Welcome from the Editor...

WELCOME to the latest issue of IYCF. I recently read in Angling Times that there had been a 53 per cent increase in the number of junior rod licences issued. This means that 79,000 young anglers have now tried fishing for the first time. This is great news and makes a welcome change from reading about declining numbers of juniors coming into our sport. These figures are without doubt largely down to the Environment Agency’s decision to scrap the £5 junior rod licence fee from the 2016/2017 season and change the age bracket from 12-16 to 13-16 meaning that under-13s no longer require a licence to go fishing. But I think the popularity of shows such as the Big Fish Off have gone a long way to show how much fun fishing can be and dispelled the image that the sport is only a pastime for miserable old men. This, combined with the numerous junior events that several tackle companies now run, the excellent work of charities such as Get Hooked on Fishing and the junior coaching/taster days that a lot of angling clubs host and you’ve got a recipe for success. I used to love fishing with my Grandad when I was younger and some of my favourite trips are taking my eight-year-old son float fishing with maggots for a few hours at a local lake. Knowing that more and more kids are getting to discover how great fishing is and spend more time outside is awesome. Who knows, maybe one day we’ll have school fishing teams like the bass teams Carl & Alex wrote about in their column last month!