Love them or hate them, small fish are match winners.

This is following on from last week’s column and after a discussion held this week in respect of a possible newcomer to match angling now joining us, where small fish should never be ignored as a target fish was debated.

There are occasions that many anglers will criticise those who fish for them, to a point anywhere that they are often scorned and looked upon as unsporting, a fact that comes to light when fellow competitors are noted to ‘just snatch away’ at the small fish close before them with ease.

It’s a topic that comes to mind within a relatively difficult time of the year, a time when canal anglers for example are particularly drawn to catching as many small fish as possible due to the lack of activity of the larger species that inhabit the water fished.

At this time of year, admittedly, and I think many will agree when presenting an argument, that targeting small fish is essentially the only way forward on such a difficult winter venue such as a canal.

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In summer, when the prime target will be a larger species of fish, it’s also a time that when anglers still target small fish from the very start of a competition or even sometime afterwards when things don’t seem to be going to plan.

There’s always a chance that any match is going to be found extremely difficult at some stage.

Sometimes it is simply just down to the weather conditions as many will appreciate very often merely down to a huge surge of high atmospheric pressure or simply just a change of temperature either way.

Some pegs will also dictate what needs to be targeted by some of our more experienced anglers in competitions and we can never dismiss their decision no matter how critical people can be.

When tiny fish are targeted – and very often we’re talking about roaches that we’re expecting to put on the scales within their hundreds – what also needs to be appreciated is the vast amount of skill it takes to coordinate a precise amount of feed within one’s approach to tackle such a peg.

With the correct presentation of bait, together using tackle that is finely honed to perfection to simply fool a fish towards naturally grabbing what’s put before them, ‘bit’ fishing can on it’s own be an exhilarating experience and the rewards after what can be often a very tiring session can be priceless when it comes to a successful outcome.

Preparation must however be carefully planned and bait, together with extra tackle, must be carefully included within a plan just in case that ‘roach peg’ is chosen on the day.

For reasons that many will understand having experienced it, there can always be an element of waste when it comes to being prepared with lots of bait to cover a busy day targeting small fish.

By not then having drawn a suitable peg that some may have been hoping for on the day, for me it will be simply back to the fridge in the garage for that all important cooling off period until hopefully next week’s outing.

Finally, on reflection after rounding off our discussion that day, we deliberated on the two sorts of coarse fishing, one being pleasure fishing and the second being match fishing.

For me, I will always question to ascertain what actually makes it different.

Like all match anglers, I get a great deal of pleasure competing.

Tight lines.

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