Club Angling, is it in decline?

[TF_JohnH]

I fish club matches most weekends and this year I have noticed a significant fall off in attendances.
One club I fish with has annualised membership for its own waters as well as away matches on commercials. We have 500 plus members but are lucky if 10 turn up for matches home or away.
Similarly I book a series of club matches for another club who do not enjoy their own waters and turnouts again are poor.
I conclude that, whilst overall, similar numbers of anglers are fishing for pleasure, the club match scene appears to be in decline.
My local tackle shop supports my argument as he tells me, and I do ask because I am interested, that he is selling now as much as he has ever done.
What your experience at your club?

[TF_folk in hail]

My clun no longer holds matches, owing to no/few showing up.

[gazh81Participant]

john, we have a growing club with twenty or so anglers and we get roughly 16 week in week out, problem is waters we go to only really have enough space for the 16 anglers due to the open matches which are held the same day!?

[gazh81Participant]

john, we have a growing club with twenty or so anglers and we get roughly 16 week in week out, problem is waters we go to only really have enough space for the 16 anglers due to the open matches which are held the same day!?

[Anonymous]

we benifit from having our club based at the fishery and only fish there, but our attendances keep growing with us getting 50+ now on most matches.

http://www.malloryparkfisheries.co.uk/

[TF_wightangler]

both island clubs are flourishing and quite a few also making a successful dip into the mainland open and festival scene.

[TF_JohnH]

russelli, how many members does mallory have? I know you pay annual fees of 300-400 ish so you have to take your fishing seriously to pay that sort of money. Maybe our area being one of former steel works and pits has something to do with it, not sure.
However the open match scene in SYorks area is very active therefore my point about club match angling is more confusing.

[gazza.bParticipant]

hi john, i am a member of intrtype and we regularly have attendances at ouir matches of 20, as an average a match every 2 to 3 weeks and new faces all the time. i personally think that anglers may get disheartened or just get the cant be bothered attitude top club matches because they havent enjoyed or their expectations havent been met at a certain point. i may be wrong but also the financial implications do become involved.
cheers gazza.

[floatmanParticipant]

JohnH
Full membership is £250
Consession is £150
and worth every penny

[TF_Steve Amison]

At our club, JCB, we had 34 on our club match on the South Lake yesterday.

This season we’ve had anywhere between 25 to 50 on our club matches, which is more than alot of opens but then again we are fortunate enough that we’ve got 3 or 4 different lakes & styles of fishing not just carp puddle to pick from.

We charge £12 all in but this is all paid out, so thats another good reaason we get good turnouts.

Our club has a very healthy membership, with folk always enquiring about joining to fish our waters.

[TF_thesaint]

i have also noticed a fall in attendances however i think i can see why…The one club i am in has a modest 50 quid members fee and on the books has 30 members, but due to the venues, namely the rivers aleast 10 of them don’t turn up as they would rather fish an open on a commerical water, as this has the attraction of parking by you peg instead of the two mile round trip to and from your peg, big weights, instead of scrating around for a couple of pounds, and big payouts instead of the 10 to 20 pound club money…..But i do have to say every one wants to catch fish and anyone can at a commerical,( even my 3yr old son can ) but can they on a river…i bet alot of the commerical fisherman would struggle. For me fishing is rivers canals and ponds not just the latter but i think i am in the minority this is why alot of clubs struggle. Prehaps the big branded fishing makes should start to sponsor clubs..

[Anonymous]

Mallory mid season prices are now £180 this takes you throught the winter and up to the end of march, the fishing is usually great throughout the winter and with 12 lakes to go at there is plenty of choice, i usually only match fish up there most weekends and so spread over the season it s not that expensive at £250 pa, we always pay on a section basis as well with no pegging fees (100% payout)so most of the match guys get a bit back towards the ticket througout the season.

[TF_lozj]

Stoped fishing club matches when we started going past fish to catch less fish and fishing matches the organizer could do well on, grimsby also stopped there amalgamation, so the clubs champs stopped,so now i fish the messingham and pasture house opens

[TF_JohnH]

Mick, if it was nearer I would be the first down on the list for Roys lakes.
The reason for the post was to try to find out if I am battling local reasons or if some other agenda is in play here. I know the weather has been awfull, by the end of July I was ready for throwing my gear in the lake I was so fed up with getting soaked. However since the weather has picked up a bit attendances have not in our area. I fished an organised and fully paid for works match on Sunday, including breakfast beer at the end and prizes for the top 3 all funded by the company. 15 said they would fish 4 turned up.
Other club matches over recent months of 25 pegs have seen on average 10 turn up.
I am starting to think I am wasting my time organising and running matches.Next month at our AGM I am considering proposing we book only 15 pegs next year as we are wasting a small fortune booking pegs for absent anglers.At some point though we will get to the point of not bothering if we continue down that road.

