Heading north.. Middlewood Road Don

The advantage of working shifts is that I get occasional days where I can get out fishing during the week - today was one such day (though it does mean I'm working nights over the bank holiday..).

I decided to venture a little further north out of Sheffield, and parked up on Middlewood Road, not far past the ambulance station, next to the speed camera. There is free roadside parking here, and as it is on a main road, I suspect the car is safer left here rather than some of the more secluded spots you end up parking for the other spots I've previously visited on this blog.

I entered the Don, and fished up to the weir, managing to tempt out a small brown trout on a gold head PTN fished underneath a balloon caddis.

The true right stream up to the weir.

Small Brownie taken on the goldhead PTN in the area shown above.

I fished the weirpool for a while, not catching anything. I then walked another couple of hundred yard upstream to where the footpath crosses the river. I entered the river just below the bridge, and fished all the small riffles. I caught 2 tiny grayling - and I mean REALLY tiny! Just upstream was a professional fisherman, probably having more success than me! (the heron at the top right of pic)

Fishing up under the bridge I was soon fishing the faster moving water, and hit into something BIG. It tore around the river, and was a good fight, especially in the fast moving water. I soon brought it to the bank and netted it - a decent sized brownie well over a pound, maybe just making 2 pounds? It certainly only just fitted in my net.

A good fighter!

and back into the river...

I had caught this one on a goldhead PTN, and carried on fishing this set up - a PTN beneath a Royal Wulff. In the fast flowing water, the Wulff flies are excellent, being nice and buoyant and floating through all the choppy riffles.
There was lots of evidence of fish here - rises all around, and some really nice deep runs.
Fishing a little further up the run, I soon was into another fish.

Moving a little further up the run, another take!

All really good fighting fish, beautifully marked and of course wild.

The fishing here was fantastic, good fish in fast water.

The productive area today - a mix of fast runs and deep eddys

I moved a little further up and fished the pool beneath the bend in the footpath. There were plenty of fish rising here, but I didn't manage to tempt any of them onto my fly.

Another great few hours fishing, all for free on the Sheffield Don.

Definitely worth a visit here! I would like to explore further downstream from where I started, the section between here and Winn Gardens. For another day perhaps....