Windward Fishing Club

WE fish in wild places

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Rods up. Phones down. Go somewhere wild.

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Windward Fishing Club is our expedition programme for young anglers who want more than a day on the local loch. We take small groups of Young Rods to some of the wildest water on the planet. They fish alongside local guides and live with the people who call those places home. They come back with stories, skills and a connection to the natural world that lasts a lifetime.

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Every expedition takes a small group of 6–8 Young Rods aged 15–19.

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Why we fish in wild places

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Because wild places change people.

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Most young people today grow up a long way from wild water. Their days are indoors, scheduled and on a screen. They know a lot about the world but have spent very little time in it. We think that’s a real loss, and we built Windward Fishing Club to do something about it.

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Fishing is the way in, but it isn’t the whole point. A rod gives a young person a reason to stand in a river for hours. That’s long enough to notice the hatch coming off, the heron working the shallows and the light changing on the water. Fishing teaches patience, because the fish won’t be rushed. It teaches you to read the land, because you can’t catch what you don’t understand. It teaches humility, because the river doesn’t care who you are. Slowly, and without anyone preaching, it builds a real relationship with the natural world.

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Growth from the ground up

Out there, the usual labels fall away. Nobody cares about your grades, your postcode or what happened at school last week. What counts is whether you’ll carry your share, help pitch the tent in the rain and keep going when the fishing’s slow. Young people discover they’re more capable than they thought. They learn they can be cold, tired and far from home and still be okay, and that they can look after others as well as themselves.

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This is the heart of how Windward works. Our approach is person-centred and trauma-informed. We meet each young person where they are and give them real responsibility, real challenge and the support to rise to it. Wild places do a lot of the teaching. Our job is to create the conditions and then get out of the way.

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From connection to care

You protect what you love, and you love what you know. Imagine a young person who has watched Atlantic salmon run the Miramichi, cast to wild trout in the Kenyan highlands, or seen Arctic char rise at midnight in Lapland. They don’t need convincing that those places matter. They’ve felt it.

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On every expedition, Young Rods learn about the pressures these rivers face: declining salmon runs, climate change, habitat loss, and the communities whose lives depend on healthy water. They meet the guides, ghillies, hatchery teams and landowners working to protect them. They practise catch-and-release and learn why it matters. They come home with the knowledge, and more importantly the feeling, that these places are worth fighting for.

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The next generation of guardians

The wild places we fish will only be there for future generations if someone cares enough to protect them. We believe that should be today’s young people. The best way to make a conservationist isn’t a lecture. It’s a week on a wild river with a rod in their hand.

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Our Expeditions

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Canada 26: The Miramichi Exchange

Blackville, New Brunswick · 10–17 October 2026

The Miramichi is one of the world’s legendary Atlantic salmon rivers, and our Young Rods are fishing it this October. It’s a true exchange with BHS Outdoors. Students live with Canadian host families and fish private salmon pools with local guides. They also paddle a two-day, 27km wilderness canoe expedition down the Cains River, camping beside the salmon pools.

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Beyond salmon, they’ll chase striped bass on the fly in the Striper Cup, tie flies, tour a salmon hatchery and call moose on the Dungarvon. The trip also counts towards their NPA Angling and the Aquatic Environment qualification.