The Aldbar Beat on The South Esk, owned by Derbyshire County Angling Club

I have put down my thoughts and limited knowledge of the various pools on the above mentioned club water. This is more done with a view to Salmon fishing rather than Sea Trout because I understand it has already been covered by better anglers than myself.

The description will take the form of a list of the pools starting at the upper limit of the beat working downstream, followed by a description of tackle and equipment needed plus possible suggestions of how to fish it.

Boundary Run

As suggested in the name this pool is at the end of the beat ( the top end )

It is not a large pool but one that has gradually improved over the last few years. In years gone by it was noted as a high water pool but possibly due to some good bank rebuilding several years ago the pool appears to hold fish at all heights, there have recently been fish taken at very low water levels. The deeper water and faster current are towards the south bank

Just below this pool it is possible, at reasonable water heights, to wade across the river and walk up the shingle bar on the north bank, do this well back or you will spook the fish before you start. Start fishing as far up the pool as you can. Remember that you are allowed to stand on the next beat, provided that your fly or spinner are landing in the water in your own beat !

The best way to describe how to fish this pool is the old phrase ‘fine and far off'. In low water it can be a bit like fishing the Dove at Wolfescote Dale in that you are crouched down casting with a single hander to fish that are possibly laid in 18” of water but because of the cover given by the south bank and the foliage behind that they can be tempted. A general rule would be to go through with the fly first and then possibly small spinners or baits ( rapalas etc. ) The worm may not be so effective in low water from this bank.. In high water you probably would not get to the north bank so the south bank would be the place to try from, again using the fly first but possibly with a sink tip or sunk line with a short leader. I will go into more detail about the flies, spinners, baits, lines etc. at the end.

Stones Pool  

This is a really interesting pool. Whilst like the Boundary Run it is only a very small pool but if there are fish in the beat there will be one in here at any height of river.

It is only really practical to fish this pool from the south bank. The depth and main current run down the pool on the north bank. It is gentle wading in from the south bank and also quite shallow, keep as far back as you can and if possible use a spey cast for your flies because the trees behind you are always waiting.

At the neck of the pool there is an overhanging willow ( at least there was ), occasionally, and usually in the evening coming towards dusk, you will see a fish laid under this bush waiting to move up the river. All you see is a slight flash of silver under the water every few minutes, sometimes you may just see the white of its jaw.

It is quite difficult to get a fly right on its nose because of the tree but it can be done.

When you get a reasonable height of water the fish can be found all the way down holding tight to the north bank but the main area is at the tail of the pool. On the north bank the bank itself is made form large well rounded boulders, it could have something to do with the pools name but there are two very large boulders in the river below these and the fish lay behind these. If you cover this area with a floating line, longish leader and a weighted fly you can get down behind these rocks without the flyline catching on the way round. If the fly does not work then you can spin, be warned, this pool loves to keep your spinners. A floating Rapala bait can be quite successful here

Pylon Pool

This is a very good pool but does not get fished hard enough or from the right position. If you fish the fly and can get even a short Spey cast out then this pool begs to be fished from the north bank. The secret here is that it is probably best to fish with spinner from the south bank and the fly from the north bank Taking into account that the theory is that you will spook less fish with the fly than you will with the spinner it makes sense that if the river levels allow, you fish the fly first.

A suggested tactic here could be that once you have fished the upper pools you leave your spinning rod at the Pylon pool on the south bank and go across the river with just your fly rod. You can cross the river a short distance above where the water breaks to start the run into the neck of the pool. When you get to the far bank start casting into the water forming the neck of the pool, they may have their noses right into the fast water, either enjoying the oxygen or waiting for nightfall to move up the river. If you then fish the whole pool down to below the overhead wires it will become obvious that you cannot get back across the river at the bottom but the pool seems to carry on down through the trees for as far as you can see. As the trees close in on the south bank you are leaving the Pylon pool and starting to fish the Ditch.

When you come back to the south bank, the spinner would be the thing to try. Under the overhead wires and for some distance above there is a gap in the trees, position yourself at the upstream limit of the gap and throw your spinner upstream as far as you can and into the hard water at the neck of the pool on the far side. Wind back keeping the spinner moving downstream faster than the current therefore keeping everything working and coming back in an arc towards you. It is surprising how many times a fish laid in the hard water will turn, chase and take ! especially for some reason – first thing on a Monday morning. The rest of the pool can be spun in your normal preferred manner. Remember to keep low as there is no cover behind you and the sun is at your back most of the day.

The Ditch

This is probably the most under fished pool on the whole beat. The reason for this is simple, the whole of the south bank of this pool is tree lined, the bank is definitely non-angler friendly and you are straight into three or foot of water which is one of the places that fish will lay. There are a couple of small gaps that you could poke a spinning rod through but it can be quite difficult to fish the river effectively from this bank.

