Simple Match Fishing Forum

Tony, did pete run gailey matches at some stage?

In the late 80s through to the late 90s my club, Izaak Walton(Stafford)AA had a guy named Pete Bryan (some may know him, he is a lecturer at Rodbaston College) take on a a group of youngsters to not just improve their skills but match fishing skills and techniques too, on a wide range of waters. Pete was ultra keen and I can't speak high enough of what he did. Under his wing (the Club bought him a team bus to take them around) they went all over the place fishing and learning and eventually fishing matches that were appropriate to them; they visited all sorts of venues, some easy and some deliberately difficult. It didn't take too long for these youngsters to start improving and as such more and more joined. What started as an excercise in getting youngsters more involved in the sport escalated beyond belief. Many of those 'lads' are still fishing, some in matches, some pleasure fishing. In that short space of time Simon Allen won the Junior National as well as others, the team won the last ever large Junior National in 1995. That group of lads included Andy Moors and Kieron Rich, both went on to win the Kamasan Matchman of the Year competition and masses of other huge matches and Festivals and like Simon, still fishing matches today. There are many more lads, from that squad, still fishing.
Pete 'retired' soon after that National win quite simple to watch and spend some time with his own kids as they grew up.

In my mind this is what is needed today to get youngsters fishing matches, with it becoming harder and harder to get jobs the time and the potential is there.

One big problem, where do you find another Pete Bryan? If they can be found surely match fishing has more future than we all believe.