Birdsgrove Fly Fishing Club

Birdsgrove Fly Fishing Club fishes six miles of the River Dove around Ashbourne, on the border between Derbyshire and Staffordshire. The club’s water runs from the old railway bridge supports at the bottom of the Temple water up to the boundary with the Okeover Estate, with a few short stretches in between where the club has no rights. The river here holds brown trout and grayling. Fishing has been fly only since the club started, going back to around 1875, when mill owner Morton Bond and a group of friends founded it as the Birdsgrove Fishing Club, named after the Birdsgrove Estate on the Staffordshire bank above Hanging Bridge.

This is a different stretch of the Dove from the water held by Derby Railway Angling Club and Derbyshire County Angling Club further along the river. Birdsgrove’s beats are mainly double bank, and access is by membership only; there is no day ticket on offer here.

Membership currently runs to around fifty rods. Joining costs a one-off fee plus an investment in loan stock, on top of an annual subscription to cover the club’s running costs, though none of these figures are published. There is a waiting list, and the current anticipated wait is not published either. Anyone interested should use the contact form on the club’s website to reach the Membership Secretary, who will send an application form along with the membership details and the current wait.