Simple Match Fishing Forum

I picked this up off FACEBOOK and never a true word has been spoken its a great read
Its also on the pole fishing website i hope Tom doesnt mind us taking a look

Tom Scholey
reflects on a frustrating few weeks for his Matrix Dynamite Trentmen team

As much as I love my individual fishing, the more team fishing I do, the more I love it. I am very lucky in that the group of lads and lasses that I fish with are what I call a ‘proper’ team, in that we all get on brilliantly, and there is very little internal politics and backbiting – which I know has torn so many other teams apart. I like to think we are a squad of very good anglers, but I know that we are a group of friends.

I think one of the main reasons for this is that we have no real egos in the team, we all just enjoy our fishing, and work hard to get the best results that we can. For us, 2013 has, without question been our best year for some time. Although a big win has eluded us, we finished second in the Commercial National, third in the Preston Innovations World Club Classic, and missed out on third place in the Match Fishing Team Championship by just a couple of points. Everything was going great for us, then we started our Winter League Campaign on the River Soar…

Despite being on the brink of folding earlier in the year, the Soar Valley Winter League has ended up being one of the biggest Winter Leagues in the country – with seven teams of ten taking part. Our record on the river in past years has been brilliant. Although I don’t have an official set of past results, I am pretty sure that we have won six out of the last eight years, being pushed into second place last year by the up and coming Drennan Leicester team.

For the three years that I have been in the team and fished the river, I have always done relatively well. Although I have had one or two slip ups, I have invariably finished in the top three in my section, securing good points for the team. My impression of the place is that it is a very simple river to fish. As long as you apply a bit of watercraft and common sense in terms of what methods to fish, you can generally get the best from the peg that you draw. It is without question, a great fishing venue, as almost everybody catches two kilos or more. I have to add though, I don’t think that it is a great match fishing venue, as certain pegs, and areas seem to hold fish more than others –and dominate as a result.

So what happened to Matrix Dynamite Trentmen in the league this year? Well, to say we had a nightmare would be an understatement. Going in to the last round on Sunday, we were lying in last place, with no hope at all of making the Winter League Semi Final.

The first round was a complete disaster. I had a reasonable day, finishing third in my section from Sutton Bonnington, but as soon as I saw captain, Rob Perkins, face at the results, I knew the team had a very bad day! We finished second to last – a far from ideal start!

I was away when it came to the second round, fishing the Preston Festival at White Acres, but I had a very depressing phone call with Rob on the Sunday night – the team had come last, and with Leicester winning both rounds, we knew that any hope of winning the league had gone out of the window.

What were we doing wrong? I racked my brains, and I genuinely couldn't think of any reason why our results should be suffering as much as they were. As I have said, I have always found the Soar to be a very simple venue, and anglers were coming back with results which didn't do their ability any justice whatsoever. Rob Perkins is one of the best river anglers in the country in my opinion, and he had come last in his section twice! The only thing that I could put it down to was bad luck at the drawbag.

I was back for round three, and we had a slightly better day with the team finishing third. I managed a second in section, again from Sutton Bonnington. If our team can learn anything from what happened on the Soar, it is from what happened next however.

Like many teams, we have at our heart, a very committed and hard working captain in Rob Perkins. He quite literally takes care of everything, from ordering products from our sponsors, to sorting bait on team matches, picking the team, and keeping everyone up to speed on what is happening – and I know his own fishing suffers as a result at times.

His only real indulgence in terms of individual angling, is the three or four matches per year that he fishes on the Tyne around Newcastle, and the fourth round clashed with one such excursion. With the team lying well down in the league, none of us were really in the mood for talking too much about the river, and when Rob said that he had fixed ten people to fish, none of us thought any more about it.

To cut a long, and very painful story short, Rob made a mistake, and put somebody down as fishing who had in fact told him he couldn’t make it. I couldn’t make that particular match either, as I was on a feature, and because nobody thought we could do any good anyway, no one made the last minute calls they needed too on the morning of the match to get someone to fish.

Given the circumstances, what happened next was entirely predictable – the team fished a man short, and did brilliantly! They finished third on the day, but had we had a full complement, we would have won. To make thing worse, the team who were lying second in the league bombed out and finished last, meaning fishing a man short really cost us.

