Fly fishing cost and future generations

[micka]

I accept that kids ( actually any beginner) wants the instant hit of catching....

But as I see it its the responsibility of us older more established anglers to help out.... my lad is happy catching anything, bleak, dace, roach etc

We started off when he was just 4 or 5 just for an hour or so by the river in the summer, this always involved a picnic, us both getting wet and about 20 mins actual fishing....

It's more about getting them out and enjoying the day together..

After about 6 months of literally messing about he became more interested , and you take it from there build up the fishing slowly....my other kids had the same opportunities but didn't really take to it.

Now he is really focused on his fishing and lives and breathes it, tying flies, fishing most days in school holidays etc.. he's even got 3 of his mates into it which is a result.

But I do worry for the future of our sport.......ok I may be grumpy at times on the bank, but I will always try and encourage kids , give them a few flies or generally help them catch a fish.....To me it's vitally important

There's another vital factor to consider in your encouragement of youngsters into the sport. Outdoor and sporting activities we know to be good for our mental health. Yes it can drive you nuts if you lose a good fish or mistime a cast etc, but these are mere hiccups. I'm sure all of us when we come back from a days's fishing feel invigorated - it's a buzz like nothing else gives me.

Sadly, too much emersion in the likes of social media and gaming has a documented harmful effect on your people's mental health. Sometimes tragically so.

Mick

 

[original cormorant]

Strange one this but I’ve never known golf to be so popular with people my age (26) and younger even. Of my close mates about 7-8 play golf and none go fishing or have ever even tried. Golf is accessible, there are over a dozen courses around Manchester. My house overlooks the local golf clubhouse and it’s always mobbed! They charge £1000 a year and I see people of all ages there.

For some reason golf has been capturing the minds of younger lads more and more over the last few years but fly fishing hasn’t. I say fly because coarse fishing is popular with a few lads I know, again it’s accessible as there are plenty of coarse fisheries in urban areas whereas fly fishing venues are mostly found in rural areas.

I'm not sure this is true any more. The golf boom was 30 years or so ago and now a lot of courses are struggling. Google will show you headlines like Golf Course Closures Fast Reaching Crisis Point

 

[kingf000]

Wait until you retire

I am retired and according to the ONS and the FT, the disposable income of those retired both with and without private pensions has also doubled over that period of time. Though that is only the average, it doesn't consider individual circumstances.

 

[icejohn]

The costs of fly fishing equipment - fly rod flying lines etc, have dropped but to actually get on any chalk steam in the south of England is expensive. Likewise the lake fishing on boats is expensive and becoming less and less so much so that seems every other year there are crisis talks with the fishery and local fishing club to keep things open.

But the fishery don't ask the question why don't as many people go fishing any more? Price of the tickets would be the number one reason.

 

[glueman]

I am retired and according to the ONS and the FT, the disposable income of those retired both with and without private pensions has also doubled over that period of time. Though that is only the average, it doesn't consider individual circumstances.

ONS figures are suspect. If you divide a typical state pension by say 40 hrs a week you end up with about £5 per hour. Take into account that pensioners are at home all day so in winter run the heating all day. It soon makes a dent in it

 

[Paul_B]

When Richard run YGA he used to look after the young anglers and give them very good discounts and they could buy the pre-production rods at next t nowt. these anglers came back when they had more money to spend and brought their now workmates with them.

All a long time ago now

 

[PaulD]

When I was at secondary school in the 60s I had one friend who fly fished and, when I was on the banks of my local reservoir, the only other anglers I saw were mostly 'old gits' like I am now and I'm not sure the prophecies of doom for angling have any real foundation. A few years ago we used to do the Rutland Youth Day and each year we did it there were close to 90 youngsters taking part. With the exception of this year . . . for obvious reasons . . for the previous 10 years, I have coached fly fishing at a school in Northamptonshire.

In common with all sports and leisure activities, angling competes for attention. With today's transport and media coverage far much more is available for youngsters to participate in. My son is now 11, he does a greater range of things in a week than I did in my childhood. Every now and then he comes fishing or shows a fishing related interest and I encourage it. Who knows, by the time he realises he's not going to play for Liverpool in the Premiership when he's 18, earn a £m playing Fortnite in the next 4 years or have a recording contract related to his electric guitar . . . he may come more regularly . . .

