Get a Get Fishing Award – learn how to fish in 3 quick sessions – perfect for kids and families

The Angling Trust developed the Get Fishing Awards to help take you on the first steps on your angling journey – from the unforgettable excitement of catching your first fish right through to becoming a more experienced angler who can set up tackle, safely return your fish and have the correct Environment Agency fishing licence.

This progressive introduction to fishing can be delivered by angling clubs, fisheries, coaches and volunteers over three separate 1hr sessions. Participants will be awarded Bonze (Have A Go) Silver (New Angler) or the very shiny Gold (Angler) badge.

Find a Get Fishing Awards event near you: https://anglingtrust.net/getfishing/

The benefits of getting outside and learning a new skill such as fishing are becoming increasingly important to parents and carers who have become increasingly aware of the need to find opportunities for youngsters to get outdoors away from screens. These are often common goals supported by angling clubs and fisheries who run events that welcome new anglers.

Helping young people get outdoors, into nature and to provide a distraction from social issues such as anti-social behaviour, drug, knife and gang related crime are all becoming more widely recognised as the positive outcomes of simply spending time fishing.

The Get Fishing Fund is a great way for the Angling Trust to help reinvest fishing licence income from the Environment Agency, increase the number of opportunities to get into fishing and grow the sport with additional infrastructure that makes it more resilient in future.

Mending Lines collaborate with schools, businesses, and others to provide accessible fishing experiences that boost mental health and connection. Based in Nottinghamshire they have benefited from The Get Fishing Fund and have this to say about the Get Fishing Awards:

“Everyone love these awards they are brilliant!
It’s great to see a youth’s smile on their face when I give them out giving them a sense of achievement and excitement wanting to come back and gain another badge and going home telling their family and friends all about their experience
Adults love them too!”
Chris, Mending Lines

Going fishing offers all-inclusive activity to tens of thousands of newcomers every year who receive the health and wellbeing effects that learning a new outdoor activity has to your community.

The Get Fishing campaign is funded by

The Angling Trust’s Get Fishing campaign to get more people fishing more often is funded by the Environment Agency from fishing licence income as part of the National Angling Strategic Services contract with the Angling Trust, and Sport England. Children under 13 do not need a licence, and licences for children aged between 13 and 16 are free but you still need to register and receive a licence before you go fishing. You can get a licence for the full year, for 8 days (ideal for holidays!) or just a day’s fishing.

NOTE: Although young children who are under 13 year old do not need a licence to fish, the person supervising them needs to have the proper fishing licence before they take hold of the fishing rod or help the child fish with it.

Get Fishing is Proudly Supported by

The Angling Trust’s ‘Get Fishing’ campaign is proudly supported by
Shakespeare, Exclusive Tackle Partner and Angling Direct, Exclusive Retail Partner
as we all work towards getting more people fishing, more often.

If there’s something that you cannot find here to help you start fishing or return to angling, please contact your local Regional Angling Development Officer – you can find the nearest one to where you want to go fishing here.