How to get more kids involved in fishing

AS a father of girls aged eight, six and four I have been thinking about the struggle to get more children involved in fishing. I think that in order to capture their interest you need to be engaging with them in junior school.

It’s at this age that they are still almost completely influenced by their parents’ choices and easily share their enthusiasm for their chosen sports. Any later and they are beginning to be influenced by their peers and others.

I’ve had great success in getting my daughters on the bank and even into Angling Times, but it hasn’t been easy. First, there seems to be a complete lack of effort among the major tackle makers to produce rods and reels aimed at young children. I’ve resorted to what my father did 40 years ago and invested in some branded 6ft and 4ft spinning rods.

Children can be fussy – particularly when it comes to toilets. Instead of choosing to go to one of my local waters tucked away in a field with nothing to speak of in terms of facilities, I drive to Partridge Lakes, which has very good facilities right next to the waters and always engages with the girls in a friendly manner.

Safeguarding the future of fishing needs to be a roots to branch effort from manufacturers, fishery owners and the Envi to engage children from the earliest possible opportunity. Martin Seddon, email