 

[kingf000]

ONS figures are suspect. If you divide a typical state pension by say 40 hrs a week you end up with about £5 per hour. Take into account that pensioners are at home all day so in winter run the heating all day. It soon makes a dent in it

£5 per hour for doing nothing doesn't seem too bad to me! Pensions is something that I think too many people take for granted. The new state pension is £9,110.40 per year, index linked. To get that from a private annuity you would have to have a pension pot of around £300K. To get that size of pension pot, if you worked for 40 years you would have had to put in around £4K per year, or £80 per week.

ONS figures suspect? Where is your evidence? Sounds like Trump over the rigged election. My daughter worked at the ONS for many years and I can assure you that, certainly in the departments she worked in, the figures were as accurate as they could possibly be. Much of government policy is based on ONS data, so we would be in even deeper s**t if you couldn't trust the ONS.

 

[Oddball29]

The costs of fly fishing equipment - fly rod flying lines etc, have dropped but to actually get on any chalk steam in the south of England is expensive. Likewise the lake fishing on boats is expensive and becoming less and less so much so that seems every other year there are crisis talks with the fishery and local fishing club to keep things open.

But the fishery don't ask the question why don't people as many people go fishing any more? Price of the tickets would be the number one reason.

Just booked a boat on grafham £40 for a 4 fish ticket and boat hire with my 12 year old neice for the day, bargain I would spend that in the pub in a few hours! Wouldn’t call that expensive

 

[green man]

The new state pension is £9,110.40 per week, index linked...

Struth... I didn't realise it was THAT much. I'll have a couple of days on the Test every week.

 

[kingf000]

Struth... I didn't realise it was THAT much. I'll have a couple of days on the Test every week.

Wishful thinking on my part!

 

[davidms]

How much are young folk happy to spend on booze and drugs for a night out clubbing?

 

[glueman]

£5 per hour for doing nothing doesn't seem too bad to me! Pensions is something that I think too many people take for granted. The new state pension is £9,110.40 per year, index linked. To get that from a private annuity you would have to have a pension pot of around £300K. To get that size of pension pot, if you worked for 40 years you would have had to put in around £4K per year, or £80 per week.

ONS figures suspect? Where is your evidence? Sounds like Trump over the rigged election. My daughter worked at the ONS for many years and I can assure you that, certainly in the departments she worked in, the figures were as accurate as they could possibly be. Much of government policy is based on ONS data, so we would be in even deeper s**t if you couldn't trust the ONS.

How much have I paid in through a 55 year working life. A fair bit ONS produce figures to suit there bosses,the of course their bosses say this is a basket of goods containing the things we buy monthly like IPHONES electronic goods etc not food which unless I am mistaken are the staples

 

[Rob Edmunds]

I will tell you what, everyone says we should encourage kids.

People on here give stuff away to kids of beginners....and I respect you for that 100%..

If there are any dads or youngsters out there that can get to any of the Anglian Waters I will gladly guide for you for the day - even bring kit etc ....and I'm sure we will have a laugh and catch a few..

Just drop me a PM and I'll pass on my personal details so we can sort it out ..

 

[gmm243]

I am very lucky to have some great fishing and shooting for very little money and a lot of it is free bar a bottle or a box of chocolates to the farmers at Christmas.I also keep bees so my free time all through the year is well tied up,so much so I am not looking for any other hobbies.Lots of my friends play golf,cycle or run as their hobbies.None of them have the same hobbies as I do.
There are very few people younger (I am 45) than me where I live fishing or shooting.I came in off a lough a few years ago with 2 good fish and two old men on the jetty said "(Look at the fish the young lad got"- I was 42 at the time!!
I have two sons who are both mad keen on shooting,fishing/ fly tying and rugby but they are in the absolute minority of kids that age and even older.My father who is in his 80's said when he was young lots of people shot and fished,a lot of this was after the war so it was sport but also to put food on the table.This has dwindled and dwindled as years have gone on.Shooting has definitely become less acceptable in many places and with many people but I still have a huge amount of land where I am welcome and the farmers like to see me and the dogs.
I also think there is a demand on an immediate result in life now therefore a lot of people do not want the hassle of training and keeping dogs to hunt for a few woodcock or snipe in a day when they can spend money for a pretty much guaranteed amount of birds in a driven day.The same can be said for fishing,everyone wants to catch and catch quickly so not as many people are willing to spend days on a water with little return.Thankfully I do a fair bit of sea fishing so can get the boys some good results there but they are also willing to put the hours in salmon or trout fishing especially when they are allowed drive the boat,net fish etc.Both of them had their first fly caught salmon before they were 8 and thankfully they seem keen to keep fishing with me but the eldest is now 12 so I imagine that rugby and girls will take over soon,I will enjoy it while it lasts.

