Fishing Holidays in Yorkshire

Yorkshire's Best Fishing Spots and Where to Find Them

Grab your angling tackle and take your spot at Yorkshire's still lakes, freshwater rivers, and coastlines, all brimming with fish! While the backcountry might seem par for the course for most anglers, there's a wide range of fishing adventures. Get ready to cast a line, and be sure to check the weather beforehand.

The Top Fishing Destinations in Yorkshire

You will be spoilt for choice if you are planning a fishing holiday in Yorkshire. Take on different types of angling from coarse, pike, predator, and carp fishing. Sea fishing for salmon and trout is available in North and East Yorkshire. Confirm if you are allowed to fish in certain places, in case you need to buy permits or tickets in advance.

The River Wharfe

Known for quality fish and outstanding scenery, Wharfe runs 60 miles (97 kilometres) from Beckermonds though lovely dales to River Ouse in Cawood. Arguably the quaintest river in Yorkshire, the river is excellent for fly fishing with some grayling and a good stock of brown trout. Access the best fly fishing from various clubs that offer day tickets. One of the favourite spots is Bolton Abbey Estate.
Raygill Lakes, Lothersdale

Settled on some old quarries, the 4 Raygill fishing lakes are home to enormous trout, rainbow, pike, and coarse fish. You can access the lakes through Colne and Skipton towns. Wildlife lovers rejoice! Raygill Lakes offer more than just fish. The landscape is a bit rugged and has been taken over by birdlife. Most of the fish have grown in these lakes from fingerling so they have superb colouration and fins.
Scarborough Harbour

Take to the sea on a boat from Scarborough Harbour piers. The Marine Drive is commonly used for rock angling and boat fishing. New anglers and kids should try west pier where the main catches are mackerel, whiting, billet, and codling. Here, bait for boat and rock angling are usually lugworm and mussel.
Helwith Bridge Fly Fishery

The waters here are crystal clear and still. It is one of the few places that offer fly fishing group events, and you can even enrol in Spey casting lessons. A 30-foot spring-fed lake is well stocked with rainbow, blue, brown, and golden trout weighing 2 to 14 lbs. Locals use sedges, damsels, hawthorns, red flies, blue flies, and daddies to fly fish.
Malham Tarn

'The forgotten tarn' is a natural lake; extremely beautiful yet, as the name suggests, relatively unknown. It is one of the only 8 alkaline lakes in Europe. You can only fly fish from a boat here, and the outcomes are great. Capture perch and brown trout, but make sure to release your catches back into the water of this nature preserve. Anglers are required to have a license from the Environmental Rod Agency.