Im not quite seeing where or how I add an image to the sub forum title ..is there a way of doing this or do we do it by html in the text area of the forum title. Ie I would like to have say FISHING and an100x100 icon or image beside it to illustrate that.

Use an img src tag in the description, yes.

Bear in mind that by default the description is clickable, so you don't need to surround the image with an unnecessary anchor tag.