Get Fishing Fund – Funded Project Blog: Steve Clamp – Derby Young Anglers help newcomers get into fishing with hands-on have-a-go lessons to give fishing a go funded by Environment Agency

Steve Clamp’s background to help young people and families get into fishing goes back for over forty-five years! Starting off as a residential social worker, then as a teacher and after retiring he qualified as a Level 2 coach so he could continue to get young people “hooked on fishing” in his role as Project Coordinator for The Derby Young Angler’s Project.

Here, Steve explains how the project is a collaboration between local angling clubs that have joined forces to organise events and activities which provide the perfect environment for people new to angling to get into fishing. The project recently received funds from the Get Fishing Fund provided by the Environment Agency and administered by the Angling Trust that has invested nearly £200,000 of fishing licence money to help get more people into fishing over the past year!

The Derby Young Anglers’ Project host sessions for 6 to 16 year old angling beginners, and angling developers, usually with one-to-one, or one-to-two coaching. Run by The Earl of Harrington’s Angling Club, with backing from Derby Railway Angling Club and The Pride of Derby Angling Association additional help and advice is given by the Angling Trust.

We mostly do pole fishing introductory sessions, using 4 metre whips, then as the skill level improves we switch up to pole fishing with take-apart poles up to 8 metres as the next-step. All the events are fun, free, are family friendly.

The Angling Trust CAST and Get Fishing Award Certificates and are a great feature of the programme and we use these as a framework to get children into fishing, then moving along to the next level of fishing skills and experience.

We found the events are very busy – I think it could be the drive to get youngsters “off screens and outdoors”, positive publicity about the benefits of angling by the Angling Trust, Mortimer and Whitehouse, and just generally positive word-of-mouth publicity in our local parent network.

A couple of encouraging results are that we have had up to 30% female attendance at some events, and we have found attendee retention is good too. Some of the young anglers have been coming right from the start and now get involved with fishing activities and events run by other angling clubs and local projects. Feedback from parents and carers has been 100% positive too – amazing! Our last event of the year is always a fishing competition based on a points system – for example, 1 point for a perch, up to 8 points for a crucian carp.

Event Photos – our varied delivery covers a multitude of angling matter!

Fish identification is built into the core programme.

Ben and Coach Andy Hume with a 5lb tench

That’s different. Let’s try some fly casting!

Coach Mark Rogers with a 17lb carp and an appreciative crowd of youngsters!

It’s a family affair. A photo that captures the spirit of our events.

Sometimes a lapsed angler will come along to watch, but getting them fishing again is very successful and contributes to the numbers of new anglers coming out of the programme.

Ishmael is a keen, focused, young man who became an independent angler after only a few tuition sessions!

Carp fishing workshops and fish care have both been key to the project’s success – for example, a young angler Josh who has been with the Derby Young Angler’s Programme since the start has gone on from basic fishing skills to catching double figure carp caught with the help of Paul Cockerham, an Earl of Harrington AC Committee Member.

Next-Steps into angling include workshops for newcomers to cover varied topics and broaden the appeal to newcomers aiming to diversify or specialise. This helps retain young or new angler interests by mixing-up the types of fishing experienced, and making sure nobody gets stuck in a type of fishing they start to lose interest in – after all, fishing has so much variety to offer!

Workshops including coarse fishing rigs, flies and fly tying, carp fishing techniques, fly casting, match fishing, pole fishing rigs, and light lure fishing are all on the cards or have been delivered.

An important aspect to has been to include nature study into the whole angling experience – sessions involving Phil Harrison, Chair of Derby Railway Angling Club have successfully combined learning about flies and fly-life with fly fishing patterns and methods.

Follow-up tactics have proved effective to help people stay in the sport – for example we sometimes supply participants with free donated tackle to take away and use themselves, and follow up e-newsletters have next-steps info and links to online angling tuition – regular communication like this, and having some tackle to use both help people stay in the sport.

Steve Clamp
On behalf of the Derby Young Anglers’ Project

The Earl of Harrington’s Angling Club is a not-for-profit organisation run solely for its members. The Club was created by the then Earl of nearby Elvaston Castle in 1912 who took the role of Chairman of the Club. His Estate included much of the River Derwent to the south of Derby around Borrowash. The club’s river fishery now extends from some 2 miles north of Derby, above the weir at Darley Abbey, downstream to Borrowash, some 5 miles south of the city. Follow the Derby Young Anglers’ Project on the club’s website at https://www.theearlofharringtonsac.co.uk/junior-angling.html

What is the Get Fishing Fund?

The Get Fishing Fund has invested nearly £200,000 of fishing licence money to help get more people into fishing over the past year. The fund is provided by the Environment Agency and administered by the Angling Trust. The Environment Agency supports angling-based projects with grants of up to £2,500 to help purchase equipment, fishing tackle, resources and run fishing activities that give people the opportunity to get into fishing for the first time.

About Get Fishing

Get Fishing is the Angling Trust‘s campaign to grow participation in angling and get more people fishing more often. Annually, the Get Fishing campaign introduces over 30,000 people to angling at hundreds of fun, safe and friendly events 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 fishing licence, and fishing licences for children aged between 13 and 16 are free but you still need to register and receive a licence before you start fishing. You can get a fishing licence for the full year, for 8 days (ideal for holidays!) or just a day’s fishing.

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.