Angling Report

During the past month the fish at Bessy Beck have been as unsettled as the weather, some good days and some bad. Strong winds, rain and on one occasion thunder and lightning kept fishermen at home yet those who did venture out did catch fish.

The fly of the month was undoubtedly the Yellow Dancer. This caught fish when everything else failed. On the 24th of March David Warwick used this fly to gain joint first position in the first Bessy Beck heat of the Airflow/CEFF competition.

Some notable catches this month were:

19th March G Stephenson had 9 fish largest 8lb 4oz.

23rd March K Hayhurst 9lb 1oz on a Dancer.

2nd March S Plews 8lb on an Orange lure.

5th March Mr Hadwin had 12 fish to 7lb 6oz on a Dancer.

6th April Tom Clayton had 12 fish to 8lb 8oz on a Dancer.

8th April Adam Barcroft from Kendal fishing Bessy Beck for the first time caught and returned 16 fish on a yellow apps bloodworm.

On warmer days we are now seeing some surface activity, and expect this to increase significantly this coming month when we will see the Hawthorn fly which brings the start of very good dry fly fishing at Bessy Beck.

Competitions

The first of three Airflow/CEFF competitions was held at Bessy Beck on the 24th of March when David Warwick from Penrith and Robbie Bell from Berwick tied for first place with 10 fish each. Fishing conditions were very difficult being very cold with strong winds.  

The next heats will be on the 21st April and 23rd May.

Tackle and Farm shops

We have just finished the refurbishment of our shop area. We have a dedicated game fish tackle shop (Beckside Tackle) and a farm shop (Old Trout Farm Shop). In the tackle shop you can buy everything for the game angler. We stock a full range of fly fishing equipment for both trout and salmon, spinning tackle for rivers and still water, nets, waders, clothing and all ancillary items. In the farm shop we have a range of our own products, fresh trout, smoked trout, trout fish cakes and pies and smoked trout pate. We also stock other locally produced foods, for example venison, dexter beef, goats cheese cakes and fudge.