 

[uptomyknee_s]

A few years ago I spent an evening at a Jeremy Wade "River Monsters" road show. There was a good number of children in the audience with, I'm assuming their parents. Towards the end of the evening there was a Q & A. A young lad probably 9 /10 years of age accompanied by his Mum asked Jeremy a question. Jeremy was very good and answered it and then asked the lad where he went. The youngster replied he liked fishing but couldn't go because he didn't have a Dad to take him. Heartbreaking!

 

[kingf000]

How much have I paid in through a 55 year working life. A fair bit ONS produce figures to suit there bosses,the of course their bosses say this is a basket of goods containing the things we buy monthly like IPHONES electronic goods etc not food which unless I am mistaken are the staples

A fair bit but I'm sure no where near enough to cover the cost of the pension, that is unless you were paying £60 per week for the 55 years, which I doubt very much unless you were in a very well paid job. As I say, the state pension is excellent value for money which a lot of people don't appreciate it.
Re: ONS - where is your evidence? The ONS figures you refer to have nothing to do with the ones on income and disposable income. The ONS decides what to include for the RPI and CPI indices based upon what people are buying. IPHONES are included because 80% of the population have an iPhone and regularly replace them, as are other electronic goods that people buy. As with all general surveys, it doesn't necessarily represent what any particular individual spends their money on, as it is a global survey. Where the problem lies is when the government applies these to specific groups, eg. for the annual increase in pensions, where the RPI and CPI are not necessarily appropriate, as pensioners spending habits are different. But that isn't the fault of the ONS. Food and other 'staples' are included in the RPI and CPI, as determined by the living costs and food survey that annually looks at all household expenditure.

 

[glueman]

A fair bit but I'm sure no where near enough to cover the cost of the pension, that is unless you were paying £60 per week for the 55 years, which I doubt very much unless you were in a very well paid job. As I say, the state pension is excellent value for money which a lot of people don't appreciate it.
Re: ONS - where is your evidence? The ONS figures you refer to have nothing to do with the ones on income and disposable income. The ONS decides what to include for the RPI and CPI indices based upon what people are buying. IPHONES are included because 80% of the population have an iPhone and regularly replace them, as are other electronic goods that people buy. As with all general surveys, it doesn't necessarily represent what any particular individual spends their money on, as it is a global survey. Where the problem lies is when the government applies these to specific groups, eg. for the annual increase in pensions, where the RPI and CPI are not necessarily appropriate, as pensioners spending habits are different. But that isn't the fault of the ONS. Food and other 'staples' are included in the RPI and CPI, as determined by the living costs and food survey that annually looks at all household expenditure.

You obviously have no idea how the system works or at least did. You pay in all your working life then pop your clogs at about 66 when retirement was 65 the government in a win situation

 

[gmm243]

That would bring tears to a stone.

I know how lucky I am and have been with a father present to show me how to fish and shoot and now in my 40's he is still around and fit to go with myself and my kids.I think he gets so much pleasure out of watching them succeed and also fail at times so he can help them out and give them some of his advice-funnily enough they listen more to him than me!!
I have brought nearly all their cousins out to sea,we have always caught mackeral but also on occasion other species that put a proper bend in the rod and they have all loved it.

 

[kingf000]

You obviously have no idea how the system works or at least did. You pay in all your working life then pop your clogs at about 66 when retirement was 65 the government in a win situation

This is how the system works. A 65 year old male has a life expectancy of 18.5 years. So the payout that the government will have to make, on average, is £170K, not allowing for the annual increases. Yes, you may die after a year and only get the £9K, but you might live to 100 and get £320K. The luck of the draw. You pay all your working life, but don't forget that only 10% of your income tax and national insurance pays for pensions. The rest is spent on other state benefits, education, the NHS, the armed forces etc. etc. etc.. If you pay £100 per week in taxes and national insurance, only about £10 goes on pensions. So if you have paid £100 per week for 55 years, that only comes to £29,000 - far short of the £170K you have every chance of receiving and the figure the government has to budget for.