Poor old Rob was quick to blame himself – but we could all see that the real problem didn’t lie with him, but with the rest of us. Truth be told, we had been relying on one man to do far too much for far too long. Human error is inevitable – but the fact that no one else picked up on it told a story in itself.

Perhaps a bigger problem was the fact that we had all become defeatist, believing the league to be over for us, when in fact, as history proved, it only took one freak result to put us right back in it.

We have learned our lessons though. Lee Wright and myself are more involved in the running of things going forward, which will hopefully take some pressure off Rob and let him concentrate on picking the teams, and also help him to enjoy his own fishing a bit more.

After a fall, all you can do is pick yourselves up, look what you can improve upon and move forward, and a couple of new signings in the shape of Derby lads Tom Potter and Matt Parkin has helped us do just that. They have already proved a real asset to the team, and with out other ‘youngster’ Sam Randall, I can see very bright things for the future.

Hopefully, it is a sign of good things to come that we managed to win the last round of the Winter League with 28 points – promoting us from last place up into fifth. It was also great to see one of angling's unsung heroes and nice guys Ant King win the individual aggregate with a remarkable nine points. Just think how badly we would have done without his results! :-D

The last few weeks haven’t been our finest hour, but I know we can look forward to much better things to come.

Tom Scholey

Team fishing is all about ups and downs thats what makes it so pulsating and enjoyable . Nothing is easy and a challenge brings the best out of people.


Amen

Joff,

agree with Tom that you can't rely on one person to carry the team ..... BUT .... and you will know much better than I

is the Soar really that peggy? Or is it just a very competitive and even league?

Random section draw on the SVWL as well ..... surely it evens out and the best team wins??

The soar is not that peggy to be honest but the sections do have areas that are better than others. why Trentmen failed this year i don't know as they have had a busy year Div 1 fish off commercial national it all must of taken its toll on them.we didn't see them on the river much where as the Leicester boys fished most matches after the Div2 national
The river Soar is all about making the right decisions at the right time on your peg. like most River anglers you have to be in tune with conditions and weather .Brian sent me all the results each round end pegs are key plus the section used really focused on the roach fishing which in turn brings the best out in Leicester some teams will fish hemp to a man whereas leicester love the G/B approach and catch everything that swims but again the Trentmen are good at this. a result in the first two rounds is a must as often these are fish catching rounds often 3kg could get you 5,6 or even 7 points and i think Trentmen had drawn out of the areas in these rounds even so still catching a lot of fish
I also feel the 70 anglers that fish the league are all capable of winning their section or the match as long as they draw a peg where their strengths are the best way of catching IE hemp,bread worms or G/B it really is a great league but if you dont get it right you are soon punished bonus fish also play a part.
I will not be missing a match next year for sure and will be putting in a lot of time just hope my drawing arm finds the right pegs
Leicester ran away with it this year winning it after 5 rounds is unheard of there all round ability on the canal and river is top notch but Im not taking anything away from the Trentmen they are a very good team and will bounce back next year

yeh - it does look inexplicable why they failed quite so badly.

I've only fished the river a couple or so times, but it looks a remarkably fair venue to me. I really can't agree with Tom's assertion that it's "not a great match fishing venue" .... from what I've seen it's as good as a river comes before Christmas.
Talking with Tony M, this year has seen an explosion of tiny blade roach, so perhaps success was about sorting out how to catch stampers - which can be an art in itself!

Mind you - I do always draw good areas when I go to the Soar, so perhaps I've got a rose coloured view!

brilliant river and a great league

Take the greens section one week you need the low numbers the next you need the high do you fish for a bonus fish or do you stick to the G/B fish simple choices this year stick float has played a part on the matches I've walked yet lots of anglers hadn't set them up waggler is another method it's just getting it right on the day this year I've missed it the most as the sections were bang on everyone caught fish you could never tell where the winner would come from that's what it's all about even now it's over the river is still fishing as well

Nocarplease I think it's Toms first year on the water

got us talking anyway!

