The Hopeful Match Fisherman - Getting Going

The Hopeful Match Fisherman

So off we go with a new blog.  I'm delighted if anyone wishes to read my ramblings, and any comments will be very well received.

I am a fisherman (or angler if you like) and have been for 40 of my 44 years so far.  At times I've been keen to the point of obsession, and at other times just very interested.  I grew up on the River Thames in Kingston and fishing a few of the lakes at Bushy Park or Old Bury Hill.  Although at times I've toyed with specimen hunting (most notably for barbel) I'm not really single minded enough to concentrate on one species or chase a certain weight for a single fish.  I watched with interest as the carp-boom got going in the 1980s but it never felt like it was for me.  

In a recent interview the great matchman and England team manager Mark Downes said, when asked about his biggest fish, 'I'm not sure and I don't care really, a carp I think about 20 pounds'.  His point describes me well - I'm about lots of fish, not always large mind you, but lots in a single session!  The draw of fishing for me is about working the piece of water in from of me to get the most from it.  Be that river of lake I am looking to master the fish not once or twice, but tens or even hundred of times.  Drawing the fish in and keeping them catchable in one place is a skill, and my fishing life is spent trying to do that at any time in the year, and in many different and diverse places.

This is why I am moving towards match fishing because that is what ever match fisherman is trying to do, just better than all the others.  I would much rather catch 10 pounds of dace than a single 20 carp, and by the way, the dace are very much more difficult to catch!

I'm not new to match fishing mind you,  I was once in a club (Epsom and District) 20 odd years ago, and I would also fish opens on the Thames and Kingston and Molesey, often on summer evenings.  I didn't get far, and of course I ended up putting more into work, girlfriend, getting married and furthering my IT career.  Fishing was just an occasional thing in those days.

So what has changed that now at 44 years old I'm finally getting round to starting my open match fishing career?  Well it's not that easy to say really.  But one main thing is that over the last few years I have been a very keen scuba diver.  In fact I'm well qualified in the sport!  But the problem has been that it's an unreliable pass time.  You can't just go diving anywhere you like and at any time.  Weather and tides determine everything and that makes it a hit and miss affair.  I just get tired of planning diving only to find it's called off and I'm stuck at home again.  I need something more accessible and predictable.

Also was the comment from my wife back in February who said 'what is the point of that direct debit for a fishing license?  You never go anyway.'  That stung me a bit actually and I realized that something which has given me so much pleasure in the past had been hardly touched.  In fact in the last four years, two of them I didn't even go fishing once!

So this is me returning the old sport I love and now with new impetus!  I feel like an excited kid again.

Hopeful