Troutmasters
17th March 2007
| 1st | Peter Crowe | 18 fish |
| 2nd | Garry Shepherd | 13 fish |
| 3rd | Blyth Palmer | 10 fish |
79 fish were caught in total when 12 competitors took part in the Trout Masters fish-off at Bessy Beck. Among these were a number of very experienced still water anglers. The anglers had qualified by catching the largest trout recorded each month during 2006 and were invited by Trout Fisherman magazine to take part in the fish-off to determine who would represent Bessy Beck in the Trout Masters at Gratham Water on 14th May.
The competition was held from 10am to 4pm with a 30 minute lunch break at 1pm. The winner was decided by the number of fish caught, all fish being returned to the water. Island Lake was used for the competition. It was divided up into 12 fishing positions or pegs with competitors moving 3 fishing positions every 30 minutes. The whole lake was covered every 2 hours.
Weather conditions were moderate up until the lunch break with an increasing south westerly wind and a reasonable temperature. Just before lunch Garry Shepherd was well in the lead with 11 fish before losing his successful fly up a tree. During the break Garry used a saw to cut down the branch holding his fly but it was never quite as good afterwards.
After lunch weather conditions deteriorated with the wind increasing to the extent that fishing was almost impossible from the east bank and during the last two hours the rain became heavier and heavier. One or two anglers were able to master the conditions, in particular the final winner Peter Crowe who managed to catch the maximum 5 fish off one peg achieving a final total of 18 fish caught.
Bessy Beck is not stocked with brown trout but during the competition Arthur Lawson landed a perfectly conditioned brown of approximately 3lbs. The largest fish of the competition, a rainbow of 5lb 8 oz was caught by David Mordue and the smallest, 2oz, by David Warwick.
