County guide
Fly Fishing in Northamptonshire
3 bookable beats 1 river 2 fisheries
2 beats sell day tickets
You can book a day rod without joining a club or syndicate.
Trout season 28 Feb – 31 Dec
Each beat sets its own dates, and every listing carries them.
1 club or syndicate
Membership water in Northamptonshire, some with day tickets alongside.
About fly fishing in Northamptonshire
We list three waters in Northamptonshire, two trout stillwaters and one river beat, and that is only part of the county. Pitsford Water is an Anglian Water Parks reservoir fished from bank and boat, fly only, for stocked rainbow and brown trout. The season opens at the end of February. Day permits are £40 for eight fish plus catch and release, £34 for four, or £28 for a zero kill sporting permit, with season permits from £720 to £1,330. Anglian sells the same permits across its reservoirs. Boats are £32 for a day, and the anglers’ map closes part of the water to fishing through the winter.
Elinor Trout Fishery is a family run, spring fed limestone lake of 50 acres at Aldwincle, near Kettering, with one and a half miles of bank and a fleet of boats. It is fly only and stocked most weeks. Tickets go by fish limit: £37 for six fish plus catch and release, £31 for four, £25 for catch and release all day, or £12 for a sunset ticket for one fish. It is closed in August, and day tickets are paid for on the day by cash or bank transfer, with no card facility.
The river beat is members’ water. Guash Fishing Club has about a mile and a half of the Welland at Harringworth, a spate river holding wild brown trout, and membership is limited to 130 with applications taken each January. It suits an angler after a stocked-water day ticket, or one willing to join a club.
Four ways into Northamptonshire
Most people arrive here with one of these four questions. Pick the one that sounds like yours.
Where to fly fish in Northamptonshire
Every beat and fishery we list in the county, plotted against the boundary. Click a river to read what that stretch is like.
Fly fishing rivers in Northamptonshire
Every river we list in Northamptonshire, busiest first.
Day ticket fly fishing in Northamptonshire
Browse all 3 beatsDay tickets and permits on Northamptonshire's rivers. Each listing includes pricing, species, and booking details.
Fish species in Northamptonshire
What the beats above hold, and where else in England you can fish for the same species.
Three different kinds of operator, and most visitors want the first. A fishery or estate owns the water and sells you a day on it. A club or syndicate holds water for its members, sometimes with day tickets alongside. A guide or agent sells days on water somebody else owns, and often comes with you.
Fisheries and estate waters in Northamptonshire
Fishery operators taking bookings on Northamptonshire's rivers. Each listing covers tickets, accommodation, and equipment hire where available.
Clubs and syndicates in Northamptonshire
Membership bodies holding water in Northamptonshire. Some sell day tickets alongside membership, others are members-only, and a few run a waiting list.
Fly fishing guides and booking agents in Northamptonshire
Agents selling day tickets and guides running days on Northamptonshire's beats.
Finding fly fishing near you in Northamptonshire
The map above plots Northamptonshire's beats and fisheries against the county boundary, so you can see roughly how far a stretch is rather than just its name on a list. Tap a marker for a quick read on price and species before you go further. If you're weighing this county against somewhere else, or want to see every day-ticket beat in the country at once, the full beat map covers all of them.
A day ticket is usually a half day or a full day on the water, so it's worth weighing the drive against how much fishing you'll actually get out of it. A longer trip makes more sense for a full day than for two or three hours in the afternoon.
For scale, the River Welland rises near Hothorpe Hills, Sibbertoft, Northamptonshire. Beats sit further downstream from there, not at the source itself. The map above is the more exact guide to which stretch is closest to you.
Fly fishing lessons and tuition in Northamptonshire
FishingBeats doesn't list fly fishing schools or dedicated instructors: the agents and guides above are the ones selling day tickets and guided days on Northamptonshire's beats. Some may be willing to teach alongside a day out even where it isn't sold as a separate product, so it's worth asking rather than assuming either way. That's a different thing from starting from scratch, though: a guided day generally assumes you can already cast, where a lesson teaches the cast itself, and most UK fly fishing lessons for that begin on a stillwater rather than a river. How tuition, guided days and courses fit together is covered on the agents page. Once you can put a fly out, easy beats rated for a first visit or beats where you can arrange a ghillie are a reasonable next step, and a few beginner-friendly beats to start on is worth reading before you book.
FAQ
Northamptonshire fly fishing FAQs
The questions people ask before booking a day in Northamptonshire, answered from what we actually list.
01Is all the fly fishing in Northamptonshire private?
02When is the fly fishing season in Northamptonshire?
03Which Northamptonshire river should I fish first?
04Do I need a rod licence to fish in Northamptonshire?
Worth a read
Fly fishing in other counties
Nearest first, measured from where Northamptonshire's fishing actually is rather than from the county town.
3 bookable beats
Across 1 river
