The club
The Appletreewick, Barden and Burnsall Angling Club was founded in 1873 and was originally known as “The Burnsall Angling Club”, membership then was limited to 30 with an annual subscription of £1.00 plus a £1.00 entry fee. After more than 140 years The Appletreewick Barden and Burnsall Angling Club still remains one of the premier fly fishing clubs in the Yorkshire Dales and controls over six miles of some of the very best fly fishing on the River Wharfe. The Club is still often referred to as “The Burnsall Angling club” or abbreviated to the “ABBAC”.
For many years the Club has also leased the fishing rights on the 57 acre Lower Barden Reservoir which is well stocked with top quality and often sizeable Rainbow and Blue trout. The reservoir boasts two excellent fishing huts which afford some welcome shelter on those less than clement days.
Many of the leading “North Country” angling masters of the past were members of the Club, these included Harfield H. Edmonds and Norman N. Lee authors of the classic “Brook and River Trouting” published in 1916 and Reg V. Righyni author of “Grayling” published in 1968. More recently in 1994 the late Leslie Magee published “Fly Fishing – The North Country Tradition” a definitive work on the history of fly fishing in the north of England.
The Club enjoys many long standing relationships with the local farmers and riparian owners including the Duke of Devonshire the Clubs President.
To this day The Appletreewick, Barden and Burnsall Angling Club remains one of the most prestigious and well respected angling clubs in the north of England.
