Match fisherman a dying breed

[Paulscatt]

Match fishing will all but dissappear in the next 25 years or so if the membership of my club is reflected across the country. Out of the 20 or so active members only 6 members are aged under 50 & 2 under 40

New younger members are not taking up match fishing at a club level at least not in my experiance. I dont fish a lot of opens but of those i have over the past few years i've been one of the youngest anglers on the match. If this is reflected nationally it wont be long before matches will dissappear all together.

Is this the same with your club. Are your fellow angler's getting older & your membership getting smaller?

[mabalsaritchie]

Think your on the money Paul. You might get the odd youngster but the rest are 40+. There are plenty of kids fishing but not fishing matches. i think the pubs staying up til 2-3 in the morning don't help. I noticed this when I was running a Sunday League football team. it was the the same guys signing on every season. Our Sunday league had 9 divisions when I stopped playing. We now have 2 or 3.

[karponi]

We have quite a healthy junior section for a small club, with 54 junior members and up to 15 of those compete in our junior matches. We only charge £6 per year for a junior membership and entry into the matches is free for all juniors, they don't have to be a member.
We can afford to do this as certain members of the comittee have sort sponsors for most of the matches. 1st and 2nd in the under 12's and 1st and 2nd in the over 12's recieve individual trophies for each match and tackle prizes are dished out to 1st 2nd and 3rd. Drumming up interest was done by advertising in local schools. Once they get a taste of winning they keep coming back and its not costing them penny!

[Oneabung]

Definately a dying breed! I'm 34 and I still get called "Young Lad" when Im fishing winter leagues! Needs to be some real change to our sport to get more youngsters involved - but god knows how you achieve that... imagine if you went to a local school and said you would organise an afternoons fishing for anyone who wanted to go... they would either say you were a child molester or "oh not thats too dangerous someone might drown!"

[The Runner]

Definitely a drop in numbers as well over the last few years, and I don't really buy the argument that theres the same numbers as ten years ago but spread over more small matches on commercials.
Was looking the other night at a photo of one of my old teams posing with our medals from a National on the Thames ten years or so ago.

Of the fifteen of us in the photo, only four are still fishing team/open matches on a variety of waters.Two fish only club matches mainly on commercials, three only club matches but anywhere, one has emigrated and five have packed it in completely and sold all their gear.

Pretty sure that more or less the same proportions will apply anywhere.

[tk]

Not sure. With the club I'm involved, a decade ago the membership reduced to 18 (which has a cap of 25 anyway) and we were only getting 12/13 bums on pegs each match.
Had an steady influx of members over the last couple of years and even a 'waiting' list (but visitors could fish if spare pegs available.) Now averaging 21/22 per match which would be a bit higher if not for the lower percentage that turn out for the rivers.
I was the 'youngest' when I joined the club just over 10 years ago. We now have, for the first time, a junior member (15) that someone has taken under their wing and pleasing to see a growing no of 20 year olds. A couple of these guys have essentially joined because they were 'reared' on commercials only and want to learn how to fish cuts and rivers.

[caster master]

theres plenty of kids wanting to get into fishing but theres not many ppl willing to take them and show them the basics, fished the worcester cut alot this summer and there was always kids on there but they had ropey old tackle and didnt know wot they was doing, alot of the time i went and gave them a little bit of help and showed the basics of fishing. i think the goverment should do more to get kids into fishing beacuse it gives them something to do and stops them hangings around on streets causing mayhem

[leetwin]

I dont agree... I think as with most sports you get kids going fishing with there mates when they are younger then in they're 20's they do other things such as clubbing out with there mates, starting families etc. then when they get a bit older and have more money they take up fishing again.. and they usually have a bit more cash so decide to join clubs or fish matches etc... when they were younger they had there mates as competition so dont fish the match scenes... well thats my opinion and I see loads of kids out on the banks more than when i was young

[royst]

Unfortunately I have to agree with Scatty, our club has been going since 1984 and although the membership changes we still have a hard core of aging members with little new/young blood. Next year we will have 1 member under 30 with the majority old geets over 40.

[Dave]

im 17 and i love fishing and im desperate to get on in this brill sport and do well.


youth masters has loads of kids in it aged form 17 and under

[Brian G]

youth masters has loads of kids in it aged form 17 and under

I would be amazed if it had any of us old uns fishing it

[billy whizz]

Reasons for lack of juniors could be the small friendly fishing clubs tend to fish harder waters than youngsters like, and you can't blame them really. also clubs tend to travel further afield to find the best venues and space in cars is always at a premium and by the time a quick pint has been had a days fishing lasts 10 - 12 hours and how many old uns can hold a conversation with a Youf. I used to be a junior and walked a good mile with tackle to get picked up but always dreaded who would have a space, if anybody. When i got a car I found girls and that was that until i was about 30. Beer girls and cars will always mean a lack of youngsters

[Dave]

i was just saying brian you sarcastic git

that the youth masters get good backing from my age group not all of them are any good and can see them doing any good in the sport but still good backing

[Boilieboy]

It annoys me so bad when parents want their child to start fishing but give them total rubbish to start with!

[Larry Teepot]

i agree in so much as i think fishing is not getting youngsters coming in any more . when i was a lad i was taken fishing by a group of guys every week that taught me all sorts canals pools lakes rivers pubs ciggys ever thing. but today you cannot just get youngsters and tag them along with you there is a fear factor of being called a pervert or worse..it has lead to angling loosing out on youngsters and the future is now in decline just my opinion