How did you get where you are.

#1

I am happy been a club angler but often think about that it would be like to be in the shoes of some of you lot.
To the cracks on here....
What made you want more from fishing, i.e. Joining a Team and been sponsored. How did it happen ?
Would you go back knowing what you know now ?
Thanks

#2

To be honest Simps regards team fishing i am at rock bottom right now. Words cant describe how bad this winter has been for me personally and my team Sensas NW , everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. We have good anglers catching next to nothing at the moment and cant wait for next sunday to come and go, all the best laid plans gone lady lumps up big time. That is the downside to team fishing and when it goes wrong, friendships and team moral are tested to the limit big time. When things go well as a team i dont think there is a better buzz and sense of achievement for sure. Some of the lads on this Site are some of THE best anglers in the country and fish for THE best teams in the country.......... It would be interesting to hear a few words on this subject from them as they have reached the very highs in our sport ..............

Steve-Knowles · #3

Hit the nail on the head with that one dodge

#4

Thanks Dodge, interesting stuff.

diddy · #5

bloody hard work and being in the right place at the right time!! do u want me to start from the beginning???

#6

I think it is just a case of wanting to fish against anglers that you can learn from, then its a natural progression to what happens.

When i was about 19/20 a lad joined the pool team i played for, his name was Ali Cox,he was a year younger than me. The consersation got round to fishing and we found out we had both won our club championship that year.; I was fishing for the Hilly House and he was with Baggeridge Miners.

We decided that inbetween club matches we would try a few Wolverhampton AA opens.

The first we entered was won by Paul Turner with 14lb of carp from a peg on the old willows at Wombourne. The main plus from our points of view were that we were not disgraced.

Our main learning was done in the pub after the match listening to anglers like Paul,his brother Neil, Peter Plant, Richardy Porter, Gary Ward and Charlie Jeavons amongst others.

After a short while we started winning the occasional section.

The following close season we were asked by Gary Ward to join the Mal Storey match squad fishing in the West Midlands Drennan div 1 and the Wolves Winter league.

After a couple of years the team folded and Ali and Charlie went to Brownhills Match group and i decided to stick to open matches. I was lucky enough though to fish with Ali Cox, Charlie, Paul Turner, Gary Ward , Richard Porter and another of my heroes Dave Pinches in the team that won the last ever Wolves Winter league.

After a couple more years i was lucky enough to be asked to fish for Preston innovations Tipton. This was a major step for me and i learnt a massive amount very quickly from anglers like Neil Russell and Martin Owen. I was also travelling with a lad named Dean Stewart who is possibly the most natural angler i've ever met. These were special times for me, i was really enjoying my fishing and my results were better than i'd ever expected.

This came to an end when I got up one morning in a bad mood...So did Neil Russell and we ended up having a bust up over something so stupid i cant even remember what it was, unfortunately we were both too stubborn to back down and i ended up leaving and joining Tinky at Lifestyle.

Since then i've fished for JTE Wolves, Strike Mosella and Trabucco.

I've also got married and had two Kids that dont allow me to fish as much as i'd like...

When they are older i'll get back to fishing as much as i'd like and they can ALL beware

#7

Superb Lee

Time is the key ingredient to been successful then. Obviously along with been able to catch fish.

AdSlade · #8

It started for me at the age of 15, a massive 3 years ago!

I used too fish with my dad in two clubs, one was mainly a river club in bridgnorth and the other from over halesowen which i used too fish the club pool with. I just flickered between these two really fishing there matches before switching too a couple of opens on the River Severn of which i was very lucky in having a break with a couple of outstanding draws!

In May 2007 I joined Mosella Black country and although i had a very shaky Superleauge i had a brillaint Winter leauge with them of which we won the shroppy. It was all around this time I was lucky too meet 'THE MOUTH' that is a moderator on here aswell and he helped me quite alot getting into Bloodworm and joker fishing which i think has been a massive step forward as far as my team fishing has been concerned.

