Interesting rant.

I’ve recently returned to match fishing after a few years out.

When I left, there was a winter league in Norfolk/Suffolk. Now there isn’t.

I don’t think w/leagues have been killed of by moaners. They’ve been killed off by the expense of it all. The travelling, the bait, the time, and the same teams winning every year. Why bother with all that when you can travel to your local commercial with less than a tenners worth of bait, and catch a few fish even if you dont win anything?

Same thing for nationals.

I used to fish for a really good team. I’ve records showing that for the last eight years I fished for them we won our w/league seven of those years (didn’t keep any records before that). My keenness bordered on obsession. Despite my obsession I just couldn’t be bothered with nationals. As a team we didn’t bother. Some of us guested for other teams, but it just all seemed like too much effort for too little reward.

Wind the clock forward to now, and how much more expensive is everything?

I don’t know anything about the AT taking over the w/league, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was just a tie-up. Didn’t ‘weathercall’ (or somebody like that) sponsor it at one time?

long gone are the days of 80-100 peggers..yes they turn up now and again..but our sport is so fragmented now days and with so many fishery’s albeit commercials popping up, they have their regular guys who won’t move very far..and yes i also think its expence as well…why spend aload of money to catch very little and witha few pellets go and catch down at the local commercial..good rant though 😉

Come and fish the Yare Joffy mate. Even last week, with quite a few lads at the National, we still had a turnout of 60. Only a few weeks of fishing left before it gets hard.

“I used to fish for a really good team. I’ve records showing that for the last eight years I fished for them we won our w/league seven of those years (didn’t keep any records before that)“

Very convenient Karl 🙂 I think you will find teams such as Deben and Waveney were far more dominate in their time.

Must’ve been before I was born… 😀

I can also remember Waveney AC beating Triangle and getting promotion to the Div 1 National on the Nene Div 2 National, I can’t remember the date now but you were definitely born Karl, probably fishing!

Joff, I reckon that the days of team fishing have been numbered for years now. I can’t ever see it making a massive comeback and the Nationals will be down to one very shortly with the winter leagues merging. I think that the cost of the whole thing, especially on natural venues, and the relatively poor fishing is responsible.

My opinion is that team fishing has slowly declined for several reasons, not least that the venues most people fish can’t provide enough pegs for a decent match and most venues that can provide the right number of pegs have no one fishing them.

It started with transport I guess: when we all went by coach, we went where the club went and that meant river championships, National Champs, winter leagues etc. Then we went in vans, 6-8 of us so that was OK too, then 3 or 4 to a car. Now it’s more or less one angler per car and for most natural venues there’s not enough parking for that many. Add to that costs being divided by lots, then several, then a few now no division at all and it is bloody expensive.

The third factor is practice. In the good old days, we turned up and fished then when the NFA allowed match groups in, instead of having to be a ‘proper’ club, they took many of the match-oriented anglers from the clubs and started practising. Who in their right mind wants to fish an open, not trying to win but seeing what doesn’t work? That’s practice and that, for me at least, sucks.

I really love team fishing because in rubbish weather it forces you to go and give of your best but the constant need-to-win theme of life has drawn it down to what my old mate Dickie Carr calls disenjoyable.

It certainly needs looking at Joff. To some extent I think that perhaps if the A Trust did take over the Winter Leagues it would be a good thing despite what the knockers will say. As you said in your first post, all other sports have a proper managing body that looks after the rules/laws of the sport and organises tournaments etc. That wouldn’t stop Angling Times or any other body (other than the tobacco companies of course who were the sports greatest supporters until they were banned from advertising) sponsoring the events.

The representative body would then be running the Internationals, the National(s), and the longest running and the best national team event and of course Fish’o. Like FB has said, the winter league probably did more to keep anglers on the bank and the tackle shops open than any other event. More and more of my mates don’t fish now between the end of the year and the beginning of April. In fact the last 2 winters apart we have had very mild weather for most of the winter months and in fact February this year was very mild in relative terms. Maybe we should consider spreading the winter leagues over the 4 months of the winter instead of cramming them in before Christmas each year.

