Have you read Theo Pikes excellent book Trout in Dirty Places? If the answer is no we reckon you should take a good look at it as it is a great read but if you fancy trying some urban fly fishing Theo has compiled a list of 10 tips that will help you on the way.
Rod and reel? Check. Polaroids? Check. Backpack, lanyard and fly boxes? Check, check and check.
A day on an urban river can start just like any other day on the water… but that’s sometimes where the similarity ends. Because, whereas your average rural fishing idyll usually means heading out of town to places where few other people ever go, urban angling often takes you in the opposite direction: right back into the beating heart of the city.
Having spent the last couple of years travelling around the UK, visiting the Wild Trout Trust’s Trout in the Town chapters and investigating the state of our urban rivers at the start of the 21st century, I’ve come to the startling but joyful conclusion that there’s probably now more water in and around our towns and cities with pollution-sensitive wild trout and grayling living in it than without. Thanks to varying geology, water chemistry and centuries of human intervention, different urban rivers can present a spectrum of fly-fishing challenges: my own urban-chalkstream home water on the River Wandle in South London, for instance, feels a world away from Shrewsbury’s Rea Brook or Manchester’s majestic River Irwell.
But from personal experience, a few basic and not-so-basic principles almost always hold water. So, to get you started, here are my top 10 tips for successful (and just as importantly enjoyable) fly-fishing on this exciting new urban frontier:
1 - Check permissions
On many rivers where fishing rights lapsed in the dark days of the Industrial Revolution, local authorities permit “free fishing” with a valid Environment Agency rod licence, but it’s always best to be sure. If your chosen stretch of urban river is controlled by a fishing club, it’s unlikely to be very expensive, and they’ll probably be delighted to meet someone else who appreciates the joys of urban fly-fishing.
2 - Watch the weather
Especially in the north and west of the UK, it’s always wise to check the weather forecast before fishing: steep V-shaped channel rainfall into post-industrial rivers very rapidly, and water levels can rise in minutes if there’s a cloudburst up-catchment. On the flip-side, once the rain stops, fast-rising headwaters can clear and drop just as quickly, leaving upland rivers fishable again long before their lowland counterparts come back into trim.
3 - Travel by train
When public transport can often get you to the riverside faster, why worry about traffic wardens or where to park your car in the urban edgelands? Armed with a local tourist or Ordnance Survey map (or simply your favourite brand of smart phone), it’s easy to travel light, cover lots of water in one direction, and jump back onto a bus, train or tram at the end of the day.
4 - Fish stealthy
Time and time again, I’ve found light and even ultra light tackle proving its worth for subtle presentations to street wise fish. Low-diameter lines land lightly on the water, and modern 2-, 1- and even 0-weight rods are more than capable of landing trophy-sized specimens with minimal fuss. Depending on your river, you may also find it’s worth investigating the stealthy possibilities of the Japanese tenkara technique.
5 - Target new species
Urban trout and grayling grab the headlines because it feels so counterintuitive to fish them in these post-industrial rivers, but they’re far from being the only target for your fly-rod. Chub, dace, roach, perch and pike will gladly take flies and lures of all kinds, and there’s a rapidly-growing subculture of fly anglers who find pursuing these species as much of a challenge as more conventional trout fishing. For inspiration, read Dominic Garnett’s new book Flyfishing for Coarse Fish, and prepare to be dazzled by the possibilities of your local water!
6 - Practice catch and release
Whichever species you’re pursuing, always practice catch and release. Many urban fish populations can still be classified as “recovering”, so any losses could severely damage the gene pool. With barbless or debarbed hooks, unhooking is quick and easy: you can even leave the fish in the water, take a quick photo, then run your hand down the tippet and slip the hook out.
7 - Watch out for aliens
Just like rural rivers, many city streams are threatened by invasive non-native species of plants, animals and invertebrates. You may not be able to do much about mink, Japanese knotweed or poisonous giant hogweed without instigating trapping and spraying programmes, but Himalayan balsam is an easy target: every shallow-rooted plant you pull up this year could save the bank side being smothered by another 400 plants next season. When you leave the river, it’s also worth following the Check, Clean, Dry protocol: some species like the killer shrimp can survive on damp clothing for 5 days, and crayfish plague spores remain viable for up to 2 weeks.
8 - Stay safe
Urban rivers can be uncompromising environments, so it makes sense to take care. Be careful of deep silt behind weirs too: if you find yourself sinking, walk out backwards the way you came. Wade upstream into culverts if you must, never down: you don’t know what’s down there, and in the worst case scenario, you may find the current pushing you further into trouble. Since many urban rivers are affected by misconnections and other sources of sewage, always wash your hands before eating, drinking or smoking. And if you develop flu-like symptoms within three weeks of fishing an urban river, visit your doctor and ask to be checked for Weil’s disease, a rare but potentially fatal bacterial infection transmitted by rats’ urine.
9 - Fish with a friend
When exploring an urban river for the first time, many experienced anglers prefer to go with a wingman. Two’s company in all sorts of situations, including fish spotting, and a helping hand can be invaluable for tackling urban obstacles like vertical flood walls!
10 - Report pollution
If you find dead or distressed fish, or find any signs of pollution, call the Environment Agency’s incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60 as soon as possible. Urban rivers can offer world-class fishing, but these are environments perpetually under threat from pollution incidents of all kinds - so the more of us who are watching out for them, the better!
Finally, if you’ve enjoyed your urban fly-fishing experience, why not consider making it even better next time? Most Rivers Trusts and other local river care groups will be only too delighted to accept your offer of support, whether that’s financial, professional or time spent monitoring fly-life and grappling shopping trolleys. And if there’s nobody looking after your urban river yet, you could even think about setting up a Trout in the Town chapter of your own!
Theo Pike’s new book, Trout in Dirty Places: 50 rivers to fly-fish for trout and grayling in the UK’s town and city centres was published in April 2012 by Merlin Unwin Books, and is available from all good book and tackle shops.
You can also follow the progress of the urban fly-fishing and river restoration movement on his website www.urbantrout.net
Check, Clean, Dry: https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/nonnativespecies/checkcleandry/index.cfm
