Moved to Yorkshire a few years back, on advice fished a local river that flows off the Pennines above Huddersfield into the River Calder. For an annual permit of about £20.00 - browns average 1/2 to 3/4lb and more interestingly it is stuffed with grayling. In the Midlands I would have had to pay £1000pa for an equivalent quality of fishing
Regards
Mike

Hi Mikey,

Yes the River Colne is a great value river, although it now costs £35 per year to fish the Colne (the Slaithwaite and District Angling Club membership is now £25 per year plus a river permit of £10). It is over 15 Years now since the river had any fish introduced so it should be considered truly wild fishery. So far this year we have only issued 40 River Colne permits so it's not exactly over fished and the trout and grayling can be very obliging and take a dry fly well, with the average trout being around 10 to 12 inches and the grayling slightly smaller. This is a pic of John Tyzack with a nice colne Brownie


Although the odd bigger fish turns up every now and again with my biggest being a 24 inch brownie that I estimated at 3lb. The biggest I've seen come out was this hog that a mate of mine caught.

The wild trout trust is carrying out a Advisory Visit in the near future and we are hoping to carry out some works early next year to improve access from some of the banks (hoping to remove some of the himalayan balsam).
If any one would like an application form then please send me a pm and I'll email one to you as membership is still open. The club also controls a section of the River Holme above Holmfirth if you like to fish small streams with a 6 foot 6 rod for wild brownies.

Cheers

Mick Pogson

__________________
"There's only one way of life, and that's your own, that's your own, that's your own" The Levellers.

Nice one Mick!!!!
Thats the best small river trout ive ever seen and what a jawline. A large ferox cock if im not mistaken with a gob like that
What a great advert for the small rivers around here but dont shout too loud youll have the Eastern europeans netting the deeper swims before you know it.
Lovely picture which shows the potential of the rivers was it taken on the fly or by other methods, I know the trout in the Calder especially the bigger ones are partial to trotted CORN.
Heres a pic of my best from you know the pool

Gary

Mick, unless it was completely out of condition a 24" brown trout would weigh about 6lbs and 19" is usually enough for a fish to be 3lbs.

The large trout in the picture is not a ferox (they are a distinct strain of lake trout that usually feed on char) but almost certainly was a cannibal. My guess is that it was 8 - 10lbs. A great fish anywhere but what a fantastic fish for a small stream!

Sewin
Forgive my ignorance but in referring to the big fish as a ferox my interpretation was of a ferox was "cannibal" or predatory fish.
From the shape of the jaw and sheer size it is obvious that the fish is a fierce predator not one that would be likely to take a grey duster from 6" of flowing stream.
Still a lovely fish from these local waters and not a singular event given the amount of baitfish in minnows and small grayling in these rivers at present.I suspect that there will be more and more of these subjects turning up I just hope that the right people are catching AND returning them!!!!
I have written in trout magazines and local press of the superb condition of the rain fed rivers of the north and this only proves the point that far from being in decline the river fishing is improving all the time (if your a trout or grayling angler).
All power to the improvements from Yorkshire water and local coservation groups, its great to see good news when theres not so much around.
Gary

I fish a small North Yorkshire river and regularly catch nice wild Brownies 6" to 14", occasional Sea trout and have seen but not yet caught Salmon in the river.

These rivers are precious and many are well kept secrets too, I only pay £40 for a full seasons fishing. This is only my second full season with a fly rod (been course fishing for 40 years) and I've just started to tie my own, I caught this one with a bloodworm pattern which I tied it doesn't get much better than this lads!!!

Newtrouter,

Now, that is a handsome fish, I sincerely hope it went back.

Kind regards,

Adrian.

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The truth is that if it were not for anglers the majority of our streams and rivers would be largely lifeless. A rather more uncomfortable truth is that, as anglers, most of us are far less active than we should be in fulfilling our responsibilities to help protect the rivers we fish
Peter Lapsley
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Monnow Fisheries Association
Riffles and Runs
Charfield AA

Hi Sewinbasher,

To be honest the 24 inch brownie that I caught was in February when I was heavy bugging for grayling, and although the fish was very thin it still but up a real fight on a 4wt rod, I did my best to net it quickly and it was returned straight away and seem to be fine swimming away.

The hog that my mate caught in the picture was landed in mid summer and I'm sure would be touching 10lbs, it too was allow to go straight back and swam off, and I saw it month later taking floating bread when a mother and some kids were feeding the ducks.

Cheers

Mick

__________________
"There's only one way of life, and that's your own, that's your own, that's your own" The Levellers.

Maybe that's how it made 10lbs

Lot of it about!