The finest Fly Fishing in North Yorkshire. Est 1892
‘Inspiring and helping everyone to protect wild trout and their habitat’
The Wild Trout Trust do excellent work in the UK protecting trout and their habits, their annual auction is an important part of their funding and has some amazing lots.
Once again TAC have supported their work donating a days fishing for 2 on Tanfield waters as one of the lots. Take a look at what’s on offer by clicking on the link below, pass along to friends or maybe join the Wild Trout Trust.
We are now just over 2 weeks’ away from the start of the new trout season and I am sure that some of you are raring to get out on the river.
At this time of the year the water temperature will be not much above zero degrees centigrade and the fish will be lethargic.
Make sure you are well wrapped up against the cold to start. I wear thermal long-johns under lined thermal wading trousers (See land from John Norris, they are great) under my Goretex waders.
Hatches, if any, will be few and far between and won’t last very long. So fishing wet is the way to go and if you are fortunate enough to get a hatch then be opportunistic and switch to a match the hatch dry fly.
Trout will be lying deep and they will be reluctant to move far to the fly so I like to meet them eyeball to eyeball with a euro nymphing rig. I like to fish a heavy nymph on the ‘point’ and a small nymph rigged NZ style off that. This gets the small fly down into the zone and it catches most of the fish.
Klink and dink will also work, fish a well weighted fly 120cm under the klink.
Top patterns early season are bead-head nymphs in #12 and #14, pheasant tail nymph, black magic nymph, soft hackle dry, March brown dry fly and a blue winged olive.
Tight lines and we look forward to meeting you on the river.
TAC Notices/Diary Dates
Wading – As you all know, wading in the Ure can be challenging, especially at this time of the year. Please be careful and take the necessary precautions, good boots, wading staff etc. Recent high water will have shifted gravel and can change the profile of the river bed in places so please be extra vigilant.
Track above Woods Stream – Earlier this month following the heavy rain, a tree fell into the river above Woods Stream taking with it part of the track. This is now closed to vehicles while repairs take place. Access to fishing beyond Woods Stream is now only possible on foot as we work on alternative access and repairs to the track. We will provide updates when available.
Sunday 15th March 2026 – Grayling season ends.
Wednesday 25th March 2026 – Trout season commences.
Saturday 28th March 2026 – Walbran Day – kick off the season in style
Saturday 11th July 2026 – Tanfield Angling Club Summer Sizzler on the Lake.
2026 Masterclasses – We will continue to run Masterclasses in 2026. Details will be available shortly.
We are pleased to announce that this year we will be setting up a fishing line recycling scheme in partnership with the Angling National Line Recycling Scheme.
Discarded fishing line is one of the most common forms of angling litter and can pose a serious risk to wildlife, including birds, fish, and other water users. By introducing dedicated recycling points, the club aims to reduce environmental impact and help protect our waters for future generations.
Recycling Locations
Recycling tubes / bins will be installed at the following club locations
These clearly marked containers will be for the disposal of:
Once collected, the line will be sent to the Angling National Line Recycling Scheme, where it will be responsibly recycled rather than ending up in landfill or our waterways.
How Members Can Help
This initiative is a simple but effective way for all members to play a part in improving the environment and maintaining the high standard of our waters.
Further information will be shared once the recycling points are installed. Thank you for your continued support and for helping keep Tanfield Angling Club waters clean, safe, and sustainable.
Tight lines and tidy banks!
Saturday 28th March is the first Saturday of the new trout season the Committee thought it would be a good idea for members to meet, fish and have a fun day on the river to welcome in the new season.
We will be based at the Fishing Lodge on the Lake – call in for a coffee and a bacon sandwich from 10.00am, fish in the morning, lunch available from 12.00 and fish in the afternoon.
2026 is our second season of the Tanfield Angling Club Fly Tiers programme, led by Owen Candy and Keith Collins. We meet in the Bruce Arms on a Sunday evening once a month to learn new techniques and tie some flies. Many of us were complete novices 12 months ago, but we are enjoying the ride!
Last month we had a special visitor, Hans van Klinken, a legend in the fly tying world who was visiting his friends at Semperfli and attending numerous events in Yorkshire.
It was an honour to host Hans at The Bruce Arms, the spiritual home of the Tanfield Angling Club.
Hans demonstrated how to tie his Klinkhammer Special and clearly enjoyed his visit as much as we enjoyed hosting him.
Thank you Hans
Hans van Klinken
‘Another very special activity during my visit to England. A long-held dream came to fruition when I was able to give a serious fly tying workshop at the world-famous Bruce Arms in Tanfield. Sitting on the same couch where Walbran once sat – or simply being in that same room – gave me a very special feeling. The participants were fantastic, and we had a great evening.
Francis Walbran, actually founded the Tangling Angling Club in 1892. Being in the Bruce Arms (West Tanfield) really is standing on hallowed ground for North Country spider fishing! Sadly I was tying my Klinkhammer Special because that was the fly the participants wanted to tie so eagerly’.
Last week we hosted our final Masterclass of the season with a visit from Dave Southall. Dave’s session included an Italian style casting demonstration (with laser tight loops), an entomology session which included kick-sampling and Dave’s very small and successful dry fly patterns, they were way smaller than expectations!
Another informative and successful day-on-the-river!
Dave demonstrates his kick-sampling technique
Italian Casting style with laser tight loops
A Midge Pupa – note the comma shape, wing buds and gills that look like horns on the head – fish with a size 24 hook!
We are delighted to announce that Dave Southall will be joining us on the river bank on Saturday June to 21st to present a special masterclass covering river-craft, Italian style casting and entomology.
This event is open to all members, for further details please email: Secretary@tanfieldac.co.uk
Good news and thanks to this weekend’s working party, the steps and handrail at Wood’s Stream have been completed.
