Thrunton Long Crag hosts North of England fly-fishing qualifiers

Last Sunday saw the North of England qualifying heat for the fly-fishing anglers who wish to represent England’s Bank Fishing team in 2027.

The 20 hopefuls fished at Thrunton Long Crag Fishery for six hours. It was overcast and misty with no wind when I arrived just before 8:30am - not ideal conditions but a good challenge for all the rods.

With instructions given and peg numbers chosen, the anglers set off for their first peg, where fishing began at 9am. Four pegs were fished before lunch and another set of four different pegs fished after.

The overall winner of the first of six heats was Tony Fox from Consett, with nine trout. The other successful qualifiers were Ben Race, Colin Metcalf, Michael Leck, Jim Burtle, and Jake Wilson. All six anglers will fish the North of England final at Chatton.

Should they qualify from that, then they will fish the national final against the anglers who qualify from the South of England heats. The top rods from the national final will form the team for next year’s bank International Competitions. Good luck to everyone who qualifies in the North of England final, and if they make it, in the national final. Chatton fishery has a qualifying heat soon, so anyone interested should contact the fishery for details.

This week, Chatton has produced some superb fishing. A big Brown Trout of 14 pounds, and another of almost 10 pounds were caught and released. Davy Parker had a bag of 32 trout, and another rod caught 22 fish, which included a 10-pound Rainbow.

The Coquet salmon season is over and the head bailiff reports that over 20 salmon and sea trout were caught in the final days of the season. The lift in the river level was an important factor - it was unfortunate that the rain came a little to late. The heaviest salmon was 13 pounds and the best sea trout was seven pounds.

Roll on next season, when hopefully there will be more rain and the temperatures will not be as high for so long.