on May 15 2026

Film night: Bristol’s hidden river

Bristol’s River Frome has been on the Urbantrout radar for years (check out this fishing report we published in 2015) but after racking our brains we still think this is the first time we’ve seen the river on film.

This 14-minute video by Aleksander Domanski is a beautiful tribute to the Frome, explaining history, geology and wildlife in ways that many people might never get to see – and explaining how Bristol Avon Rivers Trust is looking after it all.

According to the film, just 3 miles of the Frome flow through the city in a relatively unmodified or unculverted channel. But those 3 miles look like many of the classic urban trout streams we love… complete with that special spike of Cotswolds limestone chemistry.

So, as we like to say, grab a beer, or a cup of tea or coffee if it’s early, and enjoy…

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Filed under UK No Comments

on March 18 2026

The Wild Trout Trust Spring Auction 2026: Get your urban fishing here!

As the new trout fishing season spools up, the annual Wild Trout Trust charity auction is now in full flow…

… offering exciting opportunities for anyone who’d like to find unusual fishing (and indeed books, artwork, fishing tackle, expert-tied flies and non-fishing experiences that can’t usually be bought).

This online event is one of WTT’s most important yearly fundraising events – enabling them to help community groups, fishing clubs, landowners and even government agencies make a better world for wild trout (including through their Trout in the Town programme – truly one of a kind!)

The mix of lots is slightly different each year, so be sure to check them all carefully. But as usual, here’s our selection of all the urban lots for your special enjoyment and easy bidding:

Lot 102: A selection of dry flies and nymphs for use on rivers across the UK, tied by guide, fly-tyer and Fulling Mill ambassador Phillippa Hake (whose home water is a true Urbantrout favourite, the Calder in West Yorkshire). All these flies are proven fish-catchers for Phillippa, and ones she wouldn’t be without in her box.

Lots 152 and 153: 2 chances to win a week’s permit for 1 rod on the Town Waters of the River Ness in Inverness, presented by the Inverness Angling Association. This beat runs right through the Scottish Highland capital, and is best fished for salmon with a fly.

Lots 174 and 175: 2 permits to fish on 4 weekends of your choice (Friday – Sunday) or 4 weekday blocks of any 3 days (Monday – Friday) across the waters of the Merthyr Tydfil Angling Alliance. This includes not only the urban upper Taff and the restored Taf Fechan tributary (as featured in Nick Thomas’s recently published Source to City) but also beats on the Tarrell and Usk.

Lots 181 and 182: 3 days for 2 rods fishing the waters of the Merthyr Tydfil Angling Alliance, as above.

Lot 254: 1 day for 2 rods fishing the River Mells, also known as the Mells Stream, in Somerset, thanks to the Frome & District Angling Association. The Mells is a post-industrial stream with a history of iron milling, on the edge of the old Somerset coalfield, and its wild trout have been a (mostly) well-kept local secret for years!

Lot 259: I day for 2 rods fishing the waters of the Dulverton Angling Association on the southern edge of Exmoor. The club’s water includes some nicely urban stretches of the Barle, as well as much more rural beats on the upper Exe and Haddeo. The club will also provide a box of proven local flies.

Lot 275: One day for 2 rods fly-fishing the Wandle for trout and chub, in and around the beautiful and historic Morden Hall Park. You’ll be accompanied by Wandle Piscators’ Dr Jack Hogan, and Hector Rodriguez, the lucky man who has previously landed Wandle salmon on the fly. Fishing is restricted to club members, with no day tickets normally available. The Wandle was once famous for the purity and force of its waters and its abundance of trout and fly life. It was on the upper river that modern fly fishing was reputedly born, where Halford learnt the art of the dry fly before raising it to its Victorian heyday on the River Test. This lot offers the full Wandle experience with the opportunity to learn about the Park’s history and explore the river’s past, present and bright future.

Lot 324: 1 day’s fishing for 1 rod, hunting barbel on the Wandle with Hector Rodriguez. Hector has been targeting barbel on the fly for many years, starred in a short film for the Wild Trout Trust’s Virtual Get-Together in 2020, and has even landed a Wandle salmon on his nymphing rig! With the chance of a specimen barbel, roach, chub or trout on these rejuvenated London waters, this will be a day to remember.

