JUNIOR COURSES

Up to present over 2000 youngsters have had a go at both fly and coarse fishing through these courses.

Happy young people....priceless!

 2008 CUMBRIA

Junior courses have been run now for over seven years, they include either fly-fishing, sea fishing or coarse fishing and are half day or full day (6 hours) on river, beach and stillwater. During 2004-5 all these courses were generously sponsored by the Environment Agency, the Salmon and Trout Association, Carlisle City Council and other donations, as a result of that all these days were laid on free of charge. This will continue for the foreseeable future but in a different format, the E.A are now doing 2 hour taster sessions with their own trained people. With that funding we have staged over 30 days in 2004 and the same for 2005, this put over 300 plus boys and girls into fishing each year from all over Cumbria, Northumberland and south west Scotland. From 2006 we are seeking private funding to continue, Solway Coast A.O.N.B have been very generous to enable us to safely equip and run ten day courses for one hundred and twenty teenagers on the beach.

Investment in our youth is the future of our beloved sport.

There are beginner and improver days, so it is not just a question of getting people started and then leaving them to there own devices we give them solid foundations to build on then take it further. We have seen great changes in a lot of the participants, some now fish competitions and others show an interest to mentor and coach others.

A typical six hour program of a junior fly fishing day (although they are frequently adjusted to suit) would be a 10 am start after registration with the obligatory safety talk. They are then split into three groups of four, group 1 will do fly-tying, group 2 do entomology (the study of insects) and group 3 do casting with fly rods, the roll cast and overhead. They are rotated every 50 minutes so they all get a taste of everything to do with our sport. That takes us up to around lunch time where there are various demonstrations and have a go things. After lunch everybody under supervision is out on the water to put into practice what they have learned and hopefully catch a fish or two, they will learn how to play, land, carefully handle and return, or dispatch a fish to take home.

What you should bring.

Waterproof and warm clothing with wellies, sunglasses if you have them and packed lunch.

All tackle is supplied for use on the day free of charge. The day begins with a registration at 9.45, and will end at 4 PM.

It is our intention to make these fishing days as accessable as possible to as many children as possible.

In order to acheive that we are always looking for sponsorship and funding for these days so we can run them free of charge, this could be the cost of a fishery, a donation of tackle, fly tying material or anything that might be of help.

Dates for 2008 coming shortly.