River Calder

We had a look at the river a few weeks before in wakefield near chantry bridge , the weir pool and the run off looked inviting , the access didn't, we fished at a good sized peg lower down one evening but only had knocks from small fish so a day was planned to have a proper go at the river,  A Calder day.

River Calder

We fished downstream in the deeper water for a few hours and with only a small perch to show we decided to tool up and don our waders and try and get up to the weir pool near the Hepworth museum, with Russ going first as he had chest waders and I only possessed thigh waders , we edged our way but I was soon out of my depth so plan B came into operation

The weather was good so we were dry and had a minimum of tackle. We crossed the road  [which was some feat in itself] and jumped over the bridge wall and fought our way to the river  we did this but it was very steep and the bushes took some getting through so plan B wasn't a good idea but it got us there , we decided plan C was the better option for getting out after fishing ; jump the wall into the museum grounds and walk out .!

myself fishing the Calder

We tried various methods in the weir pool from fishing with a ledger bouncing it off the wall to float fishing and freelined pellet and worm it made a nice change to fish a run off from a weir and try these great methods of fishing and an afternoon passed with some nice fish and lots of laughs,

We chatted to a few local anglers and they were all saying that the barbel were not as abundant  but there were roach chub grayling perch trout dace ,I'm sure there are barbel there or lower down the river but getting them out is another thing entirely , we did have chub perch and trout so we were happy with the day,s fishing so as the afternoon started to turn into early evening we jumped over the museum wall and drove home talking about a future visit to this interesting river.

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Calder Weir in Wakefield

The river is very fishable and a Calder day is well worth a go if you fancy it , it is largely untapped with huge sections of it that never see a rod , so if you fancy being an intrepid angler and go exploring then the Calder is for you , the fish are there. There are also clubs with good sections of the river on their books. please see below a list of the clubs that have water on the Calder.

http://www.riverangler.co.uk/brighouse

http://www.riverangler.co.uk/ryburnandhalifax

http://www.riverangler.co.uk/mirfield

http://www.riverangler.co.uk/wakefield

Follow @andyriverangler

Early morning on the river Dearne

early morning on the Dearne
We were up for an early morning on the river Dearne it was just getting light on a cool misty morning we walked as quick as we could travelling as light as possible as it was a good distance to be burdened down by loads of kit.misty river Dearne

As we tackled up we were chatting about our quarry chub was on the cards or maybe a barbel passing through as it didn't look very barbely, carp could be a possibility too, we knew our stuff Russ and myself had years of putting in the legwork on this river.

It was a very eerie misty morning and it felt good to be on the river bank we set the rods and like every other angler sat back and waited in anticipation,

It wasn't long perhaps 15 minutes and the rod tip quivered at first then shot round ,I grabbed the rod and thought yes a typical barbel bite ,but this felt heavy and wasn't the usual savage runs that barbel do this fish was big for the Dearne and it just wanted to go slowly it swam upstream and pulled and pulled it was then I knew we had a carp on Russ came running with the net and camera , it rolled on the surface It made a good fight but I was glad I had the tackle to tame it.river Dearne

Two happy anglers one 16lb river carp banked, Russ had it on video for our websites after a couple of photos it was returned and swam off strongly. the rest of the morning passed without a bite .

Carp on the river Dearne are spread everywhere keep a look out for slower water, snags overhanging trees and deep holes , go and fish the river and get to know it, a day fishing 2 or 3 swims trotting a float is the best way. you get to know the depth the flow the snags and you may see fish top or roll on the surface, you get to chat to other anglers and slowly build a picture of the river.

Dearne anglers know what I mean especially the barbel boys, they know their stretch of river like the back of their hands so don't ask where their secret swim is go and find one for yourself and have fun doing it.
Dearne Carp