14th July 2010
Hello again, sorry about the delay in reports, my secretary/daughter has been doing her a levels and therefore could not be distracted to write them.
Last week was pretty much a write off, as im sure you are aware, a certain (gentleman) with a shotgun was wandering around the Rothbury area. 
The weekend before we had Guy and the lads from Mad About Trout visit us, unfortunately the weather gods were not with us with gale force winds making fishing almost impossible and few fish were caught but it was still an enjoyable weekend, many thanks to the lads for their good spirits and we hope to see you back on a better day.
In general fishing has been mixed in the last few weeks with some good days and some not so good. 
Here are a few of the better catches over the last month
Bill Robson from Suffolk returned 14, best at 15lbs for an approx bag of 45lbs caught on dark lures and daddys, regular rod Les Downs had 10 in four hours, Joe Jopling had a fish of 13 1/2lbs and returned four on size 12 bibio, Andy Hudson  from Whitley Bay had fish of 10lbs and 8lbs plus several others for an estimated 35lbs bag on zonkers, Graham Turner retained 3 for 14lbs and returned a further 8 on gold ribbed hares ear.
General information, the lake will remain open until 10pm for the next month or so whilst the nights are still light, stocking continues once a fortnight, Ricky has done an excellent job on the weed this year and the water remains gin clear.
Top flies at the moment are all sorts of things depending on weather conditions, on brighter days fish with slow sinker, mini lures, blood worms, zonkers etc. When the fish ar eup, the usual dries including hoppers, daddys and sedges. 
Tight lines, Cliff

1st June 2010
Another excellent week of sport at Caistron with several doubles and lots of fish in the 4-7lbs range landed. Heaviest fish this week was caught by Neil Arkley of Whitburn, a 15lbs rainbows, part of an 8 fish bag to approx 30lbs.
Mark Bowen form Gosforth had an excellent 4 hour boat session with 15 fish including fish of 10, 7 and 7lbs to give an estimated bag of 50lbs. 
Congratulations go to Gladys Nicholson with a cracking 5 1/5lbs rainbow.
Alec Harvey and son had a good session, the best two fish being 12 and 5 1/2lbs.
Les Downs had another good evening with 13 fish to 6lbs in four hours, L Dun had 13 to 4 1/2lb, P Stonehouse had 10 to 7lbs.
Rod average this week was an impressive 4.6
Tactics and flies, the lake remains crystal clear, small buzzers and dries including CDCs, daddys, sedge patterns and hawthorn flies are all producing fish. On brighter days it may be necessary to fish small lures on intermediate or sinking lines. The deep area in front of the far bird hide is now producing a lot of fish.   







19th May 2010
The lake is really showing its best now with an abundance of fly life and fish rising all day on better days, with superb evening rises.
Top rod this week Gary Parmley who returned 20 fish to 12lbs on okie-dokies and flexie floss bloodworms.
Willie Jameson returned 13, again to 12lbs, mainly on black buzzer, P.Marshall had 10 on orange fritz, Ian McCarther had 9 to 12lbs and W. Berry had 12.
Congratulations to Rosanna Turnbull aged 8 who caught two nice trout on 'Mr Wiggly' while her dad caught nothing, hard luck Gordon! 

A total of 6 doubles were caught this week with only 1 being killed. 
The water is now gin clear and many of these large fish can be seen cruising about. Recommended fly patterns, CDCs, buzzers, dial backs, sedges, hawthorn flies and lures fished on intermediate or sinking lines. 








6th May 2010
Big fish specialist Willie Jameson form Ashington has done it again this week with a suberp overwintered 17lb rainbow, this fish took over 10 mins to land and left Willie with a sore arm. It was part of a 19 fish bag caught on black buzzer, most of these fish were caught off the bridge between the lodge lake and the east lake.
Sandy Robinson had the best bag of the week returning 27 fish to 14lb, again on buzzers form a boat in the great lake.
Pete Jackson returned 9 of up to 7lbs.
Generally the lake has fished well agin this week although things did slow down on Bank Holiday Monday due to the bitterly cold North Easterly wind. 
Top flies remain buzzers in black and olive from size 12-16, sedges and stone-fly are now starting to hatch off, expect plenty of surface activity in the next few weeks.
Tight lines
Cliff 

26th April 2010

22nd April 2010
The Trout Fisherman Trout Masters competition was fished on Saturday won by Dave Surtees with 20 fish to 5lbs. 2nd was Harry White from Thropton with 9 fish, the best a whopping 15lber.
Willie Jameson and George Parmley enjoyed a great day at the weekend with 44 fish between them, the best 11lbs.
Les Downs had a good 4 hour sesison returning 10 fish to 6lbs.
Top flies continue to be buzzers, olive-all-black and small dires, CDCs, gold ribbed hares ear and dial backs.
The lake continues to fish well with superb rises on the warmer days. Top quality boat and bank fishing are to be had, even on the windiest days on the sheltered east lake. 

