More females are being encouraged to pick up a rod and go fishing as part of a joint initiative between the Angling Trust and This Girl Can.

The campaign encourages females to exercise and they have joined with the Trust to raise participation levels in the sport of angling, from grassroots to elite level.

This Girl Can have run a high-profile TV, radio and social media campaign to encourage females to close the gender gap in sports such as football, running, rugby, swimming and cricket, with angling added to that list.

Kate Dale, This Girl Can campaign leader, said: “We are really happy to support angling at This Girl Can; it’s a great outdoor activity that is accessible for girls and women of all ages.

“We hope that the Angling Trust’s Get Fishing campaign will help more people have the confidence to discover the benefits and pleasures of fishing.”

Emma Howard Boyd, chairman of the Environment Agency which funds the Get Fishing campaign through fishing licence sales, added: “Angling is a healthy outdoor sport connecting people with nature, but it also creates over 37,000 full time jobs and generates more than £1 billion for the UK economy.

“The support of This Girl Can is fantastic news for everyone who enjoys angling and wants to see the sport flourish in the future.”

The Get Fishing campaign, which last year gave 35,000 people a chance to try angling, connected with the This Girl Can team to produce a set of brand new posters that show how diverse angling can be -

These can be downloaded at www.getfishing.org.uk/this-girl-can-

go-fishing. The posters and Get Fishing’s social media have seen a spike in interest in women going fishing and have raised awareness of the proven health benefits of angling.

More people now know that fishing can be an active sport involving a whole range of low, medium and high intensity physical activity and that it’s a great way to de-stress, develop coordination, strength and a competitive streak.