Fishing around Alnmouth in Northumberland

I had my most successful year ever fishing the River Aln during 2009, bagging two smaller but fresh-run salmon and half a dozen sea trout. These have all been on lures, mainly small/medium tobies. Fly is challenging on some stretches but certainly do-able on many others and I have seen several good sea trout taken on simple small-ish dark flies.

Towards the end of summer many fish could be seen making their way upstream in the Aln, some of them of quite substantial size. The Alnwick Anglers section above the Duchess Bridge but before the river reaches Lesbury seems to have the best stretches. Day, weekly and annual tickets are available for Alnwick Anglers from Hardy’s Fishing Tackle showroom in Alnwick (Tel.01665 602 771).

There is also a free tidal stretch downstream of the Duchess Bridge on the road into Alnmouth and I have taken both sea trout and salmon here in recent years.

There are also some very pleasant stretches of the Aln ideal for small brown trout stretching for a few miles u

pstream of Lesbury and also part of the Alnwick Anglers waters.

The Coquet was also fished on a couple of occasions and, although I had little success, I did have some takes and also saw good sea trout taken. This is mostly Northumbrian Anglers Federation water from the estuary at Warkworth up to and beyond Rothbury, with a few exceptions along the way. They have a website with a regularly updated news section at http://www.northumbriananglersfed.co.uk There are some very pretty stretches of nicely varied water on the Coquet. Some are easy to access but other require a long trek, sometime across challenging terrain. As you’d expect a bit of rainwater is usually required to produce any migratory fish action.

Northumbrian Anglers water also includes a stretch on the North Tyne which has produced some good salmon. I have not fished this particular stretch but have tried other on the Tyne and can confirm it looks highly promising. The flow of water there is partly controlled by Keilder Dam and there release policy can therefore be a factor is conditions. Keilder itself is now a substantial fishery for rainbow and brown trout with day tickets and boat hire available.

The River Till is a tributary of the Tweed running south into Northumberland towards the Cheviot Hills. I have not fished it for many years but did so many times in my youth and remember it as very pleasant indeed. Day tickets can be had for a stretch at below Redscar north of Wooler, from Ford and Etal Estates office Tel: 01668 216223

Even if there’s northing going on in the rivers the North Sea can still yield good catches of cod, pollack, mackerel etc. I have even heard of the occasional sea bass been taken off of the estuary at Alnmouth and have had a go myself but so far without success.

There many great fisheries within easy access of Alnmouth with these approximate travelling distances:

• North Tyne – 35 miles – 50 minutes to Hexam
• River Coquet – 5 miles to Warkworth and 20 to Rothbury
• River Till – 22 miles – about 30 minutes to Wooler
• River Till – 20 miles to Wooler
• River Aln - 1 mile

Most holiday accomodation in the Alnmouth area for fisherman is in holiday cottages and B&Bs.