Ammar's fishing adventure

First season

I started my fishing journey in the early summer of 2022 when I attended several free Let’s Fish sessions taking place on the canals near where I live. I started learning and developing the basic skills, building on them and picking up more each week. These skills included:

• shipping out and shipping back the elasticated take apart roach pole.
• presenting the pole rig correctly so it doesn’t tangle up.
• striking at the various types of bites (and not just the ones where the float disappears beneath the water, but also more subtle ones like when the fish takes the bait on the drop or swims off with it in an ‘odd’ direction.
• playing and landing the fish, including using a landing net where needed.
• unhooking the fish, including using a disgorger.
• accurate loose feeding.
• mixing and introducing ground bait.

Helpful coaches

I had no experience with fishing before, but I’ve had great Let’s Fish coaches like former individual National Champion Steve Broome and Neil Powell to support me and so I quickly made progress. Thus, I soon fell in love with fishing and the outdoors as it was all so refreshing and fun. Although the very best coaches are in the West Midlands, I’m sure that there are loads of other fantastic Let’s Fish coaches wherever in the country you happen to live. I’ve seen literally dozens of them at the National Celebration helping out the different clubs.

Participation event debut

In the summer of 2023, I had the opportunity to take part in my first Let’s Fish Regional Celebration event, basically a fun match. Most of us were beginners. This was on the Dudley Canal at Bumble Hole. These events are not too serious and there is plenty of help on hand for the novices like me. Everyone learns together and I finished fourth with a weight of 290 grams.

It was a wonderful feeling catching fish on my own for the first time without someone being there sitting next to me. It was also nice to know that there were people around nearby if I had needed some support. Inspired by my result, I attended more local matches and as time went on my weight and confidence kept going up.

National Celebration debut

I signed up for the National Celebration of Young People and Fishing. The largest gathering of kids in one place in the junior fishing world. I drew a peg near Bridge 50 on the Shropshire Union Canal with a view of the Wrekin, an extinct volcano, behind me. It was a great fishing day for me as I exceeded one kilogram which was my highest weight yet and for good measure, I caught my first big fish, a roach/bream hybrid.

Overall, I ended up in 42nd place out of around 120 and won one of the best beginner trophies. As you can imagine, I was really chuffed with this result. I wasn’t aware of it at the time, but the peg I fished at was the very same peg that five times world angling champion Alan Scotthorne fished in the 2017 Division One national championship. Some local anglers have even named bridge 50 after him in his honour.

Daiwa Global Communities Celebration

In October also took part in the Daiwa Global Celebration where I was representing Uganda as part the Global Superstars team. My two teammates were Hayden Saunders who has Turkish ancestry, and Harvey Morley who has Scottish connections. There had been incessant heavy rain for 48 hours before the event and most people were surprised that things went ahead, but ahead they did go.

As the opening ceremony kicked off, the rain finally stopped. It was quite quiet on the fishing front for me, weighing in just 200g, but on our team was the brilliant Hayden Saunders who recorded the best weight in the whole match. Hayden was part of the Talent Pathway in 2023, basically chosen as one of the best 35 kids in his age group in the whole of England, so just being in the same team as him was an honour for me.

The good news is that when the results were announced the Global Superstars, we ended up with 5th place out of 17 securing the final team trophies and I won an 11-meter Daiwa pole which I can’t wait to use. It will give me more options to catch fish including a far bank line.

Thank you, Let’s Fish

I am thankful to the Let’s Fish programme and to the many people and organisations who provide the money for it to be able to keep running. The programme has enabled me to learn the skills I need and provide me with ongoing guidance and a starter kit so I could have the opportunities to participate in the various celebration fishing events. I am looking to further improve my skills and get even more involved with Let’s Fish events in the coming years as they offer great days out and a magical connection with nature.