The upper reaches of the Erewash

Jonnyboy from the Flyfishing forum visited the upper reaches of the Erewash this weekend.

A location near Jacksdale was visited, the river here looks fabulous averaging between 6 and 8 foot in width. The gravel bottom looks sparkling, possible area for spawning trout to make their redds.

The plant growth along the margins looks healthy, apart from the Himalayan Balsam, although this will be trimmed on work parties on the project's stretch.

Chub and perch were spotted in this stretch, along with what looked like a sizeable rudd!

A second location was visited between Ilkeston and Cotmanhay. The river here is made up of shallow gravel runs, and deeper pools.

Water voles have been spotted here swimming across the river, this will ceratinly be of interest to the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust who are supporting the project in many ways.

Sunday 3rd August

On Sunday 3rd August a fish-in was held on our stretch of the Erewash pending the Wild Trout Trust visit later on in the month. Members turned up armed with fly and coarse fishing tackle. The group's stretch was walked, the hard work done by Mick and others was evident. Where once the river was full of rubbish, there was now prolific plant growth, clean gravel and more importantly fish. Pike, chub and roach were all seen.

I didn't catch any fish on the fly, but fish were caught on the humble maggot trotted by Mick. Fishing a swim near the sewage works, Mick caught a chub first cast followed quickly by more, roach were caught as well. Rumours are abounding locally of up 10 trout caught at a time during impromptu matches on the river, these as yet have not been substantiated by any firm evidence.