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A Day With Myddleton Angling Club

One aspect of the Grayling Society which is rarely mentioned but is always there, is the friendship (and fun) amongst many of the members.

I have noticed over recent years particularly whilst organizing the Symposium, that there are a good number of members who wish to sit near or next to and fish with their Grayling Society pals, even though they may not have seen them since the last do.

It is one aspect of clubs in general where like minds congregate that friendships are borne and flourish and is certainly true in the Society. The 'Derby Boys', for example, with Roger Walker occupy one Symposium Dinner table each year and, last year, it was good to see a new party of six including our new Area Secretary
Ian elford, from the West Country, who made up another table.

Recently I was invited by Steve Rhodes to a get together of some Yorkshire faces, most of whom I had not seen for some time on the lovely stretch of the Wharfe, just above Ilkley, where Myddleton Angling Club has a 3 mile stretch. It borders a short section of an 82 mile Dales Way to Bowness in the Lake district.

It was good to bump into John Davison, the Myddleton Club President, from whom I took over as Editor of the Journal some 20 odd years ago, and be introduced to Steve Garner, the Club Secretary.

Bacon butties, provided by Brian Clarke eaten, we set off for the river. The deadly twosome, Ade Bristow and john Roberts eagerly set off to their favourite spot whilst I then spent a pleasant few hours with the two Steves and Chris Lythe, the centrepin craftsman, watching him catch the first grayling, and then perfecting some long distance releases. Being the new boy and only armed with fly tackle I went with Steve Garner to a new stretch at the top of their beat, where the river was more suitable for fly gear.

The high wind got the better of me so I went off to do some exploring of the beats. The Club has invested in a beautiful watercolour map which can be downloaded from the Club website and is excellent in pointing out all the named parts of the Club’s waters. However, I wish that I had read the Wild Trout Trust report on the fishery as it also pointed out some areas of the stretches which I did not get the chance to visit.

The forecast of rain and high winds did not lend itself to flyfishing, but it turned not to be as bad as the forecast, and a good number of Grayling were caught, all on trotting gear.

All in all I spent a very pleasant few hours spent in the company of fellow fishermen. I didn’t catch (but I didn’t lose any flies) but I was amongst fellow anglers who I had known for several years through the Society and as they say “There’s more to fishing than catching fish.” 

Rod Calbrade - Symposium Coordinator
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