Young anglers from the North East have the opportunity to represent their region in both fly-fishing at Witton Castle Lakes and coarse angling at Angel of the North Lakes this summer. These events are open to all anglers including those with disabilities aged 12-16 years (before or on 31st August 2011). These events are being held to identify talented anglers in fly fishing and coarse angling who have the potential to represent the North East and compete against teams from the North West and West Midlands regions.
These events are the start of a talent pathway for young anglers developed by the ADB with funding from Sport England in 2011/12. The ADB hope to roll the initiative out nationally in 2012/13 throughout all Regions of England.

Working with the Angling Trust and its team ‘England Youth Fly-fishing’ the ADB will use the talent pathway to select the anglers with most potential and then support them in developing their skills with high quality coaching in high performance, and skills required for competitive angling. The scheme will support the Angling Trust (AT) in developing stronger teams to represent England in all international competitions.

The fly fishing event will be hosted by Bishop Auckland Angling Club at Witton Castle Lakes and will take place on Wednesday 22nd June, registration will take place between 5.00pm-5.30pm and the fishing will take place from 6.00pm-9.00pm where anglers will fly fish from the bank. Coaches and past-members of the England Youth Flyfishing team will be assisting with the event. The Coarse angling event will take place Saturday 2nd July at Angel of the North Fishing Lakes and will be split into two sessions. Registration will take place at 8.30am-9.00am with the morning fishing session taking place from 10.00am-12.00pm and the afternoon session will take place from 1.00pm-3.00pm. The morning session will be pole or whip and the afternoon session will be rod and line angling.

Anglers will be selected based on their performance throughout the respective events and a Performance Coaching Team consisting of qualified ADB coaches will use approved criteria to assess and if selected anglers will be invited to move into the North East Performance Squads. The Performance Squads will then receive further coaching over three days in various environments where anglers will continue to be assessed and the North East Performance Teams will then be formed . These teams will then compete with the North West & West Midlands.

Angling Trust are inviting applications from anglers for both events, there is a £5 entry fee for each event. All participants must be individual members of Angling Trust at the time of taking part in the events and membership is FREE for anyone 17 years of age and under. Event & Angling Trust membership application forms can be found at www.anglingtrust.net. The closing date for the receipt of completed application forms is Friday 27th May 2011.

Ben Thompson, Angling Development Board’s Regional Officer in the North East said “This is a fantastic opportunity to develop performance angling at grass roots level and having the North East involved in the pilot is great for our young anglers. The North East has always produced very talented youth and senior anglers and this will create an opportunity for more of our young anglers to get involved and showcase their talents. We are very fortunate to have two teams of experienced coaches and top international anglers overseeing the development of the youngsters in the North East and I look forward to seeing the youngster’s progress through the pathway over the coming years.”

Adam Brougham, Secretary of Axwell Park & Derwent Valley AA (APDVAA) said “Im delighted to see these developments in Angling, representing your region at any sport is a fantastic achievement and now juniors from the North East have an opportunity to receive some high quality coaching and get their first step on the ladder towards high performance angling. These youngsters will gain invaluable experience in a competitive environment working with some top international anglers and quality coaches. At APDVAA we will be encouraging our juniors to enter and will support them in any way we can.”
Cliff Johnston, Chair of Durham County Angling Action Group (CAAG) said “Over recent years it has become obvious that there is a lot of angling talent in the North East of England, resulting in a large percentage of the England Junior Fly-Fishing Team coming from this area. However, the juniors concerned were generally 'lucky' in that they knew, or were known by, the 'right people'. There are, though, a lot of junior anglers out there who do not have this advantage. There is still a lot of un-tapped potential, in both game and coarse angling, to be discovered in the North-East. The 'Talent Pathway' will provide the opportunity for the possible stars of the future to get their feet on the first rungs of the ladder and to have their skills nurtured and developed, possibly to National Competition standards. This is a golden opportunity for the youth of today to become the names of the future. I think it is a wonderful opportunity for them and a great idea from the Angling Development Board.”

Source: Angling Trust Fishing News