The planned new national fishing show Hooked! – scheduled for next September at the Stafford County Showground – has been cancelled.

The show’s organisers had been in discussions with several key players and had held lengthy talks with the ATA about its plans and how it saw an opportunity to refresh the traditional fishing show concept encouraging greater participation and delivering vital angling experiences.

But event director Carly Jackson explained: “It’s meant a great deal to have encouragement from industry bodies like the ATA, and we’ve worked incredibly hard behind the scenes to develop a show that could help strengthen participation, profile and opportunity for the wider trade. 

“However, after much consideration, we’ve had to make the very difficult decision not to move forward with the event. While there has been goodwill and interest from organisations like yours, the lack of early engagement from key manufacturers has ultimately made the financial risk too high to continue at this time.

“We remain passionate about the angling industry and would very much like to revisit the concept in the future if conditions improve and more direct support from the trade is secured.”