There are many organisations and individuals who support angling development and specifically the introduction of youngsters to the angling bug.

Canal and River Trust is increasingly being seen as a leader in this sector with its highly successful “Lets Fish” programme which goes way beyond the first have-a-go introductory stage to mentor young anglers through to club membership and beyond.

This focus on the creation of regular anglers is no better demonstrated than the annual regional and National Celebration of Young People and Angling event which has grown in stature over the last few years.

Entry levels for this year’s Regional Celebrations are already at a record level with hundreds of young anglers from across the UK pledged to enter the competitions and the Global Communities fishing celebration now sees youngsters representing 15 countries of origin so far and counting.

CRT has also begun to attract support from ATA members who see the tangible outcomes being generated by the Let’s Fish and regional frameworks with real benefits to the medium- and long-term growth of angling.

Canals represent some of the best venues for this type of recruitment work, they are relatively uniform and suited to event management, plentiful and easy to access. They offer multi-species and therefore multi discipline angling, and they are inherently beneficial when it comes to introducing the next generation of anglers to the aquatic environment.

The aim is to finish this year’s calendar with over 400 young anglers taking part in the National Celebration in cadet, youth and young junior age groups, making it by far the biggest junior participation event since the heady days of the All-England Junior Nationals back in the 1980’, and current figures suggest that CRT are well on the way to achieving that goal.

So popular are the events that new dates are being added as we go to print this month and the trade could do worse than get behind such ventures as we work towards industry growth. canalrivertrust.org.uk/enjoy-the-waterways/fishing/lets-fish