With the cricket and football World Cups now over and the school summer holidays coming up, many parents will be wondering how to keep their youngsters occupied over the long six week break. The message from the Angling Trust is simple: “take your children fishing”.
To highlight all that fishing has to offer to young people, Angling Trust Policy Chief Martin Salter invited his old parliamentary colleague Charles Walker MP, Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Angling Group to bring his sons and their mates on a special day out to College Lake in Hampshire where the youngsters had a great time catching some fighting fit carp and beautiful roach on a variety of methods.
Best fish of the day was a lovely 14lb mirror carp caught by Jack Boyd on a method feeder.
Charles Walker MP said: “My sons, James and Alistair, love fishing and all the lads had a fantastic time catching fish and learning a few more fishing tips from Martin. I just wish more parents would realise that taking your children fishing is great way to help them learn about wildlife and nature, and may well give them a healthy hobby that could last a lifetime.
There are lots of safe and friendly angling schemes and projects run by the Angling Trust and its partners for young people and those new to fishing so it really couldn’t be easier.”
Martin Salter added: “With so many other distractions out there we all have to work harder to get the fishing message across to young people in order to give our sport a future. Studies have shown that spending more time on outside pursuits such as angling is good for both mental and physical health and wellbeing, and for gaining a greater understanding of the countryside and the environment. And now with free fishing licences for under 16s it’s even easier for youngsters to get into fishing.”
This summer there are hundreds of completely FREE events which offer opportunities to discover the joys of fishing, including the Angling Trust’s ‘Get Fishing’ campaign, Get Hooked on Fishing’s ‘Family Fishing’ initiative, Canal & River Trust’s ‘Lets Fish!’ sessions and National Fishing Month, run by the Angling Trades Association.
You can find all these via www.getfishing.org.uk. Children aged between 13 and 16 can get a FREE Environment Agency fishing licence to fish in stillwaters, canals, rivers and streams so now it’s even less expensive for families to start fishing.
