Get Fishing Fund creates ripple effect across Somerset by initially helping Summerhayes with a much-needed boost in equipment

Summerhayes Juniors received Get Fishing funding from the Angling Trust this year.

What started as a much-needed boost in equipment has gone on to create a ripple effect across Somerset – helping Summerhayes to grow their junior programme, build a network of trained coaches, and connect with new partners who want angling to play a role in their communities.

The story of Summerhayes Juniors is more than a single club’s gain – it’s a microcosm of what Get Fishing is designed to achieve:

The initial funding enabled a “much-needed boost in equipment” – precisely what the Fund is built to support.

That investment has helped expand their junior programme, build a network of coaches, and catalyse engagement with new community partners. This echoes how other clubs have multiplied participation and opened up fishing to children and disadvantaged or isolated people.

By drawing on the infrastructure, support and philosophy of Get Fishing, Summerhayes becomes part of a wider movement that seeks to deliver health, community, inclusion and environmental responsibility through angling.

Since 2020 the Get Fishing Fund has supported hundreds of grassroots projects – providing grants (often up to £2,500) to angling clubs, charities, schools and community groups to buy equipment, run beginner courses and organise angling events.

That funding has helped lower the barriers to entry: by making it easy and inexpensive to get started, people who might never have considered fishing – including children, families, and people from diverse backgrounds – have been given a chance to try it.

About Get Fishing

If you would like to get into fishing at an event near you, click here and come along to one of the beginner events listed on this website – everyone is welcome and even if you have never picked up a fishing rod before, or haven’t been fishing since you were younger, we’ll make you welcome and help you discover the wonderful world of angling, in an all-inclusive, friendly and low-presuure environment. 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 to use on the day, by the event organiser.

The Get Fishing campaign, run by the Angling Trust and funded by the Environment Agency and Sport England, aims to make fishing accessible to everyone. Each year, hundreds of beginner-friendly sessions take place across England – covering coarse, fly and sea fishing – offering free or low-cost tuition and all the equipment needed to get started. The campaign also supports a Get Fishing Awards pathway, guiding new anglers from their first cast to fishing independently, while the Get Fishing for Wellbeing initiative promotes the mental health and social benefits of time spent by the water.

Participants automatically join the Get Fishing Club, gaining access to exclusive resources, newsletters, and a 25% discount on beginner tackle from Angling Direct, the campaign’s exclusive retail partner.

Find an event near you or contact your Regional Angling Development Officer to discover your local options for angling.

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.