When is a whip

In article , caroline
wrote:
The OH thought it would be nice to enter me in a low-key local fishing
competition with my 'pole' this weekend...any tips for a first timer (who's
still a complete fishing novice)?

Yes. Don't. :-)

If you -really- want to learn match fishing tactics then go along - but
don't fish. Keep well back so you don't scare anyone's fish (or give them
the excuse to grumble that you might have done) Take binoculars and just
watch, watch carefully and take notes - in particular try to work out
if/why/when baiting tactics work or not. Take photographs (with a decent
telephoto and tripod you can get lots of interesting details) to stay
'friends' you can offer the contestants pictures of themselves landing fish
- remarkably few anglers have really good pictures of themselves fishing.
Then at the end play journalist and interview a few of the characters who's
actions interest you. Oh, take names etc. both so you can send pictures to
the contestants and in case you can really write up the match and send an
article in to the angling press - you never know, there may be an
alternative career in this...

Next day - return to the venue and try out a few of the things you have
learned. Weigh your catch - would you have won?

However: If you want to catch plenty of fish then avoid matches like the
plague - the first thing any match angler does is to scare all the fish out
from under the near bank and all the put all the larger fish off the feed.
On your own you can creep in and catch those first.

Cheerio,

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