Dear all
I recently attended the England Youth National Qualifier at Grafham.
It was a hard fought match in terrible wet conditions and a true test for those fishing.
The competition was excellently organised and all praise to the committee members for their hard work.

But only 20 people fished !

When I look at trout fishing magazine average age of readership I am dismayed to find its 50 + years.

My own Midlands club have no young members and the average age must be closer to retirement age , with many members of 70+.

What are your views on this subject?
Will fly fishing die out slowly but surely because there is limited interest from the young?

Is it the same in Wales, Scotland and Ireland?

Does anybody care?
How are we going to get more people contest for the honour to fish for their country?

__________________
Better a 'has been' than a 'never was' !
http://te-ff.org/
http://englandyouthflyfishing.blogspot.com/search/label/About

A lot of young people get older
They then join fishing clubs.
Dont worry about it mate fishing is here to stay.

__________________
It is in truth not glory,nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting,but for freedom - for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with his life.(Declaration of Arbroath, 1320)

You are right the average age is very high, most young uns would rather fish on a game console...very sad

Was out on my local smallwater the other day,must have been around 20 people fishing 6 of which were kids being taught by adults.Going by that i dont
think fly fishing is on its way out

Neil

Why do the kids always get criticised? It's us who bought them the games consoles and computers. It's us who find life easier if the kids are not demanding our attention.

I boatmaned that match on Grafham,was a wet miserable afternoon ,despite that my to rods fished exceeding hard and well,both I think qualified,one was top rod bagging up by 10 past 2.
I guess cost plays a large part in recent decline for this end of the game,both rods had maybe a dozen different lines a huge selection of flies,good quality equipment and had spent lots of days getting practice .All of that plus tickets transport ,overnight accomadation and sundries must make it hard to justify for many in this stage of the economy.
In my own case ,do I save money for his uni ,or do I take him and myself salmon fishing ,well its a bit of both ,but there is less of the fishing at the moment .

__________________
Andy Wren
Winter grayling taking a year off !
Claret not just a great dubbing colour!

Perhaps a better way to assess whether times are changing is to ask the slightly older (and more venerable) members of this forum whether it was the same when they were young - i.e. was the average age of fly fishers still very high when they were growing up? I suspect that it's always attracted an older crowd, many of which turn to fly fishing when they are slightly older and wiser, perhaps after growing up coarse fishing. I still agree that there seems to be a real lack of youth in our sport. I'm 25 and I don't know many other fly fisherman my age!

__________________
Fundamentally fishing is a philosophy. A philosophy of earth, and growth, and quiet places. In it there is a rule of life, a recognition of permanences. It makes you notice the little things of nature, wherever you may be. ~Bernard Venables

i agree with nick s. When I was young (11 or 12) very few people my age were fly fishing but now there are more people my age who fish. I think it's something a lot of people must come to later in life, maybe when they can't play football anymore or have a wife to escape!

__________________
And when none bite, I praise the wise
Whom vain allurements ne'er surprise.

Was it ever a big draw to the younger angler? The cost and complexity of fly fishing compared to a basic trotting kit kept me away from it as a young one. Most of my mates stream/river fished but trotting worms or spinning.

The whole concept also society projects onto the young to attain instant gratification from life does not fit well into a sport that needs a lot of work to perfect. I feel sorry for my kids for the outside pressures put on them. We are bombarded with having everything now, with no effort or work required to attain it puts activities like this out on a limb. As you mature and need more from life it's a more attractive and potentially affordable proposition.

I think it's always a sport people will come to later in life more so now for the reasons above. I was thinking about the average cost of a fish the other day with kit, tying materials, tickets and travel, it's not cheap. On the other hand you can't buy the relaxation you get from it.

Mark

You are right to a point, I have two daughters and we encouraged them to get out and play when they were young, took them swimming, one was a local running champion, we didnt allow them to stay in all the time, my dad didnt go fishing either, I started to do it with my mates when I was a kid...but I dont see many youngsters out when Im fishing, I dont think it will die out but the signs are not good for the future, too many do gooders about theses days telling everyone how cruel we are. Lets face it kids are getting fatter, and its mostly because they would rather live in a virtual world..rant done