09th April 2010
Well it happens every year, the big black buzzers have started to hatch off in good numbers. The fish are feeding well on them with many top quality overwintered fish now coming to the net.
Top rod this week was defiantly Willy Jameson, he made 3 visits and returned 68 fish including 2 at 14lbs, 1 at 12lbs and an 8lbs blue. G. Connely had 13 fish, 1 at 14lbs and 1 at 12lbs. 
Many other anglers also doing well. Top flies black buzzers, CDC, hares ears.
Another stocking of top quality fish coming in next week with doubles up to 20lbs.
And finally, the sheltered east lake has again produced some of the best fishing this week, even in very windy conditions.

30th March 2010
Water temp beginning to rise at last which is activating better buzzer hatches which in turn is switching on the overwintered trout.
I personally had a cracking fish of approx 4lbs on a klinkhammer, fin perfect and fighitng fit.
Rod average for the past fortnight 4.3
Ali Tait from Dinnington has had the heaviest fish so far at 15lbs, he was delighted at landing this beauty after a 20 min struggle, he also returned a further 9 for the day on a combination of white zonkers and buzzers.
Father and son I.R and I.S Fairgrave returned 29 in a boat session form the main lake.
Boats are now available on the sheltered East lake, James Armstrong made good use of one catching 10 fish to 9lbs with an estimated bag weight of 40lbs on a yellow bunny.
We are also extending some of the platforms on this lake to allow easy casting ever on the windiest of days.
All the best, Cliff


18th March 2010
Fishing continues to improve as the water warms up. Sporadic hatches of midge and small buzzers are bringing fish to the surface although most fish are being caught a few feet down.
Top rod of the week was Sandy Robinson fishing a sporting ticket whos first fish was a perfect 12 pounder, he followed this up with a 7lb and several round the 2lb mark bringing his total bag weight up to over 30lbs 
Mr P Watson from the fishing shop in Morpeth had 6 fish on his visit, best one being 6lbs
another stocking going in next week although we have hardly sraped the surface of the previous stocking! Resident fish are starting to feed so we expect top sport in the weeks to come.

11th March 2010
Hello everybody, nice to be open at last!
We had a successful opening weekend. Saturday saw the main lake fishing quite slowly with the first fish caught by 13 year old Kall Parsons. A good number of fish started to rise in the strip next to the lodge around 2 pm so some of the boat anglers came in and approx 45 fish were caught in a two hour spell.
Ali Tait from Dinnington had 17 up to 7lbs on rubber legs.
Paul Brown took 12 in 4 hours on olive buzzers.
Heaviest fish of the week was caught on Tuesday by T Rowley form Whitley Bay 14lbs Rainbow part of a 3 fish bag weighing 20 lbs. Unfortunately, he then went on to break his rod on a bigger fish (no joke)
Fishing in the main lake seems to be improving each day and will continue to do so as the temperature rises.
The worm lake is now ice free with a good head of stocked and overwintered fish.
 
1st March 2010
Hello all, unfortunately the opening weekend did not happen due to the lake still being frozen over, so God and weather willing it will all happen this coming weekend (6th and 7th March)
Prizes will be awarded for numerous categories (see below)
Hopefully all the ice will be gone. We did manage to stock last Thursday with fish from 1 3/4-15lbs.
Hope to see you this weekend!

The lake will re-open on Saturday 27th February.
Boat bookings are now being taken. Book early to avoid disappointment. To add a bit of fun on the opening weekend, there will be PRIZES!!! For each day, Saturday & Sunday there will be a PRIZE of a "catch & release" day ticket for:  * First fish from the bank.  * Best bag.  *Heaviest fish.
Up To Date News  The ice is finally starting to shift! Ricky reported a small buzzer hatch today and fish moving on the surface. The new lodge is progressing nicely, anglers can look forward to a log burning stove with tea & coffee making facilities. A listof recomended flies and tac-tics will be posted in due course.

3rd Jan 2010
Happy New Year!
As I am sure you know the weather in December meant fishing was virtually impossible high winds and rain then frost and snow. However the Dec 27 Ice Hole Fish Off was a great success, having an entry of 24 Eskimos 3 Fur Seals and 2 Polar Bears. The competition was won by A Frozencock with 3 Icelandic Cod and a box of frozen haddock.
On a more serious note, the lake will be re opening on Sat27 Feb. the lake will be receiving a heavy stocking of top quality fish from Bob Booths Wellham Park fish farm Yorkshire .
More details to follow.
Bookings now being taken.

