don

The River Don was once famous as one of the most productive salmon fisheries in the land. Such was its productivity it was said that young apprentices in Sheffield had an agreement with their employers that they would not be fed on salmon more than three times a week! In more recent times the river was famous for very different reasons as being one of the most polluted rivers in England and was once described thus:

“ The River Don enters the City of Sheffield a clean and sparkling moorland stream and leaves it as a black gurgling mass of pollution”.

Thankfully the river is now clean again and in its upper reaches it is an excellent “small stream” trout and grayling fishery, a place of mystery with secret pools under overhanging trees. The fish are not big (average about 8 to10 inch) but they are wild and spooky, the fishing is never easy but always rewarding with short rods and light lines the order of the day. If you fish it on a cold dull day then you will probably have to stick to sunk nymph fishing as no fish will be on the surface but fish the river on a warm bright day and the fish will be all on the surface taking bugs dropping off the trees or taking advantage of some local hatch of fly and it will be dry fly all the way. Anyone who likes the challenge of small rivers and creeks will love this.

The fishing is about twenty miles from Sheffield and set in beautiful countryside on the edge of the Peak District National Park. Most of the fishing is in private hands and the best of it is only available with our guides, this also has the advantage that there is no public access to river banks making it an ideal place to get away from it all.

TROUT SEASON: 25^th March to 30^th of September

(The “grayling season” carries on from the end of September until December the 31^st, these are much shorter days – please contact us for fees and availability)