Posted on December 20, 2021
David Marriott marks the end of an era in Bakewell, with the closure of the Bakewell Fly Shop on Christmas Eve.
We are in the heart of the Peak District. A warm July evening, the sun setting on the mellow limestone walls of an old cobbled courtyard. Fly fishing friends are foregathered in expectation of an eagerly awaited annual event - the emergence of the Sage of Bakewell on the occasion of his birthday. There is an anticipatory murmur as the appointed hour approaches.
Posted on November 24, 2021
Many fly anglers will have known Vic Foot, erstwhile and legendary keeper on the River Test at Testwood and Nursling, who sadly died last week, at 93 years of age. Vic was instrumental in bringing through many of today’s riverkeepers, including great WTT friend, Donny Donovan, who’s written these touching words about his friend, THE LEGENDARY MR FOOT.
Posted on November 17, 2021
A guest blog post from Lennard Powell of the Afan Valley Angling and Conservation Club, South Wales.
As I sit writing this, I recall my early days as a boy fishing the River Afan which join the sea at Port Talbot in South Wales. I did not give my surroundings much thought then: the trees, the birds and the other wildlife. The lack of fish in the river wasn’t uppermost in my mind or even, on occasions, how black or orange the water was, depending on what the pollutant was on that particular day, either coal dust or mine water. I was totally absorbed in the pursuit of the trout that I was going to catch and have my mother cook for my tea.
Posted on October 19, 2021
Did you know that when an emerging mayfly pushes through the surface-film of water to hatch, it's demonstrating a physical feat equivalent to a human breaking through a kitchen table-top?
Having kids and teachers witness this feat - and exactly HOW they do it (along with the strange transformation from "dun" to "spinner") in any of our upwing riverflies are key experiences within "Mayfly in the Classroom" - now available in full-colour guidebook form.
Posted on October 19, 2021
Twenty-five years ago, I walked the Pennine Way parallel to the River Aire and stopped below Newfield Bridge for lunch. I imagine my casting arm was twitching slightly at the sight of the limestone stream with its clear water, mossy stones, and marsh marigold fringe. The white-water cascading over the weir was framed neatly through the arch of the road bridge, picturesque yes, but certainly not natural….
Almost 20 years later and I returned to that very spot with local EA Fisheries Officer, Pete Turner. I’d not long arrived in Yorkshire with my WTT cap on, and he was giving me a whistle stop tour and introduction to the Upper Aire Project (more of which, later). I looked at it then objectively with my fish passage polaroids on. We both agreed it was one for the wish list of removals....
Posted on August 04, 2021
Thanks to the enthusiasm of local volunteers, the urban areas of Somerset’s Axe and Sheppey river catchments now have 16 newly-trained riverfly monitors to look after them, as part of our Trout in the Town TWIST (Transforming Waterways in Somerset’s Towns) project.
Posted on June 17, 2021
A guest blog post from Lennard Powell of the Afan Valley Angling Club near Neath in South Wales. The Afon Afan and the Nant Clais, like too many rivers across the UK, suffers from sewage pollution and excess sedimentation. Lennard and his fellow members have carried out a detailed investigation and the resulting report has been passed to Dwyr Cymru Welsh Water ( who are a ‘not for profit’ water company) and the regulator in Wales, National Resources Wales. Receipt of the report has been acknowledged and we await with interest to see what action will result. This map on the Rivers Trust website identifies where the sewerage network discharges and overflows into rivers in England and Wales. Andy Thomas of the Wild Trout Trust carried out an Advisory Visit to the club’s 17 miles of water in 2010. Lennard can be contacted at lennard.powell@ntlworld.com
Posted on June 15, 2021
We’re delighted to announce that PARR (Pewsey Avon River Restoration) is the latest urban river restoration group to become an accredited Trout in the Town chapter.
When Theo Pike, our Trout in the Town officer for the south of England, undertook an Advisory Visit for the upper Avon in Pewsey (Wiltshire) recently, he identified a number of important improvements that a motivated community group could make to boost the health of the river for fish, insects, birds – and local people too.
Posted on May 18, 2021
WTT's Theo Pike has been busy surveying rivers in six Somerset towns for the Wild Trout Trust’s TWIST (Transforming Waterways In Somerset Towns) project.
Posted on May 10, 2021
April and May are the peak time for sea trout smolt migration, when some young brown trout decide it is time to leave the river and go to sea. But what is a smolt? Denise Ashton explains.
Posted on April 29, 2021
A number of pressures face fish and their habitats, but the fragmentation of natural river connectivity is understood to be one of the main causes of decline in freshwater fish species. Here, Amy Blaker, MSc student at Lancaster University, tells us more about her project in the Wyre catchment
Posted on April 20, 2021
Danielle Marchant, Early Career Researcher from Queen Mary University of London, tells us about her PhD work on plastic pollution in freshwaters
Posted on March 24, 2021
One of the most exciting and heartening aspects of our work is when ‘word of mouth’ contacts help to spread the love for rivers a little further. Here is such a tale from the Dales
Posted on March 22, 2021
Most of us are longing to escape to a river or lake and spend the day fishing, but with so much uncertainty around you might feel it is hard to plan to get away for more than a day. Why not use the Wild Trout Trust Auction map to help you find your escape?
The map can point to you to fishing days close to home - just zoom in and click the points on the map to go to the Lot description and bidding.
Posted on March 18, 2021
Sometimes as the catalogue lands on our member’s door mats, it inspires one or two to make a late donation. Just as exciting, just as valuable but not previously seen in the catalogue. List of 11 'Late Lots' below.
Bidding starts on the morning of Friday 19th and closes the evening of Sunday 29 March.