If there’s one fly pattern that’s taken the UK’s fishing world by storm this season, it’s this deceptively simple minnow jig pattern designed and tied by Huddersfield’s Martin Smith. Martin’s Minnow has already notched up impressive scorelines as far afield as Scotland and the Derbyshire Dove (and a starring role in an article by Glen […]
Archive for the tag 'Don'
April 7 2014
Film night: Your roof is a headwater
Apart from refilling the aquifers and reservoirs, and triggering a national conversation about how we really want to manage our rivers, this winter’s record rainfall has had another tangible benefit… … providing Trout in the Town maestro Paul Gaskell with an opportunity to track the urban runoff patterns in his native Sheffield, ahead of the […]
March 5 2014
The Wild Trout Trust charity auction 2014: Make this your year of urban exploration!
It’s hard to believe a whole year has rolled round since last year’s Wild Trout Trust auction… but here we are again, with another highly tempting selection of lots for would-be urban anglers. Whether you’re already a dyed-in-the-wool post-industrial fly-fisher, or you’ve recently discovered our dirty little secret and want to find out more, we’re […]
August 19 2013
Urbantrout sidecasts: Monday 19 August
Remembering Peter Lapsley: writer, conservationist, President of the Wandle Piscators and much more Urban fly-fishing in Germany: Tankred Rinder reports from the post-industrial River Rur in Monschau Less heat, more light? An ongoing (currently civilised and seemingly well-informed) discussion of fracking in the UK context Lost urban rivers beneath our feet, and why they’re important […]
June 27 2013
Urban fly-fishing report: River Don, Sheffield
Thanks to a generous winning bid in this year’s Monnow Rivers Association charity auction, The River Beat blog recently visited Sheffield’s River Don for an introduction to urban fly-fishing… … walled in by pre-industrial brick and post-industrial modern glass, a Holiday Inn and busy road bridges. The sounds of general human commotion were never far […]
January 21 2013
Urbantrout sidecasts: Monday 21 January
From Seattle to Atlanta via Boston, Denver and Salt Lake City, a new study by the United States Geological Survey examines the varying effects of urbanisation on different stream and river ecosystems … while the UK’s Environment Agency commits to massive £3.5 million deculverting of the River Roch in Rochdale’s historic centre (extra BBC footage […]
November 21 2012
Film night: Fish passage comes to Meadowhall
Rather smaller in scale than the record-breaking demolition of the PNW’s Elwha dams, but probably no less significant for other reasons, is the very recent installation of a £300,000 multi-species technical fish and eel pass on the previously-impassable Hadfield weir in Sheffield. Via the Don Catchment Rivers Trust and A Torn Construction comes this fascinating […]
August 31 2012
Film night: Fish pass clearance by SPRITE (plus a quickfire tenkara masterclass!)
Fish Pass Clearance by SPRITE from Paul Gaskell on Vimeo. For the second time in as many months, a dozen SPRITE volunteers have been out in the midday sun, clearing around 8 tonnes of sand, branches and other debris to get the fish pass on Sheffield’s Niagara Weir working again… … raising a very valid […]
April 30 2012
Urbantrout sidecasts: Monday 30 April
Trout on the Tube: BBC Newsround’s report on this year’s Wandle Trust Trout in the Classroom releases, still playing on the CBBC web channel Trout in the Town: Full bios of all urban river restoration chapters, as part of the Wild Trout Trust’s long-awaited full-site reload Sheffield rivers run free: The Sheffield Star namechecks Paul Gaskell, […]
March 28 2012
Film night: The case against micro hydro
Via the Waterfeature blog (tagline: giving a dam about micro hydro) and this thread on the Fly Forums comes a highly informative film, including interviews with experts Paul Gaskell, Chris Firth and David Buttle, warning about the harmful effects of the new wave of micro hydro schemes on rivers like Sheffield’s Don. Kelham Island Hydro […]
