Trout in the Town:

The figures from Saturday's friendly grayling match show that the very strong year class of fish avoided being badly impacted by floodwaters around the 07 period... There are also decent numbers of juveniles around and just one or two older fish. Hopefully the very strong class of 25 to 27 cm fish will produce decent numbers of fish surviving to 3 and 4 years old over the next couple of years.....

Those splendid chaps up on the Lancs. Colne have been busy again over the winter since our initial Practical Visit. Here they are finding a good green use for the whole of the local council's dumped Xmas tree collection: Completing their brash bank revetments to protect the single line of mature trees that are clinging on in the grazed surrounding fields (these are on the opposite bank to the first set of works). How did you work off your festive season surplus calories?? :)

12 anglers (brave and true) met on a frosty Sunday morning this weekend. Their purpose? To seek out, catch and record the grayling living between Hillfoot Bridge and Winn Gardens on the urban river Don...The stakes were (not) high (£5) the rewards great (£40 for most fish and a tenner for the biggest fish). Oh - and we hoped to meet new angling friends as well as provide accurate records of the presence of different age-classes of game fish (in a section of river that is not monitored in conventional ways). They came from far and near - with 3 raiding nomads heading down from East Lancashire to challenge the locals (in the event, fairness was ensured by fishing the event as pairs - one local paired with each visitor). The proof that local Trout in the Town Group "SPRITE" are justified in their passion for clearing up and protecting their local urban river can be seen in the results: 102 grayling between 14 and 35cm in length were caught - with by far the most numerous categor...

Both the Sheffield Trout in the Town project (SPRITE) and the River Erewash Foundation have now received a 4-piece SAGE VPS rod each (9ft #5 for SPRITE and 9ft #6 for Erewash. These rods are the result of a strong history of SAGE sponsorship support for the WTT through the "Rods For Conservation" programme. The way this works is simple: The rods are kindly donated to the WTT from the manufacturer and these can then be offered as raffle prizes or auction lots to generate funding for River Habitat Conservation Projects. In this way, the fishing tackle manufacturers - such as SAGE - have a concrete way to put something into the rivers that are cared for by dedicated local groups. To get hold of tickets - please contact John Blewitt for SPRITE via email on blackgnat@blueyonder.co.uk and see the rest of the great raffle prizes that John has amassed! on the SPRITE web pages: http://www.spanglefish.com/sprite-southyorks/news.asp Similarly - for River Erewash Foundation tickets, plea...

Stop press - we had a full day of work on the Colne PV today and not a single drop of rain. This despite all the surrounding counties and particularly neighbouring North Western areas of England and South Western Scotland getting batterd by torrential rain. Here is hoping that the weather holds for Friday too. The meeting place is still the same (see post below). There will be a small white "Colne Water AC river work" sign on a sandwich board style holder just outside Mr. Driver's house. The house is called "Eastfield" and the name is displayed on both the red brick pillars at the end of the drive. Please park either on the opposite side of the main road or on Kingsley street. We will be down the field by the river. Please see the works in progress today in the photo on http://www.flyforums.co.uk/general-fly-fishing-discussion/52931-who-would-interested-habitat-work-training-4.html

Having studied the local weather forecasts and agonized over the potential for postponement, we are still currently planning to go for the PV on the planned dates (19th and 20th November 2009). The rendezvous point on both days (at 9:30am) will be outside the landowner's house on the A6068 Keightley road (map on link below). The house name is "Eastfield" and is on the river side of the road. PLEASE DO NOT KNOCK ON THE DOOR - this is for landmark purposes only. I suggest parking on the side streets on the opposite side of the A6068 from the river side. Please wear sensible clothes!! and bring a claw hammer and gardening gloves if you have them. The work is planned to continue on Sat and Sun (the 21st and 22nd November) following the training and demonstration work on Thursday and Friday. http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?hl=en-GB&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=117522040923902349444.00047774e2ab8ac085f4c&ll=53.871204,-2.128344&spn=0.020597,0.076818&z=14 Click on ...

Quick newsflash to flag up a heartwarming tale from Sheffield. Pictured above is Mike Allen of Wanaka, South Island New Zealand. Here he is with a trout caught on the River Don in South Yorkshire (an escapee rainbow, but we'll let him off!!). Originally from Sheffield, he left for the southern hemisphere in the 1970's. Mike says that when he left, the River Don was a gurgling mess of pollution and is delighted to see what has been achieved over the last 40 years. SPRITE (Sheffield Partnership for Rivers in Town Environments) aims to continue the protection and improvement of the Don in the urbanised reaches of the river. Mike very generously made an outright £50 donation to SPRITE saying that - whilst he couldn't help in a physical sense from his part of the world - he'd like to contribute some financial support to the project. Many, many thanks Mike for supporting a Trout in the Town project that is close to your heart and come back soon. SPRITE's website is now up...