb yesterday with a 28lb plated mirror and have just about stopped shaking!

I grew up float fishing for Tench and Chub in the Lea Valley and would hate to see that brilliant introduction to the sport fall by the wayside. The invaluable watercraft skills learned years ago apply to any form of the sport and many of the kids coming through now via Carp angling would benefit greatly from that kind of knowledge.

 

[andy driver]

Mark - thanks for the link to your article. Some of those figures are astonishing. 8,000 down to 200? It's worse than I thought. I live on the south coast where the match scene probably isn't as prolific as it is (was?) in the Midlands. Plus, we don't have access to the same volume of river and canal fishing.

Your article is bang on about the development of stillwaters and the easy availability of personal tranport. But even if you ignore the match scene, there are precious few lads out and about who pleasure fish with a float rod these days.

You've only got to look around your local tackle shop these days to see the changes. I was in a very well know shop a few weeks ago and the coarse fishing section measured 4 shelves high by about eight feet wide. Not a float or feeder rod in sight, but plenty of room for 4 bivvies to be assembled in one corner and 4 full size freezers full of boilies.

Is there anything that can be done? I doubt it somehow. If you are twelve years old and see pictures in the angling press of forty pound monsters, it's easy to see which direction you might head in. The only way I can see of slowing the process down is for kids to be introduced to non-carp angling by their Dads/Uncles etc, before being let loose on the Carp. Either that or for another species to become fashionable or capture the imagination of the angling world.