Town dwellers can get hooked on urban fishing

Fishing is often viewed as a country sport, but a new book by a river restoration expert and fly-fisher has revealed 50 places in the UK where you can catch fish such as trout a short walk from a town or city centre High Street.

Theo Pike is chairman of the environmental charity the Wandle Trust and author of Trout in Dirty Places. He says he wrote the book to address the perception that urban rivers are drains and sources of contagion and disease.

With many people living in towns and cities, Pike says urban fishing requires little equipment and its proximity to houses and places of work provides many advantages to fishing in rural areas.
A fish in the River Wandle Chub, eel and trout can be found in the River Wandle


Pike's local river, the River Wandle in south London, is a tributary of the River Thames and has historically suffered from heavy pollution.

But in 2010, the Environment Agency listed the Wandle as one of the 10 most improved rivers and it now has eel, chub, grayling and trout among the aquatic life in its waters.