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Future looks bright for junior anglers | Jamie Cook

by James Furness |

Updated on14th October 2025 at 9.33am

Getting fishing back in to schools and multiple other schemes to engage and inspire junior anglers is now providing a clear pathway for newcomers...

Some of you may know me – most won’t. I’m a lifelong angler and wouldn’t be doing this job if I didn’t care deeply about the sport of fishing.

My role is to ensure anglers have a voice at the highest level, that we protect our waterways and the fish within them, and that we promote fishing to new audiences as well as to those who have fished in the past but lost the habit.

I joined the Angling Trust and Fish Legal in February 2020. Five weeks later the COVID pandemic struck and, for the first time ever, we were not allowed to go fishing. I was there at briefings with the government and alongside other major sports making the case for angling.

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Jamie is an avid angler himself

Thanks to our efforts, we were the first sport allowed back and the first to restart competitions. When I joined the Trust, one question outweighed all others: “Why don’t we have fishing in schools?” For years, angling participation had focused on a child sitting beside a canal with a pole, a size 26 hook, and a squatt, being told they had to ‘serve their apprenticeship.’

As a parent, this frustrated me. I looked at other sports I’d worked alongside during COVID and saw how they inspired children to participate. I also examined what the angling trade was doing and realised that, while not joined up, we had a lot in our favour. We were, however, massively underselling ourselves.

Other successful sports had a clear, step-by-step nationwide pathway for newcomers. Always in group sessions, sometimes free and sometimes paid, the model was simple: get children engaged and excited. Five years later, we have the Get Fishing Awards – Bronze, Silver, and Gold – available in lakes, rivers, ponds, canals, estuaries, marinas, at sea, and in reservoirs.

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Jamie completed his apprenticeship

These are stepping stones to bring kids into angling. Supported by Sport England and the Environment Agency, this programme reinvests rod licence income into something positive for angling’s future. It engages many of our community clubs, the lifeblood of angling, along with hundreds of fisheries and qualified community coaches. These people are the DNA of grassroots sport.

My little boy plays football and his coaches are all qualified, DBS-checked, and follow FA protocols. Come rain, frost, or gales, these coaches provide the first steps on the ladder to lifelong participation. So why can’t fishing be the same? Well, it is. In 2023–2024, the Get Fishing campaign introduced over 43,000 people to angling. Our partnership with hundreds of clubs and community organisations supported delivery of over 1,600 events.

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Some of the children enjoying a coaching day

Each year we recruit more coaches aligned with clubs and fisheries nationwide, all trained and accredited to critical standards, DBS-checked, first aid-trained, and given frameworks to deliver sessions. We now have a universal awards programme available to every club, coach, and fishery in the country.

Wherever you live, you can join a programme accredited by the National Governing Body and Sport England. As a parent, that’s very reassuring. Step two was inspiring more people to try fishing. I was often asked at my kids’ school how parents could get their children into the sport. So we launched Reel Education and took fishing back into schools.

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Getting fishing into more schools is paramount

This initiative connects children with their local blue spaces, explains our impact on the environment, and shows how they can positively engage with community waters through fishing. It’s a game-changer, and we invite the angling trade to get fully behind it.

Working with headteachers, we gained Department for Education Sustainability Team accreditation, aligned with multiple areas of the national curriculum, and delivered through local community coaches linked to clubs and fisheries, giving children inspired by the programme a clear pathway. And inspired they are – over 80 per cent of children who attend Reel Education sessions want to try fishing in their local communities.

In June 2022–23 there were 15,224 two-rod coarse and non-migratory trout junior licences issued. In June 2025–26 that figure is now 25,854 — an increase of almost 70 per cent. Step three has been to create a single point where adults, parents, or children can find fishing events locally.

The event marketplace, hosted by the Angling Trust and powered by Swimbooker, lists all licensed coaches, accredited clubs, and fisheries in one place — accredited by the National Governing Body, Sport England, and the Environment Agency. This platform allows coaches, clubs, and fisheries to promote events to new participants.

Parents and participants know every listing meets minimum operating and safeguarding standards and they can book via an interactive map modelled on other grassroots sports platforms. This is a massive step forward. The results speak for themselves, and while a few luddites still drag their heels, the reaction from anglers and parents has been overwhelmingly positive.

Clubs working with us report huge growth in their junior sections. With the Carp Society and Linear Fisheries, we are developing offers for budding carp anglers. With Orvis and Sportfish, we are promoting fly fishing. And through LRF, we offer children a pathway into lure fishing.

Gone are the narrow days of ‘serving your apprenticeship’ in a single discipline. We now have a dynamic and inspiring programme for all aspiring anglers, embracing a whole range of fishing styles. ‘For anglers, by anglers’. That’s what I’m about. Through this column, I want to challenge how you think about the Angling Trust. We are making a genuine difference, and I look forward to sharing that journey with you throughout this series. I thank Angling Times for giving me that opportunity.

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