One thing fishing has taught me over the years is that very little happens overnight.
Whether it’s trying to catch a fish, working towards something in your personal life, or fighting for something you believe in, there are going to be times when it feels like you’re getting nowhere.
That’s where persistence and consistency come in.
I think sometimes we’re guilty of looking at somebody else’s success and only seeing the end result. We don’t see the blank sessions, the knockbacks, the mistakes or all the times they probably wondered whether it was worth carrying on.
Fishing is probably one of the best examples of this.
You can do everything right and still blank. You can turn up week after week and feel like the lake is beating you. But every time you go, you’re learning something. You’re watching the water, understanding the fish and becoming a better angler without necessarily realising it.
For me, one of the biggest examples of persistence paying off has been Wingerworth Lido.
The Lido means a huge amount to me and plenty of other local anglers. When its future was under threat, it would have been very easy to sit back and accept that there was nothing we could do.
Instead, we fought for it.
There were meetings, conversations, a petition that gathered thousands of signatures and plenty of attention from both the angling press and national media. Most importantly, there was a community of people who refused to give up on somewhere that mattered to them.
Eventually, we won it back.
That alone was an incredible feeling, but what has happened since has made it even more special for me.
I’ve had a wonderful year fishing the Lido. I have spent hours on its banks, made memories, caught some beautiful carp and even had the privilege of catching the first carp after we got the lake back.
Every time I sit there now, I think about how different things could have been if everyone had simply given up when things became difficult.
And that’s why I think there’s a much bigger lesson in fishing than simply catching fish.
Persistence doesn’t mean you’ll always get the result you want straight away. Consistency doesn’t mean everything will suddenly become easy.
It means turning up again.
It means learning from what didn’t work.
It means believing that something is worth working towards, even when the result isn’t guaranteed.
That’s something I hope every young person who experiences Fishing for Schools can take away from angling.
You might lose a fish. You might get a tangle. You might struggle with your casting or sit there watching somebody else catch while your float doesn’t move.
That’s all part of it.
Have another go. Listen to your coach. Learn something. Change something. Try again.
Because that lesson doesn’t have to stay on the bank.
School, work, relationships, sport and life in general will all throw difficult moments at you. There will be times when things don’t go your way and times when giving up feels like the easiest option.
Fishing teaches us that sometimes the biggest reward comes from sticking with something.
The Lido will always remind me of that.
We could have lost it. Instead, people came together, kept pushing and refused to give up. Now I can sit beside that same water, watching the rods and enjoying a place that means more to me than ever before.
Sometimes persistence really does pay off.
And as always, the biggest of love to all the amazing students and fishing coaches at Fishing for Schools.
Big Duffs