River Wharfe · access
Yorkshire Dales, England, United Kingdom · United Kingdom
- Burnsall / GrassingtonThe classic dale water; day tickets from the village shop at Grassington.
- Bolton AbbeyEstate water with a day ticket and a beautiful but busy stretch.
- Boston Spa / WetherbyLower river with deeper water and bigger grayling; coarse fish appear in summer.
Licence and rules
Licence and rules. An Environment Agency rod licence covers England and Wales and applies from 13 years old. On the Wharfe, most fishing is club water or day ticket; the Wharfedale and Bradford clubs control long stretches and sell day tickets locally. The critical date for a visitor is the grayling close season: grayling fishing stops on 15 March and reopens on 16 June, which is the opposite of the trout season.
Season
Trout 3 April to 30 September; grayling 16 June to 14 March, which makes winter the local season
Flow
100–600 cfs; the upper dale can rise a metre in six hours after rain
The upper Wharfe is steep and drains limestone, so it rises fast and clears fast: a heavy shower can put a metre on it in six hours and it can be fishable again the next morning. Winter spates are frequent but short, which is why grayling anglers here watch the gauge rather than the forecast. Below Wetherby the river is slower and more affected by long periods of rain.