Lack of young pleasure/match anglers

[Waveney One]

This something that I've been harping on about for a few years now. But you can't put all the blame on TV prog's. I was in the newsagents on Saturday, and while queuing I looked down at the magazine's, there were 5 in a line, all carp specific, and the rest, bar one, had carp as the main front page feature.

I wonder what comes first though gozzer, the TV programmes or the mags? Surely the mags are just catering for the demand. Most 10 year olds get their info from the TV the interest is generated and they then go and buy a magazine surely. A lot of the kids I teach ask questions like 'Have you ever met Matt Hayes?", "what is the biggest carp you have caught?" - 19lb 8oz by the way, caught whilst bream fishing on the tip - had 2 19lb ers in a couple of weeks from different waters bream fishing. I suppose one of the commonest is "What is the biggest fish you have caught?" but thinking back that last one is probably one that I asked people as a kid.

[wanzelbin]

I wonder what comes first though gozzer, the TV programmes or the mags?

 

I think initially kids get into fishing via their parents or mates, rather than TV or magazines. However, it's not long before some of them realise that no-ones interested in their story about a small bag of roach they managed to eek out of the local canal. There's a lot more respect to be had from a photo of them struggling under a 20lb monster. And the angling media and their sponsors and advertisers certainly play to this.

 

If you're fishing purely for the sake of the thrill of a big fish, then it's probably easier to go after carp in one of the many fisheries out there. If however you're more interested in nature and a personal challenge, trotting on a quiet country river is going to be more your cup of tea. I think a lot of people will be quite reasonably and happily drawn to the former mindset anyway; the advertisers and promoters just give them an extra nudge.

 

I'm certainly not saying these two views of fishing are mutually exclusive, but a lot of the time it's just different types of fishing by different types of people. However any waivering, inexperienced kid whose just got into it is unlikely to catch an old episode of passion for angling before his/her eyes are drawn to the amazing pictures covering the glossy magazine covers.

[Dick Dastardly]

Its a crying shame but you cant really knock the kids/newcommers as you can bet we would have done the same if it had been that way when we were kids/beginners.

 

I think we were very lucky.

 

Will it mean that we wont see so many "life time anglers" in the years to come?

[rooney888]

I think initially kids get into fishing via their parents or mates, rather than TV or magazines

 

i agree. i started about 11 years ago when i was 5. my grandad got me into it and taught me most things i know.

 

even tho about 1000 people who go to my school only about 10 or less fish and alot of them arent really into it. id say about 5 are fully into fishing. the local junior club only had 8 members. they said 15 years ago and futher back there were 30-40 members every season. but numbers have dwindled.

 

i reckon by introducing it in schools could benifit by getting more people involved in the sport.

[FISHERMAN AJ]

I started fishing this season at Wrentham in Suffolk and had a gr8 day catching roach and rudd, i am a floatfishing fanatic and i am nearly 15! i strongly agree that the price to fish GOOD venues are dear! especially for us!!!!!!!!

[Peter Waller]

Good float fishing is dirt cheap for anyone living in the Broads area. Our local River Waveney costs nothing to fish and the silver fish sport this year has varied from absolutely first class to superb. Stacks of kids trying their hand, albeit mostly with feeders. I've had a summer of personal bests, its been great, and all to float fishing, with a pin!

[kleinboet]

I must say that this is a very good forum item. My opinion is that we will not get more youngsters into fishing without a bit of training of the "oldies"! I will explain this with a true story:

I was fishing my local pond the other day, I was, as I am usually, the first at the water. A couple of youngsters (14/17?) were the second to arrive and set up about four pegs from me. The third to arrive was a man in his late fifties with his grandson in tow followed by a pair of Asian girls aged about 16!

After about an hour of fishing, the elderly man was getting more and more verbose AGAINST the youths fishing. Iwalked over to the youths and showed them that their tackle needed scaling down, which they did.

On my way back I was told "Oh, so you're helping THEM now!!" My reply was "who taught you to fish?" which resulted in him being suddenly very busy with his tackle. About 30 minutes later one of the youngsters came over to me and proudly announced "me and my mate have both started to catch fish, thanks to you!" The Asian girls asked me what they were doing wrong, so I plumbed their lines and set their rods and - guess what? - they also started to catch!!

