Thousands more angling recruits

The future of angling is bright thanks to the success of this year’s National Fishing Month, which introduced nearly 14,000 new people to the sport over the summer.

The initiative, which is the country’s largest angling participation programme, held a record-breaking 326 special events throughout July and August in a bid to promote fishing to a much wider audience. 

During the six-week period, newcomers across the country were able to learn about fishing and gain new skills thanks to round-the-clock help from licensed coaches and angling bodies such as the Canal & River Trust, the Angling Trust and the Professional Anglers Association. 

Naidre Werner, Chair of the Angling Trades Association (ATA) which runs National Fishing Month, told Angling Times: “I’m over the moon that our NFM participant numbers continue to reflect how important NFM is in creating awareness of angling to the general public. 

“We really do fly the flag for fishing… and people love it!” 

The real key to NFM’s ongoing success is without doubt attributable to the enthusiastic and steadfast support of the voluntary organisers and coaches who actually plan and deliver the events every year. 

“It’s thanks to their hard work that the sport is exposed to so many people – and they deserve our greatest thanks and gratitude for helping recruit the next generation of anglers to our wonderful sport,” Naidre said.

One body that contributed to the overall success of the campaign was the Canal & River Trust, whose partnership with the National Fishing Month campaign helped expose the country’s waterways to hundreds of people. 

John Ellis, Fisheries Manager for the Canal & River Trust, said:
“We are delighted with how well our new partnership with National Fishing Month worked out this year – engaging with nearly 1000 participants. 

“We are already planning a larger programme of events on our canals and rivers in 2017 to make sure that even more people get the fishing habit.”

National Fishing Month was also popular with top fishing brands Daiwa, Fladen, Fox, Leeda and Pure Fishing, who collectively helped make the campaign a reality and a success. 

Naidre Werner added: “These establishments have demonstrated the admirable virtue of ‘putting something back into angling’, and I applaud them for it.”

To find out more information about the event, visit: www.nationalfishingmonth.com