If the rumours are true then perhaps it will be no bad thing.
The winter league needs a shot in the arm or a revamp. Angling Times have not really had their heart in the WL for a couple of years now, imo, otherwise they would not have clashed the county champs with exactly when they know a lot of anglers will fishing winter leagues.
I sincerly hopes it keeps going as like said it something that keeps anglers on the bank over the winter. I still really like the matches and long may they continue

I think there needs to be some acceptance that the vast majority of anglers do not want to spend loads of money, trapse across fields for very little in return.

I have no interest what so ever in spending my weekend chasing 2lb of fish on a gin clear river for team points, I work bloody hard for my money and would considerthat to be a total waste of it.

I was speaking to a mate of mine the other day, he had been practicing for the Div 2 national ( he he a good angler in a good sponsored team ) and he was recalling how he fished .6 to a size 24 hook for 11oz of small roach, seriously, do the powers that be consider that to be good enough for a national championship, he said to me he had more crayfish than real fish.

I know people want to be stuck in the past on the rivers and canals but times move on, people dont want to fish them anymore.

If the rivers fished well I would be the first back to them but whats the point right now, I fished the Bristol Avon 3 weeks ago and won the match with 4lb of roach, just not good enough !

Commercial fisheries offer decent, fair fishing to all match anglers and thats where they spend their money, shame that few are capabale of holding a proper sized match but in reality, natural water team fishing will only get worse as fewer and fewer anglers want the dissappointment of fishing for tiny weights of fish.

Lets see how the Div 2 fishes

I think Slider has hit the nail on the head, i used to fish in the team alongside you Joff and as you know we did plenty of miles for the cause, alot of them for practicing for the big matches.

The turning point for me was a practice match prior to a W/L semi on the Weaver, i drove home (god knows how far it is!!) having caught 4oz on a seemingly perfect river and that was using 2 BLOODY HOOKS!! Enough was enough and i made the break and found commercials, that was 12 years ago and i havent fished a natural venue since.

I always look back to the great times we had, Nationals, Thames Champs, W/L’s etc, the banter and craic was unforgetable and the fishing was up and down.

Times have changed and these days we have got loads of commies within a 50mile radius so theres no need to travel like we used to, plus more often than not you get a days fishing even if you dont frame.

I studied this years Div 1 results and for me the fishing just cemented my views on not going back to Natural venues, who wants to dedicate time, effort and money to a match were the vast majority of average section weights were below a kilo.

Come on boys, the idea that Commies are fairer is surely a fallacy….. Everyone I’ve been to for a match has pre determined pegs just like natural venues…. Winning a gong in a National or an AT final surely has to be the pinnacle of the sport and based on a team doing a great job sorting the venue just like Dorking did on Div 1?….

:confused:

Well said Irk 😉

[quote=”

Commercial fisheries offer decent, fair fishing to all match anglers

decent, yes, fair, never

slider if rivers are dead tell me why evesham on the avon has 60 to 70 peg opens on a saturday and sunday, the anglers are still there
what commie has turn outs like that on weekends no i bet, most only have 10 to 15 regulars 😉

@Irk the purists wrote:

Come on boys, the idea that Commies are fairer is surely a fallacy….. Everyone I’ve been to for a match has pre determined pegs just like natural venues…. Winning a gong in a National or an AT final surely has to be the pinnacle of the sport and based on a team doing a great job sorting the venue just like Dorking did on Div 1?….

:confused:

Some do have granted but theres alot of venues that have enough fish in most pegs to give an angler something to work with,so much so theres venue experts everywhere you go, the same faces do well all the time and the venues allow the anglers ability to shine through, that cant be down to drawing a flier week in week out,can we say that about the rivers these days.

Oh, the last time i fished the New junction all those years ago i sat next to a local who informed me before the match that we would blank and the 6 or so anglers below us would also

He was correct……………………………….

venue experts are so because they go there several times a week, not always because they are the anglers with the most ability.

I think reducing the number of team members would help.. You can always get 4-6 to fish but 10-12 is tough at times.. You could get a dedicated 4-6 guys pretty easily I think..

Bobby Jo

Name me another River venue that has 50 plus turnouts every week then, I can think of only the Yare and the fishing there is superb, Evesham is total pants and people are trying to qualify for the big event, without the big event do you think anyone would be bothering ?

