The "Tackle and Guns January 2006 Headline read:
Coaches bring in more than £1/4 million a year.
More than 12,500 people, collectively spending at least £250,000, have been introduced to angling in the past 12 months by official coaches. The figure could actually be much, much higher according to a survey by the Professional Anglers Association (PAA).
Its 124 coaches were surveyed about their success during the past 12 months and half of them responded, offering some intriguing insights in to the sports potential.
The survey showed that each coach taught an average of 190 people during the past year. That's 12,584 newcomers to angling in that time.
And, significantly based on an average spend of £20 each year, that's at least £250,000 in angling's coffers over the past 12 months.
PAA Coach and co-ordinator Derek North said: "that makes it very clear just how valuable PAA coaches are to the trade. To get a 50% response to any postal survey is excellent and gives us a real flavour of what's being achieved by our coaches. I am extremely proud of what the PAA has done in the past 12 months and I know there is even more we can do in the future."
Next year the coaches expect to run hundreds of courses introducing 245 anglers each, or 2,756 in all.
The survey also revealed that each coach has more than 5 years' experience - that's a total of more than 330 years in angling coaching - and they spend more than 202 hours each on the bank tutoring would-be fishermen and women.
But the future could be even better if more dealers got behind their local coaches and gave them support or recommended them when potential anglers asked where they could learn the sport.
Derek added "it would be great if more tackle shops got involved with their local coaches too and with that in mind, I am delighted that T&G has agreed to feature a PAA coach every month who wants to tie in with a local dealer nearby. By helping each other we also help our trade."
In December 2005: David Lloyd became the first coach featured 
to read about him.
During 2006 more coaches followed David's example, these coaches were featured during 2006:-
January: Tim Carr; to read about him.
February: Craig Parkes; to read about him.
March: Chris Bowman; to read about him.
April: Danny Williamson; to read about him.
May: Mark Eacock; to read about him.
June: Phil and Jo Hyde; to read about this husband and wife team.
July: Derek North talks about developments in Ireland; to read about them.
September: Michael Johnson; to read about him.
