Angling Report

We had very mixed weather conditions during the latter half of February, when fishing was reasonably good. Then the very cold really arrived, -10 Centigrade for a number of nights and the lakes froze over completely with ice up to 3” thick. This lasted until the 8th March followed by cold Easterly winds, catches were poor up to the 14th March when the wind warmed slightly and fish began to take.

Black Buzzers fished very slowly, and damsel nymphs on intermediate line have been the most productive methods. The Apps bloodworm, yellow or gold has been very good on certain days.

Notable catches this period were on the 18th February, Keith Brogden had a 9lb 2oz Rainbow on the an Orange Fritz, 19th February Paul Rump had 17 fish on Black Buzzers. The 24th February proved to be a red letter day with Arnold Patefield catching a 12lb 8oz fish on Black Buzzer, Blythe Palmer two 11lb 6oz and 10lb 8oz, and in total that day 5 anglers caught 79 fish.

Competitions

The annual Trout Masters playoff was held at Bessy Beck on the 25th February in very difficult conditions with a cold and very strong North Easterly wind, 12 anglers took part. Robert Hopper from Durham won with 11 fish mostly on a bloodworm, the largest fish was 12lb 4oz caught by Arthur Lawton

There are three remaining CEFF/Airflow competition heats at Bessy Beck will be on Friday the 21st April and Tuesday the 23rd of 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.