ANGLING TRUST NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS 2024 AND BEYOND

The Angling Trust Competitions team is delighted to be able to reveal the dates and locations for the National Angling Championships 2024.

Thanks to the support of forward-thinking clubs and local organisers we’ve been able to secure some amazing fisheries for our events next season.

Leading the way are three of the most in-form venues capable of hosting up to 500 anglers for the Division 1 and 2 Nationals – the Leeds-Liverpool Canal and a combination of the Aire & Calder and New Junction Canal systems.

The FIPS World Feeder Championships qualifying Feeder National will also be held on the Aire & Calder and New Junction Canals, with the Individual National on the Leeds-Liverpool in the run up to the Division 1 event.

In a new move for the Nationals, we’re also revealing the potential locations for events in 2025 and 2026. This is being done to help give host clubs extra time to get waters ready, enable early discussions around tricky access, and allow all competitors to plan their fishing and travel well in advance.

All this is being carried out while trying our best to ensure we keep the natural-water rotation of hosting the matches on a river, large canal, and narrow canal which our members have asked for.

As you’ll see, some waters are yet to be fully confirmed for 2025 and 2026 but as soon as they are they will be updated on this rolling program of events which will be hosted on the Angling Trust Competitions website.

We have also taken the decision, following the feedback, to not run the Float National in 2024 and instead revert back to the winners of the Blue Ribband, Division 1 National earning the right to represent England at the World Clubs Championships the following year.

Our plan goes beyond our big team events too, with National venues now booked up to three years in advance for our hotly contested and every-growing individual contests for Women, Anglers with Disabilities, Veterans and Masters, and our young anglers.

Once again in 2024 the national for our younger anglers will be split into three age categories with the Cadet (10 to 12 years), Junior (13 to 16) and Youth (16 to 20) taking place over a whole weekend to ensure quality fishing for all involved. The Cadet and Junior events are on Saturday and the Youth match on Sunday.

“This transparent, longer-term plan is something I’ve wanted to achieve since I took the role in 2022,” said Steve Fitzpatrick, Angling Trust Head of Competitions. “The need to plan further ahead has become even more important in recent times with the complexities surrounding safe access to the best fishing for up to 500 competitors in our Nationals.

“Importantly, it also gives host clubs and organisers more time to ensure waters are ready for the main event and are able to maximise the practice matches they run while anglers have the opportunity to visit more often, secure hotels where necessary, and plot their winning strategies well in advance.

“While we’re trying our best to continue with the much-loved cycle of river, narrow canal, large canal, it’s not always possible to achieve this over a three-year period, but we want to ensure complete visibility, so everyone is aware.

“There’s no hiding from the fact that natural waters capable of hosting up to 500 anglers have declined massively in the past 10 years, and clubs willing to offer their waters and stewards are rapidly diminishing. It is due to these challenges that we must maintain flexibility in the venues proposed for years two and three on this plan.

“Our aim is to always ensure we offer the best fishing, accessibility, and experience to our members and we will not use a venue if we believe it doesn’t meet the standards we expect.

“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank those clubs, fisheries, and, vitally, the local organisers who have proposed their waters and stood up to help stage the competitions – without them we wouldn’t have our beloved Nationals.”

In a change to the previously advertised location, Marston Fields, the Women’s, and Anglers with Disabilities Nationals, will be switched to Monk Hall and Boldings Pools due to fishery work being conducted at the initially planned venue.

Dates and locations for Fish O Mania and RiverFest qualifiers will be unveiled in the new year with the 2024-2025 ZeroFit SilverFish qualifiers in September 2024.

PLEASE NOTE an error in the first version of this post – the Feeder National takes place on Saturday August 24 2024. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.