FEATURE Neil machin. 26 matchfishing May 09

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1 Despite winning a host of major titles there are still a couple of big trophies that Neil Machin would like to add to his cabinet. 26 matchfishing May 09

2 What s Next For NEil MAchiN? One of the biggest names in match fishing has just unveiled his very own bait range to the masses. We thought it was the perfect time to catch up with the legend that is Neil Machin! There aren t many true stars in the match fishing fraternity nowadays, but one who definitely fits that description is Neil Machin. The commercial-fishery specialist is a former Kamasan Matchman Of The Year and the only man to have won the 25,000 Fish O Mania and 25,000 Parkdean Masters titles in the same season something we doubt anyone will ever repeat! The widely respected matchman is a regular in the angling press, has starred in several DVDs and has even designed a truly innovative fishing gadget in the shape of the Machin Speed Mould. Now, the former printer from Stoke-on-Trent has designed his very own signature range of baits. One by one this unassuming angler seems to be ticking off targets and aspirations that most can only ever dream of. We met up with him at Border Fisheries in Crewe to find out what s next for Neil Machin. Dave Smith of Get Hooked On Fishing has done wonders for junior angling participation and is a good friend of Neil s. Match Fishing: Hi Neil. You are easily one of the most successful match anglers over the last few years with Kamasan, Fisho and Parkdean titles under your belt. This year seems to be a bit quieter by comparison, though, so what have you been up to? Neil Machin: The main reason I haven t done as much fishing over the last few months is because in June of last year my wife Joanne was diagnosed with breast cancer. She s not been very well, so it was only fair that I spent more time with her. Thankfully her main treatment is almost finished and she is looking and feeling much much better. I ve also been spending time in my garden. After wining Fisho and the Parkdean I decided to spend some of the money extending my house. In doing so I made a real mess of the garden so I ve spent a few Sundays building decking and block paving. I ve even spent some time building a koi pond in my back garden something I ve wanted to do for a while. I ve got koi carp to 5lb in there and I m already learning new things about fish behaviour from watching them. MF: You ve obviously had a very busy year behind the scenes, and thanks for being so honest. As for fishing, is the will to win still as great, and is there anything left that you d really like to win? NM: The Kamasan British Open is still very high on my list. The closest I ve come is second in 2003, when Darren Cox won it. I ve managed to qualify this year so I ll get another bite at the cherry. The Maver Pairs is another title I d like to add to my CV. Andy Moors and I finished second in 2007 when we tied on points with Steve Cooke and Phil Ringer but lost out on weight. Obviously I d also like to win The Drennan Knockout Cup! MF: You have a great relationship with Garbolino and Darren Cox, the company s UK manager. You were also both in last year s Fisho Final, so how helpful were you to each other? NM: Darren and I have become very good friends over the last few years. For the Fisho Final we spent the week before the match practising together and shared all our information. But to be honest most of the competitors that year shared snippets of info, which I think was great, and probably wouldn t happen in other sports. MF: What did you think of last year s new venue Arena Lake at Cudmore and the format in general? NM: If I m honest I used to love fishing at Hayfield Lakes, where the final was before, as it almost felt like being on holiday. For me personally Cudmore isn t quite the same as it s literally on my doorstep. It s a great venue, though, and Arena Lake is perfect. I thought last year s pegging could have been better and I believe it s being changed this year so that there will only be two end pegs but that s still two too many in my opinion! May 09 matchfishing 27

