WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO

joffmiester · #1

become a international angler most match anglers put some time in during the week on there tackle and then perhaps fish a match three times a week
i was talking to keef last night about this and keef along with bill are two very wise men and know more about the sport of match fishing than most.
keef said to me to become a international angler at the level we are today on a percentage he thought 5% family 5% business and 80% fishing

now that is some commitment for very little financial reward from the sport .yet most of the top anglers will say its not about the money
we also said that England as a country holds around 200 top anglers of which 50 put this sort of dedication into there fishing
these angler are that good because they can read the conditions and situations the quickest, its not always the tackle and rigs that are Superior its knowing when and how to catch the next fish when to top up and when to take that late gamble.how much time do you think match angling should take up
ive shot it

4 kids and business

but keefs final words of encouragement was name a sport that you can compete against England's finest anglers at the next peg
it puts to sleep a lot of this "your a drawbag,another flier,your bang on again"
one other word of wisdom
fish spend more time fighting to survive in there own environment than checking out your rigs and saying thats nice i'l eat that one or its the weekend time to feed .if only it was that simple

how much time do you give a week

#2

Very interesting that Joff and Keef, I enjoyed reading that post immensely.

I am hopelessly out of touch with the 'big scene' now but a few years ago, it sounds as though it is much the same now, success in angling will always breed success.

When you have ten top anglers (may I suggest Dorking) they will all feed off each other and they all improve possibly without noticing it. I used to put that down to an 'inner sanctum' thing, what I mean by this is that they all, in a deep down natural way want to be on the top of the pile individually and it does brilliant for team moral and improvement.

If anyone will forgive me for saying this the likes of Daiwa Dorking (and a couple of other teams that you know I am thinking of) hardly ever look to other anglers to bring in, they stick with what they have and the best team captains read the situation and know when to seek another or others; this is critical to top teams, you can be crappity smack with one bad move here.

Unfortunately, and it happened in my day as well, I still see anglers changing teams as if there is no tomorrow. To get a class team that will not and never can work. If they want local dominance it will work for a short spell and that is it.

I don't know the score but I bet you £1 to a piece of shyte the likes of Dorking have regular discusssions on who has done what within that squad on a particular venue, on a particular peg, they will also trust each other implicitly to put proper views over, not stupid ways to make a previous catches better than they were

I may well be talking through my wobbly cheeks now but that is how I see it and there is no bias in my statement whatsoever.

I don't know whether this applies now, - you also had 'gifted' anglers like KA and IM, - they could improve a team by just being there. Are there any of these types about now? You tell me, -oh I forgot I would also put Clive Smith in that bracket too.

It would be interesting to hear Kingfisher's views on this as he was part of another 'unbeatable' team.

Hope I've offended no crappity smack

I'll shut the crappity smack up now.

MrV · #3

on a percentage he thought 5% family 5% business and 80% fishing

I don't suppose with maths like this Keef would get a job on your till Joffie

. Brilliant read though, and some interesting points

Paul_Murrin · #4

The other 10% is for,

sleeping

#5

Possibly the other 10 % wobbly cheeks licking ?

MrV · #6

Possibly the other 10 % wobbly cheeks licking ?

Nice one Dodge

Ian_Morrison · #7

you also had 'gifted' anglers like KA and IM, - they could improve a team by just being there.

Thanks Bill i didn't realise you rated me that much, but I dont think I am that good!!

joffmiester · #8

on a percentage he thought 5% family 5% business and 80% fishing

I don't suppose with maths like this Keef would get a job on your till Joffie . Brilliant read though, and some interesting points

sorry my misprint

10% it should of read

joffmiester · #9

wise words from a wise man bill

i remembered last years national when dorking obliterated the new junky and after a lot of anglers said there draw was brilliant so many end pegs ::) ::) ::)personally it had nothing to do with that
fact they sauced the best bait they could find
they gave up a week to practice, teams like dorking,barnsley and starlets live for fishing never off the phone little tip-bits you can pick up just being around these anglers often answer simple questions you have thought about yet not put them into practice
this years national has done a lot for team fishing ok another great result for dorking but look how close maver image came to winning it with no practice this can only encourage teams to think a little more effort it was ours for the taking
meeting are they important how regular should you have them,im pretty sure dorking s meeting are few yet after matches everything is said that needs to be said and practice weeks is not all about drinking lager its intense discounting methods measuring up how much bait to introduce at the start whats the best way of topping up
how many plans should you take to a competition A and B or should you cover half a dozen ?? more than likely its just two if plan a works its normally all over but for less teams it might mean last

its a gamble
i am finding that the gap between the top teams is becoming quite a big split and the rest of the teams need to address this sooner rather than later
and i think what bill has said a settled team is better to work with than one that's bring in face after face
two years ago we lost some good anglers from our team which at the time was quite settled its taken us until now to re-group which has meant dropping out of the winter league last year and national this year .i now think the anglers we have brought in this year will spark i new belief in our team ,they are not new faces on the match seen but have had time out from the sport and are now hungry again these anglers have all been apart of big teams and will pass on encouragement to the others.they all know each other and banter will be a big part of team life from now ,and with the added bonus of the members that have drop away from team fishing to bettering themselves on commercials are now willing to stand in for these sort of matches on commercials
its been a long road but feel there will be light and success at the end of the tunnel

some times you have to sit back and look which direction you are taking with team fishing.its no good at today's level just turning up any to call the top teams that are winning

#10

Thanks Bill i didn't realise you rated me that much, but I dont think I am that good!!

crappity smack off Tash; I never used to take into account end peg draws

#11

they gave up a week to practice, teams like dorking,barnsley and starlets live for fishing never off the phone little tip-bits you can pick up just being around these anglers

I hope them teams picked a few tips off me on the last two div 1 nationals coz i beat em all both times and im proper part time !

#12

Keiths other 10% is spent thinking about Sandwell town

joffmiester · #13

went over Sean Ashby's yesterday the bloke works endlessly yet what a schedule he has over the next few weeks 3 days at evesham then off for the world champs then back for another practice session on the Newark dyke yet has still got to run his business

;)top angler never really in the lime light always in the back ground but dedicated 100%always plenty of time for you