News 2020

ACCESS to our natural waterways is one of the biggest barriers to angling these days – but two anglers tackling Yorkshire’s River Don are proof that if you walk that extra mile you can have a red-letter day.

Paul Hardy and John Hopes enjoyed a phenomenal session on a stretch near Rotherham to bank one of the greatest-ever river hauls of bream.

The remarkable 200lb catch of slabs was taken near Deanby, right by a large housing development which poses a few difficulties for local anglers.

“We’d heard about this stretch of the Don for the past year and were eager to get down there with the river dropping down after flooding,” Paul explained.
“There are miles and miles of river here, the problem being that it’s difficult to get to. In places the track isn’t suitable for driving and the banks are steep.
“If you can make it past the building site, which often blocks access for cars, it can still be very challenging to walk along the muddy banks, which are regularly covered by floodwater.
“The fishing was incredible though, we had two nets in, and we caught so many bream we broke one lifting it out!”

Fishing partner and photographer, John Hopes, enjoyed the fishing so much he went back to the river a week later and had yet more success.

“I walked a bit further this time to a snaggy swim and couldn’t believe it when first cast I hooked into an 8lb river carp, followed by three more. I lost a few other fish, and something that felt like a submarine!”

The prolific stretch of the Don is run by the Rotherham & District United Angling Federation, with fishing available to members as well as day-ticket anglers.

A spokesperson for the club told Angling Times:

“We are continually working to protect and improve the fishing on this stretch of river, which we believe to be one of the best in Britain.”