3 MF: Is it fair to say that match fishing seems to have hit a bit of a low recently with things like the UK Champs and the Super League folding, and a lack of 50- peg Kamasan points-scoring matches? Is it all part of the credit crunch or do you think there are other issues that need addressing? This fish was partial to hair-rigged corn buried inside Mr Machin s Method groundbait! NM: I don t think it is just match fishing that s hit a bit of a low, I think it s fishing in general. The ingeniously simple Speed Mould has For as long as I can remember transformed Method-feeder fishing. there has been an angling show at the NEC but this year it was cancelled and it s the same with the show at Stoneleigh. The UK Champs has gone only because Tom Pickering didn t want to run it any more. That was his decision and I certainly wouldn t knock him for it. When it finished the waiting list was as high as it s ever been. As for team fishing it does seem to be on the decline and this may be partially due to the credit crunch and the cost of living. Practising for team events certainly doesn t come cheap and in these difficult times some things have to give. It s a similar situation with the Kamasan, as with the rise in fuel costs fewer people are prepared to travel to find the bigger matches. Instead, many people are settling for fishing more local venues. MF: As a top-flight sponsored angler you are now synonymous with Garbolino and its products. One notable item you personally designed was the Speed Mould, which Garbolino has sold by the bucketful! Now there are a few copies and rival companies are getting in on the idea what s your take on this? NM: There s not a lot I can do about it, to be fair. At least I can always say that it was my idea and thanks to Garbolino the idea became a reality. I always knew other companies would produce imitations; that s the way of the world, unfortunately. MF: Are there any other innovative ideas waiting to see the light of day? NM: Darren and I are always throwing around new ideas and looking at ways of improving existing products. There are a few new things in the pipeline that I m very excited about, but unfortunately they are top secret for now! MF: Let s talk about where we are today Border Fisheries near Crewe, in Cheshire. NM: Border is where my match fishing career really began. I used to help run the open matches here and it was where I first met the legend that is Jeff Moors (Andy s dad). He was the fishery manager at the time and we became very good 28 matchfishing May 09

4 Neil s face will soon be on every tackle shop s shelves as part of the Pro-Competition bait range. friends. Nowadays it s a syndicate water run by Bay Malton AC, which boasts a membership of more than 2,500 members and controls 30 other waters in the northwest. The facilities at Border are excellent with an on-site tackle shop, café, and toilets for disabled and able-bodied anglers. It s in a beautiful setting with mowed grass and well-established trees. In my opinion it s easily one of the best fisheries in the country. MF: You re good friends with Dave Smith, of Get Hooked On Fishing, who is based at Border and does a lot to encourage youths into fishing. He has obviously done a lot of good as Crewe and its wider area has the largest percentage of junior and disabled rod licence sales in the country. Neil has had 100 per cent involvement in the design and production of his new bait range. NM: Dave has coached in the Crewe area for the last six years through his Get Hooked scheme, and during that time has worked with thousands of young people. One of the main things Dave teaches is the importance of a rod licence and, more importantly, how that licence money is then used within local angling. Young anglers are therefore aware that buying a licence actually helps maintain their angling clubs and local waters. Evidencing this fact is the 30m junior coaching platform on Gibbo s Pool at Border. This purpose-built platform to provide safe junior angling on the site was constructed at a cost of 10,000, with the Environment Agency putting in 5,000. It s a great asset to the fishery in fact, Darren Cox and I were invited to officially open it last year and we had a great time with Dave and some of his young anglers. is also a great angler and someone I ve recently got to know through his signing for Bag em. I also presented him with the Matchman Of The Year trophy in March, which just proves what a class act he is. MF: Let s talk about your association with Bag em then, and more precisely the new Pro-Competition bait range you ve developed. How did this come about? NM: Bag em approached me around this time last year and discussed me being the face behind the new company. Part of the deal was that they wanted me to design a new range of match baits that I would be happy to put my name to, and the Pro-Competition range was born. I came up with the entire range and spent all last summer developing the mixes, and the rest of the Bag em team and I field tested them. My whole bait and groundbait range has been designed with the modern match scene in mind. MF: What about young match anglers coming up? Despite the doom-mongers we have noticed plenty of new names doing well on commercials, particularly from the north, such as Adam Richards, James Dent, Ashley Clements, Danny Hallam and more. NM: There do seem to be more young anglers appearing on the match scene nowadays, which can only be good for the sport. I ve known Danny for a few years now as Jeff Moors has taken him under his wing. He has a good head on his shoulders and in the near future I m sure he ll be the man to beat. Adam Richards MF: How does it feel to sit alongside names like Findlay, Masson and Ringer as one of only a handful of stars to have had their own bait range? NM: It feels great! It must be an ambition of most match anglers to get their face or name on the front of a product or have a range named after them it s certainly been mine for a long time! I m not sure how much input or development other anglers have had with their own bait ranges, but I can assure you I ve had total control over mine. MF: There are obviously masses of pellets and groundbaits on the shelves these days, so what do you believe separates your range from others? NM: My whole range has been designed with the modern match scene in mind. All the groundbaits contain top-quality ingredients like ground pellets and superstrength fishmeals. One thing you won t find in them is breadcrumbs, which many May 09 matchfishing 29

