Cast a Thought CIC helps youngsters develop life-skills via school holiday angling sessions

Cast A Thought CIC took part in the Angling Trust’s Summer of Fishing campaign and helped young people catch some monster carp and also gave them skills for life!

These youngsters enjoyed some fantastic fishing, and left with more than just beaming smiles, as they got to learn basic first-aid and how to cook for themselves – two important and valuable life-skills.

This kind of angling education happens in a fun, friendly and safe setting, with sessions led by fully licenced angling coaches.

The angling lessons for newcomers are perfect for all skills and ability levels – everyone is encouraged to have a go, and most catch a few fish, and get to take part in the relaxing and minful activities that fishing involves. Most end up leaving the session with some knot-tying skills, info on how and where to fish, the best bait and tackle to use and how to access the fisheries and fishing sessions that are available near to where they live.

These seiins are all FREE or very low cost, and are an amazing way to encourage young people to get outdoors and have a break from screen time, they get to experience the habitat that going fishing takes part in, as well as all the other wildlife that lives where we go fishing. This can include kingfishers, birds of prey, reptiles and insects – it’s a brilliant way to explore the natural world an reconnect with nature.

All of this can help with concentration, achieving goals and self-confidence but most importantly, the angling sessions are designed to be fun and progressive, helping the young people get involved and want to come back for more experiences based around the simple pastime and all whilst catching some huge fish – fantastic opportunities for young people!

Well done to all involved!

Take a look at our Get Fishing events – there’s likely to be an event near you. All the Get Fishing events can be found here in our: Get Fishing event pages.

Our Get Fishing days are a great introduction to angling because you can simply turn up and fish and don’t need to bring any of your own fishing tackle or bait – it will all be provided on the day, by the event organiser.

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 Angling Direct, Exclusive Retail Partner
as we 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.