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 'Urban fishing'
July 1 2013
Urbantrout’s online shop is open!
It’s a real thrill to announce that our new online shop is now open, selling our introductory range of Urbantrout branded hoodies, t-shirts, fishing caps, and even window stickers for your fishing wagon – as well as signed copies of Trout in Dirty Places (just in case you haven’t got yours yet). Click here to […]
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 […]
June 17 2013
Launching Urbantrout’s new urban fly-fishing gear!
Today we’re delighted to announce a major development for Urbantrout: the launch of our new range of urban street-style fly-fishing gear… … with 10% of annual profits going directly to help fund urban river restoration projects. As we’ve said over on our full announcement page… If you want to stroll the banks of a manicured […]
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 25 2013
Trout in the Classroom: Rewilding kids and rivers
This time last week, environmental writer-campaigner George Monbiot (personal mottos: Comfort the afflicted, afflict the comfortable and Unreconstructed idealist, professional troublemaker) visited south London’s River Wandle to watch the Wandle Trust’s Trout in the Classroom trout fry release by local urban schoolkids in Morden Hall Park. His feature about the project and its wider implications […]
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 […]
