Opinion Piece – Fishing Competitions

It’s true, we all have the chance to voice an opinion on the forum, but the forum is read by a only fraction of those members who read the editorial part of the site.

If you have an interesting opinion, and want it read by the maximum number of visitors to FishingMagic, then this is the place for it. The debate will still continue on the forum just the same, but it gets a hell of a bigger kickstart when it begins life on the front page.

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Opinion Piece – Fishing competitions, Do We Need a New Format?

THE FM SPECIES HUNT got me thinking about angling competitions in general. I would wager many anglers like a further competitive element within their angling; I know I certainly do.

By the very nature of the sport we are competing with the fish, with nature, and if we want to get one over on our mates, by catching more or bigger fish, then yes, directly or otherwise we compete with each other as well. Yet for a variety of reasons, many of us choose not to enter either the club or open match circuit in its current format. The recent FM fishing race was something a bit different, not a new idea by any means but another variation of competition within angling.

Single species matches or ‘biggest fish’ type competitions are also nothing new. Pike and carp anglers, and I am sure many others, have been running these comps for years. However if there were two things I would change, the first would be to see more single species competitions/matches solely for the smaller, less popular species, as these are not usually targeted with this sort of competition.

Secondly I would go about levelling the playing field considerably, and change the whole thinking behind the way competitions such as this are run and decided. The current thinking, in national terms, all revolves around the biggest fish being the best, so the main change and improvement is that I would like to see all such competitions regionally based! This may have been bandied about before, but why has it not become the norm?

After all, is it realistic for a specialist roach angler in the North, for example, to try and target a similar size of fish available to his southern cousins? Of course not, and let’s face it we’re always arguing the merits of a Yorkshire double figure barbel versus an Ouse fifteen or whatever. The truth is, no matter how many Yorkshire doubles you catch, you’re never in the running for a national comp while someone is catching that 20 from the Ouse. But are the Yorkshire catches any less noteworthy? I would say certainly not, when looked at on a regional basis.

A nationally coordinated, yet regionally based competition I believe would be far more appealing and much less exclusive than anything that is on offer currently. Surely what we all want is for more anglers to get involved, to feel that they are in with a decent shout, and more anglers being recognised for their efforts in catching what’s in front of them, in relation to the area in which they live. Effectively a competition where you are only ‘competing’ against the other anglers in your own area, rather than constantly having your catches compared with those anglers whom live in what could be described as more productive areas.

Yes, this would require more sponsorship (or smaller prizes) but this would certainly level the playing field, and make the whole area of competitive specimen fishing far more accessible and inclusive to many more anglers, especially novices and youngsters.

How about a national coordinated attempt at catching big roach for example? Maybe something like ‘FishingMagic Big Roach Month’ or ‘FM Big Perch Weekend’, might this hold some potential as a one off to kickstart the process of change? Put a few regional prizes up for grabs; ask for exclusivity (pictures wise) from the captors, and a comp such as that could begin to rival, if not eventually better, what the weeklies have on offer currently.

The beauty of the net for competitions such as this, is that by being totally interactive, and offering far more space than the weekly magazines means that catch reports can come in the day they actually happen, and get full and immediate exposure with a write up and pictures.

The much talked about regional database for specimen fish could then begin to take shape and become a reality, possibly even leading to regional record lists.

Indeed, I wonder why there are not already regional record lists for all coarse species, or if there are, where does one find them? Sea fishing has them, so why not coarse angling? Maybe it’s something else that we on FM could pioneer?

So aside from the standard five hour match, species hunt and biggest fish of the week comp, what other competitive elements or variations would you like to see brought into the sport? Specifically, but not exclusively, competitions which could be run on the likes of FM, that possibly might inspire you to get out and fish a bit more, add an extra spice to your sessions or fish for something or somewhere a little different?

Over to you!