Let’s Fish! is an award-winning events programme, delivered by the Canal & River Trust that enables people to connect with nature, learn new skills, and create lasting memories. We help thousands of children, mums, dads, and grandparents catch their first fish and support them to go on to become regular anglers.
There is a massive decline in the number of children learning to fish. Attending a Let’s Fish! event is an effective way of bringing young anglers into a sport that may otherwise be lost within a few generations.
However, running these events requires ongoing support. We need your help to fund angling supplies and coaching for existing events and to bring Let’s Fish! to more young people and their families.
Our Let’s Fish! programme teaches anyone over the age of six to fish. It’s a gateway to caring for nature while fostering patience, perseverance, and environmental stewardship. Each one-hour introductory session benefits the mind and body, teaches life-long skills, and ensures lots of fun.
Since 2017, the Canal & River Trust has delivered over 40,000 coaching sessions to help young people and their families learn how to fish. However, the future of Let’s Fish! is uncertain. Funding cuts mean that running this programme will be more difficult, and without your support, we’ll have to reduce the scale of our Let’s Fish! sessions.
Fewer and fewer young people have the opportunity to try angling, relax by the canal and connect with nature. Maybe your parents, grandparents, or uncle taught you. But who will coach those new to angling when no one is left to show them? Within a few generations, the sport may be lost entirely.
Your help is greatly needed to keep our programme and the sport alive. Everyone remembers their first catch. Donate today to make sure the next generation gets that experience, too.
Why support Let’s Fish?
The programme offers high-quality sessions that prepare people to become anglers for life. Each young angler receives one-on-one coaching to ensure the best possible experience. And it’s for everyone. Most of the sessions are on the canals, within a short distance of people’s homes, making it an accessible sport. Over 1.75 million people reside within 1 kilometre of our waterways.
But we can only offer a limited number of sessions at the moment, and often we can no longer offer them for free. Your support now is crucial to help young people learn the art of fishing. With additional funding, we can take on more instructors to expand our program and accommodate more children eager to learn this skill. You can support us by donating or volunteering at our events.
The impact of Let’s Fish! on young lives
Since its inception, the Let's Fish! programme has made a significant impact on participants across the country. Thousands have attended events to experience the thrill of fishing and forge lasting connections with nature. From meeting others in the community to discovering the personal wellbeing benefits of sitting by water, our Let’s Fish! programme is improving lives for the better. And it’s keeping the sport alive for the next generation.
How Let's Fish! Transformed Lorraine's Family
During lockdown, Let's Fish! brought hope and joy to Lorraine's family. Introduced via a Facebook ad, her grandchildren, Daniel and Jess, discovered solace and excitement in angling. Led by dedicated coaches Pete and Neil, their first catches—a tench for Daniel and a perch for Jess—illuminated their faces with delight. For Daniel, navigating high-functioning autism, fishing offered a therapeutic escape, highlighting the sport's inclusive and transformative essence. “What I love about the sport is that it never discriminates. You can be able or disabled, male or female, be of any shape, size, colour, or background. All that matters is the luck of the draw when you pick your peg by the water.”
They delved deep into the sessions, journeying across the Midlands for events and joining in national and global celebrations. Beyond creating cherished memories, the programme fostered stronger family ties. With its free accessibility, they could embrace this journey without financial strain, showcasing its priceless impact on people from all backgrounds.
Now, reflecting on their journey, Lorraine highlights Let's Fish!'s irreplaceable role in their lives and the need to safeguard its future. Through the programme, families like Lorraine's discover unity, joy, and a deep connection to nature. Join us in supporting Let's Fish! to sustain its enduring ability to inspire, uplift, and change lives for generations.
Where will your money go?
We’d love to be able to make Let’s Fish! free again for families like Lorraine’s and encourage more young children to learn angling. Supporting Let's Fish! is an opportunity to make a meaningful difference in people’s lives nationwide. Through the collective efforts of donors, volunteers, and supporters, we’re ensuring that future generations can access the joys of fishing and the beauty of the natural world.
Our target
The annual cost of our Let’s Fish! programme is over £250,000, offering sessions to about 5,000 people across 9,000 visits every year – bringing more and more people into the sport. We need to raise an initial £10,000 to contribute towards running and protecting our programme. Your support will directly contribute to Let’s Fish! by
- Ensuring the continuation of the existing Let’s Fish! events.
- Expanding Let’s Fish! into new communities and regions.
- Providing angling resources like equipment, indoor venue rentals, and coaching.
- Increasing awareness and engagement to encourage new anglers.
How will your gift help?
Your gift is crucial to helping young people learn to fish.
£15 – could supply the cost for a day’s worth of bait to run a Let’s Fish! event for up to 18 young people.
£25 – could cover the expense of an hour of professional angling coaching for a young person.
£50 – could contribute towards one evening's room hire at one of our angling academies.
£125 – could provide funding for five coaching sessions, enabling a young person to acquire the skills to "go solo".
£250 – could fund a high-quality starter kit for a young person to participate actively in a variety of Let’s Fish! events.