Lot 425: 1 day for 1 rod, guided by Phil Ball, fly-fishing for brown trout and grayling on one of Greater Manchester’s main urban rivers: the Mersey, the Irwell or one of their tributaries. As regular readers of this website will know, there’s plenty of water to fish using different techniques, sometimes with technical levels of wading. A real opportunity to understand an urban river system whose full potential, we suspect, is still untapped…

Lot 447: 1 month’s fishing on approximately 5 miles of the Yorkshire Colne between Marsden and Linthwaite in the Huddersfield area: predominantly for wild trout and grayling, but the closer you get to the confluence with the River Calder, the more coarse fish you’ll also find. All fishing above Britannia Bridge in Slaithwaite is fly only.

The WTT Spring Auction is hosted on the charity’s own auction website, and everything you need to know is here.

Please click over today and start placing your bids in support of this most wonderful cause!

(Photo: Rich Baker)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Filed under UK No Comments

on March 1 2026

Source to City: A portrait of the River Taff

Nick Thomas is no stranger to readers of this blog: having authored several of his own books, he’s also been a regular writer for Fly Culture magazine, and we’ve often featured his films and other work here on Urbantrout.

And now there’s more… this time, a hugely impressive new book that follows his adventures as he fishes tenkara-style all the way from the headwaters of the Taff down to Cardiff, exploring this post-industrial river’s (often dark) history and many tributaries along the way.

Source to City is beautifully photographed, written and designed by Nick himself, and it’s a full-colour hardback volume that would sit very proudly on any fly-tying desk or coffee table. In addition to historical snippets, there are maps, fly patterns, details of tenkara tackle, suggestions for getting to the river by sustainable public transport, and 12 monthly stories of days on the water.

By way of introduction, Nick has also made the short film shown above, and there are some sample pages (and a preview of the foreword, specially written by Urbantrout’s very own Theo Pike) here on Nick’s portfolio website.

If you like urban rivers, we think it’s safe to say you’ll love Source to City…

Source to City is available by print on demand from Amazon: click here to order your copy today.

Tags: , , , , , ,

Filed under Europe,UK No Comments

on January 10 2026

Film night: Winter grayling fly-fishing in urban waters

Here’s a great little video to start 2026: an intrepid young couple fly-fishing for grayling on their local river somewhere (we think – no names, no pack drill!) in the Midlands or North of England.

For urban river fans, despite the seasonal chill, there’s something warmingly familiar about the setting: sheet steel-pilings, at least one gigantic culvert, and even a weirdly out-of-place red and black boat!

As the film’s creators Millie and Ewan say on their YouTube intro, ‘urban waters often get ignored, but they can be just as beautiful and rewarding as anywhere else… this is our reminder to anybody, young or old, that fly-fishing is accessible, creative and still very much alive’.

Enjoy, and follow theflyfishingduo here on Instagram for more of their adventures…

Update: An urban fly-fishing article by Millie and Ewan has subsequently appeared in the March 2026 issue of Trout & Salmon magazine: well worth a read if you can grab a copy!

Tags: , , , ,

Filed under UK No Comments

on November 11 2025

River Trout Streamer Fishing: A new book inspired by urban rivers

It’s fair to say that this blog has been quiet again for a while (who knew that getting a new book out of the door could take up so much creative attention from the Urbantrout team?)

Now, here’s the result…

River Trout Streamer Fishing is a new publication from Theo Pike, just released by Coch-y-Bonddu Books, which studies the fascinating skill of fly-fishing for trout with streamers – fly patterns that mimic small fish and other prey species.

Streamer fishing for wary wild trout is innovative, tactical, and incredibly exciting. It’s not a new idea from a global perspective, yet in the UK it’s still underappreciated by many anglers.

Part of this derives from traditional Victorian-era rules that still persist on many fisheries: ‘dry flies only’, for instance, or ‘nymphs only after a certain date in midsummer’.

So what’s the alternative, for curious fly-fishers who want to understand all aspects of trout personality, including their predatory propensities for snacking on much larger prey items than little mayflies, shrimp and caddis?

This is where urban rivers come into the picture.

Thanks to their recent recovery from centuries of industrial pollution, many city streams offer perfect laboratory conditions for exploring techniques – like streamer fishing! – which might not be possible on more conventionally-managed or less tactically-demanding waters.

On the whole, few rules and Victorian value judgements exist on rivers which may still have been biologically dead within the last three or four decades…

So, as River Trout Streamer Fishing celebrates the growing subculture of UK and European fly-fishers who prove that casting imitative streamers for trout can perfectly complement dry-fly and nymph fishing, some of these examples come from our urban waterways.

Amongst a total of 20 masterclasses from streamer fishing experts all over Europe, the UK’s urban rivers are represented by Paul Gaskell, John Polding, Tiger Stamp, Ceri Thomas and Nick Thomas.

