dont take this the wrong way pal, but what do you expect ??
there are features comps and ads as always ???

You soon won’t need to buy it with all of the direct links to DHP stuff posted on this site………..

Bit too early to tell yet after only one edition.
However, M/F under DH was remarkably good(mostly) on in-depth article writing,
Think Alex Bones has an extremely hard and consistent act, (if occasion seemingly abrasive- but that was a big plus,imo), to follow, & only time will tell.
Snappy photo’s and enlarged panel tips seem very large compared to actual article
– .maybe i’m just getting old and reactionary.
Nevertheless certainly did’nt dislike the new M/F 🙂 ,
but a few ‘photo’ type articles seemed much ado about very little, really- one central point – & a bit harsh maybe so early on.
International coverage rather thin , partic.on post-mortem tactics, and what went wrong in relation to Italy getting it spot on, for eg.,
when compared to usual coverage

Big plus – return of ‘stopwatch’,
Interviews very, very readable as you’d expect -if one sided
and Will Raison back a big bonus.
Matt Godfrey in time could be as good as Lee Kerry – who remains consistently the best overall,imo and always pick up something worthwhile.

Worst thing – humourous photos with embarrassingly lame captions- despately needs more potentially libellous and offensive stuff please! 😀

I actually rather enjoyed this months, although I have to agree it took no time at all to read…

Any idea when the next pole fishing is out??

Is it just me or or should the print be a larger font?
I have reading glasses but if the print was a bit larger wouldn’t need to use them.
Some of the font on pole fishing this month is impossible (due to being small and in dark background.) if the printer cocks up slightly then I’ll be totally scuppered. I had to get my daughter to read odd bits to me and even she was having to squint and move the magazine around to get a focus on it. 😡

To be fair, i think matchfishing (not the magazine) in general has reached saturation point.
In my opinion commercial matchfishing has peaked and so has the tackle and bait that goes with it. All you really get now are variations on a theme. This sadly is then reflected in the magazines.

Got to agree with Fadd comments.Didnt take me long to read it with 130 pages and over 50 pages of adverts and pole fishing mag 100 pages and over 34 pages of adverts for 25p less but saying that i still keep buying it and what articles there are they are a good read but looking back on some older issues far more to read in them

You know what would shake it up a bit – different contributors in each issue – not knowing what was coming next. I do agree with the comment that match fishing per se (rather than MF the magazine) is at BEST static and probably in reverse….

re-the font and print- agree,
from a design colour they like nice- but at expense of ‘readability’,
the drennan cup results – nice drennan colours- but you have to guess the winners going through by squinting at the white typo ones that did’nt!

Used to get very paranoid about this as eyesight used to be major part of my former career living and M/F and ‘fishermans friend’ ad’s the yardstick for apparent deteriation!

wasnt an argument fadd,, just wondering what you would like to see ? 😉

Is it just me or are magazine articles all just too ‘technical’ now?

I love the mag and very much enjoy reading it every month. I agree on the font, just try reading the FFriend add, its just impossible!! There are other parts of the mag as well that are very difficult to read so I have emailed Alex as he requested in his editorial.
Giles, to me was one of the best and original writers but he has packed it in. Andy Findlay always has something new to add but I accept its all carp match fishing he covers.
Will Steve and Alan you just cannot ignore they always provide interesting comment and ideas.
I am not sure about the new feature writers as I feel it has to be someone who has “been there and done it” to have the credibility, its no good having great ideas if they dont work.
Just look who is in front(again) on the Maver at Whiteacres this week to understand where I am comming from.
Maybe in terms of new creative writing, thinking out loud, Alex could run a series of features with venue experts. These are the guys who frame on venues like Stafford Moor, Chris (the waggler specialist) Pete Caton at Tunnel barn, Steve Gregory on paste which he still seems to get to work at places like Solompton, there must be loads more.
Journalism in general is going through a tough time at present, like many are, I dont buy papers anymore as they are full of junk and celebrity stuff that just gets on my nerves.
At least MF is on the ball, for me at least, thats not to say it cannot be improved upon

I can’t say I have a problem with the font, even the Fishermans Friend adverts et all.

I like Geepster’s idea of different contributors every month (although I do think it needs to be round a small core of one or two stable writers – Lee Kerry is excellent month on month and has been for some time and I enjoy reading the articles even if they are not relevant to my fishing).

I also think John’s idea with regards to the venue experts is a good idea too, perhaps they could be done in a Stopwatch style feature, rather than just a pleasure bagging session.

