Quality over quantity every time
by Russ Evans
I like to think of myself as a positive person, I have to, I support West Ham United but I have to admit that as we go into winter with last year’s snow still etched in the back of my mind, a repeat would prove fatal to the angling fisheries and tackle shops around the country. Referring back to my last blog where hard core anglers make up a small percentage of the total anglers that fish all year round, a bad winter would be curtains for the industry. The year itself has not been great as it took four months at least before anglers picked up their fishing rods again after a winter that virtually stopped the whole nation in its tracks. It was not until mid-summer that the fisheries and shops were trading normally but it was still not good enough to make up for lost sales the months before. I still believe there are as many anglers on the banks as before but there is one big difference, the anglers are more split in the clubs they join, the places they fish and the amount of times they spend on the bank side. I was pleased to see that there were more new anglers looking to get involved in fishing but the downside was the passion from what I saw in 80% of them was missing. I can spot a true angler or someone that is keen to learn the sport as they walk towards me, it’s like I have an in built radar system.
The open match angling scene is nothing like it used to be years ago and I am afraid it never will be as team fishing and club fishing has taken over. Some club matches can boast turnouts of over 30 anglers where most open matches are lucky if they hit 20 unless there is a big pay-out carrot dangled in front of them. It seems the social side of angling is more important than fishing in open events where you could be in a section of 10 and not know one of the anglers whereas fishing matches within the club would mean you would know virtually all of the rods sitting around the lake. A meet up in the morning for a fried breakfast and cup of tea would kick off the friendly banter and that would then continue onto the lake for most of the duration of a match. The weighing in of the fish would again kick off the banter again as side bets were won and lost depending on weight and to be honest enjoying the sport is far more important than winning at all costs.
There are seemingly new fisheries springing up all over the place and that in itself spreads the anglers around even further as quite rightly they want to try out somewhere new in the search for a good days sport. Although from an angler’s point of view it is great to have more options to choose from, it is the fisheries themselves that suffer as less day tickets are sold due to the fact anglers are going around trying out venue after venue each week instead of fishing a regular fishery as that once used to. Being a keen follower of racehorses especially the National Hunt scene which I have a great passion for since a small lad, I can also see similar patterns in angling and horse racing. For me there are too many horses in training from a quality side of the sport and many races that they are competing in are for peanuts, angling has to many holes in the ground with a sign up saying “Fishing” day tickets available. In my opinion neither is good for the sport from a professional slant where quality should be first over watered down quantity that provides too much mediocre racing and below par fishing.
I am running a Bury Hill Christmas open on the Old Lake on Wednesday 1st December with limited pegs available, cost is £25 all in with a draw time of 8.30am fishing 10-3pm. You can book in by calling me at the onsite tackle shop on 01306 883621
“Tight Lines”
Russ Evans
18th November 2010
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