Sheffield River Don

[springerman]

JP, Well done.

I look forward to the results.

Ian.

[daves]

We had a great day thanks JP.

To be honest we spent a lot of time talking & playing with Sakasa Kebaris fished with subtle animation very close to the surface in shallow runs which was undoubtedly not the best approach on the day.

Also as you say, on heavily fished waters it can help to fish fly patterns that the fish have never seen before or to fish something that is a close imitation of ant natural food that the fish are actively feeding on. On my local still water which is only stocked very infrequently it can be essential to fish dry flies in sizes 26 & smaller when the rainbows are surface feeding.

I really liked the water & hope to get there again. I don't mind challenging fishing: much of my local fishing is too easy & in such situations you don't learn much from a day's fishing.

Dave

[mspaddler]

Down in Sheffield for the South Yorkshire of the Salmon & Trout Association meeting with a lecture from Stuart Crofts.   Last month when I did this I stayed in Sheffield and fished my way home, this month I decided I'd better take the wife.  So we stayed overnight in the city centre and I fished for an hour right outside the hotel.  Fantastic, 6 small but beautifully formed grayling to hand all on a very bright pink shrimp.  The hotel staff did look a little askance as I walked though the hotel foyer with my waders on!  I also impressed 2 young Asian women who though I was a creature from the deep as I climbed out of the river at the end of my session.  They were astonished to know that there were trout and grayling slap bang in the heart of Sheffield.  When we left this morning the river had gone down to an even more fishable level but alas no more fishing for me as I had promised to take the good lady to the Peak District....Beautiful day in Derbyshire with a massive lunch in the Farm Shop Restaurant at Chatsworth
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[springerman]

Well done mspaddler. Sounds like you had a great time.

[mspaddler]

I was on the River in the City Centre, one last time before we head to Florida for a few weeks.   Justification for staying the night in Holiday Inn Express Fishing Resort was two fold.  I took my wife to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, which as always was spectacular and went to a great presentation on Trout in the Town from Paul G.   As to be expected, Paul puts on an extremely informative 'show' which was enjoyed by all.  

Last Grayling of he current season starts was one of half a dozen caught on a pink head nymph using my Nissin rod.  I have now caught dozen or so Grayling in the city centre, on two outings.  Interestingly they have all been young ones, nothing over 8 inches so good news for the future.

[daves]

Nice to see somewhere where there are young grayling. Let's hope that cormorants never take a liking to city life!!!

[Paul G]

I think the locals would probably deep fry them (the cormorants not the grayling).
Joking aside ive seen more goosander than cormorants in the city. They've certainly had an impact, and one that was more pronounced after the dredging and vegetation removal following 2007 floods. Other areas not targeted by those channel works seemed to fare better - apart from swims heavily fished by bait anglers with setups that favoured deep-hooking of fish

[dbl]

I may be staying with friends in Sheffield during the summer. Does anyone know if the city centre Don is free fishing or club controlled?

[mspaddler]

Hi Guy Free fishing in the city centre, if you wander upstream towards Hillsborough you might want to make a donation to SPRITE

www.sheffieldsprite.com/index.asp?slevel=0z0z142&parent_id=142

[dbl]

Thanks,Mspaddler, for the info and for the link to Sprite. What a great project!

[mspaddler]

S.P.R.I.T.E Sunday working on habitat improvement work in the Bassets area, great bunch of guys who care about the River.  Of course after the work an opportunity to fish.  I fished locally.   Talk about your urban fishing, motor racing at the stadium, dirt bikes up and down the lane, dogs swimming and finally a bunch of teenagers lurking under a bridge.  However, I did pick up 5 WBT on various flies.  The largest, see below, fell to a silver head nymph, one to a pink head nymph, 2 to a PTN and finally the last to a Klink.  I'm not good at entomology! but there was a small hatch of the beast on my hand (sorry about the focus) and a few rises hence I tried K&D after fishing with 2 nymphs.  On reflection I think the WBT in the photo is probably the biggest fish I have caught on the Don.  I used my Nissin Pro Spec two way 7:3.
.Attachment Deleted

[daves]

Lovely fish! The fly is nearly certainly a Large Dark Olive.

[mspaddler]

The South Yorks Salmon & Trout Association monthly meetings have started with a great line up of speakers.   I was there on Monday and listened to a very comprehensive presentation Tenkara: the Japanese way from JP and Paul G. Very enjoyable and it was clear that 'traditional' anglers had their eyes opened to the advantages of Tenkara.

I stayed the night in downtown Sheffield and fished the Don below the hotel on Monday afternoon and further upstream on Tuesday morning.  I managed 3 10 inch or so Grayling during the afternoon session until a bunch of folks descended on the river in waders and lifejackets to practice rescue techniques.   The next day the short session produced 6 nice grayling none smaller than 8 inches and the largest over 12 in.  I think I hooked one good size WBT but that was it for the OOS fish.   Interestingly no small grayling in either location, I spotted a Heron on the River in town both in the evening and the next day so it is possible he/she has been dining on the fingerlings
.Attachment Deleted  

[mspaddler]

On the River on Sunday Afternoon. Beautiful day. Trout were more willing than the Grayling but did manage a nice 'lady' on a dry after I saw a rise. May be back down south Wednesday if my domestic chores are complete.

[daves]

I had same problem on Derbyshire Dove, plenty of OOS trout but only 3 small grayling.