THE Northumberland County Blind Association held its 10th annual angling competition at Fontburn Reservoir with 54 senior and 11 junior anglers raising a record £1,600 for the charity.

Barry Wilson won the senior event with seven for 16lb 4oz. John Rollins was second with two for 7lb. Six-year-old Josh Bowden won the junior section with three for 6lbs 8oz.

Five-year-old Holly Mitchell from Whitley Bay, fishing from the north shore with her dad, Ian, landed the pair’s six, the best at 4lb 8oz, for 17lbs 4oz for the week’s heaviest bag.

Ryan Carr, also five, fishing with his grandad, Don, landed his first-ever trout on his first cast. Ryan, from Longbenton, played the 3lb 4oz trout himself but needed his grandad’s help to net it.

Other notable catches this week included C Johnson with a 5lb 12oz rainbow and J Donaldson with one of 4lb 3oz.

Those anglers who persevered and altered their tactics to suit the conditions at Derwent Reservoir enjoyed the best of the sport with I Walton from Greenside landing a nice brace at 3lb 10oz each and D Brown from Dipton landing an impressive 5lb 12oz rainbow.

Fishery regular Doug Pearson landed a 7lb 6oz rainbow on his way to a limit catch weighing in at 33lb 6oz on a Silver Mepps.

Those fishing into evenings found their persistence paid off with R and S Cassidy, K Drummond and L Michelson each landing limit catches on Sunday evening after waiting patiently for fish to rise in numbers and take the fly.

At Kielder Water, Mr Parker, fishing Stockie Bay, landed the best limit catch, including fish of 4lb 4oz and 3lb 8oz, for 21lb 5oz while Mr Wilson, fishing from Benny Shank, caught one of 4lb 5oz and Mr Armstrong had a brace at 4lb each.

Despite reports of two golden lost at Grassholme, Doncaster angler Darren Wainer kept his cool during a lively battle with 5lb 3oz gold, eventually slipping the net under it to claim the £200 sweep.

D Hodgson and L Little each weighed in more than 20lb of fish from the deep water drop off at the corner of Stake Hill.