Mmmmm,not entirely true Mark Pollard has always carried a trombone in his carryall,that said most of the good matchmen I knew didnt spout a lot,most of the time they didnt need to,they were very confident of their own ability....
I’ve got nothing to say beyond the obvious, but since a couple of obvious things haven’t come up yet…
You have to enjoy competition – so much so, that it compensates for fishing at the worst time of day, or in places and swims you’d never otherwise choose. You have to accept that all the time preparing bait, rigs and tackle, networking and compiling information, might count for nothing with a poor draw or bad conditions on the day. Match fishing can be up early/home late, with actual fishing the thin filling in a thick sandwich of faffing around before the draw and waiting to weigh and hear the results. Also, you need to like fishing with, as well as against, other people - the craic, the banter, the blather. You don’t have to be sociable to fish matches, but it helps to be a gregarious type.
I’m not knocking it – just saying it demands more than just highly developed fishing skills. It’s more like a way of life and a little world of its own. I’ve fished a few matches over the years, club and open, enjoyed it up to a point, and done ok, but aside from lacking the talent to be that good at it, I’m too much of a do my own thing, as and when I please, alone or in selected company kind of angler. I sometimes fish with a friend with a long match fishing pedigree, and he says, as we set up in adjacent pegs, let’s have a £1 on it. But I generally decline as I don’t want to spend the day remarking on who’s ahead so far, a different matter to seeing how we’re each faring. Fishing against the fish is enough competition for me.
That said, if I’ve got, or ever had, any angling heroes, they were match anglers, and I read their books and columns and even went to many matches to watch them fish. I still do that, in fact, and often spend a few hours watching the summer evening opens on the local river. The standard is high, and seeing what the best can do is eye-opening. If you’re a turn up, pick a peg and play it by ear angler – as opposed to chasing a species, targeting specimens, going camping etc – it’s hard to find a better display of technique, know-how and making the most of a swim.
I was a founder member of Trentmen