Sheffield River Don

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My first visit to the Don since November when a lovely Grayling was caught at Coopers Auto Breakers Bridge behind the Casino...Just up-river from the electricity sub station, alongside the factory..
We fish in some stunning scenery here in South Yorkshire !!

Same area to-day, river very low, relitively.
Just an hours fishing in the bright, cold sunshine, until my feet had gone numb in my waders ....
Not a bite, not a person in sight ....
Can only get better from here ..

Support S.P.R.I.T.E ... ( Sheffield Partnership for Rivers in Town Environments) .. bit long winded i know..
Brilliant group of people ...

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Season officialy started .. tenkara with olive flies from Tenkara USA and some similar flies from very nice man in North Wales ... 2nd season with a single pattern fly ..... last year was my best catch season ever for WBT ... long may it it continue !!
The River Don north of Sheffield is rubbish ... honestly ...keep away ..... don't waste your time ...

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A dry morning .. between the rain showers ...
One of my frankly childish attempts to tie a Kebari fly is on the water at Winn Gardens, River Don, for about 30 seconds when this lovely 8" WBT took the hook and was landed quickly and gently ... it still broke my landing net, but to be honest it's been repaired a few times before.
I actually caught a fish with one of my flies !!!
Local dogwalker watched me landing it and came for a chat.
Anyhow.
So off to Fishing Republic for a new scoop net.
£19.99 later i have a lovely wood net.
I am still searching for the right branch to make my own but this will suffice for now.
I'll put some pics on of the fish and net when i can remember how the picture loading works on this board.
Senior moments abound, bit like Splogeness. (70's punk where have you gone).

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Another lovely morning at the Don in Sheffield.
This is the first of 2 fish of the morning.
Taken on an Esoteric 360 Tenkara rod and a 7.2 metre line with a single green TUSA fly.
I usually try to minimise any handling of the fish, removing the hook while it is laid on the net, but this little one jumped off ther net but was swiftly put back in the water.
Spent 3 hours yesterday fishing down stream from Niagra Weir without success.
My fault, the only take of the day was when i was watching the heron downstream and i was too slow.
Still exploring this wonderful river.
Does anyone know who to contact to get permission/ tickets for the river above Oughtibridge ?

[Paul G]

You have to be a member of the South Yorks Salmon and Trout association and then to pay an additional subscription to join the Upper Don Fly Fishers (which is the fishing club run by that branch of the S&TA). You can move up the waiting list by attending working parties and the wait is currently 1 to 2 years on average.

[Deleted]

Thanks Paul.

[Paul G]

Nae bother

[Paul G]

Had literally 10 mins fishing on my way home today - was blessed with fish on 3rd and 5th casts and then a quick shuffle 50 yards downstream and another dozen casts resulted in a lovely fish of around a pound. All trout, all returned - then hot-footed back to the car and got home in time to do tea time with my young lad

Sweet

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0530 this morning.
Clear skies, warm sun and a hatch in progress around the pool above Niagra Weir.
No fish rising and water levels quite high.
Water was clear at the ciassons section of Winn Gardens but no fish taking this morning.
Fished for about an hour before setting off to work.


Has any one recently fished the Nursery Street section of the Don near the Wicker ?

[mspaddler]

On Wednesday 5th June I decided to fish 2 post industrial rivers the Holme in Huddersfield and the Don.   I had been on the Don at Oughtibridge a few days earlier and it was running very low and clear but when I got there in the afternoon it was fast, high (ish) and very dirty.   I foolishly had decided, because of the low water levels to wear thigh waders.  Mistake!  Landing the fish below necessitated a step too far and that was the end of my session on the Don.   Nice fish on a grey klinkhammer.   I was surprised to see fish rising at all as the water was so coloured.

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I had a bit of a mixed day on Friday !!!
I live just a mile from Thrybergh Resevoir, a noted Trout and Pike location.
You pay for your day ticket via a special parking machine.
£11 gets you 4 hours on this well stocked water.
I started fishing at 0600 hrs.
After 2 hours of fishing with conventional fly tackle i had lost the will to live.
Huge trout just rolling about the surface or jumping clear of the water , not interested in dry flies or buzzers... or my possibly low level skills ...lol.
I went down to Kilnhurst bridge ... £17 for the year, 2 miles of the Don, secure parking in 3 locations, plus a 2 acre lake in lovely surrounds.
Tenkara with a small beaded nymph, 2 fish in an hour !!!!!!!
Perch though. Nice perch..
You realise that all the "Tenkara style" stuff disapperes as the desire to actually catch something takes over.
I am not a Tenkara Fisherman.
I use a Tenkara rod to fish.
Very different.
And the way i will continue.

[mspaddler]

Well thank goodness the Rivers are coming down a little.  Went to the Don Tuesday another fabulous Autumn day.  My quest for the Grayling continues.   However, for some reason although I am hooking the ladies I'm not landing them.....  Two fine Grayling hooked and released at a distance.   The WBT in the Don came to hand(or net) freely.  Several nice OOS specimens caught and released to go about their business.  Saw two coarse anglers walking the bank and on my way back to the car stopped and chatted with Ray a senior fly fisherman sitting on the bank with a Tenkara Centre UK rod close at hand.  He had snatched an hour or so to fish on such a beautiful day.  No rises today all fish hooked on Nymphs mostly Pink Head or Pink Shrimp.  Lots of tangles with the trees almost always as a result of striking after catching the river bottom.   All fish were caught on 12ft Iwana.  I need more practice with the ESO 410 7:3 it didn't feel comfortable today, it may be that I'm too used to the 6:4 action of the Tenkara USA rods.
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[mspaddler]

Beautiful day on the Don on Sunday. It started out rubbish, (quite literally, see photo of one of 3 piles) when as volunteers from SPRITE we cleared a good section of the River bank and adjacent road. It is a shame to note that much of the rubbish we picked upl from the bank had been discarded by anglers, hundreds of beer cans and lots of empty luncheon meat tins. However, following the clean up I got to fish Tenkara with another SPRITE volunteer on the River and had a nice Grayling on my first cast. For me 4 more ladies were landed and one energetic trout, my companion ended up with 4. We both managed a fish on the dry, the successful fly was a size 22 Ffly, nothing else would do.

[phil]

Good job Brian, well deserved grayling for your efforts.

Phil

[mspaddler]

On the Don River system again today, with another SPRITE member.  He fished with a western rig and I fish with my Nissin 310-360.  We managed 20 between us and he did better than me but then it is his River!  I'm really liking the Nissin.

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