FIRST STEPS TO A CAREER IN ANGLING?

LAST week I travelled with our news editor Freddie Sandford down to the fantastic Get Hooked On Fishing charity centre in Middlesex.

We’d gone to cover the launch of a new scheme between Shakespeare and the Angling Trust called Reel Education, which aims to get fishing into schools.

A number of local schoolkids were in attendance and, with the help of the on-site angling coaches as well as Keith Arthur and former England goalkeeper, David Seaman, many of the children caught their first-ever fish. I won’t go into too much detail about the scheme here, as you can read all about it on next week’s news pages, but I wanted to mention how fantastic it was to witness the excitement on those kids’ faces as they swung their first fish out of the water. With the launch of the Take A Friend

Fishing and the Angling Trust’s Spring Into Fishing campaigns kicking off this month, it’s the perfect opportunity to introduce someone to the sport. And who knows where that could lead?

My grandad’s decision to take me when I was younger has ultimately played a key role in how my life has panned out.

I most definitely wouldn’t have the job I do now, where I work with a fantastic group of people and have made friends for life.

I’ve got to meet many of the anglers I grew up reading about, and work in an industry I truly love. And that’s all stemmed from being taken to a local lake with a waggler rod and a pint of maggots and catching a few roach when I was 10 years old.

So, if you’re thinking of taking your kids fishing this Easter, my advice would be to do it! Who knows where it might lead? It could just be a hobby they enjoy every now and again, or that first session could well be the start of something that changes the rest of their lives.