It’s hard to believe a whole year has rolled round since last year’s Wild Trout Trust auction… but here we are again, with another highly tempting selection of lots for would-be urban anglers. Whether you’re already a dyed-in-the-wool post-industrial fly-fisher, or you’ve recently discovered our dirty little secret and want to find out more, we’re […]
Author Archive
February 24 2014
Urbantrout sidecasts: Monday 24 February
Our first preview of Rochdale’s soon-to-be-daylighted River Roch (where the BBC also went urbexing to find their own angle) Rangeley-Wilson writes again: All the futures we have wished for the Buckinghamshire Wye A new urban river cleanup group forms in Sleaford: spot the value of social media… 150 volunteers in less than 3 months! Salford […]
February 17 2014
Film night: Saving the Lathkill
As regular readers of this blog will know, post-industrial rivers really do come in all shapes, sizes and conditions (and not all of them now as urban as you might think). To us, there’s no better proof of this maxim than the otherwise idyllic upper Lathkill, part of the headwaters of the mighty Trent. However […]
January 27 2014
Fish where you live: Science hints at the real health values of blue-green spaces in our towns and cities
New results from a 5-year research project carried out by the University of Exeter show that moving to greener spaces in towns and cities can have positive, lasting health benefits. From a summary in a property feature in last week’s Metro: The study traced 1,000 people living in British cities for 5 years and found […]
January 16 2014
Urban fly-fishing report: River Lambourn, Newbury
Urbantrout readers Simon Clarke and David Miller spent a sunny winter Saturday on RENEWAL‘s much-restored urban reaches of the River Lambourn in Newbury last weekend, and sent us a selection of photos via Simon’s Facebook page. Like most of the southern chalkstreams at present, the river was running fast and high from lots of recent […]
January 1 2014
Inspiration from the Kelvin (and a Happy New Year!)
Maybe it’s something in the water (or more probably the proximity of Glasgow’s ancient and world-famous School of Art) but the local graffiti on the Kelvin never fails to inspire us. Take the example above, which recently appeared on Alistair Stewart’s Urban Fly Fisher blog… or the ones below, which we found whilst fishing and […]
December 20 2013
Merry Christmas to all our readers!
As the great Brian Clarke once said, if there’s anything that can be picked up, carried and dropped, you’ll find it in the Wandle. And so it was that in the last moments of December’s Wandle Trust community river cleanup, our good friend (and fellow fishing writer) Jason Hill spotted something in the water… and […]
December 10 2013
The Urbantrout Diaries: Spawning time
This is the time of year which often shows even the best angler exactly what he’s been failing to catch all season… When I walked downriver the following afternoon, the trout were still there: two big fish cruising the daylight shallows like nuclear submarines, with their grey backs half out of water and clear wakes […]
November 25 2013
Urbantrout sidecasts: Monday 25 November
‘Sculpin’, ‘Trout’ and ‘Shrimpy’ go urban grayling fishing somewhere up north… no hotspotting here! Salford Friendly Anglers launch their revamped website, including an urgent appeal to stand up for the Irwell in the Environment Agency’s Challenges and Choices consultation London calling: making headlines in The Angler, undoing historic dredging and impoundment damage on the Hogsmill, and […]
November 20 2013
Urban fly-fishing report: Rea Brook, Shrewsbury
Urbantrout aficionado Spencer Clayton spent yesterday afternoon on Shrewsbury’s Rea Brook, and sent us this thoughtful late-season update, right from the banks of another of our favourite urban fisheries: Fished the Rea Brook this afternoon, well to be honest I’m still here, walking along the Rea Valley trail back to town alongside the river. Had […]
