Regular Urbantrout readers will probably recognise the city of Winchester as one of our favourite beats: this stretch of the Itchen was already a post-industrial river when Frederic Halford and his fellow grandees of the Flyfishers’ Club held their annual Mayfly Mess at the Royal Hotel in the Victorian era, and we always like to […]
Archive for the tag 'Fly-fishing'
June 27 2013
Urban fly-fishing report: River Don, Sheffield
Thanks to a generous winning bid in this year’s Monnow Rivers Association charity auction, The River Beat blog recently visited Sheffield’s River Don for an introduction to urban fly-fishing… … walled in by pre-industrial brick and post-industrial modern glass, a Holiday Inn and busy road bridges. The sounds of general human commotion were never far […]
June 24 2013
Urbantrout at the BFFI
Urbantrout returned to the British Fly Fair International this weekend, joining the Wild Trout Trust crew on their stand to sign even more copies of Trout in Dirty Places and officially launching our very own eco-branded hoodies, t-shirts, fishing caps and window stickers. As ever, the fair provided a perfect occasion to represent the urban […]
May 31 2013
Urban fly-tying: Tim James, Tavistock
Readers of last year’s best-selling urban fly-fishing blockbuster may recall how impressed we were by the locally-tied flies of Tavistock fishing guide Tim James… … which we loved enough to pick up a generous handful from the counter of English Country Pursuits, the town’s huntin’, shootin’ and fishin’ shop. Some of these featured in chapter […]
May 15 2013
Urban fly-fishing report: Calder, Irwell and Tame
With successive weather fronts blowing in from the Atlantic, flexibility and a functioning sense of humour were just enough to bring success when the Urbantrout team visited northern Manchester’s river systems last weekend. Starting our campaign on one of those classically post-industrial Calder tributaries, we indulged our passion for urban exploration to find bruiser trout […]
April 7 2013
Urban fly-fishing report (angling celebrity edition): Frome and Nailsworth Stream, Stroud
Having just reviewed Trout in Dirty Places in glowing terms for Trout & Salmon magazine this time last year… … Wild Trout Trust vice-president and all-round great angling writer Jon Beer lost little time in grabbing his fishing gear (and his river restorationist fishing pal Vaughan Lewis) to head for urban-fishy water not too far […]
March 25 2013
Guided urban fly-fishing fundraiser: Your chance to crack the Yorkshire Calder?
Readers of Trout in Dirty Places may recall that the Yorkshire Calder has a reputation as a difficult, enigmatic, big-fish river – a place where guides go fishing on their days off. Now, in aid of the Calder & Colne Rivers Trust’s riverfly monitoring training programme, local guide Gary Hyde is teaming up with Nick […]
March 18 2013
Urban fly-fishing report: River Tame, Saddleworth
In bitterly cold conditions that he could only describe afterwards as raining, snowing, sleeting, absolutely everything… … Urbantrout editor-at-large (and key consultant on Trout in Dirty Places) Richard Baker spent his northern opening day fly-fishing the urban upper reaches of the Mersey system controlled by Saddleworth Angling Society. When his fingers had thawed enough to […]
March 7 2013
The Wild Trout Trust charity auction 2013: What’s your urban fly-fishing lot?
This year’s much-anticipated Wild Trout Trust annual fundraising auction has just gone live on ebay. At Urbantrout we know a significant number of anglers who use the auction as a guide to planning their season’s fishing. So when we found ourselves marking up the printed catalogue with all the urban fishing options before saving a list of […]
January 18 2013
Film night: Fly-fishing the urban Potomac
Via Moldy Chum comes this intriguing trailer for the imminent 2013 Fly Fishing Film Tour, featuring four dedicated urban fly-fishermen making the most of what’s in their own backyard in Washington DC. From the film-maker’s blurb: In an unlikely setting of concrete vistas, population density and traffic nightmares, the Potomac River proves that adventure and […]
