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 Welcome
fellow fly anglers. I have been contacted so many times by customers asking
exactly where this DVD was filmed and how they can get onto the river Don that
I decided to produce this page to complement the film. Living close to the
river, I had spent many hours fishing around Oughtibridge and had never really
had a day where I could walk away thinking I'd cracked it. Most of the time I'd
spent on dries and nymph but the fishing was more of an exercise in patience
than angling prowess. Three or four fish over three or four hours seemed to be
my limit. This changed rather dramatically when Paul Sissons arrived on the
scene.
My previous foray in to angling DVDs had brought me into contact
with Jim Baxter of the Angling Star and I'd spent many hours on the bankside of
our regions coarse angling venues making volumes 1 & 2 of 'Bankside
Madness'. My thoughts were always on making a third in the series which would
cover river angling. I asked Jim if he thought his fly fishing writer (Paul)
would be up for a little jolly on the river which I could then film. Figuring
he'd only manage a 'few' more than me I was going to piece it together with
some coarse angling sessions on the Don. Due to Paul's awesome display the
River Don coarse angling DVD remains a work in progress…
I arranged to meet up with Paul one evening on the bridge at
Oughtibridge. We were going to walk the route to let Paul have a look at the
river. I had told him to bring his rod as he may catch a couple with the
evening hatch. As we walked down the path by the bridge I explained to Paul
that my problem in fishing the river had always been simply catching the
things. Finding the fish was no problem as they seemed at times to be
absolutely everywhere. The chat, as I remember it, was a little disjointed as
the river Don virgin seemed somewhat preoccupied with the river to his right.
I'll bet he couldn't believe his luck. He'd been contacted by this strange
beardy bloke who'd then dropped him on a beautiful river in picturesque
surroundings and to top it all off, if that was trout Shangri-La, then been
told it was all free fishing.
I managed to stave off Paul's desire to
get straight in and we wandered the river footpaths down to the bend by the
works (3). What followed, all the way back up to the bridge and beyond, was an
awesome display of fly fishing as I've ever seen. I knew there were fish in
this river but I'd never imagined you could catch so continually and at such a
rate. On several occasions that evening, a strike upstream left the flies on
the water behind him and as he lifts off to recast he pulls in to another fish.
It was truly amazing. Trout and Grayling all the way up. We were back on the
river within the week and the cameras were out.
The title 'Three Flies & The River Don' came via a
comment from a friend of a friend. Andy Horner, whom I have filmed several
times for the Bankside Madness DVD's, knows a guy who fishes the Don and it was
he who said that the river could be fished with just three flies. Using this as
our remit for making the DVD it was then decided that we would simply put Paul
in the river and let him work up to the camera explaining what he's doing to
catch as he's actually fishing. Very effective if was too as Paul is so at home
in this environment that his personality really comes across well.
The
stretches noted on the map above are the sites that always produce good
quantities of fish. The numbers in between (2,4,6,8) are stretches which are
noticeably slower for their catch rates. Several of these stretches have what
Paul calls 'dead water'. Meaning the flow is so slow that the flies can't work
naturally on the limited current. Fish in these stretches are best targeted
with dries. One theory for the drop in catch rates around the slow moving
sections is that they hold a head of chub which are of a size that can prey on
the smaller trout which adorn the faster flowing waters. My best chub from
these waters is around the four pound mark taken on a size 14 F Fly. The trout
are noticeably bigger too (big enough for the chub to leave them alone? It's an
interesting theory) and will fall to the same fly. We found the main hindrance
to these slack waters is that as soon as you get in, the disturbance caused is
sometimes enough to send the fish to ground. So if you see a fish feeding, put
a dry on its nose and you're in business. If it doesn't take first time
(particularly with the chub) your chances of getting him out reduce with every
cast. Large nymphs and small lures often induce a chase and occasionally a
catch but these fish do take on the drop. It is tremendous fun if they're up
for it and definitely worth ten minutes of your day to find out.
The
picture above shows a classic dead water pool of the river Don. They are very
clear and shallow. Paul is stood at the top of the pool and up to the left (out
of shot) is a deeper faster flowing channel which he is about to short line. I
am stood with the camera on dry land which gives some perspective to the
channel on my left. The dead stretch of water behind him is full of chub that
we had spooked trying to get at them from the bottom. There was to be no chub
on the fly for our DVD which was a shame. The inset picture of the chub is one
of the smaller specimens lying up in this 'dead water' pool. 'Fish in hand,
feet on dry land' really does apply to these waters, a factor you will notice
the minute you get in at the bottom to fish a little further up. The chub are
in every pool you will come across on this route, varying in size and they
spook very easily. If you hit one of these pools around lunchtime and the fish
are active, it would be an excellent time to stop and eat whilst overlooking
the stretch. Mentally mark the locations of fish activity and then have a crack
at them before moving on.
