Here in south-west England, trout fishing closes at the end of September… so the Urbantrout team thought we’d better get out on one of our favourite local streams for the last time this year. In the end, curiosity won out over familiarity, and we took a side trip up a tiny industrialised tributary we’d been […]
Author Archive
September 22 2018
Fly Culture magazine: Trout on the Train
A couple of months ago, we posted a fishing report from the River Tame in Manchester… … essentially a sneak preview of a feature for an exciting new fishing magazine: Pete Tyjas’s Fly Culture. And now the finished article is finally here! Complete with amazing photos from Paul Gaskell, Trout on the Train provides readers […]
September 3 2018
Urbantrout sidecasts: Monday 3 September
Plastic pollution in rivers: has Wales reached a tipping point? Bradford Beck runs black with sewage, killing fish and invertebrates (just days after suffering runoff from a waste depot fire at Shipley) How dams damage rivers, and why it’s good to remove them Plastic rivers (again): most marine pollution doesn’t start in the sea If […]
August 23 2018
Urban fly-fishing report: River Wandle, south London
The new Orvis #50/50onthewater campaign has been designed to encourage equal opportunities and participation in flyfishing, getting more women out onto our rivers, lakes and streams, and we couldn’t be more delighted to see this effect trickling down into the urban side of this sport we love. Last weekend, newly-converted urban flyfishing aficionados Susan Skrupa […]
July 15 2018
Now available: New ebook edition of The Pocket Guide to Balsam Bashing
Perfectly timed for this summer’s balsam bashing season, Merlin Unwin Books have just released a new ebook edition of the best-selling Pocket Guide to Balsam Bashing. As many river restorationists know all too well, urban rivers and their catchments are particularly prone to invasion by non-native species like giant hogweed, Himalayan balsam, mink and signal […]
June 20 2018
Urban fly-fishing report: River Tame, Stalybridge
A few days ago, the new combined Trout in the Town team took to the rails to travel from (nearly) opposite ends of the country… … and converged at Stalybridge for a flying visit to an urban river that’s been much in the news recently. Paul and I both knew how the lovely little River […]
June 1 2018
Film night: Let’s hear it for the volunteers!
Volunteers Week runs from 1 – 7 June this year, and to celebrate the vital work of volunteers who are the lifeblood of many local river groups across the UK, the Rivers Trust has just released this short film of what it’s like to volunteer with the Don Catchment Rivers Trust. In 2018 alone, […]
May 17 2018
It’s a double hook-up! Urban flyfishing hits T&S and FF&FT in the same month
What’s this? Yes, you read it right: our little niche-within-a-niche of urban flyfishing has just scored (we think) a historic double hook-up… …with big features in the pages of both Trout & Salmon and Fly Fishing & Fly Tying magazines in the very same month. The June issue of T&S goes bold with a beautifully-crafted piece […]
April 30 2018
Urbantrout sidecasts: Monday 30 April
Streamers on the Irwell: Martin’s Minnow strikes again for David James Bendle Getting the green light: new hope for a bottle and can deposit scheme in England and Wales (as well as mutant plastic-munching enzymes to break down PET) Plastic pollution again: we all know the value of river clean-ups, so maybe now’s the time […]
April 17 2018
In the Telegraph: River guardians of the Tame
I’m knee-deep in the river Tame in Stalybridge, 15 miles east of Manchester. Beside me is Woz Andrew, a local fly-fishing guide. After climbing down a flight of stone steps from road level – hollowed by a century of boots and a remnant of this river’s industrial past – we have made our way slowly […]