21st September 2009
Best fish of the week caught by Robert Mitchell, 13 1/2 lbs and he then returned a futher 12 fish on micro buzzers.
M.Boen returned 11 fish in total on a 4 hr sporting ticket.
J.Gardener had 3 fish for 10lbs and returned a further 7 on daddies and muddlers.
lake continues to fish well. Best fly patterns: sticklebacks, corixa and small buzzers. 

3rd September 2009
Fishing report: top rod for the week was John Young who retained 3 fish for 16lbs, best fish 12lbs. He also returned a futher 10 one gold ribbed hares ears and buzzers. A. Fenchurch had an excellent sporting session returning 16 on a combination of buzzers, corixa and dry's.Boat partners M. WSinter and S. King returned 18 fish in 4 hours mainly on hoppers and CDC's.
The lake has recieved another stocking this week with a load of supurn fish up to double figures from Bob Booth. The water remains crystal clear and as temperature continues to reduce, more resident fish are coming onto the feed.

29th August 2009

Hello everyone, unfortunately, it would appear that rumours are circulating the trout fishing world that during the recent flooding of the Coquet, Caistron was breached and all the fish were lost! luckily, this could not be further form the truth. We were forced to close for a week as some flood water did enter the lake causing discolouration but there was no major damage to the lake structure and no fish losses. The river did enter the new sand and gravel excatvation 300 yards downstream form Caistron causing 1/3 mile of the origional river bed to dry up. this has now been rectified and the river is back on its old course.

Now to the fishing report: the end of July and early August proved relativly difficult with anglers often having to fish deep although there were some good rises in the late evenings. Water temperatures have cooled down and the fish are right back on the feed. Small buzzers, corixa, stickle-back immitations and sedge patterns are doing well.
This weeks top rod was John Martin who retained 3 fish for 16lbs, the best at 12lbs and then went on to return a further 14.
Ali Tate and Sandy Robinson returned 17 torut form the boat fishing new zealand style buzzers. Dave Reed also returned 17 on CDCs and hoppers. M Walton from thropton returned 12 in a 4 hour evening session.
The lake continues to be crystal clear so we expect excellent fishing in the coming weeks. Another stocking of superbly conditoned rainbows to double figures will be introduced next week from Bob Booth in Yorkshire.

9th July 2009

Back at last, better late than never, apologies for the lack of fishing reports recently, technology continues to outsmart us!
The lake has continued to fish exceptionally well during May and June with superb catches on buzzers and surface patterns. 
Ben Stevenson has had the biggest fish so far this season with a rainbow of 20lbs caught on a black pennel on a 3lb point. The fish took 25 mins to land, congratulations go to Ben for a excellent effort. 
Keith Bledgers returned 30 on buzzers and dyle backs. D. Sertise and C. Monroe had a 5 hour boat session and landed 25 fish. H. White had 8 fish for approx. 43lbs, the best at 15lbs on black hoppers.
In the past week, Pete Jackson returned 21 fish mainly on deep fish damsel fly in a 4 hour session. Ally Tate had 13 to 6lbs, N. Grey had 14, I. Stoker had 14 and all of these catches were achieved in four hours. 
Best Fish of the week was landed by Stan Howard, superb condition rainbow of 12 1/2lbs.
Best worm caught fish w. Cramley, 10lbs.
Lake remains crystal clear, still plenty of surface activity and wonderful evening rises.

22nd April 2009

Another good week with plenty of surface activity.
Best fish caught by P.Stonehouse, 15lbs rainbow and he also returned 11 fish on GRHE and PTN. Keith Leeves had a good session returning 14 fish and regular angler Chaz had 2 trips for 29 fish. Best brown this week caught by Frank Common at 6lb.
All sorts of flies hatching, buzzers, damsels, sedges, hawthorn flies.

14th April 2009

A good week for juniors, best fish caught by 15 yr old Harry White, 13 1/2lbs rainbow caught on fly, generally small olive nymph. He also returned another 7.
Miss Hollie Mossman aged 7 caught a 12 1/2lb blue trout on worm and Mr T Farrell had a good bag of 7 fish, best weighing 9lb.
On catch and release, Mr J Williams had a sporting bag of 15 fish and Mr N Grey caught 12, both men using hoppers.
loads of fish moving and there is a lot of surface activity with excellent buzzer and sedge hatches.

28th April 2009

Best fish of the week was a 12lb rainbow caught by P.Lanin and the best sporting bag had fish from 8 1/2 to 16lbs caught on buzzers.
R.Hill returned 8 fish for approx 20lb and the best wild brown 5lb caught by J.Jennins.
We are having another stocking of big fish from yorkshire this week up to 20lbs.
Competitions this weekend
Sat 2nd May: worm competition.
Sun 3rd May: fly competition
please note that ordinary fishing will continue as normal. i.e you don't have to take part in the comp to fish during the weekend.

