THE larches on the banks of my favourite river are this week lined with their first lime green buds of spring. That's good news for me, for a very personable young man in Bentham and - after his grandmother's death - I hope it is for Prince Charles too.

If that sounds like absolute gibberish, let me explain: all the above are inter-connected, however distantly, by the joys of casting a fly for an April trout.

Many years ago, an Irish judge who seems to have spent more time on the riverbank than on the bench wrote classic angling book called A Man Might Fish. In it, he said that the best time to cast a wet fly for a wild brown trout was when the larch came into first bud.

I have lived by that rule for nigh on 40 years and so, it seems, has Prince Charles, an ardent fly fisher. The (extremely tenuous) link between HRH and me is that this spring, we shall both be casting flies provided by 29-year-old Stephen Robshaw, of Bentham.

Now life has not been easy on Stephen. Brought to Bentham from Wakefield by his parents, he was diagnosed as an epileptic aged five. When he left school, he had a series of jobs, but lost them one after another because employers were frightened by his occasional seizures - although he has not had one now for two years.

Despite these problems, Stephen, one of the most cheerful and optimistic young men I have met for years, had the support of his family around him and a willingness to have a go - "I'd rather do anything than keep signing on the dole."

So a couple of years ago, a small fishing tackle business came up for sale. Stephen had no capital - he was not even a fisherman - but encouraged by the Bentham Trust, he applied to the Prince's Trust for a grant to take over.

To those not familiar with this operation, the Prince's Trust - said to be the prince's favourite charity - has helped thousands of jobless young people to set up their own businesses.

And sure enough, the trust came up with a £2,800 grant and Dales Anglers came into being, trading at the back of a video and record shop known as Slipped Disc on Bentham Main Street.

This is very much a Robshaw family enterprise: mum Ann runs the music side, Stephen sells the fishing tackle, and brother Aaron ties many of the artificial flies they sell.

It would be nice to report that this was the happy ending - but not so. The business opened in autumn two years ago, but almost immediately, drastic floods hit all the rivers in the district.

Fishing was all but impossible. Then Stephen's dad died. They survived a hard winter but, early last summer - just when fishing was getting into full swing - came foot and mouth disease and most riverbanks were closed.

"That was very hard to take," says Stephen, with a shrug of the shoulders. "But we got by."

Helping them to get by was none other than Prince Charles himself. As a thank you for the trust's support, Stephen and Aaron had tied up a special box of trout flies which they sent off to Kensington Palace.

Within days, they received a personally signed note from the Prince, saying he was "very touched" by the gift and looked forward to trying out the flies.

Then, on aN historic visit to the Dales last summer, HRH insisted that Stephen received a personal invite to meet him at The Folly in Settle where, says Stephen, "he asked me how the business was getting on and told a lot of jokes - he's not at all like they portray him on television or in the national newspapers."

And the assistance has not stopped there. The Prince's Trust is at this moment helping Stephen to set up a website for Dales Anglers, so that he can expand into the mail-order market.

Now this is music to my ears because in the past decade fishing tackle shops I had used for years have closed in Skipton, Kirkby Lonsdale and Knaresborough.

Since then, I have had to go to Lancaster or Kendal to buy the flies I need for northern limestone waters. Soon, I shall get them from Bentham. On the web.

I hope HRH does the same - and that he has had the chance to use Stephen's flies. After the death of his much-loved grandmother, what could be more relaxing than a day on the river? The Queen Mum would not have minded: she was herself a superb fisherwoman.

And although I am not supposed to "puff" businesses in this column, Stephen Robshaw, as he enters his third season after years of painful setbacks, needs all the support he can get.

If the Prince of Wales can go out of his way to help such a nice guy, then why can't I?