Pleasure or practice

[Line Clip]

If your a Match Angler Open, Commercial, Natural, etc ( IN NORMAL TIMES) can you switch off and pleasure fish on any venue for the enjoyment of it
or do you visit a venue were you would normally match fish, so that it is more of a PRACTICE session for fourth coming
matches. ( IN OTHER-WORDS ) as a Match Angler, do you enjoy pleasure fishing ?
The reason I ask, there are guys in our club who will only fish a Match, and dont go pleasure fishing at all, The only time other than a match is to go
to a venue to practice.

t

 

[Godber]

I will pleasure fish but l get bored.
At the moment though, l would love to spend a few hours on the bank.

 

[chris1967]

no ,don't bother. sad init lol

 

[Zerkalo]

It all depends on venue for me, some places I would only pleasure fish if I was going to practice, others I would only pleasure fish for the thrill of it.

I was going to make a similar thread as some people infer that pleasure fishing is too easy and boring. Match fishing is not the be all and end all of fishing for me as it is to some, if it was, I wouldn't fish at all but it's horses for courses. There's the social side of matches but I enjoy being out there on my own just as much.

 

[Silverfisher]

Not meaning to be controversial but if you can't pleasure fish at all surely you've rather lost the fishing bug that gets us all started in the first place? That pull to look at almost any bit of water, wonder what's in it and fancying a go at fishing it. Plus the just spending time out in nature, immersed amongst and pitting yourself against it.

 

[Foul hooked]

Different strokes for different folks as they say, but could never get my head around why some anglers cannot enjoy fishing simply for fishings sake and need that competitiveness to get enjoyment out of the sport. Don't get me wrong i have nothing against match fishing, and many moons ago enjoyed the thrill of pitting myself against others, the anticipation of the draw and the weigh in etc. but that never surpassed the simple pleasure of sitting beside the water watching the nature around me and just trying to entice a few fish into the net. Now when i go fishing it is purely for the pleasure of it, trying new techniques, different surroundings and being able to start and stop when i like.
I think what finished me in terms of serious match fishing was many years ago, fishing a match on the local club lakes, and for the first time ever on that water i was bagging, sitting on a massive shoal of feeding bream and roach, something that only happened once in a blue moon there (and always to other people). The whistle went and i was clearly way ahead of the field but devastated that i had to stop fishing when sitting on top of what seemed like the entire lakes population of fish. I won about £100 altogether including the section pool etc (not to be sniffed at in the early '80s and about a weeks wages at the time) but small consolation for what could easily have been my best ever session at the time. by the time the formalities where concluded i returned to my peg to fish on but by then the fish had moved off. Despite fishing the venue regularly over the next five or six years i never came anywhere near to the weight i had that day, never mind what it could have been had i been able to continue on. I vowed that i would never let that happen again and now only fish for pleasure.

 

[banksy]

In a way, I'm always in a match.
If there are just two of us on the water, it's against him on the far side of the pond, who doesn't even KNOW he's in a match.
Though if the guy on the far side appears to be shlt hot, I'll just have a pleasure session on my own, thanks.

 

[carphauler]

My love of actual fishing has been rejuvenated by fishing natural venues, pretty much what I did as a kid as there were no commercials as such.
I very rarely fish commies now if at all, maybe one day it will change again, who knows.

 

[chris1967]

Not meaning to be controversial but if you can't pleasure fish at all surely you've rather lost the fishing bug that gets us all started in the first place? That pull to look at almost any bit of water, wonder what's in it and fancying a go at fishing it. Plus the just spending time out in nature, immersed amongst and pitting yourself against it.

Not being controversial at all bud ,i only fish commercials ,i know whats in the water (water pigs) it costs £7 or £8 to fish most so i dont mind chucking another tenner on top to fish a match .
I found when i pleasure fish i tend to pi$$ about alot ,wait i pi$$ about alot on a match lol why am i wasting a tenner pmsl . seriously though thats how i get my release ,others through pleasure fishing others match fishing

 

[Oldmech]

Being a member of 2 match fishing clubs with about 35-40 matches a year between them match fishing is and always has been my thing, but will often pop out for a day if there is a gap between matches for a day on a lake we are having a match on soon. Call it pleasure or practice it doesn't matter it's still fishing.

 

[ukzero1]

Practice or pleasure are both the same to me. You're there to catch what you can on the day, tweaking gear, change of tactics, trying different baits and enjoying the day.

 

[The Landlord]

I never get the time to fish matches these days so every session is a pleasure session. However it doesn't replace the buzz I get from fishing a match so I fish as though I'm fishing a match when I'm pleasure fishing. Even when I'm on my own, from the way I set up, to the way I feed & look to see what everyone else is catching.

 

[smiffy]

I’m enjoying my fishing again since I packed up matchfishing. It got to the point that I was going to work on Monday for a rest Having said that I’ll probably get my match kit out when I qualify for the concessionary club matches.

 

[robert d]

If your a Match Angler Open, Commercial, Natural, etc ( IN NORMAL TIMES) can you switch off and pleasure fish on any venue for the enjoyment of it
or do you visit a venue were you would normally match fish, so that it is more of a PRACTICE session for fourth coming
matches. ( IN OTHER-WORDS ) as a Match Angler, do you enjoy pleasure fishing ?
The reason I ask, there are guys in our club who will only fish a Match, and dont go pleasure fishing at all, The only time other than a match is to go
to a venue to practice.

t

Both for me ,i enjoy match fishing the best for sure but a nice day out pleasure fishing (practise) is good to lol . A rod in hand is worth two in the bush ,dont tell the gert lol

 

[RMNDIL]

I enjoy pleasure fishing when not match fishing. I enjoy trying to catch something from that swim or trying to catch that type/size of fish. Whatever the challenge is. And sometimes I make the challenge for myself rather than do the 'banker'. However, I know others who would rather have a match around their toilet bowl containing 1 goldfish than pleasure fish. Different strokes.....

 

[Paul.P]

Up until last year any time spent on the bank not match fishing would of been a practice, however, my son got back into fishing last year & we've managed to get a season ticket for a local water that i've been trying for years, the point being i've spent quite a few days there with him just enjoying the company talking about old times etc, & i have to say its been very enjoyable. Plus unfortunately there have been one or two dubious things going on in our match group which i dislike, to me fishing every week with the same guys is great & can be good fun with an element of competitiveness involved, but when people (lets be polite ) bend the rules to win, it really winds me up to the point i'm not even sure i still want to go.

 

[baggy]

Simple answer is I do both. I do practice on certain venues but I also go pleasure fishing for just enjoyment

 

[Chris Calder]

I match fish twice a week most of the time, but just as happy pleasure fishing, or putting two rods on buzzers and doing a bit of carp fishing, unlike other matchmen who only like to fish matches I have a tendency every 5 or 6 years to stop matchfishing for 6 months and just go pleasure fishing.

 

[dave brittain 1]

Sometimes you need a pleasure sessions to sort things out and try new things. People forget match anglers are simply anglers who like to test their ability and are often competitive or sociable by nature.

 

[Eddiepoolsfodder]

I used to fish matches and won a couple of decent size opens ( by default mainly - lucky fish on rock hard days) . I also fished a few team matches on the Calder league in Yorkshire many moons ago and realised I was miles behind the standard required to compete so gave it up. I am thinking of starting to fish some club matches again as I do enjoy the competition. I still really enjoy pleasure sessions but even then I prefer it if it’s a mini competition with my fishing pals. One thing that ruins pleasure fishing for me is not being able to use a keepnet. I know of no commercials now that allow nets so I stick to club waters , mainly rivers .