A video taken during a couple of hours fishing with my brother. Hot weather, but lots of fish!
I have yet to explore the upper don, but understand that some/all of it above oughtibridge is private fishing. Wouldn't mind trying the very headwaters - not sure if they are private or not but will ask around.
If anyone does know the upper limits of the UDFF waters please email me!
A trip across the Peak yesterday to fish some of the "Peak Passport" scheme waters - specifically, the River Hamps at Redmorlee. This was unfamiliar territory, requiring tomtom to get me there, but we found the correct layby, tackled up and set off.
Walking down the beat to start at the bottom end we saw a couple of rises and a couple of likely looking pools, but the river was low and slow with a thick coating of a green slimy weed on the bottom. I know there river here also contains the american signal crayfish, so I was keeping my eyes peeled to spot a foreign invader.
The weather was scorching, and I soon regretted leaving the sunscreen in the car. However, onto the fishing....
Tough doesn't start to cover it! There were plenty of 1-2 inch fry keen to have a go at my dry fly, but nothing of any size spotted for the first hour. Nothing rising, nothing moving, nothing. I was starting to doubt there were any fish in the river when a reasonable trout shot past me - disturbed by my wading. This lifted the spirits, a little anyway!
It was only when I found a deep dark corner where the river flowed under a boulder and observed a trout darting out and snatching bugs from the foam line that passed near it that I began to regain some enthusiasm.
A tricky "bow and arrow" cast under a hawthorn with a black foam beetle landed me my first river Hamps trout - an 8 inch specimen.
The river here desperately needed some more water, so after fishing up to the upper limit, we called it a day and headed back across the Peak, stopping at Bakewell on the way for a chat with Peter.
The video is worth watching right until the end..... after all, I'm trying to capture the true essence of small stream trouting ;-)
Ok, ok - I'll get back to plain pictures and descriptions soon, but here is yet another video attemp after yesterday mornings session on the Middlewood road section of the Don. This is one of my favourite runs, from the bridge to the pool, having had some of my best Don trout from here.
It's an interesting and varied section, with deep stretches, shallow bits, pools and plenty of spots to cast to.
Why Angles? Well, after using the camera solely as a "point of view" camera previously, I thought I'd try some static shots with a mini tripod - I think it probably works better, but will keep on experimenting.
Speilberg I'm not, but it keeps me occupied and gives you a flavour of what the Don has to offer.
A couple of days ago, after consulting a map, I decided to explore the upper urban reaches of the Sheaf. This is the little stream that runs from the moors to the west of Sheffield down through Totley, Millhouses, Heeley and finally into the Don. Taking a handful of flies and my 7ft brook rod, we started exploring. We came across a small weir pool stuffed with trout, but after a couple of casts they were all spooked.
We followed the trickle upstream, finding a couple more likely looking pools. Despite seeing fish, these are super wary so a stealthy approach is needed.
The trickle appeared to be running out- it had been a dry couple of weeks with little rain.
We carried on, soon crossing an aqueduct over the railway.
Up from here appeared to be tiny headwaters, but with occasional worthwhile pools to fish. Tight on time, we headed back home, leaving more to discover for next time.....
