There Will Be Fish: The Story Behind the Film

In spring 2026, we braved the Yorkshire drizzle for a very special project. In this blog, Charley Yates shares the story behind the creation of her brilliant short documentary film, There Will Be Fish.

Hi! My name’s Charley, I’m a second year Film Production student at the University of Staffordshire. I’ve recently been working with the Wild Trout Trust to make a short documentary about some of their project sites in Yorkshire, and how they’ve benefitted the wonderful river ecosystems and wildlife.

For my main module this semester, I had to make a short film (between six and eight minutes long) that highlights the kind of work I want to pursue after university. I love documentaries, and this has always been the line of work I want to go into, albeit more on the producing side than in roles like camera operation. I also love fish: my favourite animal ever is the long-spined porcupinefish, and I’m the proud owner of a larger-than-life carp plush toy. Apparently, to most people this is a niche (if not odd) fascination, but I like to think I’ve found my kind of people within the Wild Trout Trust. So I thought, what better topic to try and shoot for my film!

Back in 2019, the Wild Trout Trust did a project on my university campus called SUNRISE (go read about it if you’re unfamiliar!) so they seemed like good people to reach out to about my documentary. It took a few weeks of talking with both Sophie Evingar and Jonny Grey, regarding the logistics of everything, but they have been so lovely in supporting this project, so that I could make something I’m truly happy with.

The first day of filming with Jonny went a little bit awry. The weather was atrocious the night before, and the river levels ended up too high to conduct the electrofishing we had hoped to do. So, in both rain and sun (practically alternating), Jonny took us to both Lothersdale Beck and Otterburn Beck. He explained what they’ve fixed up for the sake of the rivers, and how much healthier the fish communities are, alongside other creatures within the ecosystem. But because of the weather, there was a significant lack of visible fish in the rivers… something which is, I think, an unnegotiable necessity in a fish documentary.

Hence, we returned to Lothersdale Beck with cameras and mics in hand, and a lot nicer weather overhead. Personally, this day was my favourite: Jonny took us to two sections of the river with his electrofishing gear, so that we could film both the surveying process and the fish themselves. The first time, I was so caught up in getting to see native fish like stone loach and brown trout up close, that I completely nullified my sound operator’s attempts at capturing audio, by asking Jonny all sorts of questions and saying ​“awwww” a lot. Luckily, with the magic of editing and getting Jonny to repeat himself a couple of times, you wouldn’t even know if I hadn’t confessed!

All of this, plus a good month of editing everything together, has led to a short film that explores a topic I’m really quite passionate about. Although it was all part of my academic studies, I’m glad it gave me a good excuse to work on something I find so interesting. The past few months have been really fun, and it has me excited for the future of my filmmaking. Even better, I can now share this film with the Wild Trout Trust, to help with their work too! When I first reached out to Sophie, one of the things I said is that I wanted to give to the charity in my own unique little way, and I really hope this film does that original motive justice.

You can watch the film below, and if you’re interested to see some more pictures from the shoot (or want to know what else I’m getting up to) you can follow me on Instagram.