Do You Remember Your First Fish?
A little over forty years ago, my father took me on the bus to the Bristol Avon at Keynsham. After tackling up and getting the shotting right so just a small part of the tip of the porcupine quill float was visible, I impaled my first maggot on a hook. As an incentive I was to be given sixpence for every fish I caught, I swung the rig out into the stream followed by a small handful of maggots. The float slowly cocked as it swam down the current, and then the little red tip just disappeared, instinctively I lifted and found myself connected to something vibrant. It was a dace of around four ounces, and there it was, wet and cold in my hand. I had found my passion; or had it, found me? After five more, the sixpence per fish I had been given did not matter anymore, I had enough silver in my hand to last me a lifetime. Such is the power of these experiences, and I still get the same buzz today.
That was my first memories of angling, just as vivid now as it was then, all those years ago. For the last eight years together with colleagues Clive Mitchelhill and Chris Bowman, we have been working to bring experiences like that to more people.
As well as our adult coaching and guiding activities over the past eight years we have been committed to introducing youngsters to all forms of angling and over the last two years alone have introducing well over 1000 youngsters to the sport.
During that time we have witnessed time and time again just how angling can improve the quality of peoples lives and not just the participants lives, but the lives of all those around them. Anyone can achieve success in angling, and with that success comes an improvement in both self-confidence and self-esteem. Many people for whatever reason never achieve success in life, they may never achieve academic success, they may never achieve sporting success, and they may never achieve success during their working life. But they can achieve success in angling and with that success comes an improvement in their whole outlook and attitude to everyday life. Anyone can catch fish and go home feeling good, and it is that feel good factor, that sense of achievement that is so important, and wanting to pass that feeling on.
You might argue that that could be true of any sport or hobby, I would argue that in what other sport could a relative novice with the most basic of equipment break a national record, as happened when a young angler broke the British perch record only a couple of years ago. There is a level playing field as far as fitness and academic ability is concerned; you do not have to be a top athlete or a member of Mensa to do well. Every angler knows the buzz that making a good catch can bring, it can carry you through the days and weeks a head. We as a group want to bring that experience to more people, not only that, we firmly believe that angling has a place to play in reducing stress, anxiety, crime and disorderly behaviour as well as improving educational performance and the environment.
We are not so naive to think that angling is some sort of panacea, a cure for all ills, but we have witnessed the significant individual and social benefits that participation in angling can bring to so many people over many years.
The Social Benefits
When talking about junior tuition, we do not just see it as teaching youngsters how to catch fish, on all of the introduction to angling courses we run whether coarse, sea or game, youngsters are introduced to the environment, taught about safety, the water cycle, plants, invertebrates, the fish themselves, as well as tackle, tactics, watercraft, angling etiquette, fish handling, conservation and how to behave in the countryside. We try to instil both a caring attitude and a respect for the environment so that those youngsters will become good anglers in every sense of the word. If done properly introduction to angling courses can bring a sense of belonging and a caring attitude to the participants that continues away from the angling environment, they do not just teach angling, but life skills, thus having tremendous social implications.
Young people are very soon going to be the responsible adults that will eventually take over the helm of the future of our beloved sport; we need to invest in our youth. We believe this is the message for those of us working in angling and its allied trades, need to shout from the rooftops, we must get over to the schools, potential funders and let government know the rewards that participation in angling can bring. We would like to see every one, especially youngsters being given the opportunity to take up angling, We would like to see angling on the national curriculum and available to all, and not just a few schools up and down the country. It is not just about catching fish it is the whole package.
Despite the fact we have introduced many to angling over the last eight years, it became apparent that those who stood to benefit most from participation in angling were for a variety of reasons not able to easily access the sport. After talking to many people over the last couple of years, and after much deliberation, Borderlines was born in July 2005.
Borderlines Company No. 5500597, Registered at Company's House Cardiff 6/7/2005