As you are going up the beat to start fishing it is a good idea to look into the river and try to identify any large rocks or other features that may provide shelter or cover for fish and try to locate these when you are fishing the pool . The best option for the Ditch then is with the fly fished from the north bank. When you have fished the Pylon pool to the bottom, keep working down the whole length of the Ditch ( the bottom is where the concrete pipe comes into the river, paying particular attention to the features etc. you identified on the way up, they could quite easily provide a temporary resting place for a grilse or two on their way up the river. You can come back across the river at the concrete pipe.

Otter

In my opinion this has to be about the best pool on the beat. I am trying to make this a factual guide, giving hints, tips and advice to members to possibly help them put more fish on the bank. I am, however, going to use one piece of anecdotal evidence to support my claim. Two or three years ago I fished Aldbar with a good friend who had only been on the beat a handful of times before. I suggested that he might start fishing at Otter while I went to start at the top. When I met up with him later in the morning I enquired what he had seen in Otter. I got a very negative response which would not read well here. We went back to Otter and I suggested that a Yellow Belly Devon may provide a result. Within 10 minutes between 12 and 15 salmon had shown themselves, most making a quick exit towards Pylon. The point I am trying to make is that there will always be a few fish in the beat – some of those will certainly be in Otter. Mr. Salmon does not always read the script and gracefully leap out of the water upon your arrival. He and all his friends can sit in a pool for several days without any of them giving any hint of their presence.

As with the previous pools Otter is best fished from the north bank. Just above the concrete pipe is the best place to cross the river. Start to fish the fly back towards the south bank from the concrete pipe downwards, you will find fish laid right in the neck of this pool, because of the reasonable depth of this pool you will find fish with their noses far higher up the neck than you would imagine, consequently most anglers never cast to them. It is possible to wade about halfway down this pool before it gets too deep, try to keep as tight to the trees as you can and cast as close to the south bank as you are able. When you have fished this through then come back up the river and cross over again just above the pipe. A good thing to remember is to fish the neck on the way back up, you may have stirred a fish on the way down which might have moved to the neck and be sat waiting for your fly. After this come back across the river and fish the bottom half of the pool from the south bank. The tail of this pool is quite a good area for night time Sea Trout fishing. At this point you are into the large field below Broomknowe farm and the rest of the beat is very easily fished from the south bank with virtually no obstructions.

Broomknowe

In the bad old days when shrimps were allowed this pool (when fished properly) would produce a fish or two most weeks of the season. Since the banning of shrimps and prawns, the catch rate will have dropped for this pool. You really have to look ‘into' this pool before you fish it to understand what happens under the water. Between the end of the tail of Otter and above the neck of Broomknowe there is a short section of river where you can cross. Once on the far bank go downstream below the big trees to the corner. If you have some good glasses and look down into the water you will notice that the water against the north bank flows upstream ! what is even more confusing is that any salmon laid against the far bank will be facing downstream. Those laid in mid river will be facing upstream. There will be the chance of a fish on the fly in the neck and upper part of this pool but when you get to the main belly of the pool then the worm could be the best bet.

The Canal

This is a strange pool. You really need to study this from the far bank (just carry on down from Broomknowe ). The deep water is on the tree lined north bank. From August onwards there will be odd fish scattered along this section, if you have spotted a resting fish under the trees, try to mark the spot and go back to the field bank and try to entice them with a worm.

Bob's Corner

This is where the river begins to open out a bit. The top of the pool can be identified by a small beach which has formed on a slight dog leg on the south bank. Before fishing this pool down it is always worth flicking a spinner upstream from the beach as there is quite often a fish or two lying under the trees on the north bank. From the beach looking downstream there is a gravel spit which runs diagonally down the river, if you wade along this it will bring onto the north bank about seventy yards down in front of some tall grass / rushes. You can fish with fly back towards the south bank all the way down and carry on a little further until the river gets too deep. The top part is a place to possibly intercept the Sea Trout at night, further down ,where the river on the south bank deepens gives the possibility of Salmon as the tend to lay up under the field bank. If you are going to fish this from the south bank remember that the fish are going to be under your feet !

Lower Flats

This is more of an area rather than a pool as there is no neck or tail. Move down river a fair way from Bob's Corner and you will arrive at a point on the south bank opposite a bank of rushes. The fish, both Salmon and Sea Trout, seem to hold in front of the rushes tight to the north bank. Quite a few members have been successful using the worm from the north bank but you can fish the fly, spin or use the worm from the south bank. This is also probably one of the best spots on the beat to fish at night for Sea Trout.

The Dam Pool

This is the largest pool on the beat but only really the neck of the pool can be fished by club members. After the flats there are a series of trees on the north bank with a fence behind the bottom one. If you are on the north bank you can fish from the fence down to the boundary marker but be careful because the fish are tight up to the bank as far down as the gorse bush. From the south bank you can either fish this all the way down off the field bank or just below the flats you can get in the river and wade down the middle ( assuming that the water level is reasonable ) and fish down to almost the gorse bush. If you stand on the bank looking downstream, the Salmon come over the dyke ( wier ) in the distance and run up the river under the trees to about the boundary of the beat. They then cross to the river diagonally meeting the north bank just below the gorse bush.

