lady
New Member
Posts: 20
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Post by lady on Jul 16, 2003 17:22:44 GMT -5
 Is it just me or has anyone else noticed the 'high' proportion of teams that are able to qualify through the first and middle rounds of competitions to get to the 'finals'? A few weeks back on Grafham Water there was a round of the ''Anglian Water Team event'' FOUR teams fished......THREE teams qualified !!! This week at Chew Valley Lake in the 'English Finals of the T.F.E.O.' on the first match day ELEVEN teams fished............FIVE qualified !! In the Fishtec heats on Rutland EIGHT teams fished FOUR teams qualified!! Perhaps this just reflects the low proportion of entries into competitions? Whatever happened to the days when all the available boats were used in matches and we were afforded just two places?? There did seem to be a lot of glory in getting to finals then. Seems to me,these days, most good teams are guaranteed a place. It does make me wonder why so many have dropped out of the 'match scene' this season?
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Post by Ironblue on Jul 17, 2003 12:53:18 GMT -5
It has been covered in previous posts as to peoples perception of why the down turn.
What I would say is that with so many places available some teams that didn't think they had a chance in the past of a final place before , now have a great chance.
It's good experience and the results may not be as predictable before.
My own experience is that I have not the time and money to fish in all these competitions. I have to pick what fits in with work and family.
I enjoy my fishing and to get together with a bunch of buddies in a team is fun. It's the experience and if there's a prize at the end then that's a bonus.
I do not take it seriously as some and don't believe the hype!
Baz
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Post by fidfish on Jul 18, 2003 20:45:44 GMT -5
I fished in one of the Loch Leven heats of the Anglia Water competition. 8 teams fished and 4 qualified. Obviously this is just to ensure that there is a maximum number of paying anglers in each final. In saying that, I agree with Ironblue that the results do then become less predictable.
I must admit to being very surprised at the tactics employed by some teams to keep their flies and methods secret. One team (at least) used a code for lines and flies and would shout to other team members e.g. "Line 6 and fly 4", these numbers would then be checked from a list giving line and fly and this info was certainly not to passed onto their boat partner. This is the sort of behaviour that, although it doesn't bother me, I would suspect would put some off entering competitions.
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lady
New Member
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Post by lady on Jul 18, 2003 21:55:00 GMT -5
Hi Fidfish,
I know what you mean about "lists of flies and lines" I also fished a match a while back where my boat partner had lists of flies etc.....I must say it all got a bit confusing for him as the other team members were calling out a,b,c,d,e, etc for styles of retrieves.The poor chap spent most of his day searching his lists for the correct methods, instead of just fishing and enjoying his day.It had no effect on me other than to laugh to myself. Still that's up to them how to converse with each other?
Many teams employ the stance of just "calling out'' to each other, I am a firm believer that there are ''no magic patterns'' and that anglers need to have the ''confidence'' to fish patterns that they, themselves, are confident in.
How many times have you fished with identical patterns and lines to your boat partner and failed to catch while he is slaughtering fish or vice versa?
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Post by fidfish on Jul 19, 2003 4:53:21 GMT -5
Hi Julie
I couldn't agree more. As you say, there are no magic patterns, if most people are using blobs then stands to reason that blobs will probably catch most fish. Confidence in your method and flies is most important for catching fish anywhere and yes, I've certainly been on the wrong and right end of some doings but it certainly makes for better banter in the pub as there are fewer excuses that can be made. I've always been happy to share info and flies with my boat partners but as one of my mates said "It's easier to join the Masons than get any info from these guys".