Fact is that river fishing is hard work, costs a lot of money if you intend to do it right and hard working people want a decent day out, there are plenty of 30-50 peg opens on commercials and the standard of anglers is superb if you go to the right venues, most of all though you actually catch fish which is what its all about.

If the rivers fished well I would be stood in the draw queue with everyone else, times move on and those who dont move with it get left behind, simple !

Im on the committe of a fishing club ( Airsprung AA) and we have rights on15 miles of the Kennet and Avon canal and various sections of the Bristol Avon ( all our water is being used in the Div 1 next year )

We have over 400 members and yet we can’t get decent enough access to the canal to put 30 pegs on it for a match because of moored holiday boats, who is there to fight for us ? Nobody.

So that means our canal is next to useless for fishing and its stuffed with fish, you need over 15lb to win on a 3 hour evening match but none of our members can benefit from it.

The river is so low and clear right now that its virtually unfishable, some sections have floating duck weed covering them entirely as there is no flow to wash it down, who can help us ?? nobody

Come Sept the river will be bang on and fishing its tits off but we still wont be able to use the canal because of the sodding boats and cyclists. Our membership is in decline, wonder why !

These are just 2 examples of why natural water fishing is in decline. Bristish Waterways dont give a toss about anglers but still want our rents paid, extraction etc is killing the rivers, so tell me, why do people fish commercials ?

Stillwater non commie matches are far from dead,in the last 3 week ive fished 1×80 peg sell out,1x50peg sell out,i am also booked on 1x50peg sell out+booked on another one bank hol mon which had already sold 77 tickets two days ago with more to book on.There is a stillwater on the notts/derbys/leics borders which used to sell out on 80pegs with 20+ on the waiting list,this maybe coming back on the scene next year??.Dont get me wrong i love commies as well,i travel down to the east coast every week to fish a series,these are already sold out for next year with 20+ on the waiting list,theres room for us all.The one trouble with commies is imo theres just too many of them,hence the vast majority having 10-20 anglers in matches,+ some venue experts are on there virtually all week,ok for some but someone has to work lol

it amuses me that a lot of these posts turn out as natural v Commie’s.

I started my angling on mainly commercials and the odd canal, when i took up team fishing with the late Kirkstead AC i was sent out onto the rivers which were a real eye opener to me and non more so than the tidal trent, that river scared the life out of me! i then joined Lincoln ADAA and the tidal was top of most our teams priority even though we didnt have any team matches there and i started to learn a lot about the river, now the tidal is my favourite venue, i really have lost interest in anywhere else.

over the last 10 – 12 years the numbers have been dwindling and apart from a few die hards we had been struggling for many more than 15 anglers. 2 years ago the Div 2 national was on the trent this resulted in a lot of anglers fishing the river practising albeit most were on the dyke or the non tidal reaches. in the run up to the national the river fished very well this was due to some heavy rain which resulted in the river carrying colour for most of the practise matches. on the day colour was gone and as a result the fishing was very hard, although i dont think there were many blanks (other than at Besthorpe). The Tidal that day had a very large split tide and at Dunham the average weight was more than 4kilo. Yet Besthorpe was shocking!!!

last year we had the division 1 on the river and again the turn outs were impressive although the fishing wasnt to clever, i had taken over running all the matches on our stretches of the river and organised a teams of 4 event that brought in 20 teams. after the league had finished everyone told me how much they had enjoyed it and how they would like to fish the event again this year.

this year the tidal has been better than we have ever seen it, with some massive weights of skimmers, bream, barbel, roach, perch, dace and flatties being caught throughout the river. i have 11 teams fishing our league this year and the line up has been really impressive with the likes of Barnsley, Shakespeare, Trentmen, Mark one, Lincs county and Lincoln all fielding teams. my phone is now non stop with anglers wanting to come onto the river and some of whom are very well known commercial lads, (some of them i wish would go back and stop taking my money off me, you know who you are) now i know that this is mostly due to the fishing improving but also we are trying our best to put anglers on fish which i dont believe has been the key motivation of a few organisers or organising bodies.

we have changed our venues slightly this year by dropping some of the harder area’s for better ones. unfortunately it has been very difficult to arrange these matches with the number of events and leagues that are run and i have done all that we could to avoid them. this has been the way i have always tried to run our matches but its becoming harder and harder, the worst thing is that you miss the events that people ask and then you dont gain any extra anglers from it but that just comes with match organising. we have missed out on some very good stretches this year due to me having to hold off and run things around other events.

