Such as?

tunnel barn,moorlands,beeston canal,hallcroft,erewash canal,lindholme

Any one know where the southern semis are?

i have been told by a member of fox blackhorse that they are on monks lake and milton keynes canal

I respect you as an angler lloydy1970 but what a stupid post.
By all means have your say on the venue’s but have a think about what you have said. Central to who????
Where-ever we go some teams will have to travel, that’s a fact, there can never be a central point, get a map out and have a look. If we go to the Northeast, it’s a long way for some, the Northwest, it’s a long way for some. The Midlands that central, but for who?. Yorkshire, that’s a long way for some, or perhaps Shropshire, very close to home for some, on their doorstep so to speak, but then again much longer to get to for others.
I think we do have to move around the country as best we can, but then trying to find venue’s that can look after 120(ish) anglers is not easy either. But it is always going to be in someones back yard no matter where we go while other will have to travel.

yiddo, cracking venue’s, have a think back and you will then know that we have been to just about everyone you have picked out, but the post was not about the venues but about the travelling.
I did favour the smaller, more regional semi’s but we had some very poor feedback, so we dropped them, can’t win on this one.
Cheers
Ken

@yiddo wrote:

i have been told by a member of fox blackhorse that they are on monks lake and milton keynes canal

Is this correct Ken?

ONE POINT i have thought of why if we have to use commercials why can’t we fish them in the spring when the fishing is a lot better as the final now has been put back to September. if we qualify ~sick its 130 miles one way 260 round trip but your asking us to fish at the worest time of year for the fishing and the traveling i’m sure this would get the backing of most anglers ~think

@Two-nets wrote:

@yiddo wrote:

i have been told by a member of fox blackhorse that they are on monks lake and milton keynes canal

Is this correct Ken?

I have been told that the southern semi`s are Gold Valley and Milton Keynes Canal.

Hi Joff, if you win your league you will not have that far to travel if the rumors are correct!!!!!. If you come second then yes I am afraid you will.~naughty

I do understand what you are saying Joff, but what about all the other fixtures through spring and summer. I suspect we would get a lot of teams and anglers not fishing the semi as the dates clash and would become a mess.
We did look a spring semi’s but again too many dates clash with other events both here and abroad. Summer would be even harder/impossible to sort out. Then we have the problem with holidays and teams not being able to produce a full side.
Not quiet as easy as it sounds to change dates. Do you really think it would bring back anglers to the event if it stated to clash with spring and summer leagues???

Hi Chris, good to hear from you, all the full details are in the Angling Times tomorrow.~clap ~clap ~clap ~clap ~clap ~clap ~clap ~clap

Ken

~naughty ~naughty you did move the final to September and i think a lot more matches clashed or had to be sorted out for that or was that because it was a final ~think ~think i think anglers who have qualified for the semi would sort there own calanders out to fish it ~think and anything that clashes would be sorted by then anyway

ken i know its a thankless task running the winter league and you can’t win
but i feel that tomorrow when anglers pick the A/T up and see where the semis are it could turn into a no shows for some of the teams and others not trying or even throwing the chance to fish
where as if its in the spring you are at least going to have a days fishing ~sick

That was a quick reply Joff,you must have as many customers as me!!
I hear what you say but still think it would be a real struggle to sort, but will for sure bring it up at our next meeting. By the way we had frosts in May this year and I went to several big matches that still found anglers struggling on stillwaters.
Cheers
Ken

~clap ~clap too right blo#dy weather

@kwadej wrote:

That was a quick reply Joff,you must have as many customers as me!!
I hear what you say but still think it would be a real struggle to sort, but will for sure bring it up at our next meeting. By the way we had frosts in May this year and I went to several big matches that still found anglers struggling on stillwaters.
Cheers
Ken

we can’t be negative in fishing anymore we have to take angling forward and hear some positives coming from angling or it will just fold ~sick

whoops a customer back in a bit

I am the most positive man on earth with regard to the Angling Times Team Champs and will try and do what ever I can to keep it going and indeed improve it if at all possible.
I will take on board any constructive criticism/idea’s that help in my task, but we must remember there are also a lot of anglers out there that do not have their say on this site about the event for better or worse so we have to take on board all thoughts, not just a few of those on this site.
There are also anglers about that want to see the back of this major event, (as I was told by them), so some idea’s are not always born to improve but to ruin.~naughty ~naughty ~naughty

I have said this many many times before if you/anyone feels strongly about it, please put it in writing.

