To be honest I have never had a problem with getting back into the swing of things following a break. I mean for many years we had the closed season to cope with when we could not match fish for three months every year. The only advice I would give is to ensure you have a nice big greasy fry up every saturday and sunday morning so your digestive system is ready for the re start and not to use up all your energy doing jobs around the house. ~think

The number of breakfasts you can consume before 8.00am is bound to be affected. Start off with just a couple of sausages and some scrambled egg, and then build up to a full English. You’ll be back to where you were in no time.

I think this is actually a really good question.

I used to fish about 10 times as a year (pleasure fishing and the odd club match) as a teenager with modest success, but once I passed my driving test and could make the most of the long summer holidays by fishing 3 or 4 times a week, my fishing absolutely took off. I entered a few opens and found that I was comfortably able to take on the regulars. I put this down to being 100% match fit. Everything worked right. You read your peg much better, you know exactly where all of your kit is, your rigs are spot on, your feeding (ie, by hand or with a catty) becomes sooooooo much more accurate, you have faith in your gear and you become much more confident in playing and landing fish. I couldn’t put it down to knowing a venue better either, as I was fishing all over the place and emptying it everywhere I went (Risby, Hosticks, Kiveton, White Acres).

Since I moved to London in 2006, I have returned to fishing less than a dozen times a year and I am nowhere near as proficient as I was back in the summer of 2006 – my angling zenith! I just fish the odd clubbie now and can still compete, but I am nowhere near the level that I was a few years ago. I still have the knowledge that I had back then – it’s not like I’ve forgotten how to fish all of the methods that brought me success – it’s just that I do not have the ‘match-fitness’ that comes with fishing several times a week.

Sorry, I should probably add, my breakfast eating skills are still tip top!

i sometimes go through a little spell of enjoying the lay ins and just chilling out, funnily enough it normally happens around this time of year, but, one match back and you’ll be back to normal.

dont fancy the chances of sunday being on mate..

@WOODY999 wrote:

I’ve not been since the end of November due to getting married

And you think she is still going to let you out to play every weekend????

Joking aside, I need all the practise I can get and there is only so many nights you can spend tying hooks, rigs and generaly tidying your kit up. The longer lay off you have the longer it will take to get back into the swing of things. I had a near 15 year layoff barring the odd day out due to family commitments (think on Woody999 LOL) and I’m still cathing up after 3 years back fishing regularly.

I’ve not been for 3 weeks due to the North being frozen 🙂
Longest time I’ve not been for more than ten years!!!

I’ve fished 7 times in 18 months and I’ve had better results than I expected. As long as your preparation and approach right it shouldn’t take long to get back into it.

Mind you when I get back to working in the UK in April it may be a different ball game

I think it depends on the type of angler you are. If your the type of angler that follows the in methods and baits on a few venues and never works things out yourself from scratch. Then your going to be several steps behind the anglers who are fishing several times every week on the same venues. If your an angler who fishes loads of different venues and your very confident in your approaches and methods. Then your likely to sort things out very quickly though going though the card of likely winning approaches and basic water craft. A break can do you a lot of good in my experience. I find that after an extended break from fishing. I have added hunger to do well and i seem to put a lot more effort in to my preparation and assessing my peg closely once i get to my peg. Going though the motions is something i fall in to when im fishing regular matches and i do become lazy. When i have not fished for a while. I tend to fish my pegs for what they are worth and not for what others believe they are worth based on past results or on my past results. I never follow the in methods anyway and would rather work things out for myself. Although, a little information about the venue and pegs can be useful sometimes. So, you might find that you have a positive response to your break from fishing matches.

Gaz i would’nt worry about match fitness, just book yourself in for a few at Makins after the thaw, that’ll ease you back in……

SLOWLY LOL~sick ~sick

Gaz, I had 6 years off when I worked in Crete in the 90’s.

When I started back I built all my gear up again as I’d got rid of a lot and

I was still crap!!!!!!!!~clap ~clap ~clap

@WOODY999 wrote:

Mind you,there are some advantages that go with the lay off..I’ve been honing my cooking skills during the break and even though i say it myself,i’ve just cooked a mean Lamb Rogan Josh for dinner.
The lads are in for a treat in my lodge at Stafford Moor this year,thats for sure..lol.

What was it Gaz, Sharwood’s or Patak’s sauce lol~clap ~clap ~clap ~clap

Me and Charlie will have to come round to yours for brekkie whan we go to Blythe then~clap ~clap

With regard to all of the talk about tying rigs and preparing…. I find now that I get so little time to spend with my gear, that I would rather spend it fishing than tying up rigs ready for when I next do get to go fishing.

Clint Elliot said that to me once at White Acres, and what a fine lesson it was.

i aint fished since september!..did me back in, then had loads of work on. Getting back out end of Feb hopefully.