Hillfoot Bridge

So, whilst mrs sheffieldonthefly was sleeping after working a night shift, I kindly went out fishing. So as not to make noise in the house you see.....

I originally intended to head towards hillsborough, but turned off the dual carriageway at Hillfoot bridge. Having not fished there before, I thought it worth investigating. I parked up amidst the broken glass and bin bags - you wouldn't come here for the bankside scenery!

I'm sure my car will be fine here....

I started fishing a small riffle, using a duo set up - copper john beneath a klinkhammer. However, the klink was not behaving very buoyantly, despite a good "gink"ing, so I changed to a foam backed caddis as the floating fly. The foam is yellow, so can be seen easily amongst the white foam and bubbles. After about 5 minutes and one lost fish, I landed a small grayling.

There was plenty of fish action as I cast up above the riffle, with several splashy rises in the mid current. A few more casts and I had 2 consecutive takes on the foam backed caddis. As is becoming an increasingly regular occurrence, I failed to hook either fish.

I moved on up the river, and before long was into a small brown trout. Despite the Loxley having joined the don a few hundred yards upstream, the river here was low and clear.

Released into the shallows, he soon darted off into the main flow.

A pretty Don brownie

Moving up still further towards the weir, and casting under the vegetation on the far bank, I was soon into another small brownie. This one moved into the main flow and put up a scrappy little battle, but was soon in the net, and seconds later back in the river.

An almost golden little fish

Back in the river, and soon to swim away under an old tyre!

I moved up further, fishing under the weir. There was no sign of rising fish here, and I had no takes. I think I was perhaps fishing too shallow, as the weir pool looked quite deep.

Looking up to the weir

I walked up on top of the weir, and waded the slower water above it. I could see fish moving ahead of me, and had several takes close to the true left bank, under some overhanging vegetation.
It was obvious that this area is a dumping ground, and there were numerous bin bags in the river, as well as a comfy looking chair!

Urban - in the worst way...

It had taken me over an hour to fish about 300 yds of river, but great fishing! When you are down there in the river the derelict surroundings are not so visible, and you will certainly get no better value fishing!

I arrived home to find some new flies had arrived from Sawyer nymphs - they certainly look the part - I will see how they fish later on in the week, hopefully.

As I have said before, I have been fly fishing now for less than a year, and almost every trip discovering interesting and fun fishing. Looking at the map, there are still loads of sections of river I have yet to explore. I shall update you on what I find!