The River Wharfe It’s a Great Venue

I first fished the River Wharfe back in the early 1960’s when I was working in the north Yorkshire area, my quarry in those days were the grayling and trout. In the 1970’s and 80’s I spent a lot of time on the banks of this delightful Yorkshire Dales river. Somewhere within the banks of the river you can catch most of our coarse fish species, I don’t know of any sea trout fishing on the river, but the brown trout fishing in some lengths can be excellent. Addingham upstream to Bolton Abbey can be good; I have heard tales of salmon but not seen any of these great fish. Please note I am not saying none have been taken.

On my recent visit I chose to fish the Bradford City AA water, club cards available from many tackle shops in the Yorkshire area e-mail [email protected] I chose a day when the river was fining down and clearing, I had come to catch grayling using red coloured sweet corn, when using this bait, I find I don’t catch as many trout as I would do, if I chose to use gentles or red worms. No doubt I would get a few chub as they moved in on the free offerings of corn going through the swim; I also hoped I might connect with some roach. I still rate the river roach as one of the nicest fish one can catch especially when trotting the stream.

Tackle Keep It Simple

I choose to use a 13 foot through action rod, centre pin reel with 4lb Gamma line with a size 10 hook, my float is a cork on quill Avon taking 5 AAA shot with 1 BB shot which I pinched on the line about six inches from the hook. The AAA shot were bunched about halfway between float and hook. The swim I wanted to fish was towards the far bank so I chose to wade, wearing chest high waders. This would give me lots of freedom to fish all areas of the river with 100 percent efficiency After running the float through a few times I found an average depth of about 4 feet. Five yards down the swim I had a shallow gravel bar rising some six inches above the river bed. It wasn’t a problem. I just held the float back hard while the bait lifted over the gravel bar then continue its way down the swim. On my first trot through with a grain of corn, the float travelled ten yards then buried itself. The connecting strike found me hooked up to my first grayling of the day. You can’t mistake this fish as it twists and turns in its bid for freedom. Soon I had released fish number one. I didn’t have a landing net, I just got the fish close to hand then run my fingers down the line and slip out the barbless hook.

Baiting with another piece of corn, then throwing in half a dozen grains as a free offering I made another Wallis cast, sending the float cross the river. It then moved perfectly down the swim, I had set my reel so the float would pull the line off the reel at the same time allowing the bait to precede the float. Never let the float go down the swim before the bait. The float had gone ten yards when it dipped then slide sideways as it disappeared. I hooked a fish which hugged the bottom then moved slowly upstream. Suddenly it shot off downstream forcing me to give line. For several minutes I wasn’t sure if I had hooked a chub or barbel. Thankfully the fish then moved upstream allowing me to gain some line. I felt I would be the winner if the hook didn’t slip. A minute or two later I had the fish to hand. A cracking chub which probably went a good 4lbs. In a 4 hour session I caught several good chub and 3 grayling, before the fish either moved or switched off. I decided on a move to a slower deeper stretch of water where willows and alders over hung the river which offered shade and cover to the resident fish. It’s an area that has given me some excellent sport with grayling, chub and roach in the past.

I fed 2 cricket size balls of sloppy mashed bread containing a handful of corn at the head of the swim. As it was sinking down through the water I could see it getting swirled around in the flow creating large and small pieces, this stops the fish being preoccupied on one size of hook bait. After running the float through a few times to get a feel of the swim, I had a good idea where the obstructions were I needed to hold back the float. Apart from a couple of obstructions the float could run through with the bait just touching the bottom for about 25 yards. I was ready to go.

First cast a chub about 2lb quickly followed by five more chub in five trots through the swim, all about the size as the first fish. I then decided a switch to bread flake hoping this might produce some better chub, it worked. My next fish was a chub about 4lbs. Then nothing for an hour. I stopped fishing for a while; it was time for a fresh brew back at the car. Half an hour later, feeling refreshed I started fishing again. On my first trot through with corn I had a grayling; two casts’s later another grayling both fish about a pound apiece. I then had a twenty minute session with nothing. Switching to bread flake I got a cracking roach on my third cast which I reckoned wasn’t far off the pound mark. In the next thirty minutes I had three more nice roach and 2 chub averaging 3lbs then nothing for an hour. I decided to call it a day. I was more than happy with my mixed bag from one of the Yorkshire Dales delightful river. Tomorrow I will be casting a dry fly for a brown trout on the River Ribble as I only have 12 days of the season left.