County guide
Fly Fishing in Staffordshire
7 bookable beats 4 rivers 1 fishery
1 beat sells day tickets
You can book a day rod without joining a club or syndicate.
The River Dove has the most beats
3 to choose from, the easiest place to find a day at short notice.
2 clubs and syndicates
Membership water in Staffordshire, some with day tickets alongside.
About fly fishing in Staffordshire
Staffordshire on FishingBeats is seven waters, and we list only part of the county. Six are members’ club water on the Dove, the Churnet and the Hamps. The seventh is a stillwater near Norbury, and it is the one place here where a visitor can simply buy a day.
For most of its course the Dove is the boundary between Staffordshire and Derbyshire. It is spring fed and runs over limestone, through a Site of Special Scientific Interest at Dovedale. Leek and District Fly Fishing Association fishes three and a half miles through Dovedale, about three miles of the upper river between Ludwell and Crowdecote, and about a mile of the lower Dove and Churnet. The upper Dove is narrower, with brown trout the association calls wary, and it suggests a 7 to 8 foot rod and a 3 to 4 weight line. On the Churnet, Lord’s Bridge is about three quarters of a mile of small, riffled, wadeable river with brown trout, grayling and a good mayfly hatch. The Hamps, a small trout stream running into the Manifold, is lightly fished.
None of the association’s water sells day tickets. Joining is through a paid waiting list, which the association puts at about three years. Members can bring a guest for £20 a day or £30 for two days, with one guest per member per day and six a season. Ellastone, on the Staffordshire bank of the Dove, is different in kind. It is 500 yards held by Derby Railway Angling Club, limited to two rods a day and booked in advance. It needs the club’s full Trout and Coarse membership, and the club sells no day tickets on any of its water.
Loynton Trout Fisheries has three spring fed lakes on the Loynton Estate, twelve acres in all, stocked with rainbow, blue and brown trout. It is open seven days a week from 8am, with no booking needed. A catch and release ticket is £30, and tickets for 1, 2 or 3 fish are £35, £40 and £45. Once you have killed the fish on your ticket you can carry on with catch and release, but brown trout must always be returned. It is fly only, with barbless or de-barbed hooks and a maximum of two flies.
It suits a visitor wanting a day on a trout lake, or an angler ready to apply to a club and wait for a place on the Dove.
Four ways into Staffordshire
Most people arrive here with one of these four questions. Pick the one that sounds like yours.
Where to fly fish in Staffordshire
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 Staffordshire
Every river we list in Staffordshire, busiest first.
Day ticket fly fishing in Staffordshire
Browse all 7 beatsDay tickets and permits on Staffordshire's rivers. Each listing includes pricing, species, and booking details.
River Dove
Ellastone
On enquiry 1–2 rods
Loynton Trout Fisheries
Loynton Lakes
£30 per rod
River Dove
Dovedale, Leek and District Fly Fishing Association
On enquiry
River Churnet
Lord’s Bridge, Churnet, Leek and District Fly Fishing Association
On enquiry
River Churnet
Lower Dove and Churnet, Leek and District Fly Fishing Association
On enquiry
River Dove
Upper Dove, Leek and District Fly Fishing Association
On enquiry
River Hamps
River Hamps, Leek and District Fly Fishing Association
On enquiry
Fish species in Staffordshire
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 Staffordshire
Fishery operators taking bookings on Staffordshire's rivers. Each listing covers tickets, accommodation, and equipment hire where available.
Clubs and syndicates in Staffordshire
Membership bodies holding water in Staffordshire. Some sell day tickets alongside membership, others are members-only, and a few run a waiting list.
Finding fly fishing near you in Staffordshire
The map above plots Staffordshire'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 Dove rises near Axe Edge Moor, near Buxton, Peak District, and the River Churnet rises near Staffordshire Moorlands, near the Roaches. 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.
FAQ
Staffordshire fly fishing FAQs
The questions people ask before booking a day in Staffordshire, answered from what we actually list.
01Is all the fly fishing in Staffordshire private?
02Which Staffordshire river should I fish first?
03Do I need a rod licence to fish in Staffordshire?
Worth a read
Fly fishing in other counties
Nearest first, measured from where Staffordshire's fishing actually is rather than from the county town.
7 bookable beats
Across 4 rivers