Overall, I think the mag has improved since Alex took over, as I think it was getting stale under Dave Harrell – at least we probably wont get the same cut and paste editorial every April edition moaning about the river closed season 😀

Just to add to my thoughts ref venue experts. There is no reason why all regions cannot covered in the same issue. Also venue experts could give us a run down on typical spring summer autumn and winter tactics and what drives the choice of methods etc.
Using this approach everyone would have a feature on a venue near themselves and a basic idea of how to approach it depending upon the conditions.

For me, looking back over the years, what type of article have I enjoyed most?

Certainly not the technical stuff.

The stuff I’ve turned to first, and the stuff I’ve enjoyed reading has been the anecdotal type article.

Frank Barlow in the Anglers Mail. ‘Love Stories’, ‘Wading On’, and Syd Huggins stuff.

You got a feel for what match fishing was about. The highs and lows, the p1$$ taking, the disasters, the characters…

It’d be nice to have somebody else do something along those lines…

I used to really enjoy Nick Chedzoy’s (I apologise if that’s spelt wrong!) stuff in Angling Plus in the mid-late 90’s. Some sort of diary piece along those lines would be a great read, but I’d imagine trying to find a good clubbie writer would be hard, with balancing the comedy, actual fishing and (probably the hardest 😮 ) actually being able to write!

Being a relative youngster in terms of match fishing (27) and having an interest in team fishing, i’d like to see old reports from say the last 25 years on the big matches.

Kagger I think we all enjoy those kind of writers but they are bloody hard to find….

I used to really enjoy the Matt Maguiness articles.

Worst one for years following how bad pole fishing has got thankgod my subscriptions are coming to an end 🙁 🙁 🙁 :confused:

not happy that we have the funny captions back wasting a page,seems very cliche to me,makes a few people look really childish

Have got copies of the mag dating back to Oct/Nov 1989 (Had them earlier but mate went into hospital and I never got them back), with Jan Porter on the front wearing a white VDR Top and hat, the man in red looking at this is the man in white.

In those days I think the mag came out every two months, and I used to read it from cover to cover, but like everyting else match fishing is now too comercialised.

If I look at the mag in front of me (The 1989 one) It starts off with the Editorial by David Hall, then we have Allan Urruty talking about match fishing in France and how he tackles the rules and how he fished it (no sponsers names in sight).

The next article is by Chris Campling (remember reading articles by Chris re the chopped worm, went out on my local canals and caught plenty of fish doing this, but for this article he goes through where he was fishing and how he was fishing.

The next article is by Phil Stone, going through 6 weeks of angling and scanning through this article some legends get mentioned, the next is David Pilgrim on the River Servern, then Changing times with Ron Fearnley, then the famous “Tales of Tydd” by Paul Smith, we then have Top Teams – this month it was a team from my neck of the woods – Portway Match Group, we then move onto the Jan Porter Diary, Fisherman’s Friend advert that you can actually read, this takes up half of one page !!!!

The next article is Fishing the Gloucester Canal by Tom Price, then the famous and probably one most people remember is The Very best of Mike Winney by David Hall, this was very humorous. The next is “The story of a Truly Average Match Group by Gavin McCully, (you need articles like this from the base level), then Mark Downes is the next writer on shotting patterns on Canals. The next feature is the Abu Match Man of the Year with – Brian Wickins, Peter Lee, Keith Arthur, Edgar Purnell, Kevin Ashurst and Steve Canty. We then have what’s new in tackle – Shakerspeare Super team High Modulas Graphite Boron 14 Metre put-over pole, then their super whips, Shimano Areo Match 2000 and Dinsmores New Dual Swimfeeders. The next article is Dave Bell again another article going through the past couple of months and to finish this off probably my favourite angling writer ever – Andy Love and Love Stories, in this edition he was going through the Winter League Final.

As you can see from the above, this is when this magazine was at it’s strongest and I couldn’t wait for it to come out so I could read it from cover to cover and I didn’t get bored, today’s mag is about sponsers and selling advertising space, just wish they could mix it up a bit, having said that, with all the matches based on the puddles and with a new editor who has probably grown up on them, I hope the canal and river articles don’t die off.

Well said Copo, I think some of the best angling articles I’ve ever read are by writers who can tell a story and don’t try to fill the readers head with technicalities, you can put all those in a panel at the bottom of the page.

I should think Jon Arthur who is the group editor will have something to say, as he was brought up on canals and rivers. It doesnt worry me what products anglers are showing in the articles, it is their techniques that I am interested in reading about.

remember those 2 montlly ddays -and mike whinney, richard wade and ‘snide rumours’ apart, definately improved under Dave Harrell,imo.