Cheers
Ken

there are a lot of websites following the same topic ken ,like you i don’t follow most of them.
hankat and total fishing seam to debate a lot of uptodate topic’s and as long as it stays sensible and to the book websites do play a big part in angling today
~shh oi stop wagging that finger at me~naughty ~naughty

Yup,
I hear what you say and I do look at other sites too.
We do seem to have gone a little off topic though, still, a good debate of which I have to depart for now, but will keep a look out from time to time.

Just going back over it all

Joff-do you really think anglers would “throw” a match to miss the semi, now that is really sad and I can’t believe it, sorry.
We all fish all over the country these days though out the year and in all weather. I could never ask a team I fished in to put fish back/not try, failing to turn up or just not bother. That’s wrong and just not acceptable, its cheating isn’t it??

Some of our lads in the East Mids league travel 1 1/2 hours plus for a normal round, thats a how it is if you want to compete at the top.
Ken

There are also anglers about that want to see the back of this major event, (as I was told by them), so some idea’s are not always born to improve but to ruin.~naughty ~naughty ~naughty

yes I’ve heard similar in our league ken but its always from the anglers,teams that don’t want to take there angling any further and are happy thinking if wasn’t a A/Times winter league it would still be a 70 peg match ~naughty ~naughty ~naughty not a chance of that!! it would become 30 to 40 peg match if that this weekend i was asked to run a match as the river soar is fishing its head off in places i said yes if the interest was there well i had 7 anglers for the river and another 9 if I’d put it on the canal so myself and a few of the team joined up with the warwickshire winter league practice match this ended up being 70 plus

Joff-do you really think anglers would “throw” a match to miss the semi, now that is really sad and I can’t believe it, sorry.
We all fish all over the country these days though out the year and in all weather. I could never ask a team I fished in to put fish back/not try, failing to turn up or just not bother. That’s wrong and just not acceptable, its cheating isn’t it??

in my eye’s its cheating and bang out of order but its happened in the past didn’t i have to re-peg the whole semi final on the canal so why don’t you think its going to happen again ~sick
did you run around making sure teams turned up for the final in the past ~think interesting

Joff, will to be running the Loughborough Canal match again? If so, don’t send anglers who want to practise off the match length to an area where they blank thank you.

@Lee Thornton wrote:

Joff, will to be running the Loughborough Canal match again? If so, don’t send anglers who want to practise off the match length to an area where they blank thank you.

i’m not about to let you fish pegs the day’s before a team match am i lee and i told you this and matt hall and at that point that section could of been in the semi final.if i remember it was the only time you could get up there ~shh

Well that was the reason why we couldn’t field a full side as all of the lads were so annoyed at being used as guinea pigs to test a section for you. We could of fished where we want, we gave you the respect of asking where to fish and you abused that so before you accuse myself and my team members of being cheats think about your own actions.

lee thats rubbish semi finals are semi finals just because you couldn’t fish where you wanted at a minutes notice is not real problem i had asked matt if you wanted a team in the teams of eight it had already been passed through the media that your team didn’t want to fish the canal i’m not falling out about it lee but being so annoyed at being used as guinea pig [NOT] is not a good enough reason not to field a full side ! you fielded a full side in every round you fish in your winter league ~think

perhaps its a good job I’ve nothing to do with this semi final !!!!!
but i will be running the teams of eight and the same will apply no fishing the canal the day before each match on the saturdays ~shh

What an excellent idea, restricting teams to just a handful of dates to practise unless the commit to a league that you run. And we wonder why team fishing is in decline.

@Lee Thornton wrote:

What an excellent idea, restricting teams to just a handful of dates to practise unless the commit to a league that you run. And we wonder why team fishing is in decline.

THE CANAL IS A NATURAL VENUE not a commercial i’ve been asked to restrict the use of the canal after it was flattened by over fishing
WHAT DO YOU WANT!! choose the commercial venue if you don’t like it easy as ~clap ~clap

but if you do want to put a team in let me know the dates are 9th jan,23rd jan,6th feb and the 20th feb after that i think bob who is running it will have two opens the water will be closed from the 7th of march

NOTHING WRONG WITH THE TEAM FISHING IN THIS AREA ~clap ~clap

Personally i think its right that teams should be stopped from fishing canals or rivers on the day before official practice matches.
I have suffered on the GUC and K&A when i have drawn sections which have been fished the day before and some of the anglers from teams that have been there have had the cheek to moan about the bad fishing~naughty

Long live natural venues for winter league semis~clap ~clap ~clap ~clap

If you look at the original post it was bemoaning the teams that have to travel 300 mile round trips to the venue.