Equipment and tactics

If I assume that this is your first visit to Aldbar we will look at equipment.

Rods

If you have any double handed rods or can borrow one then do so, the best length to use on a river this size would be 13' – 14' for an 8 or 9 line.

Single handed rods, your standard 10' reservoir rod for a 7 or 8 will be more than adequate

A 10 – 11' Spinning rod to throw at least a 20 gm. Spinner. For most anglers this would double up as worming rod.

Spinning reel, normally fixed spool, loaded with 10 – 12lb mono. I also carry a second reel with spinning braid of 23lb. b.s.

Fly Lines

A large proportion of the fishing can be done with floating lines. Intermediate lines are becoming very popular because they will present the fly at a consistent depth. The Poly leader systems now available are very useful where you need to get the fly down in the water a bit quicker in some of the deeper pools. It is always advisable to take some form of sunk line because there are times when either the river is running high or the fish are firmly on the bottom that you need to get well down to get into the taking zone. As to the type of line used it is best to stick with what you are used to. Most anglers use weight forward profile lines nowadays and these are more than adequate to fish the whole beat either single or double handed. A double taper line will always give you easier casting and better presentation plus the ability to ‘mend' the line effectively, these lines are far superior to weight forwards and give you better ‘command' of the river. The new Spey lines are technically even better but possibly a bit over gunned for Aldbar because you do not require the extra distance that these lines will cast.

Leaders

I think this is an item that each angler may have a different view on as to the best make and type. There are a couple of pointers which may help.

8 – 10lb b.s. leaders should be adequate and if you are going to fish the small ‘dries' in the summer remember to have some standard mono on you because the fluorocarbon will sink and drag the fly under.

Fly patterns and sizes

You can probably look at about half a dozen patterns which should cover most situations in a variety of sizes.

Patterns

The most popular pattern at the moment is the ‘Silver Cascade',(another one out of the Alistair Gowans stable), but you should always have the ‘Ally's Shrimp' with you as well. Silver Stoat and Black Stoats tails, Hairy Mary and Munro Killers or Willie Gunns. It can be quite a good idea to have a few Silver Stoats with Orange Beards. As to dries then Yellow Dolly's and Pine Martins from ¼” to ½” should suffice although the Bombers are worth a try for the Grilse

Sizes

When the water temperature is below 42 then you should look at 6 or 8 and even tubes when you need to get down to the fish, who will be slow moving in the cold water of spring and possibly the last few weeks of the season.

As the water temperature rises the flies get smaller. When the river reaches 48 ( the optimum for running fish) then size 10 and 12 are the order of the day and as the temperature climbs into the 50s then 14 and 16 become the desired sizes.

Spinners

This is a section that can be endless.

The Flying C will cover the beat more than adequately with you probably needing no more than medium sized weights ( 10 gms. ) Red, Red / Black, Black, Yellow and Black / Yellow being the most popular colours. Toby's are always a good standby, usually in Copper about 12 – 15 gms. Devon Minnows are useful when the water temperature is low, good colours being Red, Yellow Belly, Brown / Gold. Whilst they are very expensive, Rapalas can save a blank day on many beats as well as Aldbar. The popular ones for Salmon fishing are the original floaters in Silver and Gold, in sizes 7, 9 and 11 cm. A seriously good trick to eliminate line kink when spinning is to use two swivels about 6 inches apart and about 18” from the spinner, believe me it works, although your Devons will still benefit from an anti- kink vane. The Flying Cs and Toby's can be just as effective when fished upstream. This is really worth trying as Grilse are well known for chasing a bait down stream and taking it as it turns across the river.

General

Fishing the fly for Salmon can sometimes be the easiest way to catch them. Unfortunately because most of us only fish for them a few days a year it is unlikely that we will encounter more than a handful of these in our lifetime. On these occasions it will seem as though you can tie any fly on, fish it at any depth anywhere in the pool and a fish will come and get hold! On the rest of the normal days you have to think a lot about what is happening on the business end of your line. Try to assume where your fish is laying and attempt to position yourself such that you can get the fly in front of its nose and if necessary move the fly in such a way to induce a reaction and therefore possibly a take. In the summer months it may be that you have to cast at right angles to the bank and sometimes even slightly upstream, give the fly a few seconds to settle and then strip back as though you were pulling a big lure back on the opening day at Rutland Water. In the spring and autumn consider casting a longer line downstream at an acute angle to make the fly move back across the river a lot slower. Because the water at these times of the year is usually a lot colder it will give the Salmon time to move slowly onto the fly, the takes can be that gentle that you think a leaf has bumped onto your line.

Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.

If you are not losing any tackle – you are probably not getting down to the fish.

Fish fine and far off.