Yesterday me and a couple of friends of mine fished Greenhalghs Lodge at Greenhalgh in Lancashire a favourite venue of mine [
].
When we arrived at the venue the Bailiff came over and told us pegs 5-6-7 where reserved for a match angler to do a feature for a well known angling publication, this fascinated me as I have always wondered how these features are done and i have a lot of respect and admeration for the quality of match anglers the u.k turns out year after year in fact we have such an angler on here called Lee, I decided to fish peg 25 directly facing peg 5 and 2 my pals who came with me fished 26 & 27 which face pegs 6 & 7.
The match angler in question arrived with another angler and the angler being featured fished peg 5 with his mate fishing peg 7 and the guy taking all the pictures had is gear set up on peg 6 before I go any further this venue mainly only stocks carp and they go to 20llb but average out at about 8llbs this is a picture of a typical carp out of this venue
Me and my mates where catching steadily and the match angler and his mate where struggling to get bites until the bailiff popped over and gave them a few tips and told them about a gravel bar that runs in the middle of the lake both where fishing on the tip using the inline feeder method with a short tail which is the right tactics on this venue for the time of year.
Eventually the mate of the angler being featured hooked in to a fish and what occurred next and for the rest of the day saddened me and my mates, the angler walked down 2 pegs and passed his rod over to the featured angler and he dually landed the fish whilst being pictured he then put in his keep net (I wont go on about this issue to much as I have already made a post concerning keep nets and the double standards involved, both on this forum and in the national press, double standards yet again one rule for the elite another for Mr Pleasure angler) the fish was pictured and it seemed like an age before it was placed in the keep net anyway a hour later again the same angler hooked in to a fish and promptly passed down his rod to the featured angler time after time he let the hooked fish run when it could have been landed easily so the camera man could get decent shots at one point he even let it out of his landing net to land it again for the perfect shot, this time I timed how long the fish was out of the water and it was 5 minutes and a very good fish approx 10llbs which was held in all kinds of poses and taken all over the bank again for the perfect shot.
This went on for most of the day and just for the record the featured angler actually caught a grand total of 1 (one) fish the rest a total of 6 where actually hooked by his mate in fact it will be very interesting to see the write up in the angling publication because one angler was using a gold reel and the other a black one with identical rods you dont have to be Einstein to work that one out.
To finish the feature the keep net was dually dragged up the bank and the fish where placed all over the ground and arranged in all kinds of manner again for the perfect shot, what really tickled me was the comment from the featured angler to the camera man to get all the s**t gear in the shot all the s**t gear by the way he probably gets for nothing of a very well known tackle shop and match outfit in Preston who are good enough to sponsor him, maybe if he paid for his gear like most dedicated match and pleasure anglers do he would change his tune.
All I can say and this is my opinion which my mates shared with me 100% is if thats the way they do a feature (I am not saying all features are done like this by the way but I have only ever seen one done) and sell magazines they can stuff them where the sun dont shine I would sooner see healthy fish and things done right and honestly than see fish suffer like that, what a farce not only did the angler in question have a bad day which each and every angler in the world as had and will have again he took advantage if a very privileged post ion he is very lucky to have and most up and coming match anglers would give there right arm for.
I was just thankful there where no Antis looking on because what I saw today is the bad side of angling and needs to be addressed and just gives the antis fuel for there campaign.
A sad day for me a very sad day [
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AL Peters
Happiness is playin wif yer rod
When we arrived at the venue the Bailiff came over and told us pegs 5-6-7 where reserved for a match angler to do a feature for a well known angling publication, this fascinated me as I have always wondered how these features are done and i have a lot of respect and admeration for the quality of match anglers the u.k turns out year after year in fact we have such an angler on here called Lee, I decided to fish peg 25 directly facing peg 5 and 2 my pals who came with me fished 26 & 27 which face pegs 6 & 7.
The match angler in question arrived with another angler and the angler being featured fished peg 5 with his mate fishing peg 7 and the guy taking all the pictures had is gear set up on peg 6 before I go any further this venue mainly only stocks carp and they go to 20llb but average out at about 8llbs this is a picture of a typical carp out of this venue

Me and my mates where catching steadily and the match angler and his mate where struggling to get bites until the bailiff popped over and gave them a few tips and told them about a gravel bar that runs in the middle of the lake both where fishing on the tip using the inline feeder method with a short tail which is the right tactics on this venue for the time of year.
Eventually the mate of the angler being featured hooked in to a fish and what occurred next and for the rest of the day saddened me and my mates, the angler walked down 2 pegs and passed his rod over to the featured angler and he dually landed the fish whilst being pictured he then put in his keep net (I wont go on about this issue to much as I have already made a post concerning keep nets and the double standards involved, both on this forum and in the national press, double standards yet again one rule for the elite another for Mr Pleasure angler) the fish was pictured and it seemed like an age before it was placed in the keep net anyway a hour later again the same angler hooked in to a fish and promptly passed down his rod to the featured angler time after time he let the hooked fish run when it could have been landed easily so the camera man could get decent shots at one point he even let it out of his landing net to land it again for the perfect shot, this time I timed how long the fish was out of the water and it was 5 minutes and a very good fish approx 10llbs which was held in all kinds of poses and taken all over the bank again for the perfect shot.
This went on for most of the day and just for the record the featured angler actually caught a grand total of 1 (one) fish the rest a total of 6 where actually hooked by his mate in fact it will be very interesting to see the write up in the angling publication because one angler was using a gold reel and the other a black one with identical rods you dont have to be Einstein to work that one out.
To finish the feature the keep net was dually dragged up the bank and the fish where placed all over the ground and arranged in all kinds of manner again for the perfect shot, what really tickled me was the comment from the featured angler to the camera man to get all the s**t gear in the shot all the s**t gear by the way he probably gets for nothing of a very well known tackle shop and match outfit in Preston who are good enough to sponsor him, maybe if he paid for his gear like most dedicated match and pleasure anglers do he would change his tune.
All I can say and this is my opinion which my mates shared with me 100% is if thats the way they do a feature (I am not saying all features are done like this by the way but I have only ever seen one done) and sell magazines they can stuff them where the sun dont shine I would sooner see healthy fish and things done right and honestly than see fish suffer like that, what a farce not only did the angler in question have a bad day which each and every angler in the world as had and will have again he took advantage if a very privileged post ion he is very lucky to have and most up and coming match anglers would give there right arm for.
I was just thankful there where no Antis looking on because what I saw today is the bad side of angling and needs to be addressed and just gives the antis fuel for there campaign.
A sad day for me a very sad day [
AL Peters

Happiness is playin wif yer rod