I have recently started entering some local matches during the summer and when I started, I knew almost nothing about it. Therefore, I decided to make this blog post to help those people who are also just starting out.
What you will need
To get started the only must haves are a float or feeder rod with your preferred setup (personally I use a waggler or pole setup for match fishing), some bait of your choice (I personally bring a couple of options for bait so I can decide on the day. It’s usually maggots and sweetcorn) and a keepnet.
If you have all of those you can enter a match, but personally I like to have a few more pieces of equipment, I like to have a second rod or a whip so I can easily change my method depending on what’s working on the day.
I also think that ground bait is a must have, I like to use either Sensas or our own Blackwood bait and tackle crumb-based ground bait.
Some general rules
Most coarse fishing matches have a similar rule set, these rules include:
- One rod in the water at a time per angler
- You cannot put bait in the water before the set time for all in
- If you hook into a fish in the last few minutes of the competition and it hasn’t been landed at the time of all out, you may play the fish and land it and it will still count towards your total weight in fish
- All fish caught must be placed in a keepnet to be weighed at the end of the competition
- All fish must be safely released

Advice for fishing matches
When fishing a match, you must be adaptable, if you are fishing on the bottom and the big fish aren’t there or aren’t feeding on the bottom you need to change tactics, either shallow your float or change to something else completely. You must also remember not every competition is going to go your way, some days will be bad, you might even blank but if you do, don’t worry about it because that’s fishing and blanks happen and the best piece of advice I can give is don’t be afraid to try something different. If everyone is fishing a feeder and it’s not working for you or you’re not confident fishing a feeder don’t be afraid to tie on a float instead or use a whip or pole.
How I use ground bait
To start I pour half my bag of ground bait into my bucket. Then I wet the ground bait using water from the lake or canal I’m fishing, I know I have enough water in it when the ground bait is slightly sticky and slopy and clumps into balls when you clench it in your hand. Once the ground bait is ready if I’m fishing a waggler, I clump the ground bait into a ball about the size of your fist and throw it next to my float. If I’m using my pole, I prepare my ground bait the same way, but I clench it into a smaller ball and put it in my pole cup with some sweetcorn or maggots and drop the bait over my float.
How I fish a match
When I fish a match, I like to start by fishing my pole or a waggler setup, I use a 0.75g pole float or a 6bb waggler.
For the first 45 minutes to an hour of the competition I fish with my bait on the bottom to target the bigger fish, if I’m catching fish on the bottom I will stick with it for the remainder of the competition, if not I shallow my float to about half the depth of the water to target smaller silvers and perch.
At the start of the match the first thing I do is put in a ball of ground bait and for the first hour I put ground bait in my swim every 15 minutes to build up a swim then after the first hour, I reduce to feeding every half hour but I increase the amount I feed.
In the last 30 minutes of the competition I focus on catching a larger volume of small fish rather than big fish, so I shallow my float to about a quarter of the depth of the water and feed a small number of maggots every few minutes to keep the small fish feeding.
The last thing I always do while fishing a match is changing my bait often, especially if I’m using worms or maggots. Having fresh hook bait is vitally important, a fresh wiggly maggot is much more enticing to a fish than a nibbled dead one, so keeping your bait fresh will give you a much higher chance of catching, especially if you’re targeting the smaller fish.
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