Lee wright might be able to put light on why they had such a disaster this year I'm sure he'd say it's not that Peggy

Tony runs a series on the river after Christmas that's normally good

Ok where do I start here?! I could go on & give a million excuses as to why we've not qualified but instead I'm going to be constructive and honest.
The soar is my favourite venue to fish, nothing will ever change that but it is on the whole quite peggy and that changes with the conditions. What can be a good 6lb+ peg on a low clear river can be a 4lb peg on a dropping river and then a one bite peg on a rising river!!! The conditions always dictate the fishing as we all know. And this in my opinion makes the venue peggy, even the best anglers on there can't perform miracles if the conditions & peg on the day are against them. Ask tony marshal how much chance me an him had of winning the section from where we were last week. As a team We drew some good pegs and then some not so good too! Take the 1860 section as an example, the 3 rounds where the bottom half of that section was used we drew the same peg 3 times, it's 5ft deep full of weed and one line to fish at 14m where you can get a clear run, not ideal in any situation! There are 4 end pegs in that section which are ALL going to beat you before you even set up so the best you can come is 5th, think we had a 5, a 6 and a 7 from it if I remember right. Nothing you can do. There is also a similar peg on the end of the greens which can be brilliant on a low river but when it's up you may as well be fishing the feild behind you, we had that one twice too, when it was up! Because the league is tight and all the teams know what to do it makes one or two points here and there VERY important! So if your not on the right peg on the right day in the right conditions there isn't a lot you can do about it. Granted it is easy to blame the draw but it certainly wasn't with us this year. Luck also plays a big part in fishing and is especially true on a flooded river. On the soar this normally means you've got to catch a big fish a lot of the time! The round which was fished on a coloured river four of our anglers hooked big fish but every one was subsequently lost, this was the difference between a 5-7 point section score and a 1-2 point section score, doesn't take a lot of maths to work it out!! Now putting time in on a venue certainly helps and Leicester have shown that this year with a dominating performance, our lads could have done more in this department and we shall be putting it right next year.
Our team has also gone though a lot of changes this past season or so, and while this is not an excuse it has ment that rob (our captain) has had his work cut out to even get a full side for each round!!!! Not ideal for anyone running a side :(
There are a whole bunch of things that I haven't delved into (and I won't) but in a nutshell we just need to put more time in next year, draw well at the right time, be lucky, catch more and learn from our mistakes. But then again don't we all??

Thanks Lee for being honest and a full account of your winter league

I fished the SVWL for the first time this year and realy engoyed it realy got me back into river fishing,,even went lobworm collecting one night on the local football field something i havent done for 20 years...theres some good anglers who know the river and its moods and i look forward to next year..being an old trentman you tend to keep an eye on there results and look at the new lads see what they like..the day they had a man short was a sad day there was was a lot of banter and wined ups on the morning.. on the 2 of 4 matches i fished the trentman never walk the scales at the end they was up and gone on them 2 matches they had a last and a 2nd to last,,,thats not a bad peg thats disspondancie and fed up ...trentmen meetings were held on thursday nights before the sunday winter league the team was picked and also 3 or 4 bank runners just in case of any let downs a man short was never heard of that was when meetings was in the pub tho ,,,, its now proberly done over the phone......best of luck to the leicester lads well done

well done forget the The Sensas Soar masters next year HOPEFULLY 6 QUALIFIERS top3 and section winners go through to a final watch this space

What time of year are you considering for these Joff?

sutton is free on quite a few sundays right through so you could see some in June onwards the final wants to be in September Brian and myself will be running them whether we just use sutton or others sections we will have to disguise nearer the time the matrix is worked out just whether enough anglers support it as the pot will need building up to make the final worthwhile
50 would be nice but realistically 40 you can fish as many rounds as you like to qualify
just got to put the dates to the event then advertise well

Thanks I,ll watch this space

Daddybaggers that was a sad day for me too, probably my worst at the club if I'm honest, but it was a genuine mistake by our captain. And he has held his hands up, in fact it affected him so much he nearly left! The despondance has certainly crept in on this league as it's hard to motivate yourself when your on the back foot and heads are down but I can assure you it it's being sorted as I speak. We will be back in that league fighting next year and I can assure you so are the other lads! it's been a tough old ride but it will only serve to make the team stronger and want things more.

I'm sure you will Lee !!