Andy Wedgbury’s article, “Does age matter when it comes to angling promotion?” (http://bit.ly/2xXjwoa), mirrors my own recent musings on ‘angler recruitment’.
Clearly, given the aging demographic (I seem to recall a statistic suggesting the average age of a coarse angler is now around late-50s), the need for ‘new blood’ is clear.
But does that necessarily mean ‘young’ blood?
Fact is, the days of flat-capped young whippersnappers strapping a split cane rod to their Choppers (behave!) and making off for the nearest canal are long – long – gone.
Indeed, the closest many of our ‘yoof’ get to angling is Dovetail’s Fishing Sim – which, I’m advised by people who understand these things, is “So realistic, it’s almost like being there”. (No comment necessary.)
Notwithstanding the best efforts of the likes of Korda (early sponsors, incidentally, of the Dovetail Sim) and Nash Tackle to make angling cool – through their terrestrial TV work, and YouTube videos – kids are unlikely to be exposed to angling, in any practical sense, other than through parents, older family members and friends.
All of which rather begs the question: would we be more gainfully employed (re)igniting interest among, say, millennials – appealing to them, perhaps, with the more therapeutic, social and environmental aspects of the sport. And in so doing creating new centres of angling influence. Because if dad fishes, you can bet: the kids will want to come too.
Some take to it; some do not. But they invariably want to at least give it a try – especially, it seems, if the adventure involves an overnight stay on the bank and a boatload of electronics.
I refer to ‘dads’ intentionally, and advisedly. Because like it or not, angling remains a male-dominated pursuit. This too must change if it’s to endure. And it is changing – albeit slowly – with members of the fairer sex taking up the sport both for pleasure and competitively.
Which is all to the good. Not least because, as in any hobby, youngsters really need the support and encouragement of both parents; if only to play taxi driver during the school holidays: ferrying their progeny to and from the local pond or river.
How much better would it be, though, if said parents – dads and mums alike – chose not just to drop off and pick up, but to stick around: to pick up a rod themselves; to share the angling experience alongside their kids?
Of course, there are a few ‘practical’ issues to address here – not least, the need for more and better onsite facilities. In which respect, we as a fishery are grateful for the continued support of the Angling Trust; and more specifically the Angling Improvement Fund, which has helped us to finance new toilets, showers and changing areas – enabling both parents to spend a full day on the bank in comfort (if only to keep an eye on little Johnny and Jeanie, in the company of a good book).
Through our ‘family’ coaching days, we’re also encouraging non-angling parents to take a more active role: to borrow from the hackneyed strapline, to “give fishing a go” rather than simply standing back, occasionally Tweeting their children’s efforts.
And if the bug (and maybe a fish or two) bites, who knows: they may just bring the kids along with them, on their own angling journey.
The need to engage with ‘seniors’ is equally apparent in our initiatives with local schools, which tend only to gain traction if a faculty member is either an angler or has at least some modicum of interest in the sport.
Securing ‘buy-in’ from parents, teachers, older family members and friends also helps us to answer the question: what next? What happens after the open days and coaching events are complete?
What’s the next step for the younger beginner-anglers, if their ‘olds’ have neither the knowledge nor interest to guide them on?
This, I’ve found, is a recurring theme at Game Fairs and Country Shows: however capable the coaches at these events – and however captivated the participants may be, ‘in the moment’ – they have nowhere to go, once their ‘taster session’ is done.
Junior clubs are now thin on the ground – leaving children with no structured route into angling.
Give them that route and – pause for Blofeld style hand-wringing – they are ours! Usually for life. Because I believe firmly: once an angler, always an angler.
In this respect, I disagree somewhat with Andy. To my mind, rather like smokers and alcoholics, people don’t stop fishing – they’re just ‘not fishing today’.
For those that truly ‘get it’, angling is a genetic imperative: a bell that can’t be unrung. Whilst they might drift away in their late teens, for all the usual reasons – and maybe, too, when they first become parents, start businesses, embark on new careers, or whatever – as Arnie said: they’ll be back.
Which brings us almost full circle, to ‘returners’ – a key audience with which, in my humble opinion, we must reconnect: folk who fished ‘back in the day’, and who may require only the slightest nudge to return to the fold.
That nudge, often, takes the form of our Family Fishing Days, which serve both to relight the fire, and to provide an invaluable ‘refresher’ – helping to bring returners’ knowledge and skills up to date.
Because as any regular angler will attest: tackle and tactics are evolving almost daily, bewildering and bamboozling the uninitiated. And YouTube, the forums et al are pale substitutes for personal and interactive, one-to-one coaching.
Sure, the web has all the answers, But, in order to access those answers, you need to know which questions to ask – and how to separate the hype and scuttlebutt from sound, impartial advice.
Pre-Internet, this role was filled by the local tackle stores; which were almost without exception vibrant hubs for the exchange of local knowledge, tips, tricks and ideas.
Alas, for the most part, the ‘independents’ have gone the way of the local library. And I can’t help but feel their decline is in part the reason for the profound drop in participation.
Popping to your nearest angling megastore – for ‘local’ insight, and a pint of reds – can mean a two-hour round trip. And that’s by car. Just imagine the time it would take by Chopper!
Stepping away from the soapbox, it’s clear: the retail environment, like the sport and all that goes with it, are in a state of flux; and we must adapt if we’re to encourage newcomers – of whatever age – into the fold.
So what’s to be done?
Well; that’s a question for more erudite souls than I. Hopefully the recently published National Angling Strategy will provide much-needed impetus: imbuing promotion of the sport with a degree of professionalism which, historically, has been profoundly lacking. And creating a foundation on which we may rebuild: either recruiting or re-engaging with the 30,000 or more anglers per annum that, the Angling Trades Association estimates, is required to “maintain current participation levels”.
To my mind, that means capturing not just kids, but an entire ‘lost generation’ of folk who’ve either never fished or who have strayed from the piscatorial path; in so doing compensating for the swathe of lifelong anglers who, each year, make it to the top of the waiting list; and are now ‘bivvied up’ on that exclusive carp syndicate in the sky.