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Post by Daver on Jul 19, 2003 11:52:17 GMT -5
Hi Fidfish, If it is the team I think you are talking about then yes they do not want any info being passed onto the other anglers. Everyone has a different view on this, I personally try to make my boat partners day a pleasurable one and if needed I usually end up giving them some patterns if I am doing better than them. I like to see everyone catching, but not more than myself as i hope you will understand after all it is a competition and I have no secrets. But remeber there are another 5 guys in the team who have been working hard on your behalf as well, and if you were to come in with less than your boat partner and you had given him the patterns then you should not really be in any form of competition. But what you need to understand is that if it is the team that I think you are talking about and if you want to mention their names ok, then no wonder they would not pass any info on, because those guys have been on the Loch practising for the last 6 weeks for these comps, both weekend days and also evenings. They are taking it pretty seriously, which is up to them but they are also spending a vast amount of money in their practice and run up to the heats. When everyone else has stayed away form the Loch because of the so-called harder fishing and went else-where they have been out pounding away. To many times people who do not put the practise in because they do not like Loch Leven and if they end up out in one of the boats of the guys who have been doing the ground work and they are a decent angler they can end up beating the guys who have done all the work. That is why they are not showing any information. If you had a winning formula for the national lottery would you allow others in on your secret  ? Just my point of view , yes it is not nice, but yes it is a comp and some teams behave like this as they have spend a lot of time and effort and money to get to the final. Anyway need to go and tye some flies for tomorrow as I have been drafted into one of the teams as a reserve for tomorrows final, I will be tying trad patterns, in claret and also silver. Cheers David Downie PS good luck to al lin tomorrow's finals make them good one's |
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Post by fidfish on Jul 19, 2003 13:14:30 GMT -5
Hi David
I don't know the name of the team as my info came second hand from one of my own team members. I appreciate that these guys have worked hard on their practice and spent loads of their hard earned in their efforts and good luck to them, they deserve any success they achieve. As I said in my earlier reply it doesn't bother me in the least but I was only answering the question raised in the original post as to why so many teams went through and why there was a fall in the entry numbers. I think that if newcomers to competition fishing are paired with these very competitive anglers it would and probably has put some of them off entering future competitions.
Anyway, good luck to you tomorrow and to everyone else fishing. If I see you there I might come and tap some flies from you. Do you tie an international size Humungus?
Tight lines
Kenny
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Post by Daver on Jul 19, 2003 16:02:30 GMT -5
Hi there Kenny,
Yes there is an international sized humungus as well. I know what you mean and I know what you are saying.
Yes I Agree about the newcomers, but there seems to be more and more anglers spending all this money for competition that are not as good as they used to be.
The wychwood, the peregrine and also the hardy's, but in my view the best one of all was the benson and hedges.
I did very little of the team event over the last 2 years, but now that I have joined the Rutland Kingfishers that will change next year. I hope LOL
Anyway tightlines to you and by all means come and introduce yourself.
Cheers
David Downie
;D ;D
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Post by Ironblue on Jul 26, 2003 14:54:09 GMT -5
Yup, A fair assessment from all.
I agree that those that do the spade work should be excused for being secretive.
In one of our competitions our captain gave us cards of different colours to show what lines we were using and a code for flies.
It went to pieces within an hour or so.
That's the trouble with being a bunch of Buffoons as opposed to serious competition anglers!
Still we keep on trying.
Baz
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Post by STEVEC on Jul 29, 2003 12:15:15 GMT -5
Basically if your any kind of reservoir fisher if your in the boat with these boys and they are catching fish you should have the gear and the flies to be doing the damage.
Practise does'nt always make perfect, my boat partner in the heats for the Hardys"anglain" an evening session, he had been up 5 times in ten days and got fish every night.
He ended up with one broonie just over the stick, i managed a couple of rainbows and a broonie.
This guy is an extremely good fisher who had put an awful lot of effort in to find the fish and what they were on , I was gutted for him as he had chances for about six but they just never stuck on the night.
I hope I get in the boat with him next year as he was a great guy"usually they are" have'nt had a bad one yet, see you next year, by the way on the final round on Sunday night I had 6 only one over the stick.
Next year we'll get a proper team as there's only 3 of us that are really reservoir fishers.
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GRHE
New Member
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Post by GRHE on Jul 31, 2003 6:24:14 GMT -5
Methods are pretty well basic these days.. we tend to follow the local teams, they always know where the fish are, in our case we followed the Ospreys in our last match at Rutland but couldn't do as well in the end.
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