Sharpley Springs Fly Fishery

Sharpley Waters are a 6 lake, fly only complex with an additional worm lake for the kids. It is situated just off the A19 and being near the sea can remain ice-free right throughout the winter when other fisheries are frozen. It is very well stocked with triploid rainbows, blues, browns and Goldie’s-with
Plenty of big doubles (the fishery record is 23.6 pounds)
Open Dawn until Dusk!

It is naturally spring-fed and with healthy aquatic weed growth that ensures a good invertebrate population and consequently excellent hatches of naturals.
Midges are always on the menu-right through the winter-and superb sport can be had with nothing more than a floating line, longish leader and a buzzer pattern (black presently though olives predominate through the summer months).
The larval bloodworms can provide the mainstay through the cold days of winter with pinky
and other leggy patterns popular, either slowly figure-of-eighted or suspended a couple of feet below an indicator.

The large Cinnamon sedges were present until mid-November but even now a bushy dry sedge pattern can provide exciting sport, especially if twitched downwind in the larger Doxford Lake.

The dry fly angler can ply his trade on any day though and small foam-head emerges in hare's ear or black can be devastatingly effective, as can more traditional dries such as spiders and the Griffith's gnat when the tiny adult midge are skittering about post hatch. These can work on any calm day, as can
tiny f flies in sizes down to 28-proper challenging angling.
There is a warm, centrally heated lodge house, with complimentary Tea and Coffee and a Microwave and fridge that can be used.
This coupled with excellent disabled access makes Sharpley Waters one of the top North-east venues for year-round trouting

Its tuition is excellent and can easily be arranged by contacting the fishery or instructor Ross Middleton directly (details on the website at Sharpley)

Look forward to seeing you on the Lakes soon