The Angling Trust are pleased to announce the relaunch of the Angling Talent Pathway for young game anglers. The Junior Game Angling Talent Pathway is aimed at junior fly anglers aged 12 to 16 who wish to develop their fly fishing skills to hopefully go on to represent England Youth in the future. The pathway offers three sessions at small stillwaters across England starting at Chigboro Trout Fishery in the south in April, moving to Ellerdine Lakes in the midlands in May and finally Bessy Beck Trout Fishery in the north in June.
These sessions will be led by current Bank National and International Champion and qualified instructor Andy Taylor assisted by other top international anglers with the aim to develop the skills of young anglers who participate.
In July and August, the Talent Pathway heads to the big waters with loch style fishing sessions at Grafham in July with a second opportunity to go afloat in August at Draycote Water. The Grafham session will give young anglers the chance to fish from a boat with the Draycote day providing a great opportunity to fish at the venue for this year’s youth national in September.
The Talent Pathway will be sponsored by Wychwood Game who will be providing items of tackle for those participating at all the events. In addition, those attending will have the opportunity to use and try some of their latest products.
The sessions will focus on fly fishing techniques in the morning where those taking part will have the chance to see and have a go at the latest fish catching techniques. The afternoon session will focus on competition fishing with a short format competition where the young anglers can practise the techniques they learnt in the morning.
Young fly anglers who are interested can attend one or all of the five events along with the Youth National on Sunday 13th September at Draycote Water. To enter visit the Angling Trust Competitions page at https://www.anglingtrustevents.net/game
Further information can be found at www.anglingtrust.net/talentpathwaygame
Game Talent Pathway Dates for 2020
Smallwaters/Bank
South
Saturday 4th April, Chigboro’ Trout Fishery
Address: Chigborough Road, Maldon, England. CM9 4RE
Midlands
Saturday 2nd May, Ellerdine Lakes
Address: Ellerdine, Telford, Shropshire. TF6 6QR
North
Saturday 6th June, Bessy Beck Trout Fishery
Address: Newbiggin-on-Lune, Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria. CA17 4LY
Loch-style/Boats
Saturday 4th July, Grafham Water
Address: Grafham Water Fishing Lodge, West Perry Huntington. PE28 0BX
Saturday 1st August, Draycote Water
Address: The Fishing Lodge, Draycote Water, Nr. Dunchurch, Rugby, Warwickshire. CV23 8AB
England Youth Loch Style National will be Sunday 13th September 2020 at Draycote Water.
Pat MacInnes, Marketing Manager for Leeda said “Wychwood is proud to support both ends of the game fishing spectrum; to be involved with a grass-roots project like the Junior Game Angling Talent Pathway is a huge privilege, knowing that it represents a vital part of growing game angling in the UK.”
Andy Taylor Angling Trust Competitions Support Officer said “The Talent Pathway is a great opportunity for young anglers to learn from some of the top fly anglers in England. Our aim is to give young fly anglers the skills and techniques to enable them to catch more fish and hopefully progress them on to fish at a higher level. I hear so many anglers saying that there aren’t the young anglers coming through and that the opportunities for them to develop are non-existent. Hopefully the Talent Pathway will be the start of something which we can push out across the whole of England to address some of the concerns regarding youth participation in fly angling.”
