Trout In The Towns

Trout fisheries aren’t always out in the ‘sticks’, there’s some incredible fishing to be had right on your doorstep...

WE all drive over town bridges at some point, often as we’re on our way to or from work. But how many times do we stop to check out what’s lurking in the water? The repetitive, daily commute means there’s precious little time to peer over the bridge and into the water looking for signs of fish. So much so that – despite living in the vicinity for many years – we never actually study what’s in the stream! Whenever we get time to go fishing, we end up ignoring the fish in our towns and head for the country. It’s become almost second nature.

Okay, heading for the hills might be more attractive to some than donning waders and walking the stream through our town centres, risking strange looks from the public. But what if the trout fishing available in our built-up areas is actually fantastic or improving at least!

The truth is that many urban streams are now really clean and the fishing rapidly improving. But we anglers are creatures of habit, often slow to react to developments around us. We are secretive and don’t like being watched while we fish.

It’s time to put all that behind us. Be brave and try that river closer to home. You’d be surprised at just how affordable it might be too.

Our contributors know it

Trout exist in our town centres almost every where. TF northern contributor Fred Bainbridge lives in Ripon, North Yorkshire and he regularly fishes the River Skell through the town centre. In fact, he knows just about every nook and cranny in the river and enjoys extremely good sport with beautiful brown trout and grayling.

TF has done features with him on the Skell. But if we see one other angler on the river all day, we’re lucky. But Fred will testify that angler numbers are increasing probably due to the easy access but also because of the incredible fish on offer.