In May 2008 i joined Trabucco and since then have been fishing with them, which ironically, i had a brilliant super leaue but upto yet have had a very plain Winter leauge

...... The warwickshire leauge has been a real learning curve for me though as some of the anglers you fish against unless your 100% commited majoritey will beat you every time......And at my age thats the only thing what is the problem. When all your mates keep asking you to go out clubbing but you need too tie up rigs or be up very early too set off the for comp the next day it does make keeping focused extremley hard. I think because of this factor it will be the coming couple of years which decide how far i progress really!

#9

bloody hard work and being in the right place at the right time!! do u want me to start from the beginning???

Come on then Dids

Guest · #10

Well i started off by going with my old man at about the age of 14, when he fished for mosella alongside the likes of graham neary and albert pearce, and then i started to get bored so i told him i wanted to get into it, so he sorted me out with some kit, and i joined the local club. When i started fishing the team that my dad fished with folded for some reason so he fished with me at club and open level to bring me on for a couple of years, and eventually i would start to beat him on a regular basis, which was a buzz in itself. When i won my first club match i was delighted, even thought it was on the dreaded Coventry Canal and i only had one bite for one 2 pound chub in a 4 hour match. In my 3rd year of fishing my dad noticed i was starting to put in some really steady performances with my squatt fishing, and recommended me to Ted, captain of Dams & Lock. Ted then took me underh is wing with the rest of the squad and although i sat on teh sidelines for 12 months i feel that i would not be anywhere near the level i am now if it wasn't for me joining a team, and learning off of some brilliant anglers, as it was not just my team mates who would help me, as I live near and am good mates with Darren Massey of the Shakey Superteam aswell, and the likes of him and Darren Bolton have been brilliant to me, along with Ted and my other team mates. And the Buzz that winning as a team brings is far greater than any personal achievement i've experienced up to now, as i would say winning the division 3 national as a team on teh staffs worcester is the greatest fishing experience of my so far short life. As for my old man, he's havin a rough time with fishin at the moment but i'm sure he'll work it out ::)

petwaldo · #11

as a club angler i know where your coming from ive tried on the odd occasion a go at the open scene but for me it always comes down to finance and time.i started at alocal club as a kid and 30 years on im now the club chairman.i fish for a local team who fish the national every year and have managed to work our way up to div 1 . ive been lucky enough to reach the embassy pairs final once whilst practising for a national.its as everyone has said its about wanting to better yourself and pushing the boundries but the key point to remember its about enjoying your fishing.ive just had two fourth places in my last two canal opens which keeps my ego ticking over but deep down i know i should have done better.keep plugging away and always ask questions.

#12

I don't believe for one minute Lee was 19/20 at any time.

joffmiester · #13

simple its a easy question how do you feel about your fishing are you happy doing what you are doing or do you think its time to move up only you can answer that.
at the moment like its been said team fishing is at rock bottom leagues are finishing left right and center and the best teams have the best anglers and they are the teams you should be looking at getting in
as the knowledge from team members will only make you better.i have noticed a lot of mediocre teams seam to have given up the will to win ,ie no team meetings,no practicing and very really talk fishing to each other and possibly the worst one always turning up late.if you find yourself in one of these teams simple you will be no better off from what you are doing.
trentmen have come into our league,why because every team in there area had given up the will of trying to beat them and all leagues finished ,from trentmens point of view unless they moved and travelled to another area the danger would be possible loosing the team all together
what has happened now is leicester and trentmen compete at there highest level as the will to beat each other can only make you better we have team meeting practice together we even have social nights out and the team is buzzing
so simple the question is have you got the hunger the time and the commitment

but be warned often for very little reward

#14

I was lucky that when i changed from club fishing on commies to canal fishing that i was drinking with paul and neil turner pete plant alan jordan and dave brown so ilearnt as much in the pub as i did on the bank. My first venture into team fishing was quite lucky, i was asked to fish a couple of rounds at soudley for dudley bait, after asking dave richards how to hook joker on first match i went on to win the match with 5lb of roach, on the second match i won my section. Luckily the next season i was asked to fish for tipton, the canal team was awsome but the more teams i got left out of the more determined i was to improve and get in. I love fishing against the best anglers. I must say i've made great mates through fishing with Tipton

#15

Thamx Lloydy; I didn't think you cared

#16

Bill

#17

I don't believe for one minute Lee was 19/20 at any time.

