New Angling Project

Well done Martin.

Kids love fishing there is no doubt.

Just think of the positive publicity & new recruits to the sport a roll out of such programmes across the country could achieve.It appears that at the moment they are reliant on very much local initiatives to get them up & running.

Would it be too much to ask for one of our many representative bodies to co-ordinate such a roll out?

"Would it be too much to ask for one of our many representative bodies to co-ordinate such a roll out?"

Probably!

Hey Nigel
I have come on your thread to talk fishing instead of gloom and doom.(much rather)
Yes its brilliant Nigel to get kids interested and on thursday i will be taking my grandson Owen who is only eight for the third time.Once featured him and his pal in an aticle and he never stopped talking about it.
I offered to take quite a few from the area but most would not leave their gameboys alone,plus half the parents who had never fished wanted to pick the time and place
I have thought about it a lot because it means that i may have to forsake my fishing for a while but if we dont teach them who will.
The very worst thing you can do is expect them to catch with poor tackle and a lot of parents are guilty of this.No 6lb line No size 10 hook with 1 maggot on and No 6ft rod in a swim 10ft deep and for gods sake let them catch a few small fish just to see the float going under

Sorry it should have read article

Carl.That was the answer I had in mind too unfortunately.

Glad to see that you are getting your grandson into the sport john.Just dont talk politics to him for god's sake ;-)

Agree that a lot of kids struggle on tackle which you & I would never get a bite on.

Its unlikely that any non angling parent woyuld know where to go for good advice on tackle etc.Thats why there should be some sort of organised classes for kids wanting to take up the sport.I am not sure how many clubs do this? Look at all other sporting clubs.They appear to do a lot more to get the kids involved.

About three years ago I I went to an event on the Lancaster Canal near Preston, where Lancashire coppers & the EA were running a series of evening events, aimed at introducing youngsters to fishing. There were lots of parents & kids there and there was a great atmosphere, but one thing stuck with me; many of the kids were equipped with poles on this, their first ever fishing trip.

I would personally make it mandatory for all beginners fishing sessions to involve a rod, reel and running line. I kind of feel it's just too simplistic to just lower your terminal tackle into the water. Having once taught a class of primary school kids to cast with a fixed spool reel and bubble float in under an hour, I know that casting can be easily learnt, but what do others feel about this?

Dave

The beauty of giving a child a 3mtr whip to start fishing is the simplicity, there are no tangles and thus no tantrums. The whips are cheap and if you combine this with a commercial fishery or a water thats full of silverfish you have an instant result, action all day and a child who in that first outing becomes an angler for life. The rods, reels and casting can come later, it gives them something else to look forward too, thats their angling progression if you like.
Angling is like an apprenticeship that starts with a cane, a bent pin and some line ( the modern day version is the ?5 3mtr glassfibre whip). You progress and learn for the rest of your life, your apprenticeship ends when you die, you then become a past master !.

Some 12-15 years ago the club I belonged to ran fishing classes, for local kids, with the backing of the local council. The classes included lessons in a council hall and four actual fishing trips to local lakes and rivers using our club coach.
Many of the parents were over the moon at what we were doing and we were able to advise them on the type of rods, reels and tackle their kids would need if they wanted to continue along the angling path.
These classes ran for about 6 years until new council officials full of PC bullshit gradually took over and ended our funding.
We tried to get support from other local clubs and associations but in each case our requests were rejected for various reasons but the main one being pure apathy.
I sincerely hope that this new project will not meet the same negative reactions.

Good points, Mark, especially the cane & bent pin observation. Maybe everything is down to how much time you have available. The kids I dealt with had all day, and in truth, there was no option but to be able to cast (big water, trout offshore a bit). You've now mellowed me into a horses-for-courses position!