Can the lure of fly-fishing reel in a new generation?

The long Washburn Valley to the west of Harrogate is filled with a chain of four reservoirs, most of them collecting the rainwater that is eventually piped into the homes and offices of Leeds.

Built by the Victorians to end the city's sometimes fatal dependence on the sewage-carrying RIver Aire, they look today as natural as any lake in Britain.

Here you find fishermen who wade in the shallower depths casting flies with names like "Daddy Long Legs" and – a particular local favourite – "Boobie". Most days of the year they are at Swinsty and Fewston, two big reservoirs which are regularly restocked with rainbow trout. And when night comes so do the poachers, many of them, it appears, immigrants from Eastern Europe who have brought with them a culture of free catch-and-eat they learned on their rivers and lakes back home.

Peter Solomon, a fishing warden at the reservoirs, often finds them there, avoiding the 18.30 full-day ticket sold by Yorkshire Water. He sends them on their way, although occasionally he has to call the police out from Pateley Bridge when the poachers suggest he might like to go for a swim.

Tall and lean, Peter is a familiar sight in the Washburn Valley and seems to know most of the legitimate fishermen by name. A former policeman, nothing escapes his attention, whether it's a telltale empty can of sweetcorn used as scatter bait by poachers and then discarded, or which parts of the reservoirs are best for fishing at different times of the year. But in recent years he's noticed something new, and something which may in the long term have an effect on fishing here Fewer youngsters are turning up with fishing gear to buy a concessionary ticket and spend a day casting flies.

"It's mostly retired people we get coming here during the week, and even on Saturdays and Sundays it's rare to find any kids. That's a great pity because when young people do come as part of an organised group to let them have a taste of fly-fishing they really enjoy it."

One reason, he believes, is that parents now take health and safety issues more seriously than previous generations and might think a big sheet of water is a risky proposition for their children. But, actually, he says, it's perfectly safe.

"Other than traffic on the roads, I don't think things are any worse than they used to be. I used to clear off fishing for hours on end when I was a kid and my mum and dad never bothered."

Certainly, on a random visit to Fewston Reservoir there isn't a fisherman below the age of 50. Tony Kirby, a retired property valuer from Otley, is 71, is typical.

"There is potentially a problem here for the future," he says. "I think if young people don't come into fly-fishing the reservoirs might not be stocked to the same extent in years ahead. I'd hate to think I was one of a dying breed." On the other side of Fewston, a father and son stand a short distance from each other in the water, casting flies. Their story perhaps explains the lack of youngsters. Nick Betts, 38, is from Harrogate and his father, Nigel, 67, lives in Keighley.

"My dad started taking me fishing on the Leeds-Liverpool canal when I was ten years old, so that's how I got into it.

"I've now got a son who's twelve, but despite me badgering him to come fishing with me he's just not interested. He'd rather stay at home and play with his Xbox video games."

Nick rejects the idea that fly-fishing is too expensive for youngsters. He likes to tell people how he got an 11-pounder rainbow trout from Fewston with a rod that "cost fifteen quid on eBay" while the guy next to him on the shore was fishing with thousands of pounds worth of gear and yet caught nothing.

Fishing at Swinsty and Fewston is free for under-16s with an adult and under 12s can fish for free without the need to be accompanied.

Alistair Harvey, Yorkshire Water's recreation manager, says they are looking at ways to turn things round. Some fly-fishing classes for under-16s will be arranged, with rods available to borrow. And special "father-and-son" days are being planned for next spring. "Fifty years back that's how people got into fishing. They went with their dads and their interest was built up from that. These are our future customers, so we want to attract them."

Rural transport is much more restricted now than it used to be. The reservoirs of the Washburn Valley are poorly served by buses, effectively making them out of reach from nearby places like Leeds and Bradford unless parents are prepared to act as taxi drivers, dropping off and collecting later. Steve Chambers, the Environment Agency's regional fisheries specialist, says, "Obviously, it's down to sociologists to say why the father-child relationship has changed as far as fishing is concerned.

"People's lifestyles are different to how they were even a decade ago. For kids, these days it's now more likely to be a case of if your friend goes fishing then you go along with him and the parents aren't involved."

Environment Agency figures show that last season 12,300 junior rod licences were sold in Yorkshire, an increase of nine per cent on the previous year. But this increase seems wholly in relation to coarse fishing on rivers, canals and privately run fishing ponds. In the Washburn Valley, it's no consolation that youngsters prefer fishing for perch and roach in canals than learning the art of fly-fishing.

The Environment Agency went back to check on youngsters who had attended fishing awareness days in the region and found that 83 per cent of those who had taken part would continue fishing if they had the opportunity.

"It's a completely different experience fishing for trout," says Peter Solomon. "Once people try it, they're hooked."

Washburn Valley fishery day ticket 18.30, concession 15.30; evening ticket 13.20; winter day ticket 15.30; season ticket 357, concessionary 296.