Next year i will be biting the bullet and booking early to ensure some good venues and hopefully massive tides on each date. the feed back that i am getting is very positive from the anglers that have been fishing and i hope that this will continue.

i am also looking at running a 4 match series (2 on the tidal and 2 on the non tidal) next year to try and revive the interest for the river.

i hope that i actually made some sort of point there although reading back through it i think i may have been waffling.

Brilliant post Alibongo 😎 Match organisers on the natural venue circiut are the life blood of our sport and will always get huge respect from me.Like you have pointed out in your post the fact of the matter is natural venues are fishing as better if not better than they have ever done , the canal circuit i mostly fish has leagues sold out in days without even advertising , 80 plus peggers team matches ….. again fantastic work done by hardworking match organisers to get them up and running and masses of anglers supporting them. These leagues / opens provide the local clubs who own / rent the waters with much needed income plus provide cheap matches with good payouts.
I cant get my head around why weekend match anglers who work all week would want to take on the full time commie venue experts who live on a venue and fish 4 or 5 times a week and dont have to go to work for one reason or another ? 20 peg commie culture …… they can shove it where the sun dont shine for me 😉 🙂

Joff i wish i was in the shop, id have had a go too!!!!! lololol 😀 😀

Regarding the Glebe membership cost, i won that back within 4 weeks of paying it :p :p

A mate in the print media, recently told me that A/times were 11% down in sales, and a decision had been made to cull the highly regarded UK match supplement and cutback pages in UK Carp by some 50%. So maybe BAUER rationalisations in current economic climate may have been another consideration sadly given ATimes history of support for match fishing.
l
looking positvely if it gives more support for the ATrust in the long term maybe that’s no bad thing if another commercial partner and revised area format can be found. in the future.

hi

Bremes

80pegs with 20+ on the waiting list,this maybe coming back on the scene next year??.

You talking about where?
Been racking my brains thinking where it could be that has the following:-

a/ Large enough
b/ Has the access
c/ Used to have big matches
d/ Is half decent fishing

Staunton Harold is only one I can think of?
Holme Pierrpoint Rowing course was another but that seemed to drop right off radar with fishing?

The first venue has the access providing the road opened up, and is fished in areas!

The second venue above i been round a few times seen very few anglers and not seen anyone doing much good!

So where we talking about? :confused:

Glebe

You won your membership back in a month, thats got to be a bit of an exaggeration LOL 😀

When you win your lake or section at Glebe you get about £50-£55 quid it costs £20 to £25.00 per match entrance plus your bait so thats no more than £25-30 quid profit if you win every single match you take part in.

£250 to join thats 10 matches won in 1 month, and if you dont pick up it goes up up by £30

We cant all write off the entrance fee and bait bill mate, i know you minted and done well plus winning or framing plenty helps but your chinese bill is covered at least hehehehe 😉

@the big fella wrote:

Glebe

You won your membership back in a month, thats got to be a bit of an exaggeration LOL 😀

When you win your lake or section at Glebe you get about £50-£55 quid it costs £20 to £25.00 per match entrance plus your bait so thats no more than £25-30 quid profit if you win every single match you take part in.

£250 to join thats 10 matches won in 1 month, and if you dont pick up it goes up up by £30

We cant all write off the entrance fee and bait bill mate, i know you minted and done well plus winning or framing plenty helps but your chinese bill is covered at least hehehehe 😉

Thanks for analysing that for me Craig, you seem to take great pleasure in trying to knock me,just like when i used my new Airity for the first time through a hole in the ice for 1 small carp and a Goby, you tripped over yourself to plaster over the internet what good value the pole was :confused: :confused:
If i didnt know you better i would say you were a tiny weeny bit jealous.
I wouldnt mind but you join Mallory and wont fish the matches instead you fish against 2 of your mates using clickers for a fiver!!!

Here are the facts for you, if you include Ivans day and every members match including night matches that gives a total of 8 matches ive fished from the end of May to the end of June, ive won money in all of them bar 1 to the tune of £330

As far as im concerned ive won my membership costs back in that month plus a bit more,i never said anything about covering pools, bait etc, i come away from the the matches with money in my back pocket,i couldnt give a shit about making a profit! i go fishing to beat the anglers around me thats my buzz,pools money is something everyone has to pay but not everyone gets something back.