I was Bill...Honest..

Probably around the time when were into your 60's

joffmiester · #18

llyody my days as a match fisherman started way back in the days of the leicester likely lads bank running we never would of fished yet the leicester juniors would always practice with the likes of IVAN MARKS,ROY MARLOW,TREV TOMLIN,DAVE DOWNS,STAN PIECHA,DAVE ROSSI,BRIAN ENDVES,BRIAN HOLMES JOHN CASTLEDINE,TOM BEDDER what a list even bill was a young man then fishing for croft.the juniors had everything in those days all thanks to the above names,any bait left over the juniors had it along with tackle and information the likes of stu killen,steve warner,gary sadler john clarke,steve hemmingrey all became good team and match anglers though the above names i wish i could remember them all because the likely lads had a back bone second to none and these were the anglers that grounded out results
in the days of the likely lads most would fish three days a week and travel hundreds of miles for matches and we would be stuck in the back often six in a van [boy they were the days]and a 5 o'clock start and maybe back for midnight
i left leicester for a short time when i started a family and couldn't give the commitment that was required i went to QUORN AS nice team local and we could win on our local river but the problem was thats all we did,so nationals semis and any other big matches no preparation was made
a little time after IVAN MARKS would come and find me where ever i was fishing specially in winter leagues,he would always ask me to go back to leicester and for a long time i said no i wanted to be able to give the same commitment as before and to be fare ivan never gave up.so the day he asked me to captain i couldn't refuse we had some cracking results for a while then reality set in and we lost a few anglers to the commercials and others to family commitments its only now we are getting back together with the likes of paul yates[yanny] matt hall and stan piecha[born again stan] plus the back bone of anglers behind them.the input from new and old has helped us through out the season
well thats my story

#19

Thanks for e-mail Bill

#20

Good'un Joff, bit similar to my early days. I started with local leagues and eventually we put a team in the West Mid WL, these were great days and I wouldn't have changed them for the world. We fished against the biggest teams in the country those days Cofton Hackett were the team of the day captained by Clive Smith with Ken Giles as his right hand man, - what a partnership. Clive Smith was the best captain I have ever seen, and I knew Dick Clegg and his efforts are legendary. I also fished against the BAA and the Likely Lads many times, later I got to know Ivan quite well.
Our team, Izaak Walton, Stafford was nothing more than a proper club side but had a lot of ability and won loads of titles in the mid 80s. The team matches won included the Div One National, three Upper Trent WLs (with Starlets in the league) and two 550+ plus pegs Fish Aids, once pegged NEXT to the England team. We did win many more team and individual matchs at that time.
Winning the National, I believe we were the last ever Club side to win it, brought problems. We obtained a massive sponsorship deal (cash) from a tackle company (by today's standard it is even more massive) and from that day I could see it all 'going away' but felt helpless to do anything about it. Our lads from those days still talk about this and believe without this deal we could have gone a lot further.
The deal affected anglers performances, they became more interrested in the sponsorship than the actual fishing. I stood down at this point, this was a weakness on my behalf.
It was only a few short years back that Bridgnorth rekindled my first love, team fishing. I fished a couple of successful Nationals for them before I came nearer home to Eclipse, - we are crap on the winter but will give anyone a run for their money in the summer on the cuts.

I could go on forever about this forever but given my time again I wouldn't change anything. My one remaining ambition has always been to organise a match on our three local canals, - as long as I am still breathing I will see that come true on August 8th 2009, as far as organising goes that will definitely be my last one but it is a good way to go out!