National Fishing Month runs 25 July to 31 August 2026, with free and low-cost taster sessions nationwide

National Fishing Month started on 25 July and runs through to 31 August 2026, positioned squarely in the school summer holidays rather than as an odd time slot, which is clearly deliberate: this is aimed at families and first-timers, not people who already fish regularly and don't need a taster session to get started.

The events themselves are run locally, through clubs, fisheries and Angling Trust partners, listed on the Event Marketplace by location rather than as one national programme with a single itinerary. That matters practically: what's actually on near you depends entirely on which clubs and venues in your area have signed up to run a session, so it's worth checking the marketplace directly rather than assuming a generic national schedule applies everywhere.

This follows the same pattern as Spring into Fishing, the Angling Trust's earlier-year campaign now in its seventh year, which ran free and low-cost have-a-go sessions from April through June. Running both a spring and a summer push in the same year is a real, sustained effort at bringing new people into the sport rather than a single annual gesture, and the summer timing specifically targets the holiday period when families have time to actually try something new together.

If you've been meaning to introduce a child, partner or friend to fishing, this is the obvious low-effort entry point: free or low-cost, beginner-equipment usually provided at these sessions, and no need to have your own kit sorted before finding out whether it's something they'll actually enjoy. Worth checking the Event Marketplace for anything running within reach over the next month, since spaces at these sessions do tend to fill up once local publicity picks up.