With shafts of sunlight illuminating columns of flies and the distinctive ring in the water created by a sipping trout you could think you are fishing on an exclusive beat of one of our famous trout rivers. This however, is an evening walking the banks of the River Loxley just outside of Sheffield. Not many years ago this river suffered from the dirge of pollution from the mills, factories and brickwork's along it's banks. Now however it is clean, fresh and more importantly - fishy!

It's not easy fishing however, the trout are wild, small and spooky. Light tackle such as a 6 foot 2 weight rod is what is required. You can afford to make a couple of splashy casts in the riffles and fast water but one error in the slow moving pools will put the fish down and will mean having to move on to the next pool.

If in doubt - try something small and black either dry fly of just subsurface. You may find a gold head takes you down too quickly in the slower water and as the bottom is littered with dead trees and branches, chances are you will loose the fly.

Lot's of the river is owned by Sheffield City Council and therefore is free fishing in line with the councils fishing policy, however if you are in doubt then best check first.

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http://www.myanglinglife.com

Lovely post GB,

We'd be very interested in having you involved with the angling/conservation group that will be looking after the urban Don and its tributaries (SPRITE). Please pm me for further details (we are running a litter clean up on Saturday 2nd May and will have future social and angling events). No charges to be involved, no exclusive fishing rights sought by the anglers - just good care of our local rivers.

Paul

Takes me back to my days growing up in Sheffield and forever seeking out water where fish and other creatures lived...

richard

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Who resides on the right bank of the Derbyshire Wye and is lulled to sleep each night by the mutterings of a weir, dreaming that "When the rivers and their inhabitants come first, we ALL win..."

I first learnt and practised the basics of river fly fishing on the Loxley and its neighbour the Rivelin, though I haven’t fished either for nearly 2 decades.

I used to think both were straight out of the writings of BB, intimate streams winding down wooded valleys, with, (mostly), miniature brownies holding station next to the mossy, fern decorated stonework of old industrial structures.

Cheers GB, it’s reassuring to hear that the Loxley’s still in good order, I hope the Rivelin is too.

Re Sheffield rivers , I remember a good healthy trout population in the River Porter up near Fulwood has anyone fished it?

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its not how you tie your flies , its how you tease your flies

I was surprised at the number of fish i spotted in the porter in Endcliffe Park last week when i should have been looking after the kids. It doesn't look too promising at first glance but there were 4 or 5 i spotted in the pool behind the cafe.

There is great wild Trout fishing all over urban Sheffield.

I've caught a lot on emergers and even a Mayfly in the River Sheaf in Millhouses Park, there are a lot of Trout in the same river further down at Heeley Bridge (never fished for them there but enjoyed watching them feed freely on flies and emergers).

I've even seen a good fish in a very narrow section of the Porter as it emerges from underground close to Bramall Lane in the city centre and of course there are some cracking Grayling in the Don in Sheffield city centre parts of which look stunning with big beds of bright green flowing ranculus - lovely stuff. Not fished the Upper Don yet though but was tempted after watching the DVD 3 flies on the Don - good local video Paul Sissons I think

Its all a long way from the grime and pollution of 10 years ago

Andy

So, what sections are 'free' to fish on the rivers in Sheffield?

Thanks


Mark

You can fish on any the rivers for free I think - I used to fish the Loxley and the Rivelin in the 80's and nobody ever said anything to me. The fish never got much above 6 inches but they were great fun to catch and you needed to learn to cast accurately or lose a lot of flies. I used to prefer the Rivelin because it's a prettier little stream but the trout in the Loxley were always a bit bigger and I caught a few small rainbows as well, I've no idea how they got in there. I used to fish round about the bottom of Loxley cemetary; on the Rivelin anywhere from the bottom of Hagg hill up to the post office was OK. There was trout in the Porter in those days but only right up the top end, there was a stream went into it in Whiteley wood, below which there was only sticklebacks. I've no idea what was in it but the fish didn't like it! Great to hear that it's all recovered so well.

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They called me mad, and I called them mad, and damn them, they outvoted me - Nathaniel Lee

Cheers mate....

That gives me just over a mont then with the local byelaws