Im off up north on the 8th and have been searching for places to fish (Still,waters, ressies etc. etc.). One thing that i've noticed is how lucky you northerners are with day ticket prices! There looks to be some lovely places but i'm just after a bit of local knowledge on somewhere within about 40 miles of leeds city centre that has great fishing and beautiful surroundings that me and the missus can have a nice day out at Billing Dam looks like a good big fish water but maybe not so scenic and Walton Hall looks like it could be a good'un but it's really quite hard to tell from internet pictures so any advice would be muchly appreciated....

Thanks

charlie.

I would not go to Billings Dam, hard to fish with loads of weed and trees about, 2 fish per day max if you are lucky.
Marane lakes near Wetherby is good imo, 4 small lakes to choose fron in nice surroundings and only £9 for 6hrs c&r, they have a website.
Raygill near keighley is supposed to be ok but have never fished it.
Walton Hall has nice surroundings but cannot comment on the fishing.
Kilnsey trtout farm is nice in the Dales, 2 well stocked small lakes, but Marane is nicer, not as well stocked but I have not blanked there yet and have only been fly fishing a few months and had 6 trips there as its only 30 mins away from home, that comment will have blighted my next trip

David

Walton Hall is (or was when I fished it last, over 5 years ago) a lovely fishery, providing that is that the weed is under control. Its a shallow fishery, with a rich muddy bottom so the weed can be bad, if it has not been cut back. Should be better now as we are in to Autumn. You have to fish from a boat, but its easy boat fishing and the lake is very pretty, the fish are great scrappers to.

Raygill is excellent, very accessible and you can pay by the hour, so if the fishing is slow or the weather nasty, you can pack up early. The surroundings are a bit less picturesque being a hole in the ground, as the water is in a disused quarry. However to make up for this the quality and quantity of fish can hardly be surpassed and the welcome to the fishery is always friendly and helpful.

If you want a bigger water, try the Washburn resovoirs, although fishing has been hard of late, with such low water, the two waters you can fish (3 if you go before the brown trout season ends) are very good value for money. I had an 8 lber out from Fewston last week, my best fish to date from there, so I can only recommend a visit.

Have a look at Helwith Bridge Fly Fishery just North of Settle, Fly Fishing Yorkshire Dales. Helwith Bridge Fly Fishery. it's an old slate quarry, spring fed, no weed, well stocked, the fish fight well, the scenery's great - good view of Pen-y-Ghent.
Kilnsey's nice, manicured,posh cafe on site, Walton Hall had a lot of weed in it 6 weeks ago, and Maran Lakes are good, but your wife might baulk at the less than pristine toilets.

She's not my wife yet

Helwith bridge looks like a winner! That looks perfect. Thank you sir! Have you any tips on whats working at the mo?

Thanks very much to everyone that replied, much appreciated.

I had a good day 2 weeks ago fishing a buzzer static suspended below a bright yellow blob on a 12 ft leader on a floating line. Have a great day, and the pub at the entrance to the fishery has good beer too

There's a pub at the entrance? Perfect! I was wondering how far i'd have to go for a beer

How deep were you fishing the buzzer? Can't work out if you mean you had a 12 foot leader with the buzzer at a different depth.

Cheers.

Hi Charlie, the buzzer was on the tippet 12 foot down, the blob was at about nine foot down, my mate's buzzer was at about nine foot down and he caught a good few too. Gareth

Cheers for that Gareth. I'm really looking forward to fishing here

We've been to many of the places in Yorkshire so have a nose around the site to look for ideas, done write-ups on Helwith, Maran, Washburn etc, hopefully you'll find some useful info for whichever fishery you visit.

Yorkshire Fly Fishing, a guide to fly fishing for trout in yorkshire

Bob