River Sheaf

[Flightliner]

Anyone fished the river Sheaf in Sheffield?.
I had my car serviced recantly , the garage is right beside the river so, for the second time in the last few years I took minimal kit for a few hours on this very urban river that flows into the river Don in Sheffield town centre (google it and see the amazing subterranean world it enters before meeting the Don).
It's only very narrow with short riffles and glides of some eighteen inches deep but it has some delightfull tiny brown trout that are seemi ngly always willing to feed.
Not many garages provide such good free trout fishing for sure (Sheffield Prestige motors at the top end of Abbeydale road) which must be a very rare bonus!

[The Old Buffer]

I remember it well (though I never fished it)from my days in Sheffield,the trout and also the kingfishers.

[BendSomeCane]

Hello Flightliner, the sheaf is not somewhere ive considered id always thought it more of a stream come small river ?? however im sure that 'Sheffield' takes it name from the river Sheaf.
BSC

[Stathamender]

I've never thought of fishing it either, it's mostly underground or difficult to get at, by the time it gets to the Don (the culvert exit is just above the Blonk Street Bridge) it's quite substantial but I've always thought the Abbeydale Road stretches too shallow like the Porter Brook. I may have another look. My favourite Don tributaries are the Rivelin and the Loxley both of which will also give you an education in early Sheffield industrialisation as well as having mill ponds. The Walkley Tilt Dam (formerly Havelock Dam) on the Rivelin is just 10 minutes walk away from home and a favourite place in summer.

[Flightliner]

BSC, I fully understand how you come by your impressions of the Sheaf (yes its the source of the cities name) as looking at it say from millhouses park it is very narrow and shallow.
A little nearer to town, some few hundred yards only, you will see the big Tesco store where it becomes very possible with the smallest and lightest of rods- either course or game to wet a line and take trout, very small but trout nontheless.
Further downstream still ( a few hundred yards) small pools abound and you can see rising trout quite easily, then you come to the garage where you can climb down a wall to the riverbank , upstream are two really productive pools, one below a small weir and the other way below this is a lovely glide where the river runs against a factory wall where I, ve taken four trout om light float gear and small redworms.
Scramble thro the undergrowth below and you will see a long/ high retaining wallin the old victorian engineering brick, another lovely glide with easy fish.
This water only just clin ngs to life at this point having reached light industry but its a marvel to see it and tho you are in the midst of a huge busy part of town its really just you and no one else.
Stathamender,
google the river Sheaf as there are piks of the river below blonk street just before it sees daylight again since last time as it dissapeared below ground at pond street.

[Rutland Rod]

Good article Flightliner,

Just goes to show what a stream/river can be like when pollution stops and has the advantage of only being fished lightly or not at all, is it just Yorkshire that has the best 'trout in the town's' ? a contradiction with lots of rural waters where the often degraded habitat/spawning area's just don't produce the numbers of juvenile trout you have in the Sheaf, and given where the river is I suspect you don't suffer from winged/furry predators?.
Tight lines
Dave

[Flightliner]

Good article Flightliner,

Just goes to show what a stream/river can be like when pollution stops and has the advantage of only being fished lightly or not at all, is it just Yorkshire that has the best 'trout in the town's' ? a contradiction with lots of rural waters where the often degraded habitat/spawning area's just don't produce the numbers of juvenile trout you have in the Sheaf, and given where the river is I suspect you don't suffer from winged/furry predators?.
Tight lines
Dave

Good question RR, very close to my garage is a large stainless steel (what else?) Plaque similar to the trig points in the countryside that is engraved with figures of animals that have re established themselves in the river, one of which is a mink or otter ( cant remember which) but in all honesty I, ve never seen one, only a whole host of waterside birds.
Not that far away tho is a nesting site used by perigrine falcons -- again, I, ve never seen one along the Sheaf .
You could be correct however re the Yorkshire trout in once heavily industrialised tows.
Ironic isnt it that one reach of the river don is called Salmon Pastures which over the years has come good for trout greyling chub etx.
Oh-- nearly forgot to mention that near the garage where I have my car serviced by the Sheaf there is a "pass" for migratory fish that has been installed in recant years.

[Hovis]

The EA and Sheffield council have been doing some great work on removing redundant structures. There are a few in Sheffield that are of significant historical importance so it’s very unlikely they will ever get fully removed but modification is likely. The last major project was the new fish pass as Sprotborough on the Don with more planned for the future. Fishing wise I don’t think I have ever drifted onto the Sheaf but have fished both the Loxley and Rivelin taking catches of brownies and Grayling on a little #3 brook rod.
Some really interesting reading here regarding the Don and potential spawning habitat for Salmon.
http://www.wildtrout.org/system/files/p ... bFinal.pdf

[The Old Buffer]

Regarding the River Don and salmon have a look here

http://www.total-fishing.com/fishing-ne ... -river-don

[Flightliner]

Hovis, if its fly fishing you like look up "Tom fly fishing the river Don", on U Tube ,sorry, dont know how to do links.
Tom used to work at Bennets tackle shop in the town, lovely guy and really good angler to boot.