I keep a diary of results,pegs, methods, etc and looking at the bigger picture since your stalker-like post regarding the Airity around the turn of the year, i can tell you ive fished 24 matches at Mallory and have won enough to cover all of the entrance fees and membership costs and almost all of the bait so you were very wrong to assume i was exaggerating 😡 😡 😡

Chris

Wrap round! and defo no tail waft! 😉

For one I have never doubted your ability in fact have told many on here and in the shop I have seen you and you are extremely tidy and I wish I could do what you do- simply put I cant your head and shoulders in ability above me!!!!

You may remember I have seen you way back in Leicester Sensas juniors on the Trent when you didnt know me and I could say what was caught etc and you even remembered the day!

However get the hump all you like it’s no skin off my nose I was simply commenting on a remark you made that you paid for a Mallory ticket in 4 weeks?

There are loads of comments you see on here about all sorts and you dont agree with em!! FACT and you say your piece. People selling certain products springs to mind……….and the classifieds etc

Your comments of what you won amounts to way less than £250.00 required for a ticket, its nearer £130 profit and thats your perogative! – was i wrong in stating that you had said that you dont count the entrance or bait?

Thats like buying a pole and saying I dont include the VAT, I get paid this but dont count the tax etc??

It was misleading mate and someone can join a club based on that assumption, and think they have a good chance of winning the cost of a season ticket within a month?

Sorry to dissapoint I aint no stalker either hehehe – you wish! but when I first went back to Mallory there was plenty of banter flying around for me, and I can take it on the chin and have a laugh about it lifes to short, its just a laugh take it in the same spirit?

If I have told lies let me know but there is nothing in this post or the other thats untrue, you frame nearly every week and from what i hear that better than most – WELL DONE 😉

Yes I choose to have a knock up (but with 3 others not 2) and we used a clicker your also right just at Mallory as its no keepnets, but every other year and venue we do use keepnets and thats one of reasons why we didnt join.

However just because I make a choice to fish with a few mates for a few quid for a laugh and banter, why frown upon it and take it as its related in some way to ability LOL or staying away from a particular matches?

I made a choice to not fish them all last year as i go with my dad and mates and they more than me dont want to fish matches each and every week!

We do fish a small clubbie league once a month and thats enough for me but ther is 20 in that club, and 7,8 in your sections whats the difference?

Another fact is I have also never embarrassed myself in the few matches I did fish at Mallory plus I also drew money, but I also dont live on the water week in week out and if i did I would not be pools fodder thats a fact. 😉

Take these points in the spirit there intended Chris or ring me! 🙂

Dont patronise me Craig, the only reason i replied to your original post is because the way it read gave the impression i was lying about what id won in the first month.Anglers have mentioned it today at Mallory and they were asking what your beef is, i couldn’t answer!!

Your post was based on pure assumption, you had no idea how many matches id fished and then you took it upon yourself to outline profit against costs e.t.c. which had nothing to do with what i was referring to “quote” Regarding the Glebe membership cost, i won that back within 4 weeks of paying it ”end of quote”, I was talking about winnings, not profit or outlay,bait or fuel, just winnings or whatever you want to call it , you know that stuff in brown envelopes, capiche????????

Just to elaborate, at the end of May i gave Roy a cheque for £250 for Mallory membership, that money came from my savings account, after 1 month and 7 pick-ups id amassed £330 winnings i used those winnings to put back the £250 into my savings account, so as far as my good lady wife is concerned ive put the money back i took for the Mallory ticket,hence my comment to Joff about paying for it within a month, which was banter anyhow!, why you decided to fly in and start splitting hairs is beyond me?

I’m done with this now and hopefully the thread will get back on topic as its been one of the best for a while and my apologies to every one that has had to put up with this crap.

You added some more to the pot today well done m8 🙂

Cheers Kev,you aswell, how was the curry with gayboy lol!!

Joff,

I was meaning to reply to your earlier ‘ young match organisers ‘ post but never got chance. I rarely post on any forums but I feel that with the state of our current match fishing scene I had to air my thoughts.

