The River Dove is one of England's most celebrated and historically significant trout rivers, stretching approximately 40 miles through the heart of the Peak District. Rising on Axe Edge Moor near Buxton, it flows generally southward before joining the River Trent at Newton Solney, with its waters ultimately reaching the North Sea via the Humber Estuary. For much of its course, the Dove forms the county boundary between Staffordshire and Derbyshire, carving through a series of breathtaking limestone gorges — Beresford Dale, Wolfscote Dale, Milldale, and the iconic Dovedale — that have made it one of the most visited and revered fishing destinations in the United Kingdom. The river's association with angling royalty runs deep: Izaak Walton and his friend Charles Cotton fished these very waters, and Cotton's 1676 addendum to The Compleat Angler — titled Instructions How to Angle for a Trout or Grayling in a Clear Stream — captures perfectly what draws anglers here to this day: clear water, stunning surroundings, and genuinely challenging fishing. Cotton's famous Fishing Temple, built in 1671, still stands on the riverbank as a testament to the Dove's extraordinary angling heritage.