Stretch 3 is a really interesting part of the
river. Approaching it as quietly as possible is a very good idea. It is quite a
deep pool which holds good trout, grayling, chub and barbel. My fly fishing
chum Adam Hemingway, who's 6 foot 5 inch, went in to retrieve one of my lucky
flies from an over hanging tree one day and with water right at the top of his
ample chest waders, said the bottom was still sloping away and that I was to
fetch it myself. He did return with a really nice weighted maggot feeder
though. The tree used to be like a Christmas tree of feeders, floats and lures.
The ability of these pools to produce is highlighted by the amount of tree
dwelling tackle that's returned already post flood. Don't worry too much if the
pool goes dead as a long line to the channel will produce a few fish. Short
line the rest of the inlet channel (see below) for a good few more then back on
the duo working the pockets of water on stretch 4.
 Shortline nymphing is really productive for this type
of channel. Where the flow is faster and a defined channel is apparent it
really is the way to go. The hook ups are instant as your flies remain in close
contact with the rod tip and bites are easily discernable. It's very productive
but does take a little practice as the point fly needs to be weighted just
right so as to drag the bottom rather than being washed along by the flow.
There are good channels like this all the way up sections 1,3,5,7,9 and taking
two rods is advisable. A short rod set up for Duo and a longer one for the
Nymphing. The short rod is a necessity for this river as the tree canopy is so
low. Striking upwards, as Paul found out on quite a few occasions, will result
in a fine catch of local timber. I like to constantly remind him of this at
every opportunity but much to my annoyance it's finally sunk in and his catch
rate on this river rises yet again! The longer nymph rod is purely so you have
that extra reach over the channels giving a little more distance between you
and your quarry.
Paul explains the methods in detail on the DVD happily
catching as he goes. It should be pointed out that the methods covered on the
DVD will work on any upland river throughout Europe and beyond. The same can be
said of the flies as they are basic imitative patterns. The flies are covered
on the DVD in the fly tying section which shows in great detail how the flies
on the film are tied and the materials used. I have fished these patterns all
year round and they work very, very well. The sizes and weighting of the flies
is important and will seriously affect your catch rates if you fluctuate too
far from Paul's advice in the film. Put rather bluntly, 'if you're not fishing
like him, you'll not be catching like him.'
 The pictures left and below show the versatility of the
Duo filmed around stretches 5 and 7. This method is fished on all the river
sections (1 through to 9) and offers the fish both dry and nymph. It is
incredibly effective and has on several occasions accounted for a forty or
fifty fish haul over the length of the river covered in this article, without
even switching to the short/long line nymphing. If you were to have a day on
the river taking only one rod, tackling up for the Duo would be the wiser
decision.
The limitation of the Duo is the weight of nymph that can be
fished. This is directly related to the buoyancy of the dry fly which holds it
up. Deeper sections of river, as you'd find in the channels, are best fished
short line with heavier nymphs as the lighter duo nymphs will not get down to
the fish. The shallower river sections make up the majority of the river and
this makes the river prime duo water. It is on this method that both Paul's
abilities and the rivers life really take your breath away. Offering the flies
to every feature of the river chequerboard style the trout (left) is one of
five fish Paul took without taking a step upstream.
Access to
this great trout river is excellent all the way down to stretch three. Get your
maps out and find Oughtibridge in Sheffield. The bridge off the one way system
at Oughtibridge goes over the river and there is a park on your left. Parking
here is good and your car is safe. Walk back towards the bridge and take the
footpath on the left at the bridge. We often start at stretch three by the
works. You eventually come to a concrete wall at the works where there is a
little path down to the river, but continuing down the main path and over the
little bridge will take you to stretch 1 which starts where the footpath turns
back up to the road. It's a tricky bank and quite easy to slip down (which is
why we start at section 3) but this stretch has occasionally produced trout to
four pound. This hasn't been the case so far for either of us but you've got to
be in it to win it so they say.
One last point of some note is that the
fly fishing on this river sometimes has a habit of changing quite noticeably as
the day goes on. Many times I've fished in the morning and the river seems to
switch off around lunchtime. Some days it's a never ending trout heaven but
often the bites dry up and when you do get a take they're lost and dropped as
the fish are loosing interest. So I'll finish this article just as the 'Three
Flies' film finishes. By lunchtime we had made it up to the bridge and then
went short lining on a stretch beyond. Paul caught but couldn't believe how
many he was dropping, until even the master had to admit defeat as the takes
dried up completely.
Having been back several times to
the river since, Paul may well have cracked it. Familiarity with a river and
the knowledge that can only be gained by actually spending time on it is
invaluable. Whilst I had the knowledge of the river I didn't have the tools
until Paul showed me the light whilst making this DVD. He raised my catch rate
by a mere thousand percent and for me he is a source of great inspiration. I
would never tell him so, so now I resort to ribbing him about the quality fish
he's missing as he steamrollers up the swims.
Best regards fellow fluff
chuckers, Andy Mason.
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