Firstly I have a decent experience of running large matches now for the last 15 years. I have ran 3 – 4 AT semi finals for Ken Wade and quite a few opens along with those. I also ran the very succesful MK canal league on and off for the last 10 years and helped with pegging out when I was not organising the draw. In all of the matches above I have experienced a large range of diffilculties from pegging issues, controlling club issues, dangerous weather conditions, venues fishing poorly, etc etc. I have also received some terrible grief from what you call ‘ win at all costs ‘ attitudes that really make you question why you are doing so much hard work with no return what so ever. And if anything It really effects your own fishing so you end up working hard for the sport you love and it affects your own fishing although I suspect you already know this!

Team fishing now is in a terrible state. The nationals are struggling, the Drennan Super League is finished and there are rumours that the WL Final has teams dropping out and has a dodgy future. Alibongo made some good points and I also agree with the comment about Evesham. Current weekend matches there have big numbers because of the main event on the BH weekend and if that went then there is no way you would have the current attendences. The fishing is very poor and the Bloodworm matches are very expensive especially if you have a few miles to do. Although the matches are superbly run and the pay outs are very good. Why are teams dropping out of the WL Final? It is now August and teams are already dropping out and saying they cannot field a full team for the final! Ok, if there is some very good supporting circumstances then the organiser should allow them to draft some extra anglers in to make up the squad. They should be able default the qualifying place down the results but cannot because of the way the four semi finals are run. If the Winter League continues then these teams that have dropped out should not be allowed to enter next year unless they have a very good excuse for not fielding a full side. Ken Wade does a massive job running the WL with very little support
with only the league organisers supporting him and also the semi final organisers chipping in and I feel that will not continue for much longer.

Why do we always choose poor venues for Nationals? Who chooses the venue? Everybody has their personal preferences but why has the New Junction been used twice in the last 5 years? The Trent national was a success and it was interesting to read what Alibongo said about his league attendence this year on the Trent with the result of running a team event before last years national.

Why is our Team fishing calender so badly planned? We have nothing from March onwards then we have the following;

August;
Division 1 and 2 nationals.
World Championships. ( massive effect on the major teams fishing WL final )
Evesham weekend. ( Plus the bloodworm qualifiers for the two weekends. One that also clashed with the Div 1 national )
ACA Masters. ( used to be a massive event )

September;
WL Final ( 4th September practice match and final on the 11th )
World Club champs qualifier. Week after the WL final !!!

The County champs has been a success. Why is it that last year many of the top twenty qualifiers clashed with the World Club champs final at Evesham. This year mine clashes with the last practice match for the WL final.

Why do we have to fish the AT semis in March!!!? The weather always affects the fishing and travelling. Most of the venues chosen are commercials or a canal. So with no closed season imposed why are we having to suffer possible issues that if we waited 4 – 6 weeks we could have semi finals on venues fishing better in far better conditions making it far more comfortable for us all.

It is not all negative for Team fishing though, we have the Sensas challenge which is a massive success and offers a brilliant opportunity for teams to travel abroad and experience European match fishing. Its not always the ‘ top sides ‘ that qualify for the final every year and the final is a superb event that we in the UK should really take a good look at. It makes our Division One national look like a shambles. There are many strong regional leagues running, the Southern Canal league was a real eye opener for me this year. Superbly run and supported by a lot of people. The home international on SKY was very well filmed and actually better than the final the day before. It is interesting to see the comments about commercials versus natural venues that keeps cropping up but I feel that this is just personal jibes from match anglers that have individual preferences. Many match anglers have been forced to go down the commercial route at the weekends to justify their fishing and rightly so, with esculating costs in virtually every area of our sport then they have no choice. Its just a shame that they would rather discuss what pole they own ( or how much they paid for it ) or how quick they paid for their Glebe membership than actually looking at the bigger picture of the sport we love. It will not be long before we see a few venues lost to increasing financial pressure wether it be natural or commercial.