Wielding streamer fishing rigs that range from long spey rods to ultralight single-handers, and finely-balanced tube flies, Martin Smith’s Martin’s Minnow (itself developed on post-industrial rivers around Huddersfield!) and other imitative streamers, they perfectly depict the spectrum of excitement and creativity that’s constantly emerging from our urban rivers.

Besides the masterclasses, there’s also an ‘inspiration gallery’ of fly patterns, many of these forged on urban rivers too – including ideas from Adrian Grose-Hodge, Richard Baker, Martin Smith (again), ‘Skateboard Dave’ Egginton, Theo Pike and Nick Thomas (again).

And, to carry on helping the amazing fish who’ve made all this possible – especially those that swim in our urban streams – a donation from all sales of the book will go to the Wild Trout Trust.

River Trout Streamer Fishing is available from Coch-y-Bonddu Books (£40).

A heartfelt Acknowledgements listing has also been published on the author’s website, and there’s a special Instagram page @rivertroutstreamerfishing where updates from contributors will hopefully appear.

(Photo credits: Photo 2, Andrew Griffiths; photo 3, Tiger Stamp; photo 4, Nick Thomas)

Tags: , , , ,

Filed under Europe,UK No Comments

on August 20 2025

Urban fly-fishing report: Ladies’ days on the Calder

Here at Urbantrout we’re staunch supporters of equal numbers of men and women on the water, so we’ve been especially pleased to see this Wild Trout Trust initiative going from strength to strength.

Sponsored by an anonymous donor, this year’s programme has made it possible for Yorkshire-based fishing guide Phillippa Hake to take two ladies out for a day’s fishing on her local urban River Calder, and show them the joys of ‘escaping from life’s pressures and stresses in beautiful river environments’.

Click here to read Phillippa’s full report over on the Wild Trout Trust website.

(Photo: Phillippa Hake / Wild Trout Trust)

Tags: , , , ,

Filed under UK No Comments

on March 15 2025

The Wild Trout Trust Spring Auction 2024: Lots of urban fishing for all!

Yes, it’s that time of year again, when we remind our readers that the Wild Trout Trust Spring Auction is open for bidding…

As usual, this is one of the Wild Trout Trust‘s most important fundraising events of the year – enabling them to help community groups, fishing clubs, landowners and even government agencies make a better world for wild trout (including through their unique Trout in the Town programme).

The mix of lots is slightly different each year, so be sure to check them all carefully. And now, as usual, here’s Urbantrout’s special curation of all the urban listings as your way in to the rest…

Lot 17: Two new hardback books from Medlar Press: Reclaiming the Calder: An Angler’s Tale, by Nigel Horan, tells the story of how West Yorkshire’s urban River Calder came back to life, a story to fascinate any post-industrial fly-fisher. There’s also a copy of TK Wilson: The Life & Fancy Flies of a North Country Angler by Keith Harwood.

Lot 94: A selection of dry flies and nymphs for use on rivers across the UK, tied by guide, fly-tyer and Fulling Mill ambassador Phillippa Hake (whose home water is a true Urbantrout favourite, the Calder in West Yorkshire). All these flies are proven fish-catchers for Phillippa, and ones she wouldn’t be without in her box.

Lots 133 and 134: 2 chances to win a week’s permit for 1 rod on the Town Waters of the River Ness in Inverness, presented by the Inverness Angling Association. This beat runs right through the Scottish Highland capital, and is best fished for salmon with a fly.

Lots 168 and 169: 3 days for 2 rods fishing the waters of the Merthyr Tydfil Angling Alliance, which offers not just the urban upper Taff and the restored Taf Fechan tributary, but also beats on the Tarrell and Usk.

Lots 173 and 174: 2 permits to fish on 4 weekends of your choice (Friday – Sunday) or 4 weekday blocks of any 3 days (Monday – Friday) across the waters of the Merthyr Tydfil Angling Alliance, as above.

Lot 231: 1 day for 2 rods fishing the River Mells, also known as the Mells Stream, in Somerset, thanks to the Frome & District Angling Association. The Mells is a post-industrial stream with a history of iron milling, on the edge of the old Somerset coalfield, and its wild trout have been a (mostly) well-kept local secret for years!

Lot 235: I day for 2 rods fishing the waters of the Dulverton Angling Association on the southern edge of Exmoor. The club’s water includes some nicely urban stretches of the Barle, as well as much more rural beats on the upper Exe and Haddeo. Accompanied by a club member who will also provide a box of local flies.