My point is - Stop knocking the youngsters and help them!!

 

Oh! My tirade at the old man seemed to help - he caught a 3lb+ Roach and sent it to me for identification as "he hadn't got a clue!!"

[mugfish]

I must say that this is a very good forum item. My opinion is that we will not get more youngsters into fishing without a bit of training of the "oldies"! I will explain this with a true story:

I was fishing my local pond the other day, I was, as I am usually, the first at the water. A couple of youngsters (14/17?) were the second to arrive and set up about four pegs from me. The third to arrive was a man in his late fifties with his grandson in tow followed by a pair of Asian girls aged about 16!

After about an hour of fishing, the elderly man was getting more and more verbose AGAINST the youths fishing. Iwalked over to the youths and showed them that their tackle needed scaling down, which they did.

On my way back I was told "Oh, so you're helping THEM now!!" My reply was "who taught you to fish?" which resulted in him being suddenly very busy with his tackle. About 30 minutes later one of the youngsters came over to me and proudly announced "me and my mate have both started to catch fish, thanks to you!" The Asian girls asked me what they were doing wrong, so I plumbed their lines and set their rods and - guess what? - they also started to catch!!

My point is - Stop knocking the youngsters and help them!!

 

Oh! My tirade at the old man seemed to help - he caught a 3lb+ Roach and sent it to me for identification as "he hadn't got a clue!!"

 

This is what i was hoping someone was going to say, i'm forever setting up rods and giving out tackle to kids where i live. I'm from Watford, so there are waters all around me, Lakes Rivers & Canals.

I'd rather watch one of them catch an 8oz Roach or a 2lb Chub - and to understand why & how they caught it - than catch it myself.

 

I'm also a PAA Angling Coach, so also get paid to teach Kids/Adults how to catch fish.

But my 2 main points of fishing are:-

1 - Watercraft - which is an art that is starting to disappear. Even a little knowledge can go a long way.

2 - Enjoying yourself and your surroundings - your not always going to catch a 30lb+ Carp, 12lb Barbel every trip.

 

I will say again, just take a bit of time out of your own fishing (10 minutes) on your next trip out if you see anyone that maybe in need of your GREATER KNOWLEDGE - and when they catch that 1st/next/biggest fish, i'll dare you not to smile .

 

I not only tell kids to get out there and have a go, but more importantly, tell other anglers to go out there and give them a hand.

[stuchef]

i understand where your all coming from on this thread owever i know myself i started fishing when i was knee high in germany on the wesser then when we came back to england use to go out and blank all the time not really getting the lessons. wasnt till i joined the RAF that i got back into it and that was when i was in northern ireland on the rivers catching 100lb + of bream now i love it dont care if im catching on a canal or a fishery but i do admit thats why i prefer match angling cause you go to catch constantly unlike siiting in a tent bivvied out for 4 weeks for one bite. getting kids involved however i think its good to go to a venue where they are going to be catching constantly unlike a canal so thats where i belive the fisheries are ideal i know one of the raf clubs took all the kids a couple of years back to 1 of the bigg fisheries and they loved it just on a small whip.

 

 

An idea maybe ask the club you fish with if there be happy to take a day out and advertise in your local tackle shop and paper to get kids to come along and have a day fishing while the club runs them through the basics and maybe out of 10 only 1 kid will want to take it up more seriously and maybe set it up as a on going thing every month or even every fortnight in the holidays if you charge the parents £15 a child i think they would be happy to get them out there hair for a day..........thats really only a quick plan it would have to be more well thought through obviously.........

 

 

 

i think something should definately be done on a big scale to introduce kids to fishing im all for it?

[Randy]

My wife's daughters used to go with me every time I went. Especially her youngest. I used to consider her my little fishin' buddy. Now that they have gotten older, everytime I ask it's next time. Now I'm to a point where I don't ask anymore because when I do it's always next time. I have no idea what happened, maybe they are embarassed if a friend sees them fishing or it's just plain icky to them now.

 

If it's about not catching fish and they lost intrest, they caught plenty. I think we came home with a stringer full of bluegill everytime we went out. One of her daughters even caught a 10 pound steelhead.

 

Well, like they said "Maybe next time ."