Angling coach buoyed by rise in women fishing

An angling coach says she is encouraged by the amount of women taking up the sport.

Sue Galloway, a Level 2 development coach from the Northampton Nene Angling club, based in Northamptonshire, said she had always tried her best to advocate for more women in fishing.

According to figures from the Environment Agency, one in five customers acquiring fishing equipment since 2020 were women.

Ms Galloway said she had noticed at fishing matches that there were more women entering competitions, proving "they're taking up the habit".

Ms Galloway made history in 2021 as the first female participant from an ethnic minority background to compete in the Ladies National Angling Championships.

She first learned to fish in Zimbabwe before moving to the UK in 2002, and has been teaching the sport across Northamptonshire since settling in the area in 2006.

When she began her career, she recalled "there weren’t that many women fishing".

But after years of championing greater female involvement in angling, she has seen more "young girls" and "mums" gradually taking up the sport.

Ms Galloway also believes the growing popularity of fishing is due in part to its "therapeutic" benefits, explaining being by the water helps people "forget their worries".

Lottie, 13, started her fishing journey in the summer of 2021 attending a Let’s Fish introductory event in the county.

After catching a small perch on her fourth attempt, Lottie now fishes "every weekend" for Northampton Nene Angling Club and has even competed for England on two occasions.

She was also the youngest captain in the Angling Trust Division Two National Championship since 1906.

Lottie said fishing was "really fun" because it was "so different from what most people do [as a hobby]".

Lottie added the sport had a "sense of community" and club members "always joke around."

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