[Mike Barrio]

I'm sure that those of you that fish on the Don, or any river for that matter, will have learned a thing or two over the years about reading the water

If we could list what each of us considers to be the most important things that we have learnt about fly fishing in running water, this might make for some interesting reading

For example, I could start the ball rolling by saying that when I first started fly fishing in rivers, I thought that the fish preferred to lie behind rocks in order to avoid the flow .......... however it did not take me long to realise that I appeared to be far more likely to find them in front of rocks ( ie upstream ) or alongside rocks

Best wishes
Mike

[Jim Eddie]

The river brings food to a trout , they are going to be near the flow which is bringing their food, prefferably with a bit of cover, it may be an under cut bank , a fallen tree , weed bed etc , look at the flow where is the food likely to come from.

 

Jim

[Noel Kelly]

I mainly fish drys to rising fish so reading the water hasn't been a huge part of my fishing. On the occasions where I am searching the water I have found the better fish lie in the deeper channels. Also the small fish seem to congregate in certain areas, normally relatively shallow with a fast flow of water. 
Most important thing I have learned is to take your time to observe and don't just go wading straight in. 

Last few weeks I have been fishing the beat in a totally different way as its salmon I am targeting. Where as I would normally be on the bank working my way up stream only entering the water when I have to to reach a fish now I am working down stream and wading. The channels and features I have discovered in the last few weeks have been a revelation.

[Iain Goolager]

There's nothing like seeing fish in their own environment to increase ones rivercraft. Watching a nice 3/4 lb trout (which was big for the river) lying in a slight depression in front of a boulder bears out what Mike was saying.

A large reinforcement for me this season was how productive pool tails are.

Iain

[Stuart Smith]

im with you on that one iain.

i allways fished the head of pools but this year ive seen alot more fish sitting down the pool.i would thing its because the flows not as strong.

it just shows us that time on the water is never wasted even when you dont catch

stuart