Appletreewick Barden & Burnsall Angling Club is one of the oldest angling clubs in Wharfedale and was established in 1873. The Club control 6 miles of prime brown trout and grayling fly fishing water on the River Wharfe, which is mainly double bank, and extends from Linton Stepping Stones downstream to Barden Bridge, the village of Burnsall being roughly half way down the club’s preserves. The character of the water and the fly fishing here is surely some of the best the River Wharfe has to offer.
Additionally the Club leases the fishing rights on the 57 acre Lower Barden Reservoir which provides members with excellent fly fishing for top quality and often large hard fighting rainbow and blue trout. Situated on the edge of Barden Moor Lower Barden reservoir offers members peaceful and productive fly fishing in stunning moorland scenery. The fishing at Lower Barden Reservoir is preserved for members and their guests only and no day tickets are available.
The Club offers non-members day ticket fishing on the River Wharfe from the 1st June until the 30th September for brown trout and from the 1st November until the 31st January for grayling. NB no day tickets are available on Saturdays or Sundays throughout June when fishing is restricted to Club members and their guests. Weekly tickets are however available from the 1st June and these do permit non-members to fish at the weekend throughout June.
The Appletreewick, Barden and Burnsall Angling Club was founded in 1873 and was originally known as “The Burnsall Angling Club”, membership then was limited to 30 with an annual subscription of £1.00 plus a £1.00 entry fee. After more than 140 years The Appletreewick Barden and Burnsall Angling Club still remains one of the premier fly fishing clubs in the Yorkshire Dales and controls over six miles of some of the very best fly fishing on the River Wharfe. The Club is still often referred to as “The Burnsall Angling Club” or abbreviated to “ABBAC”.
For many years the Club has also leased the fishing rights on the 57 acre Lower Barden Reservoir which is well stocked with top quality and often sizeable Rainbow and Blue trout. The reservoir boasts two excellent fishing huts which afford some welcome shelter on those less than clement days and allows fishing for most of the year with just a small period of closure.
The Appletreewick, Barden and Burnsall Angling Club is one of the few remaining clubs still to have its own fish rearing facilities. Fish are purchased as fingerlings and grown on to the required size in the Clubs rearing ponds before being stocked into the Clubs waters.
Many of the leading “North Country” angling masters of the past were members of the Club, these included Harfield H. Edmonds and Norman N. Lee authors of the classic “Brook and River Trouting” published in 1916 and Reg V. Righyni author of “Grayling” published in 1968. More recently in 1994 the late Leslie Magee published “Fly Fishing – The North Country Tradition” a definitive work on the history of fly fishing in the north of England.
The Club enjoys many long standing relationships with the local farmers and riparian owners including the Duke of Devonshire the Clubs President, who also owns the Bolton Abbey Estate.
To this day The Appletreewick, Barden and Burnsall Angling Club remains one of the most prestigious and well respected angling clubs in the north of England.
Membership costs £595.00 with a joining fee of £200.00. In addition a new member must purchase 6 x £100.00 shares in the club, payable in the first 6 years. The annual subscription is discounted by £5.00 for each share held on 01 January in any year up to a maximum of six shares. Payment of the subscription by standing order is an option and would consist of ten monthly instalments, paid January to October. Shares are re-payable when you leave the club, though you would never want to!
There are currently vacancies for new members.
Correct as at 15/02/16.