I was at the ACA masters on Saturday and it was very well run by Roy Marlow and his team as usual but it was sad to see the usual high standard of trophies replaced by cheaper plastic ones and the ignorant captain of the winning team last year couldnt even be bothered to organise the return of the team trophy won by his team last year. Can you imagine winning such a big event like that and saying to the winning team ‘ oh sorry we do have a trophy but we cant present it to you today because we dont have it because somebody hasn’t bothered to bring it back ‘ It amazes me at the lack of support by match/club anglers shown to the Angling Trust as this is the only ‘real’ body of support we really have to fight any threat to our sport we love. Every match/coarse angler worth his salt should support the Angling Trust or if they are only visiting the same commercial venue every weekend at least look into what they actually do for our sport.

The county champs has been a massive success and the usual regional leagues run by die hard match organisers continue to be strong in areas. Our sport is now hugely fragmented between good commercial venues for match anglers and decent natural venues that anglers want to visit and catch a few fish and enjoy a decent days fishing. Maybe we are in limbo as match anglers and hopefully the Angling Trust will look at match fishing and try and follow the high standards set by the rest of Europe. But I would only guess they can do that if they get the support finacially to make that possible. I would like to see how many names listed in the AT under the county points systen that are members of the Angling Trust.

Not falling out Joff, life’s too short for that, just a bit of keyboard handbags, we will have a man hug next time in the bait shop!!!

hi

Not falling out Joff, life’s too short for that, just a bit of keyboard handbags, we will have a man hug next time in the bait shop!!!

You better have long arms 😉

Pete had a massive weight from the little girls peg, just think what he could of had if he got his hair cut and could see where he was chucking!!!lol 😀

I didnt realize he’d left your lot,the Glebe has snared another one!!!! has he gone Jap!!!!!!

@joffmiester wrote:

YES MATE AS FAR AS I KNOW but i’l be the last know anyway you can’t be sponsored by two groundbait companies can you :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: its a pitty he is a good natural angler turned to the darkside

one thing i keep meaning to ask is where do the sponsored anglers fish is it just at the glebe :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Thats a shame mate but it sort of answers the questions in your original post, one minute hes on the New Junky National scratching for a bite doing all those miles and putting the time in.
The next he drives a few miles up the road, sits on a decent peg and fills 2 keepnets up and wins more than enough to pay for his day out!!!!
The purists would call it lazy and selling your soul but at the end of the day anglers wouldnt fish commies if they didnt get any satisfaction out of it.

I couldnt tell you where the sponsored lads go other than the Glebe mate lol 😀

For info
I spoke to ken wade yesterday regarding all the rhumors etc. He said to me that its all above his head and the people who run the angling times are going to make there views known soon, they will inform the winter league secretarys of whats going on.
Hopefully we should know this week the league i run has 80 peg venues booked and deposits paid. If the angling times does pack it in will still run the league. As for the angling trust taking over ? rhumors, I cant see the lower teams paying 20 quid per man to join the trust they will have to do some sort of team fee ?.
Who knows.
Hopefully the AT will keep it going.

[quote=”joffmiester

you lot don’t need the bait shop do you its all free 😀 😀 😀 😀 :D[/quote]

Not me mate i swerved the Jap sponsorship, good old Skrettings work for me although you’ve given me food for thought, i might contact them to see if they will bung a few sacks my way PMSL!! 😀 😀 😀 😀

Just surfing through some old posts and came across this from my good friend Glebe 1

“Just to elaborate, at the end of May i gave Roy a cheque for £250 for Mallory membership, that money came from my savings account, after 1 month and 7 pick-ups id amassed £330 winnings i used those winnings to put back the £250 into my savings account, so as far as my good lady wife is concerned ive put the money back i took for the Mallory ticket,hence my comment to Joff about paying for it within a month.”

I only have 2 questions have you included for the takeaway’s in your calculations and i thought you kept your money in a purse (or should that read my money)

PMSL

Kerryd

@joffmiester wrote:

YES MATE AS FAR AS I KNOW but i’l be the last know anyway you can’t be sponsored by two groundbait companies can you :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: its a pitty he is a good natural angler turned to the darkside

one thing i keep meaning to ask is where do the sponsored anglers fish is it just at the glebe :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

No Joff they fish the BIG LAKE AND THE FOUNDATION as well 😮 😮 😀 😎

LOL

kerryd

Dont half stir things up them leicester lot ! 😮 :p 😀

@Dodge wrote:

Dont half stir things up them leicester lot ! 😮 :p 😀

Dodge

some things just have to be done 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀

you know that 😀 😀