Wintle’s World – Match Conditions

Mark Wintle, an angler for 36 years, is on a quest to discover and bring to you the magic of fishing. Previously heavily involved with match fishing he now fishes for the sheer fun of it. With an open and enquiring mind, each week Mark will bring to you articles on fishing different rivers, different methods and what makes rivers, and occasionally stillwaters, tick. Add to this a mixed bag of articles on catching big fish; tackle design, angling politics and a few surprises.

Are you stuck in a rut fishing the same swim every week? Do you dare to try something different and see a whole new world of angling open up? Yes? Then read Mark Wintle’s regular column.

Wintle’s World of Angling – Memorable Matches Part 7, Match Conditions

Oh that it should be so simple! The above does and can happen. Some pleasure anglers are better anglers than those fishing the club matches on the same venues. They may have devised better methods or simply be able to outfish the club match anglers. What is much more likely is that the budding match angler enters the match and finds that it is much harder to catch winning weights in match conditions.

Why should this be true? There are several factors; firstly, when pleasure fishing there is much less disturbance than when there is a match on. Even when a fishery is busy with pleasure anglers the anglers will arrive in dribs and drabs during the day so there is not the same concentrated period of disturbance that you get when twenty or thirty match anglers all go to their pegs and tackle up. Secondly, the regular pleasure angler may choose a favourite peg each time, based on the conditions or his knowledge of the water. That means he may not be used to struggling with a facing wind, awkward swims, or even just unfamiliar swims. His favourite swim is tackled with the same tactics and bait, and at favourable times. Thirdly, with the fish acting more cautiously, tactical adjustments are needed in match conditions; that could mean finer tackle, fishing further out or feeding more judiciously.

The Evesham Festival – even on this water the fishing will be tougher on match days

Finally, with anglers competing for the available fish it is more difficult to draw fish into one’s swim as better anglers are more likely to hold the fish in their own swim.

The entire trim of a water can be altered in match conditions and certain species are more prone to this than others. Rudd, especially, can be easy to catch when pleasure fishing yet in match conditions only be found in the most favourable swims. It is easy to base match tactics on the presumption that they will be found in every peg or that they can be relied upon to boost your weight. Conversely other species may be hard to catch outside of match conditions. On the Thames I have been driven to despair trying to get through the bleak when trying to catch roach on the drop whilst pleasure fishing. In match conditions the bleak are spread much more thinly than when you’re the only angler on the river and you can happily catch roach fishing on the drop.

Some methods are notorious for working when pleasure fishing but not in match conditions. There are no hard and fast rules about this, and even methods that usually fail in match conditions will occasionally turn up trumps. Fishing with tares is a good example, and floating crust is similarly unreliable.

Far Too Many Pegs

One good example of pleasure and match conditions sticks in my mind from many years ago. A two acre irrigation lake not far from home was rarely match fished with just one club match per year. It was stuffed with small brown goldfish, roach, and small carp to about five pounds with the odd tench and perch. It was a favourite venue for many non match anglers who targeted the carp on floating crust and float-fished luncheon meat. The usual match turnout of thirty was boosted by the addition of a number of these pleasure anglers to nearly fifty anglers. That meant very tight pegging and a lot of disturbance.

One evening during the week before the match I fished the venue with my usual short pole and maggot tactics. I caught lots of tiny carp of a couple of ounces but could not find the better ones. After two hours of tiddlers I dug out three pints of old maggots and blasted them in at the rate of three handfuls a cast. For twenty minutes the swim died as I choked off the tiddlers, then the better fish arrived and I caught the two to three pound carp that would prove vital in match conditions one after another. One of the regulars, a non match angler, saw me catching these carp and confided that he expected to take the venue apart with his favourite luncheon meat tactics. I disagreed but each to his own.

Sunday dawned. The venue was packed with the 48 anglers; on one bank the anglers hardly dare strike sideways the pegging was so tight. I had a peg in the middle of an area of bramble bushes which gave me more space. The pleasure angler mentioned earlier was on the next peg, and he laughed when he saw the five pints of maggots that I intended to blast at the carp.

The match began. All was quiet as the fish, unused to such an onslaught, played hard to get. I sprayed my swim with maggots, fishing well out with a light waggler rig. I was convinced the disturbance would push the fish to the middle. After half an hour my swim exploded into life and 47 anglers were forced to watch me net a succession of carp to walk the match. How did the angler at the next peg get on? He blanked.

On the face of it, it looks like it was just the fact that I had by far the best method that gave me a massive advantage but it was more complex than that. The other factor was the pegging. Those bramble bushes and the fact that the swim was on the outside of a bend in the bank with an island ten yards to my right all added up to giving me by far the largest area of open water on the lake. I had a swim that all the swims should have been like and would have been like if only twenty pegs had been put in. In other words I was fishing in normal match conditions but the rest of the field were fishing in extreme match conditions.

More finesse in matches

In my article about Nationals I mentioned the Nene. Wayne Nippard and I practiced a whole week. We caught everything from chub on waggler and feeder to eels and roach on pole, and it was mostly easy fishing. On the Friday we were in Ken Wade’s shop picking Ken’s brains for tips when we got around to discussing hook sizes. I mentioned that we’d fished size 20s all week. Ken explained that that was OK when you were pleasure fishing but in match conditions it was vital to use size 22s. The point was taken and we told the rest of the team the next day. It was a valuable lesson.

Don’t be put off

If you are thinking about trying match fishing don’t let any of the forgoing put you off. But do understand that it is going to be tougher than you imagine; you are going to be competing against your fellow anglers as well as the fish. As long as you don’t get out of your depth too much and start with friendly club matches, at least initially, there is no reason why, with a lot of practice, you shouldn’t make the grade at higher levels in match fishing. It will certainly make you think about your fishing. Match fishing is still about catching fish; not looking good, not talking it but doing it, and many match anglers will tell you that they get a huge buzz out of catching fish in match conditions, and even more so when they win!