If you are running a league 2 per month you are basically cutting down 50% of the practise time that teams get.

So, I’m guessing that your last round will be the weekend before the close down so in effect unless you commit to the league then your team won’t be able to have a line up within 3 weeks of the semi. Unless everyone can get days off in the week.

So to get to grips with the venue, teams will have to fish the league.

JWB-These aren’t practice matches, there matches that get run regardless of if there is a semi on the venue.

Fair point Joff, if we are fortunate to win our leauge we’ll go to the commercial, if we have to fish the canal though, I will fish the venue when I can make it. If this happens to be the day before your rounds then so be it, if they were official practice matches I would think differently but there not.

If it is over fishing that is the problem, stop your league that you run, or are you making a profit from running these leagues?

Is it defo on the Loughborough canal then ?
Lee with respect mate fishing that canal on the saturday before the match on sunday would have been unfair to the anglers who drew the pegs that had been fished.
If you like it’s an unwritten rule.
If you win your league and choose the canal (if it’s the selected venue !)then come along to the teams of 8 and you will be made welcome I’m sure.
Rich Reynolds

Lee i think you are out of order there, Joff works hard for little or no reward to make this happen, you would not have complained if the section you fished had been solid. I know Ken also gets a lot of stick too. If you think you can do better then get on with it, i am sure they could do without all the hastle.

but if you do want to put a team in let me know the dates are 9th jan,23rd jan,6th feb and the 20th feb after that i think bob who is running it will have two opens the water will be closed from the 7th of march

the teams of eight are cut to four matches this year and this league runs every year with or without a semi final do you think it would be fare to exclude the teams that fish it year in year out the final match of the teams of eight will be the 20th of feb also brought forward so what you think or try and do will be from then onwards

Back track,

Joff was inferring that myself and my team are cheats.

He also stitched my team up.

I’m not the one who is out of order. I’ve never felt the need to broadcast what happened but if someone is prepared to write that on an open forum then why shouldn’t I have my say?

Why shouldn’t a person who can only fish the canal on a saturday etc not be able to because a league that has nothing to do with the semi is on the day after, just becasue the local lads who want to fish that league want a better days fishing.

If the venue is not up to it, it shouldn’t be used.

How would Joff and his team feel if they have to go to the canal, but can’t fish on a saturday due to a league being in on the sunday.

You’d all have to miss your Loughborough canal league and travel 300 miles every other weekend up to yorkshire.

go to the commercial sorry.

[Joff-do you really think anglers would “throw” a match to miss the semi, now that is really sad and I can’t believe it, sorry.
We all fish all over the country these days though out the year and in all weather. I could never ask a team I fished in to put fish back/not try, failing to turn up or just not bother. That’s wrong and just not acceptable, its cheating isn’t it??

[/quote]~shh ~shh the question was asked and give my view sometimes the truth hurts its taken two years to come out but the whole of the angling world knew you didn’t intend to come to that semi as a match organisier don’t you think i’ve seen it all before lee

.

He also stitched my team up.

~clap ~clap ~clap ~clap ~clap ~clap ~clap ~clap

go to bed lee

Lee, can you honestly say that you ever had intention to fish the Loughborough canal semi?

Every one knew that you were not going months before.

Joff,

You are bang out of order there, I tried my very best as a captain to field a full side, I was in Ken Wade’s shop on the Friday trying to find ways to make it happen, we was fully prepared to fish with 9 men, the last person in my team who could of possibly fished felt too ill to attend.

We were no allowed to add any more anglers, what were we meant to do.

So Joff, just to clarify, you are saying that Adam Wakelin, Matt Hall, Neil Machin, Andy Moors, Lance Chambers, Myself, Peter Goodman, Trevor Robinson, Amer Jawad and the late Jeff Moors are all cheats?

Is that what your stating here or have I got this wrong?

Put it on the Wasall Canalthe match organisers a bigger idiot!!

