Trout time

Its the closed season and the itch is still there to get on the river bank, so out came the fly rod and a selection of flies,I gave the waders a quick look but decided boots were the better option as coarse fish may be present although I had never caught any previously,but stories of chub came my way ? well you never know . I took my granddaughter to the river she loves fishing but casting a fly is still a struggle so it gave me an excellent opportunity to give her a little help without being too pushy to put her off fishing! I took her now and again and she looked forward to the trips we tackled up and found a nice spot with no trees behind us to get snagged up in we persevered for about half an hour then one cast the line gave a little pull and a nice brown trout came to her net , I'm glad she got the fish she will never forget it , I hope she's hooked for life.

A look Back

It seems a long time ago since june 16th 2015 but I found myself on the Yorkshire Derwent at Buttercrambe full of hope , well what else is there ?
I had a good walk along the banks and baited up 3 likely looking swims with the bait dropper I say likely looking swims they all had some cover and a good flow but you couldn't see into the water as it was a little coloured , Lots of hemp and caster and chopped up luncheon meat was the order of the day in the large bait dropper, half a dozen drops on target in each swim enough noise to scare the fish away for miles around.

So back to the first swim that I had blitzed and a slow tackle up a cup of tea from the flask and plonked the first bait in with a nice splosh and settle back and watch the tip of my old milo avon , a few minutes went by then a couple of twangs on the rod saw me hunched up ready to strike but nothing and a lot more of nothing so a quick retrieve and bait still on the hook hmmmm oh well another hour and more nothing so I moved to my next baited up swim and sat for an hour and a half with .. yes you've guessed it nothing so a move to my last baited up swim and a nice hair rigged luncheon meat with a pva bag with hemp and a few small offerings of luncheon meat and settle back in my chair to watch the trusty milo avon and the noisy chaffinches in the tree above when it happened that noise that hard to describe noise of the rod bending over and line stretching a grab of the rod and a few minutes later a nice 4 1b chub was in the net , no brilliant but it was opening day and this was my long awaited fish not a barbel but it would do me.
I finished the day with a couple of hours honing my trotting skills and a few dace later I was packing my tackle in the car with a smile on my face , june the 16th off home and to finish the day a few pints and a natter in the local perfect.

Looking forward to june ? take a look at the Wharfe

Looking forward to june ? take a look at the Wharfe
River Wharfe

The River Wharfe starts its life near Langstrothdale near Beckermonds where Oughtershaw Beck and Green Field Beck meet it ends 60 miles away at the Village of Cawood near selby. The river in part forms the border of North and West Yorkshire and is arguably the most picturesque river in the County.

The river flows through the valley which bears the same name' Wharfedale ' passing through the Yorkshire Dales National park and some idyllic towns and villages such as Kettlewell Grassington Bolton Abbey Addingham Burley in Wharfedale Otley Wetherby and Tadcaster , the river is tidal from ulleskelf and the lower river has a very different character from the rest of the river but it still retains its angling quality .

The strid on the river wharfe

On the reaches near bolton abbey there is the notorious 'strid' a series of waterfalls where the river narrows up considerably and it looks all too easy to make the jump across to the other side but many have died doing so, the river undercuts both banks and has channels with fast underwater currents.

Bolton Abbey river wharfe
Bolton Abbey
Fishing

At Buckden there is a beautiful stretch of the river near to the source this is controlled by Bradford city angling association there are no day tickets but with year books at £ 38 it must be a bargain considering the rest of the water that Bradford have. bradford city

Kilnsey angling club have the river wharfe at kilnsey near conistone with day tickets around £ 35 kilnsey is one of the oldest clubs in the country for more details please Phone 01756 752301 (Tennant Arms)

Appletreewick barden and burnsall angling club have around 7 miles of fishing above Bolton Abbey Tickets from the red lion Burnsall 01756 720204 (Red Lion)

There is about 5 miles of double bank fishing at Bolton Abbey controlled by the Chatsworth estate see this link for full details it's over £30 for trout and about £20 for grayling bolton abbey

barbel in the woodland river wharfe
old Bradford stretch at boston spa
At Addingham The Addingham angling association have around 3 miles of trout fishing see their website for further info 'Addingham'

