Fly fishing must do more to get youngsters hooked on the sport

To be honest all the local clubs, as far as I know, are struggling to attract youngsters and, more importantly, to keep them.

Some of our still waters have invested in multipurpose lakes where youngsters can use light spinning rods, and bait to get them started.

This tactic has been successful to a point, but few make it to fly fishing.

There doesn’t seem to be anywhere where youngsters can meet on a regular basis to learn the fly casting skills and techniques they need to enjoy a hobby that will last them a lifetime.

There are ‘try it’ days where anyone can go along and give it a go, but there are no regular events.

Two months ago, I took my grandson onto one of the local multipurpose lakes and he caught four trout in no time at all.

He wanted to have another try and he was casting the bubble float out himself, aged five!

On the second visit, five trout were taken home for his family.

He was well and truly hooked.

This last half-term all he said was: “Can you show me how to fly fish Grandad?”

Off we went with an eight-foot Hardy four-weight rod and a box of assorted flies.

I showed him how to roll cast and he picked it up quite quickly.

Rolling eight or nine yards of line didn’t present a problem, he twitched the fly back fairly slowly and recast.

The fly was allowed to drop a little deeper before the retrieve began.

Almost immediately the fly line tightened, fish on.

Grandson kept a steady pressure on and eventually, after a couple of jumps from the trout and my grandson, the fish was netted.

Soon he had four fish.

He was happy and I was very happy too.

What a fabulous time we both had and the time just flew by!

I fished the Tyne for trout this last week.

We need some rain for the rivers, but I hear Kielder was due to release water on Tuesday (June 6).

Hopefully this will get the migratory fish moving on the North Tyne and the main river, fingers crossed.