Funding to attract more beginners to angling extended by another £100,000 from rod-licence income

Memorable: a first fish caught on fly.

Angling Trust’s Get Fishing Fund, which focuses on providing funding for fishing tackle, equipment and other items to help run events and activities that will create more opportunities for people to get into fishing, has received another £100,000 of fishing licence income.

After launching in 2019, the fund proved very popular and has already supported 140 projects countrywide. Angling numbers have escalated since since the pandemic, with more folk turning to angling to get them out of the house and into their local countryside. In 2020 rod licence applications increased by a massive 15%. Angling became a vitally impotant hobby during Covid19, not only as a means of getting people outdoors, it is coupled with the fact that fishing is recognised as being beneficial to mental health.

Clive Copeland, Head of Participation at the Angling Trust, said: “The Get Fishing Fund has been a forward-thinking and inventive way of re-investing fishing licence money back into growing participation in angling… I have been to some of these clubs, fisheries and charities, and seen how they have used their funding to kick-start fishing sessions – even a small amount of funding can go a long way to get lessons, equipment or a coach in place.”

Applications for the new fund opened on Monday, January 17, and organisations can apply for up to £2,500. Applications are judged each week with a deadline of Friday, March 17, 2022.

Full details of how the fund operates can be found on the Get Fishing Fund page at: www.anglingtrust.net/funding/get-fishing-fund

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