Fishing in Yorkshire Dales National Park

The Yorkshire Dales sit across the spine of northern England, draining in almost every direction. That geography produces a network of limestone and millstone grit rivers — fast, clear, and cold — that run off the fells into the valleys below.

The fishing here is overwhelmingly river fishing, built around wild fish in moving water. The main Dales rivers are important spawning sites for salmon, brown trout, sea trout, and grayling. These are the species that define the fishing.

The River Ure, running through Wensleydale, is one of the most fished stretches in the park. The Hawes and High Abbotside Angling Association manages around 15 miles of it on both banks; day tickets are available at local shops in Hawes.

The Bradford City Angling Association holds access to fly-fishing stretches near Aysgarth. The River Swale, further east, is known for coarse fishing alongside its game fish.

The River Wharfe, the Ribble, and the Lune all run through or along the edges of the park and carry similar populations of brown trout and grayling. Trout season on the rivers runs from around March to the end of September.

Grayling — the fish that keeps fly anglers on the water through the colder months — can be taken from mid-June through to February. October is considered a peak month for grayling, when they come readily to a dry fly, typically a small pale watery pattern.

They tend to hold in quieter water at the tails of pools and the ends of riffles, different lies from the trout they share the river with. Still-water options exist alongside the river fishing.

Semerwater, a natural lake near Hawes, holds rainbow and brown trout as well as coarse species including bream, roach, and perch; day tickets are sold at Low Blean Farm.

Kilnsey Trout Farm, beside Kilnsey Crag in Wharfedale, runs two stocked lakes open year-round. Access to most water here is managed through local angling clubs and associations rather than through any park-wide permit system.

That means doing the groundwork before you go — finding out which club controls the stretch you want, and where to buy the ticket.

The park's rivers are not public fishing; the riparian ownership and club structures are taken seriously, and turning up without the right permission is not how things work in the Dales. These rivers are also breeding habitat, not just fishing habitat.

The same gravel beds that hold grayling in autumn are the redds where salmon and trout spawn. Fish them with that in mind.