Also at Pool in Wharfedale Leeds and District Amalgamated Society of Anglers has about 4 miles of fishing from the river Washburn to the viaduct day tickets from the Garage or yearbooks. Leeds DASA

river wharfe boston spa
Wharfe at Boston Spa
Coarse fish inhabit the water around ilkley so as well as trout and grayling you have the pleasure of seeing chub in your nets but possibly pool is the area that you have a chance of a barbel, well so I am told by a few locals so who am I to disagree, further downstream at Linton Collingham and Wetherby the fishing is run by different clubs day tickets are available from the post office and the garage at collingham. Wetherby and District Angling Club day tickets in advance from the newsagents in Collingham also Wetherby sports association next to the swimming pool, Rodgers tackle shop at Seacroft york road, JBK's Convenience store Boston Spa ,J & M Wines Beancroft road Castleford, see their website for further information Wetherby

Downstream from Wetherby at Boston Spa Bingley Anglers have a very good stretch of water with some big barbel present Bingley have about a mile of fishing right bank opposite wray wood that use to be Bradford No1 water until the area was developed from a farm to a private luxury house with all the fringe benefits including a bridge over the river and the barring of anglers ?anyway Bingley hold the right bank take a look at the website there is some good fishing to be had.

river wharfe boston spa
Boston Spa


Bradford no1 also have water at boston spa, Some big barbel are present here and all the way down to Newton Kyme along with big chub also roach and dace. The top length the spa bath length is shallower and noted for its early season big barbel the river at Newton Kyme is packed with features and deserves some exploring and the patient angler can expect big chub and barbel in my opinion it is the best part of this fantastic river ,Day tickets can be bought from the paper shop next to costcutters in Boston Spa.

The River Wharfe at Tadcaster has some good chub and big barbel fishing, day tickets are available from the "Chocolate Box" news agency and the sweet shop at 28 Kirkgate Tadcaster, please note that the fishing between the Bridge and the weir is limited to members only.From below Tadcaster water at Grimston Park and Ulleskelf is Leeds DASA have most of the water, with matches fished a lot at the weekends Pegs 1 to 25 are left free for the use of pleasure anglers on Saturdays, the railway field pegs 76 to 100 strictly members only, Tickets from the Ulleskelf Arms

New look Yorkshire River Angler

River Angler Yorkshire

Welcome to the new look River Angler , we have a brand new look the site is all about Yorkshire's rivers and a few outside the region ,the main reason for the change is the vast area of the uk was quite a challenge and a couple of firm favorite hands had too much work involvement in other things , so it's me and 3 good friends to continue to do what we do best ,that is fish Yorkshires rivers and put pen to paper so to speak . Any help would be appreciated ,photos email us about your fishing day just help us along . Write ups on the rivers Don, Idle, Torne, Ure, Wharfe, Aire, and others are all in the pipeline , Tight Lines.

River Dearne

See my new page on river angler.
www.riverangler.co.uk

River Itchen from the site http://www.riverangler.co.uk I couldn't start this website without a look at what some people regard as one of the finest fly fishing rivers in the country , the Itchen. The River Itchen is only 28 miles long starting its life just to the south of the village of Cheriton flowing northwards through Cheriton and Tichbourne then joining with its tributary the River Aire and the Candover Brook just below New Alresford the river wanders westwards and through the upper Itchen valley passing idyllically named villages of Avington, Itchen stoke, Itchen abbas, martyr worthy, Easton, and abbots worthy it then enters Winchester the river splits into several channels in the city, It then flows through water meadows and through the Itchen valley country park before joining the river in Southampton. The river is designated as a site of special scientific interest [sssi] along most of its length and is a well noted as one of the worlds premier chalk streams and has seven species of ecological interest including crayfish, otter, salmon, bullhead and brook lamprey.Its water quality is crucial and helps to support the plants and invertebrates and in turn the large range of species that the river supports. The Itchen is regarded as one of England's finest chalk stream Trout rivers along with the River Test , famous angling writers fished the Itchen like G E M Skues who was probably the inventor of modern day nymph fishing and wrote numerous books on fly fishing his first book Minor Tactics of the Chalk Stream was his effort towards restoring wet fly fishing back to its rightful place on the chalk streams of England.[Skues] Sir Edward Grey was a prominent statesman in British politics in the early 1900s and is the man who sent Briton into the First World war [grey] he wrote books based on the Itchen ,Cottage Book Itchen Abbas 1894-1905 and Fly Fishing. Frederick M Halford was a business man who retired to fish he wrote books on dry fly fishing and historically is the man that made dry fly fishing into an art and wet fly fishing was looked down on and even to this day it remains the same on many rivers in this country.[Halford] he wrote Floating Flies and How To Dress Them and many more were penned. River Itchen River Itchen The Fishing. Test valley angling club ,Southampton piscatorial society have a short length of the Itchen near the m27 motorway behind the white swan pub on the A27 the river contains chub carp roach grayling dace pike perch eels gudgeon and flounders. the club offer membership at a yearly cost. check them out here.. http://riverangler.co.uk/tvacsps At Twyford East lodge fishing offer fishing to corporate events to fish the river and stay in the Lodge ,treat yourself to some dry fly fishing for the trout and salmon http://riverangler.co.uk/eastlodge Avington trout fishery offer fishing and corporate events at their stretch of the river at Avington http://riverangler.co.uk/avington Upstream Dry fly, offer fishing on the upper river also do corporate events and will like most of the other private owners of the waters offer tuition and accommodation http://www.upstreamdryfly.com/ If you fish or have fished this delightful little river please share your experiences with us also let us know of clubs on the river and your memorable days. Help us with this page by sending details about the river photos snipets anything at all that you can share with us . mail me at andy@riverangler.co.uk see main site and page here. http://www.riverangler.co.uk/river-itchen

