The Wild Trout Trust is a conservation charity that stimulates hands-on, in-the-water projects, helping others to help themselves with habitat improvement in and around rivers and lakes. Any individual or organisation caring for a wild trout population, anywhere in the UK or Ireland, can call on the Trust for practical help, advice and support. By ensuring a river is good for wild trout, it will be good for other wildlife too.

Yorkshire Dales National Park includes some of the finest limestone scenery in the UK, from crags and pavements to an underground labyrinth of caves. Each valley or ‘dale’ has its own distinct character, set against expansive heather moorland tops. Stone-built villages sit amongst traditional farming landscapes of field barns, drystone walls and flower-rich hay meadows, and show how the area has been shaped over thousands of years by the people who have lived and worked here. Spectacular waterfalls and ancient broadleaved woodland contrast with the scattered remains of former mine workings and other rural industries which remind us of the area’s rich industrial heritage. Together, nature and people have created a special landscape of immense beauty and character.

Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty shares its western boundary with the Yorkshire Dales National Park whilst its southern boundary follows the course of the River Wharfe through the towns of Ilkley and Otley. To the north and east are the towns of Masham and Harrogate, and the city of Ripon. Its central feature is the long, majestic dale of the River Nidd that runs from the wild fells around Great Whernside, south and east towards the Vale of York. The western side is occupied by a remote and wild gritstone landscape, with vast swathes of heather moorland that is internationally important for wildlife and home to some of the most famous grouse shoots in the country. To the east is a much softer, pastoral landscape with rolling farmland, traditional meadows rich in wildlife, sheltered river valleys, beautiful reservoirs, and picturesque stone built villages, scattered with historic parks and gardens such as Hackfall and Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal World Heritage Site.

The Grayling Society was formed in 1977 by a small group of enthusiastic game fishermen who wished to conserve and establish the Grayling as a true, wild, game fish. Its core aims have remain unchanged – to promote awareness, conservation and angling for grayling.

Hardy In 1872, a young man called William Hardy set up shop as a gunsmith in Alnwick, Northumberland, and that might very well have been the end of the story had not the great engineering magnate Lord Armstrong persuaded him to take his brother John James into partnership. The Hardy brothers advertised themselves as ‘gunsmiths, whitesmiths and cutlers’, although the guns they sold were actually made in Birmingham. There things might have stood, until in 1874 an advert appeared in the Alnwick Mercury announcing that the firm was selling ‘superior River and Sea Fishing tackle’. The rest is history.

Greys Founded in 1968 as ‘Greys of Alnwick’ by passionate angler Malcolm Grey, the company quickly forged a strong reputation with anglers by launching a range of high performance mid-market fly rods including the iconic ‘Kielder’ fly rod series.
Fly line, reels and apparel soon followed as well as market expansion into carp and sea fishing with the ‘Power Play’ carp rods and ‘Hi-Power’ sea rods. These developments broadened angler awareness and established Greys as one of the most popular and respected fishing tackle brands in the UK. The House of Hardy acquired Greys of Alnwick in 1999 after identifying a strategic opportunity to compete in complementary areas of the tackle market. Technology is critical to the Greys brand and it has gained a reputation for applying innovation to create a performance advantage for the angler.

Orvis Founded by Charles F. Orvis in Manchester, Vermont, in 1856, Orvis is America’s oldest mail-order outfitter and longest continually-operating fly-fishing business. They provide authentic products, knowledge, and experiences that define and enhance the country lifestyle. That lifestyle is steeped in our sporting traditions and draws upon unsurpassed expertise in fly fishing.

Salmon & Trout Conservation UK When Salmon & Trout Conservation UK was formed in 1903, the principal threat to freshwater and marine habitats came from industrial pollution. The Association began to recruit members and took shape from the concept that, ‘it is necessary for sportsmen, scientists, experts in each branch of fishery care and administration to band themselves together to protect and nurture a natural heritage that civilisation dissipates.’ S&TCUK became a registered charity in 2008 and is now the only UK fisheries charity that campaigns for the conservation, protection and sustainable management of an aquatic environment capable of supporting an abundance of indigenous fish species, invertebrates, animals and plant life – from source to sea.

The Fly Dressers Guild Four enthusiastic fly dressers established the Guild in 1967, to share their expertise with a wider audience. Today, we have around 1,500 members across the UK and another 40 or so overseas, in Australia, Canada, Eire, Iceland, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Thailand and the US. In addition, members of the Guild have created a network of almost 40 branches across the UK, which operate independently but are affiliated to the Guild. These branches offer a range of activities including fly tying classes, talks and fishing outings. We encourage all members to join their local branch and take part in the activities they arrange.

Knaresborough Anglers Club Set in the heart of the Dales near Harrogate, Knaresborough Anglers Club offers members some of the finest trout and grayling fishing in Yorkshire. With five and a half miles of the unspoilt River Nidd and a private three acre lake regularly stocked with rainbow, blue and specimen brown trout, members have access to both premium still-water and river fishing.

Nidderdale Angling Club controls some 7 miles of mostly double bank fishing on the River Nidd for brown trout and grayling, centred around the lovely Yorkshire Dales village of Pateley Bridge. The club also has wild brown trout fishing available on Scar House Reservoir, located at the very head of Nidderdale. The club was formed in 1897 by a group of local anglers in the Old Oak Inn, in the village of Low Laithe, near Pateley Bridge. Flyfishing and bait fishing (using float or ledger) are allowed on the club waters, although some areas are restricted to fly fishing only.

Appletreewick Barden and 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 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. 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.