[TF_JohnH]

I should add our club has a carp lake, silvers lake and 3 miles of river for trout,chub and barbel fishing and we charge £30 a year.
Matches carry a £1 pegging fee then pays out everything else, we normally charge £6 all in so its hardly expensive for anyone.

[TF_Katarino]

We’re now a breakaway unit of an established club and have had to close the current membership book at 60 (this is to be reviewed). We are ‘Natural Venue’ match based club and we’re getting membership enquiries from as far as the London and Oxford areas.

Thanks to a good match sec and some long established links with other clubs I can always find a good 30 peg+ match to fish (I’d like to fish more than I do).

I’d say it’s the reverse is true, Open Match fishing is dying and ‘Good’ Club match fishing is on the rise.

[TF_Johnny Mac]

Our club here –
http://www.rochdalewalton.co.uk/rwas_matches.php
has about 150 members, the matches (4 on commercials and the rest on home waters)are usually attended by a hard core 8 to 12 people…

The people that fish the matches are the same people that attend all the meetings and work parties..

I do know some clubs in my area that have turnouts of 20 to 30 people, and a lot of these people are ex open anglers…

I think a lot of people are becoming disillussioned with the open scene and returning to club matches.

[TF_red_hydro]

Our club turnouts are the best they have ever been, 16-20 anglers regularly

[TF_JohnH]

Johnny Mac, your comments re your regulars at meetings matches and work parties mirrors us exactly. We do have 500 plus members, only a small proportion of whom seem to want to match fish.
As a club we thrive but the match scene appears to be in steady decline and I do not know why.

[TF_Johnny Mac]

JohnH – This may be a bit philosophical but, I think it’s just the way society is going…

People are becoming more and more insular. They want to do there own thing, on there own…

Or am I talking bull??? I don’t know pal 😉

[TF_Katarino]

I think one of the reasons Opens are declining is the dominance of commercial fisheries.

For the most part they are ‘method’ waters and what usually happens it a small group of guys will suss it out and dominate. In most of them there is no wild card element, whereas on natural waters the drawbag can act as a leveller and the lesser skilled angler can have a chance. That’s not to say the better anglers won’t win most of the time but the rest have more of a chance and therefore more reason to go. As an example, one of our lads tried to get me to start fishing Rolfs but I declined purely on the basis that I know I would just have been giving money away. Even if I had been interested in fishing those kinds of waters I would never have been able to put the time in to get good enough to compete, i.e. I could NEVER have won. Once anyone gets to that stage with match fishing most will give it up.

[TF_joffmiester]

russeli how you doing i’ve not seen or heard your name for a while matey
question how many members do you allow as one or two of our lads are fishing now i hope it won’t upset the apple cart as you know i love the fisherie but i just can’t do it week in week out yet i am always made welcome by you all and love the banter with roy who knows i might get a freebie one day

[tournament_pro]

our club is packed solid, peolk,e fighting to get on the matches.

maybe your venues are cr*p lol

[Anonymous]

ay up Joff, no problem with membership Joff still plenty room, i have had a bit of trouble with my drawing hand, if he dont start getting me some good uns i am going to sack him LOL. winter league starts on 14th OCT, (20 matches)

[TF_JohnH]

TP we fish on our own lakes and all the top commercials in our area and turnouts are poor. I think Katarino may have a point, the same anglers keep winning and just maybe others have given up.

[brummie daveParticipant]

Judging by the clubs I speak to doing the club match Live features in MA, I don’t think club angling is in decline- quite the opposite, in fact!
The open scene is a bit messed up, with there simply being so many fisheries, with virtually all of them holding regular opens, there a simply hundreds of opens to chose from.
That results in average open match attendances of about 20, which is a major problem if you’re after Kamasan points. Or big pay-pouts, for that matter.
I also speak to a lot of anglers who would love to fish opens, but are put off by the presence of the “venue expert”, usually (but not always) someone on the dole or long term sick, who fishes the same venue 5 days a week, and simply cannot be beaten on it.
That’s another reason the club scene is thriving.
Our club has a membership of about 30, we hold no water of our own, and get turnouts anything between 10 and 25, depending on the venue, holiday times, etc..
It is very noticeable, however, that the first few matches of the summer are always the best attended, and it tails off towards the end of the league.
Now it’s time to start thinking about the winter league, and I’ll be very interested to see what turn-outs we get for that!

[TF_manu2]

Joined Prince Albert this year and I dont think theres a problem with attendance on our club matches. On the contrary, you do well to get on them if you havent booked early.
What does concern me though and its not just Prince Albert matches ive noticed this,its the alarming lack of younger anglers fishing..

[alfieParticipant]

manu2….. are you on Bosley tomorrow,if you are tell Ronnie that the Yank said he is just average

[Author]

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