The trout season is well under way in sunny Staffordshire. I'm missing the sea trout back on Islay and I've been struggling to decide where to fish and which clubs to join for the season. I love fishing the upper Churnet but I've been keen to supplement that with some other waters. I definitely wanted to find a stretch that where I could not hear traffic and off the beaten track.
A couple of weeks ago I took my lab Sam for a long walk from Rushton Spencer following the River Dane right up through Danebridge, over The Roaches and back down in to Leek. The Dane valley was beautiful, I'd never walked these beats before and I was surprised just how wide and deep in places the river was. It looked to me very much like a Scottish West Coast river, deep, dark peaty pools and long sweeping shallow glides with riffles aplenty.
After a while I spotted a small 'private fishing' sign and noted the details of the club. I managed to get in touch with the club and was really happy to find there was a space available and so I joined.
I enjoyed my first outing greatly and whilst the fishing was hard I did manage to catch a few lovely little wild browns. I timed the journey from my house the river and it took 12 minutes. I can't believe I've never walked the stretch before and to have this gem on my doorstep is fantastic.
Usually at the end of May I'm tied up with all things Islay Whisky Festival but for the first time in more than ten years I'm looking forward to fishing during the mayfly hatches.
More pics to follow in the coming weeks.
Slainte
David
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