Later this month an alarming statistic will be published by a quango north of the border, Marine Scotland Science. It will tell us how many wild salmon were caught by anglers in Scottish rivers in 2014. It is likely to show that the number is the lowest since records began. Wholly unnoticed by the public at large in the fantastic political hurly-burly of the referendum last year, something catastrophic seems to have happened to stocks of the great migratory fish, which is as much a part of Scotland’s wild identity as the Munro, the stag, the heather and the golden eagle. The five-year average for the annual rod catch of salmon in Scottish rivers between 2009 and 2013 was 84,897. But the figure for 2013 itself was 67,468, and according to detailed soundings by the Salmon and Trout Association (Scotland) the rod catch for 2014 was between 40,000 and 45,000, which, if borne out by the official figures to be published on April 24, will be the lowest since records began in 1952. We are talking an astounding 50 per cent decline, more or less, in just five years, and if we look at the 2014 figures that have already been published for one of Scotland’s greatest salmon rivers, the Tweed, we see something more astounding still. They show that 7,767 salmon were caught by anglers last year, compared with 14,794 in 2013, a scarcely believable fall of 47 per cent in just 12 months. It is starting to look like the beginnings of a collapse, and this is despite the fact that around 80 per cent of salmon caught by anglers in Scotland are now released rather than killed (and on some rivers this figure is 100 per cent). Someone keeping a close eye on the situation said to me yesterday: “The writing appears to be on the wall for the Scottish salmon.” There may be an ominous reason for why this is happening. Two major problems have already been highlighted. One is the extensive salmon farming, along the west coast of Scotland especially, where the farmed fish are affected by plagues of sea lice, which in turn can badly affect the wild fish swimming past. The other is the indiscriminate take by netsmen of fish returning to spawn in their native rivers after their migration to the seas off Greenland. But some experts think the main problem lies elsewhere: that it is a question of “marine survival”. Fifty years ago, for every 100 smolts, or young salmon, which went down to the sea in Scotland, about 25 to 30 came back to the rivers of their birth. Now that number is more like five. And the reason may well be climate change, as the young salmon’s prey species in the Atlantic ocean are moving north and out of their reach because of the warming seas. The Scottish Government is seized of the situation: from next year you will be obliged to buy a licence to kill any salmon north of the border, with a rod in a river or a net in the sea. But the Holyrood Parliament cannot do much about global warming. Could this be one of the first major effects of climate change on the natural world in Britain? The North Atlantic salmon, known as the “king of fish” for its power and beauty, is not only one of the most charismatic of all wild creatures; it is an icon of aquatic purity. It can only flourish in water with a high dissolved oxygen content, meaning that if you have salmon in your river, the ecosystem is probably in good shape: it’s a key environmental indicator. It is also a magnificent cultural icon: a major component of the image of unspoiled wild Scotland. To lose it would be unthinkable. But something is clearly happening now, which means that the unthinkable may come to pass. A post by MICHAEL MCCARTHY re tweeted and blogged.