Lot 254: One day for 2 rods fly-fishing the Wandle for trout and chub, in and around the beautiful and historic Morden Hall Park. You’ll be accompanied by Wandle Piscators’ Hector Rodriguez, the lucky man who accidentally landed a salmon earlier this year, and South East Rivers Trust officer, Jack Hogan. Fishing in Morden Hall Park has recently been leased by the National Trust to the Wandle Piscators, and is restricted to club members, with no day tickets normally available. This lot offers the full Wandle experience with the opportunity to learn about the Park’s history and explore the river’s past, present and bright future.

Lot 296: 1 day’s fishing for 1 rod, hunting barbel on the Wandle with Hector Rodriguez. Hector has been targeting barbel on the fly for many years, starred in a short film for the Wild Trout Trust’s Virtual Get-Together in 2020, and has even landed a Wandle salmon on his nymphing rig! With the chance of a specimen barbel, roach, chub or trout on these rejuvenated London waters, this will be a day to remember.

Lot 422: 1 month’s fishing on approximately 5 miles of the Yorkshire Colne between Marsden and Linthwaite in the Huddersfield area: predominantly for wild trout and grayling, but the closer you get to the confluence with the River Calder, the more coarse fish you’ll also find. All fishing above Britannia Bridge in Slaithwaite is fly only.

All you need to know about the auction is here on the Wild Trout Trust’s special auction site: click over today and place your bids in aid of this most excellent cause!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Filed under UK No Comments

on December 20 2024

Film night: Flyfishing in London

Here’s a film we’ve been anticipating for a while: a guide to fly-fishing in and around the UK’s capital city, by Flyfishing Londoner Tim Pottage (mostly aka Tim James, we’re still not completely sure why).

Tim announces up front that this video may be more for newcomers to London, or international visitors who need advice to get them started. But don’t let that put you off, even if you’re a local who’s been fishing in these parts for years.

Wisely, Tim avoids telling his audience exactly where to fish in London, and focuses on how to think about fishing in London instead.

That’s a clever distinction – because we all know how easy it is for waters to get too heavily pressured by indiscriminate hotspotting-for-likes-and-clicks – and of course it also preserves the sense of satisfaction when you feel you’ve discovered something yourself.

So, as we like to say, grab your favourite festive beverage (it’s almost Christmas, after all!) and enjoy…

Tags: , , , , ,

Filed under UK No Comments

on October 24 2024

Dan Osmond: Heavy Metal Trout in Hard Rock Rivers

The world is full of podcasts, and FOMO is real… so here’s a brilliant (not to mention, ahem, ‘metal AF‘) half-hour of listening that we’d highly recommend adding to your playlist.

Daniel Osmond is a writer, friend of Urbantrout and senior fisheries officer with Westcountry Rivers Trust who’s recently finished his PhD on the wide genetic variability of wild trout, and especially the startling capacity of some (physically and genetically!) isolated populations to survive and thrive in post-industrial mining rivers, freighted with heavy metals which would quickly kill trout from cleaner environments.

Produced by naturalists Will Leo Hawkes and Ben Porter, Will and Ben the Wildlife Men is a podcast series that’s been reviewed by BBC Wildlife as ‘refreshing authentic’.

Now, with Dan as their very first guest appearance, this is an episode that anyone who’s interested in urban and other trout will surely want to catch.

Heavy Metal Trout in Hard Rock Rivers is available to listen now on Apple Music and Spotify.

Then, if you’d like to dig deeper into this area for yourself, you can find Dan’s research paper here: Living in a post-industrial landscape: repeated patterns of genetic divergence in brown trout (Salmo trutta) across the British Isles.

Tags: , , , , , ,

Filed under Europe,UK No Comments

on September 1 2024

Trout & Salmon: Don Stazicker fishes the Goyt

It’s always a bit of a buzz to see an urban river headlining the pages of the UK’s prestigious Trout & Salmon magazine, and this month is no exception – featuring as it does a portrait of the River Goyt by regular columnist (and well-known fishing film-maker) Don Stazicker.

Having previously explored the Yorkshire Calder further north, Don now tracks the Goyt from its source in the upland peat deposits that also feed the headwaters of the Dane and the Derbyshire Wye, and fishes in the glorious post-industrial landscape of New Mills with local expert Trevor Heyliger.

As readers of Trout in Dirty Places may remember, this whole area lends itself perfectly to images of anglers dwarfed by soaring railway arches, retaining walls and renovated mills, and in this case we reckon it’d be worth grabbing the September 2024 issue of T&S for Richard Faulks’s photography alone.

If you’re not already a subscriber, get yours from your nearest newsagent today…

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Filed under UK No Comments

Older Entries »