The Birdsgrove Fly Fishing Club

A warm welcome to the website of The Birdsgrove Fly Fishing Club.

We fish for Brown Trout and Grayling on the River Dove just to the West and South West of Ashbourne where the river forms the county boundary between Derbyshire and Staffordshire.

Charles Cotton made the river Dove famous in his writings about his friend Izaac Walton. Our club began its life around 1875 with a small group of friends fishing the water of the Birdsgrove House Estate in Mayfield and that of the owner of Alrewas Mill below Hanging Bridge. Today the Club owns and leases approximately 6 miles of mainly double bank fishing to which the current membership in the 50s enjoy exclusive access. 

The responsibility of the Committee of Management is to continue the Club’s proud and long standing tradition for stewardship of the quality of life within the river and its environment, to fulfil the fishing expectations of its members and to uphold the principles of the Club. Invertebrate monitoring as part of the Riverfly Partnership initiative has been conducted by members since 2009 together with the more recent monthly water quality testing project in partnership with the Angling Trust.