Our next working party will take place on the 7th June at 10am.
Yesterday’s we rounded off our early season Masterclass Series with local fly fishing legend Fred Bainbridge.
We have been extremely fortunate to host Fred Bainbridge, Charles Jardine and Jim Curry in recent weeks, providing members with an opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the best in the business.
What have I learnt in the last 3 weeks?
I have copied a post from Fred on his Yorkshire Fly Fishing Services facebook page this morning, good to hear he’s planning to join us again for another session later this year!
Thank you Charles, Fred and Jim!
Yorkshire Fly Fishing Services – Facebook
I’m very fortunate to have established healthy and positive relationships with a number of clubs here in North Yorkshire.
Today I hosted a manageable group at the prestigious Tanfield Angling Club. TAC is a very special place indeed and steeped in angling history, it was also stomping ground of Francis Walbran.
Over the last few years I’ve developed a fabulous relationship with this club and also managed to drag my good friend ( kicking and screaming ) Charles Jardine ooop north to co host masterclass weekends here with me.
This season alone they have already drafted CJ up to conduct a workshop, former APAGI Master instructor and top all round guy, Jim Curry for a casting course and myself for a multi technique workshop today looking at three long range techniques for low water conditions plus a Euro booster as well… This is a really forward thinking club that recognise the benefits of having great teachers onboard – its not a club that drafts in ‘Barry from Brighton’ who thinks he knows what he’s doing…
The fish here are plentiful and in stunning condition – I managed several beautiful wild trout during my demos alone..
But on top of all that the atmosphere is simply superb, the members are fantastically open and friendly as are all of the committee and the river keeper, Robert cannot do enough to help and assist any members.
Former England Rugby legend, Nigel Melville is the new secretary and has done a fantastic job already… he’s a superb ambassador for the club.
It was great to meet the new chairman as well who hasn’t been able to fish much this season and even better to help get him onto a few fish in the afternoon.
Great day and I look forward to doing more with TAC possibly later in the season with CJ again.
As you’d expect TAC is fully subscribed but there is availability (although limited) to join its waiting list for the 2026/7 season.
Driven by two fundamentals: conservation of wild habitats and the key of presentation. Jeremy Lucas is known for his simplicity and minimalism which he refers to as the ‘ultimate refinement’. Cambridge science graduate, author of Presentation Fly-Fishing, Tactical Fly-Fishing and long standing England team member, Jeremy’s name is synonymous with light line fly fishing.
During the thirty years that I lived in Cumbria, fishing the Eden and the rivers of North Yorkshire, including the Ure, I had never fished on the Tanfield Angling Club waters. Thanks to the kind invitation of my friend Robert Russell, the Riverkeeper, a small group of friends and I enjoyed what each of us regard as the most wonderful of fly fishing experiences. We were stunned, frankly, by this beautiful stretch of river; the scenic splendour, the rich history and the quality of the fishing.
With water levels at an all time springtime low, after a devastatingly dry period in northern England, we might have expected to struggle. I know that on the Eden, we would have done, waiting for the ‘easy’ time of late afternoon when the trout become easy targets as they feed on spinners. Not so at West Tanfield. We fished very different areas. I started on Sturdy’s Stream (yes, really, that section most favoured by the original Riverkeeper, Tom Sturdy, of Sturdy’s Fancy fame).
With no hatch and nothing other than small fish breaking the surface, I fished duo style, with an Oppo dry fly and Hydropsyche caddis (the predominant caddis species on all northern rivers) on point. There was the immediate gratification of two lovely wild trout on the Hydro as I worked upstream. Soon I came to Staveley and, in the low water, I could wade out to the rapid on the far bank. This screamed fish to me. Fast water has the three essential requirements of salmonid species – oxygen, cover and food. And so it proved. There were grayling rising, as I approached, and also a few subtle rises on the periphery of the rapid that I knew were trout. There were midge in the air, along with grannom caddis and a few medium olives, but whatever the fish were taking was invisible to me.
In fast water, I favour a caddis style CDC pattern (#16/17) and switching to this as I waded into position, I made the first tentative casts. Staveley is now indelibly imprinted in my memory. Without moving my feet, I rose perhaps thirty fish, both grayling and trout, and netted a dozen. Note that this was springtime when grayling are out of season, but this is always the way on a mixed wild fishery when you will catch grayling even when targeting trout. With barbless hooks and soft netting, this does no harm to the grayling whatsoever. Remember that a feeding grayling is not a spawning grayling. Nonetheless, I needed to move on, and Robert offered me a ‘challenge’ that would greet me downstream.
Freshly tied caddis (#16) and a pair of my standard heron herl plume tips (#20)
The contrast was startling – smooth, slow water, with a well-defined foam lane towards the far bank. Cruising fish, which were obviously mostly trout. I felt that the big caddis was wrong. I extended the leader out to about 14’ and put on a size 21 plume tip. And they came, the trout, and a few grayling, by carefully placing the fly on the foam lane as the fish patrolled. Beautiful fish, these, and I might have stayed all afternoon with them, but for Robert’s alternative ideas.
He took me farther downstream, near the hatchery, where there were enormous trout cruising. Again a contrast. I continued with the long tippet and small plume tip, only to have ‘fresh air’ rises and a few pricked fish. Robert suggested the caddis again, so even though this looked too big to me on the calm surface, I did as I was bid. The result was immediate, in the form of a gorgeous 5lb plus trout, the biggest of the trip.
All my companions enjoyed fishing that they described as unbeatable, and we are still talking about it now, each yearning to return to Tanfield. Frankly, there is no trout and grayling water in England that offers so much to the fly fisher.
Jeremy Lucas is author of Fly Fisher, Tactical Fly Fishing and Presentation Fly Fishing.
