Ron Holloway

We are very sorry to report the death of Ron Holloway today. He is a great loss to the world of trout conservation and will be sorely missed. Our condolences go to his family and his large network of friends.

Just a few days before he died, WTT Director Shaun Leonard presented Ron with the Bernard Venables Award. This is the news item that announced that award: 

Ron Holloway is greatly respected in the world of wild trout fishery management. He keepered the Martyr Worthy fishery on the Itchen for 34 years and visited other fisheries, across the world, to offer his experience and bring back to the UK what he’d learned, especially in North America. In the mid-80s, he was extolling and practising ideas that are the bedrock of today’s fishery management: Ron spoke of the need for holistic catchment management and used woody debris to create cover and habitat diversity in his own river. His first book, You Should Have Been Here Last Thursday, outlined his thinking and tales from decades on and in his river. Ron has influenced and inspired many of today’s riverkeepers and activists for our rivers and their trout, including lots of students (and staff) at Sparsholt. He was a founding father of the Wild Trout Society, the progenitor of the Wild Trout Trust.

So, all in all, a pretty good reason why Ron Holloway is WTT’s 2016 winner of the Bernard Venables Award, as it recognises lifetime services to wild trout conservation, and honours those whose vital work, often unusual, sometimes outstanding, often goes unrecognised”.

Well done, Ron and thank you from all at WTT and from all the UK’s spotties.

Ron Holloway