20th April 2009

Reports are back up and running so keep checking to see which flies are fishing well and best tactics to use.
The lake has had some heavy stockings already this year with some superb quality double figure fish from Bob Booth in Yorkshire up to 20lbs. We are stocking again this week and next which will ensure a sperb head of fish in the lake. Massive buzzer hatches are taking place at the moment with loads of surface activity.
In the last week some excellent catches have been achieved.
Best fish of the week S.Goodard 14 1/2 lbs rainbow on black buzzer.
K. Dinning returned 24 on buzzers and dries and Brian Kerr returned 16.
On the worm lake, Rachel Philipson from top tackle Hexham had a wonderful 10 1/4lbs rainbow.
Fishing Competitions: there will be a weekend of competitions.
Sat 2nd May: worm competition.
Sun 3rd May: fly competition
please note that ordinary fishing will continue as normal. i.e you don't have to take part in the comp to fish during the weekend.

12th November 2008

More super catches at Caistron, the sheltered eastern lake fishing exceptionally well. Boats have now been made available on this lake during the winter season. This 8 acre lake is surrounded by trees providing excellent sheltered fishing, even on the windiest of days.
L. Ratcliffe had a superb 4 hour boat session returning 7 fish, the best at 12 1/2lbs and an est. bag of 40lbs+. Pete Jackson continues to be one of the top rods, returning 10 in 4 hours and the following week returning 8, most fish falling to fry imitations. 
Congratulations to G Hunter for catching his personal best, an 11lbs rainbow.
Large stocking this week, excellent sport expected for the weekend.

19th October 2008

Fishing continues to be good despite the windy weather. Peter brown had a very productive four hours with 3 fish totalling 19lbs. The best, a superb blue trout of 10lbs, pheasant tail nymph was the killing pattern. Boat partners A Gray and J Bently also had an excellent four hour session returning 12 fish. T Anderson kept four for 14lbs and returned a further 9 on dyle bachs.
On the worm side, Chris Barry had 4 fish for 12 1/2lbs.
The patterns issued below are continuing to produce the goods but be prepared to fish deeper as the water cools down.
On the river, a good week has been had with 11 salmon. Day lets still advailable at £25/day. These must be booked in advance. 07944178045 

12th October 2008

Another good week with a rod average of 5 1/2 fish with the best fish caught by T Gibson, 14lb on a fry. Ken Robson took 4 fish totalling 15lb with a further 8 returned on buzzer and P Jackson returned 9 on a sporting ticket. A Davidson returned 10 weighing up to 10lb, caught on damsel.
Recommended fly patterns:
buzzers, black and olive
corixa
sedge
stickleback immitations 

28th August 2008

The best fish of the week was a rainbow of 7lb 4 oz taken by Mr D Thompson on a Black Shipmans. The best bag of the week was by Mr Ian Mills of South Shields who had four fish for 15lb 8oz while returning seven.Best bag on the worm lake went to N Lamb of Wallsend who had four fish for 12lb 12oz.  A 7lb salmon was also caught on fly at the Bridge Pool on the Caistron Beat near Hepple.

8th August 2008

Another good week this week with the best fish caught by S.Gibson weighing in at 12 1/2lbs using a damsel nymph. The fish took 15 minutes to land!
Other good catches this week include, Alli Tate returned 14 fish in 2 1/2hrs from a boat fishing the deep hole in front of bird hide on the far side of the lake. The successful tactic was a die 5 line and black blobs.
A.Bibby form N.Yorkshire returned 12 trout of up to 10lbs on deep fish buzzers.
John Watson retained 4 rainbows for 12 1/2lbs and returned a further 6 again on blobs.
Recomened fly patterns at the moment are as always buzzers in black and olive, dyle backs, damsels, sedge and deep fish lures. Also stickleback immitations. 
On the worm side Ken Anderson had 4 for 13lbs and junior angler Simon Foster caught his first ever rainbows at caistron, 2 fish in a 4hr session totalling 8 1/2lbs.

17th June 2008

A mix of tactics has been the answer in the changeable weather.  Slow retrieve is best with intermediate lines.
In spite of the winds large trout have been showing.
Mr Chris Cook took an 8lb 6oz fish on a yellow dancer.  Jeff Phillips fishing a Daddy Longlegs had 3 fish for 15.5 lbs.
There was a big stocking on June 14th with lots of fish in the 6/8/15 lb range, rainbows and blues.
Fishing can be tougher when the weather keeps changing.
Big doubles still being stocked and prospects are excellent.