I had a walk beside a local small stream a few days ago with my faithful, although pretty unintelligent Retriever. I thought I would post a few pics on here to see if any other anglers agreed with me that this place looks like an amazing spot to relax and cast a line. Not only that, i'd be interested to see if anyone agrees with me when I say that parts of it look incredibly fishy.
All anglers reading this will know exactly what I mean when I talk about "Oh my God" parts of a river. I lost count of how many times, as I walked along the banks of this lovely stream, that having peered through a hedge or branches of a tree at the water below, I'd turn to the dog to say, "Oh my God look at this, it looks f*cking ace!". I also lost count of how many times the dog looked back at me with an expression that said sticks and eating cow pooh is of much greater importance than just how fishy your river looks.
There was quite a bit of fly life, including a hatch of Grannom, but I never saw a single rise on this warm April evening, not only that, I didn't see a single fish. I did, however, startle a Kingfisher, that raced up the river in flashes of blue and green.
All the while, the cry of Buzzards in the forest nearby was ever present, and to be honest, even though we were not too distant from a busy town centre, there was a feeling of being away from it all, and all that could be heard was the babbling brook and the wildlife around it. What a great place it would be to cast a line or two. It looked to me like a perfect Trout stream...I'd welcome comments as to what other anglers think.
I for one would love to stroll down here with a 6ft 3wt rod and tempt a few wee troots to an olive pattern.
Dave, that does look a trooty stream you will have to wet a line there. Even better let the dog have a go with your 6' #3. Don't worry about talking to the dog, I enjoy a good chin wag with myself. I've found that as I get older it provides clarity in my life. Only trouble is the kids have started taking the p155.
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Dave.
Looks pretty goddam trouty to me Dave. I'm guessing that this is up Leek way and we know the Hamps & Churnet hold Trout further down as does the River Dane.
ReplyDeleteDo you get trout as far up as Leek on the Churnet?
Cheers,
Roger
dave
ReplyDeletelooks very trouty, do you know if it is club water. dont worry about talking to the dog i do it all the time , the time to worry is when the dog starts answering back .I'll be heading up to your shop soon to purchase some peak passport tokens. Once again thanks for giving up your afternoon fishing which allowed me to salvage the day after the broken rod incident.
cheers
brian
Hi Roger / Brian,
ReplyDeleteYep...you're right, this is the upper reaches of the Churnet and no, it is not a club water, although I do have connections with the land owner so am confident that I can get permission to fish there.
We know that there are trout in the head of the Churnet above Tittesworth as Glen has caught a few there. There was a serious pollution incident below Tittesworth a few years ago so maybe the river is still recovering from that.
At the back of Westwood School there is a wood and at the edge of it is what resembles a short stretch of overgrown canal. I'm told that this was created by a wealthy land owner many years ago who used it to rear trout to stock the Churnet. It's quite an eery place and home to some monster carp. The fishing there is a syndicate of around 20 anglers.
I have seen many large Herons and Kingfisher along the banks so there must be some fish life. It would be great if this was home to Brownies in the future, and a great one for the Peak Passport Scheme and given it's proximity to Leek, would give all anglers the opportunity to get out onto the river in absolutely stunning surroundings.
If you fancy a walk up the river, get in touch and we'll go have a look.
Woody
Wood
ReplyDeleteWe were also looking at it as a club. The landowner wants to rent it but there was a large fish kill in 2009 (early Jan) - bleach from the sewage farm.
I thought the EA had done a lot of stocking though.
I know that Gary used to fish it.
Alex
Hi Alex,
ReplyDeleteI've been down there a few times over the last week or so and have seen lots of small fish rising. The fish that I have seen are all no more than 5" or 6"....dying to see something a little bigger!
Woody