5 companies use to bulk out products to make them cheaper to produce. MF: What about properties such as groundbait colour and particle size? NM: Colour in groundbait is very important and some venues only seem to respond to certain colours. That s why I ve tried to cover as many of the well-known colours as possible. The type of dye is also very important use the wrong one and the colour will leak out in the water, leaving your groundbait in its natural state. Coarseness is another very important factor. Make the bait too fine and it becomes difficult to mix. My mixes are bang on for coarseness something that has been difficult to perfect. Being slightly coarser than some other groundbaits on the market makes them easier to mix and allows them to break down faster once in the water. MF: What about special additives? NM: There are some very special additives that have gone into making these groundbaits. Unfortunately, most of them are top secret! There are one or two that I can tell you about, though Robin Red, for instance. This is a very expensive, spicy additive that s been used by specimen anglers for years and is present in my new Red Reaper mix. Another I can tell you about is tuna meal. It s similar to fishmeal but much darker in colour and a lot stronger smelling. It s present in a couple of my new mixes to make them very attractive to fish. MF: Back to the present and today s session in front of the cameras. With clear blue skies it was a bit slow to start with but you ve ended with a cracking bag of carp on the Method feeder. NM: Yes, it was tough at the beginning because of cold overnight temperatures but as the day has gone on the sport has For more information on Bag em Matchbaits and Neil Machin s Pro-Competition range, visit or telephone To learn more about the Get Hooked On Fishing charitable trust, visit Dave Smith runs Get Hooked s Border Project and can be contacted on Thanks also to Bay Malton AC and Border Fishery for the use of their venue. Contact for more information. You d go nicely in my new koi pond. The fruits of a busy session at Border Fisheries with one of angling s greats. got better and better. The chub were the first fish to arrive followed by the better carp in the afternoon. My old mate Pete Goodman has been on the lake adjacent to this one and also found the going difficult early on. In general it s been a good day, and if nothing else it has proved that my groundbait really does work! MF: It s been great to catch up with you, Neil. Finally, where can our readers expect to find you fishing over the coming months? NM: This is now my busiest time of year. I m currently getting my kit sorted out for a week at White Acres then it s all systems go with Fisho and Maver Pairs qualifiers. I m also really looking forward to the annual Catfish Challenge in June, and hopefully that s another title I can add to my CV! Together with all the open matches I ll be fishing I m in for quite a busy year! Neil Machin on his all-new bait range Pro-Competition Groundbaits Super Natural this is the ideal blend for allround fishing. Its light colour and mild protein content is the perfect choice for most venues. Red Reaper red groundbaits may well dominate the commercial scene in This highly visible, super-spicy mix contains Robin Red, which promotes aggressive feeding among most species. Krill Seeker krill is a superb, high-quality, natural fish attractor and its orange/brown colour makes it the perfect groundbait for those muddy carp pools. Super Green this mix is ideal for lakes that respond well to the green baits that have become so popular recently. This protein-packed attractor is an ideal F1 groundbait but equally great for bream too. Super Marine in the warm summer months especially, few mixes come close to competing with my high-protein, oily groundbait! Barbel, bream and carp all go crazy for this rich, dark mix. Machin s Method this unique mix is ideal for the Method feeder and works well with the Speed Mould. It contains a fantastic, high-protein ingredient that helps it bind yet its slightly sticky texture still breaks down very quickly in water. Xspanda Gold a fabulous, light and fluffy groundbait made with expander pellets as its main ingredient. It is ideal for shallow water as it creates a light colour that carp, F1s and skimmers simply can t resist. Pro-Competition Pellets Super Natural Coarse Pellets a good allyear-round bait. They are low in oil and ideal for commercial fisheries, especially where high-oil pellets are not allowed. High-Oil Pellets perfect for the warmer months, these pellets are slightly darker than the Super Natural variety due to their increased oil and protein content. Super Marine Pellets these high-protein halibut pellets are very high in oil and extremely attractive to carp, barbel and bream. The dark, almost black pellets cause aggressive feeding during the summer months. Not recommended for winter fishing. Xpanda Pellets these expanders make excellent hookers and are perfect for using with any of the feed pellets or groundbaits in my Pro- Competition range. 30 matchfishing May 09