“Fishing with the Folks” offers a new twist on the old-fashioned ‘Dads and Lads’ events in that it aims to involve youngsters and adults of both sexes. Thus girls as well as boys get an equal opportunity to partner a parent, grandparent or other relative or family friend. Indeed, some of the keenest beginners have been the mums that have brought their children to the events.
Each youngster and an adult fishes as a team in what is loosely called a match, although the ‘normal’ match rules don’t apply in that the participants can have as much help and assistance as necessary from the Angling in Schools licensed coaches. The aim is to ensure that everyone catches something. Certainly, these “Fishing with the Folks” days have really proved a great success, the combination of pleasure fishing, casual coaching, and a bit of competition seems to work very well, and is proving very popular.
Wednesday 20th April and conditions looked perfect. A settled high pressure system promises a fine dry day, with just a light breeze. The venue, Rush Lyvers, to the East of Hull has done us proud and reserved an ideal area for us; 15 pegs with good access and plenty of fish showing.
From about 9-00 a.m. a steady flow of participants started to arrive, ranging from the experienced and keen to get started, to the nervous and “what do we do”, never having fished first timers. We split the draw for pegs into two parts. Draw One for the more experienced and Draw Two for the beginners, to aid setting up and coaching during the day.
10-00 a.m. and fishing is underway. It soon became obvious that we were in for a good day. Fish were regularly coming to the net, from small silvers, to a couple of nice tench, a lovely perch and some stunning ide.
What was brilliant to watch, was the interaction between all those taking part, with the parents and helpers really getting involved; and there was a genuine atmosphere of friendly support. Everyone was happy to see others catch fish, and there was a lovely mix of support and banter. It was also great to see how much the skill levels improved as the day progressed. Some had arrived out of curiosity, just to try it, never having handled fishing gear before, but by midday they were confidently handling the whips and bringing fish to hand with growing self-assurance.
Talking of handling gear for the first time, John says “a big advantage we’ve had this year has been the availability of the Daiwa DW500 whip, with its 3 metre telescopic section and two further take-apart sections. This whip provides much more flexibility than the simple telescopic whip and also provides a good foundation for those wanting to move on to fishing with a long pole”.
3-00 p.m. came all too soon and it was time for the weigh-in. We went round the pegs with as usual groups huddled around the scales to see the totals and work out positions. As expected the more experienced teams came out on top, but everyone caught, and it was great to see the smiles as results were announced and prizes presented.
A great day’s fun fishing and, importantly, some new anglers of all ages. It’s inevitable that there will be lots more of these days. Thanks to all involved
