does anyone know of any stretches of river in the north east of england that can be fished on the fly ? i'm looking for somewhere local to durham and also must be easy on the pocket ? (times are hard you know)

Try the free stretch of the Wear at Durham, which goes from the ice rink down to Kepier Farm, or thereabouts.

Other than that, well, pretty much every river in the North East is actively fly-fished, so you're not short of choice! Durham City AC and Ferryhill AC both have plenty of water close to the city for about fifty quid a year, so I'd be tempted to start there.

thanks for your help, i am not sure where kelper farm is though i suppose i'll just have to go have a look, i honestly dont know of any other rivers around county durham though, are there any near to derwent ? also does anyone know anything about the river at chester - le - street ?

just had a look on google earth, is kepier farm the same place as kepier hospital on the corner of the river ? is it really free ? can i just go and fish whenever i like ? sorry for all the questions but i didn't think you could fly fish so close to durham city, also someone has mentioned a free stretch at chester le street ? can anyone confirm this, i have family at crichton ave at c-l-s and they have rights to fish. its a shame i cant get in with the fly rod though for the trees

Well Derwent Reservoir got its name from the River Derwent which runs in and out of it.
This is the website for the river Derwent club
http://www.derwentangling.co.uk

Hmm, don't know about that. If you look at the OS bit of Multimap though, Kepier Farm is marked pretty clearly.

It is and you can, seasons permitting. It's not a bad bit of water either, by all accounts. There's not miles of it, and you're going to be sharing it with dog walkers and all manner of knackers, but for nothing, you can't really complain. I know there's a bit you can't fish though, but I'm not 100% sure which bit exactly! Apparently, it's clearly marked though, so you should be OK. Maybe one of the local tackle shops would have the most up to date info about this.

I don't know about any free water at Chester-le-Street, but then again, I don't know it that well. Chester-le-Street AC control most if not not all of the fishing upstream from the town centre, I believe.

There's the River Derwent. Derwent AA at the top and Derwent Valley and Axwell Park AA at the bottom. Day tickets available for both stretches. And a very nice little river too, for brownies and grayling.

many thanks chaps, as long as this rain clears up i'm going to have a bash at durham on friday.
thanks again

I'm pretty sure there's a small free stretch at Barnard Castle too, which may or not be convenient for you, depending on whereabouts in County Durham you are. Ask at Wilkinson's for the exact location.

barnard castle is very handy, i pass through that way regularly,though i live near c-l-s. once again thanks for all the help

If you go through Barnard Castle, then it's definitely worth dropping into Wilkinson's and picking his brains. I think Barnard Castle AC is residents only, but they might well do reasonably priced day tickets. And just up the river a bit, there's some cracking day ticket fishing from Middleton up to High Force.

There's also Scarth Hall Angling Club, but I don't know the slightest thing about them apart from them just turning up on the same Google search as Barnard Castle Angling Club! Where on earth is Scarth Hall?