All of us are delighted to work with Hartsdown Academy in Margate this year. This is the first time Hartsdown have taken part in the programme and here, Fishing for Schools coach, Kevin Durman, updates us on his final session.
For the last of my four sessions with Hartsdown we ran a little competition.
The rules were simple: one point for any fish caught on a maggot and float set up and five points for a carp caught by any method.
We had three girls and three boys, but rather than boys v girls, the teachers drew a random draw. This worked out well with girls and boys mixing.
Of course, the thought of five points for a carp got everyone thinking big fish were needed. However, those that concentrated on the whip soon started catching and getting points on the board. We did manage a carp in each group which added to the excitement and with two minutes to go, it was 29 points to Melody's team and 30 to Susie's.
One of the students, Melody hooked a nice roach on the whip right on last knockings to tie the match. Up to this point she hadn't held a fish, she was very reluctant to do so and I had been doing the unhooking for her.
I gave her the option of doing everything herself, holding and unhooking the roach for an extra point and the win. The competitive edge took over and without hesitation she expertly unhooked and returned the roach.
A fear conquered and mission accomplished for me.
Who said, there is no such thing as healthy competition …Ed.