And yes, the ten names that are on the list were prepared to fish, one couldn’t due to ill health, we weren’t allowed to field 9 men.

@Lee Thornton wrote:

Joff,

You are bang out of order there, I tried my very best as a captain to field a full side, I was in Ken Wade’s shop on the Friday trying to find ways to make it happen, we was fully prepared to fish with 9 men, the last person in my team who could of possibly fished felt too ill to attend.

We were no allowed to add any more anglers, what were we meant to do.

So Joff, just to clarify, you are saying that Adam Wakelin, Matt Hall, Neil Machin, Andy Moors, Lance Chambers, Myself, Peter Goodman, Trevor Robinson, Amer Jawad and the late Jeff Moors are all cheats?

Is that what your stating here or have I got this wrong?

simple you made it quite clear through the grape vine you wouldn’t be fishing that year you let the competition down you could of fished with nine men

People disagree.

Draw the line fellas.

We were refused by Ken Wade to enter unless we had a full squad.

Joff, I offer my sincere apologies to you if I have offended you in this thread or been out of order, but I am upset at the statement that you made.

You made a sweeping statement aimed at myself and my friends without knowing the full story.

@the margin gnome wrote:

People disagree.

Draw the line fellas.

I have to agree with the Margin gnome.I hate to see anglers/mates who i know fall out over a hobby.
Personaly i have my own opinions about the Semi venues if my suspisions are correct. BUT i won`t air them over a public forum.

Grow up?

Thats exactly what you have stated, its in black and white.

Joff I offered an apology to you to stop arguing.

You have to admit what you wrote earlier is pretty nasty.

The team not fishing the Semi before hand never came from any of the team, the were all rumours that were generated.

~hand ~hand ~hand right time to stop lee lets end this and stay friends ok like i said this years semi is nothing to do with me what will be will be

If Joff had accused me of cheating i’d of knocked him out!

@woodhouse wrote:

If Joff had accused me of cheating i’d of knocked him out!

Ha, ha, and I`d have kicked him on the floor!!

And i would have have a word with him, might have been a heated debate but it would have been man to man. Slagging people off on these forums gains nothing, if you have a problem why not talk about it without bickering and sort it out. The people who run these leagues get nothing but grief and without them we would have ziltch. I know people travel a long way to fish, if you dont like it dont enter.

@ropa wrote:

@woodhouse wrote:

If Joff had accused me of cheating i’d of knocked him out!

Ha, ha, and I`d have kicked him on the floor!!

Your a sunderland fan….

You’d probably miss!

Kevin, I very rarely post on these sites as I don’t like to get caught in petty debates.

I was not giving Joff grief because he is a match organiser, I gave him grief because of what I felt to be an un provoked personal attack. I would of argued whatever the medium, be it man to man, on the phone or in this case an Internet forum.

Just because he is a match organiser doesn’t mean he can state slanderous comments at will.

I’m not going to say any more on this subject other than I’ve said how I feel and that I will offer my hand to Joff when we next meet and hopefully start again.

Well put like that, i dont know the ins and outs of it. I hope you can sort it out because team fishing is a dying art. I can understand the pegging out side its a nightmare! Dont fall out about it lifes too short.

Hi Chris V you have a PM.

Ken

I wouldnt worry too much, they did no good on their commy semi last year!! ~sick

HOT FAVOURITES!

a bunch of superstars dont make a team!

ask mancini??

sorry couldnt help it!

~clap

daft lad pipes up again.

Yeah we had a shocker to be fair, 7 of our 10 lads never had over 10lb so cant say we drew to well considering?

But nonetheless, even though we all dont wear nice matching t shirts, we still do talk to each other you know! 😉

NOW THAT WAS A BITE!!!!!!!

if only you’d had one like that in the semi! lol!

I think after all thats gone on in this thread, a bit of light banter was needed!

That n “daft lad” couldn’t help himself!

~sick

HAHAHAHAHA.

I would have done anything for a bite that day let me tell you.

Sh*t happens though!

Lance you coming tomorrow mate??

did you get the message about the change of draw??

Anyboby know the dates of the semi’s

Yes,
South
Gold Valley, 5th March 2011
GUC Milton Keynes, 6th March

North
Woodlands Thirsk, 12th March 2011
Loughborough Canal, 13th March 2011.

Cheers
Ken