Chance to grab fishing rights at beauty spot

Sep 12 2009 by Tony Henderson, The Journal

A RARE chance is on offer to win the fishing rights at one of the North East’s most spectacular beauty spots.

The three-year fishing lease is up for grabs at Crag Lough near Housesteads, on the National Trust Hadrian’s Wall Estate in Northumberland.

Crag Lough is a natural 18-acre water body immediately below the Whin Sill cliffs which support Hadrian’s Wall.

It is a site of high environmental and historic value and so management of the fishery will need to reflect this by being as natural and wild as possible.

The National Trust welcomes fishing – subject to its prime objectives of conservation of landscape, nature and historic value.

At a natural feature like Crag Lough, artificial stocking of rainbow trout and farmed brown trout would not be seen as appropriate.

The trust says that ideally, the lough should be stocked with local and native brown trout.

Alternatively stocking could be with sterile triploid trout which will not reproduce or interbreed with native stock. Crag Lough is designated as a site of scientific interest and a European Special Area of Conservation and has to be managed in accordance with these designations.

The lough is also in an extremely important historical landscape setting, within the Northumberland National Park.

In the long term the trust is aiming to create a self-sustaining brown trout fishery with catch and release fishing at Crag Lough.

In order to achieve this, work is being undertaken to restore the inflow and outflow streams and investigations are being carried out into the creation of appropriate spawning areas.

Co-operative work with adjacent landowners and agencies is also necessary and this process will take a few years to investigate and action. The approach to the creation of a self-sustaining fishery is being phased and so the fishing is to be let for the next three years with restrictions on how it is stocked and managed.

The fishing at Crag Lough will be limited to 15 rods at any one time. No more than five boats must be moored on the lake. There will be a prohibition on assigning, underletting or parting with possession of the fishing rights.

Tenders should be returned by October 30.

For more details contact Anna Shiel on (01670) 773923 or anna.shiel@nationaltrust.org.uk