Match 5 Bowes Lake, Angel of the North lakes, Birtley
Durham Invitation Forest Lane
Friday 25th July 2025, this was the 5th match of the series that took place at Forest Lane, on Furlong, it’s a long canal type lake approx. 13 meters wide with 30 pegs equally spaced apart. The weather for the day was forecast very light winds and plenty of cloud cover, but still staying warm.
A fantastic turn out from both Northumbria and Durham anglers, with the full lake being used. Draw was made at 09:00hrs, all anglers made their way to the pegs they had drawn.
At 10:30hrs “All In” sounded, some anglers went with the long pole attack, fishing the far bank, some went on the method feeder towards the middle of the lake. Paul Hutchinson (Northumbria) fished shallow on the far bank and caught small carp instantly, Graham Colclough (Durham) went on the method feeder in the middle part of the lake known as the track, he also started getting carp. Steve Holmes (Northumbria) fished a pellet feeder to the far rushes and stayed on this method all day catching Carp, Barbel and Tench, Dave Brown (Northumbria) went on his trusted method feeder on the pole and caught the bigger fish down the edge. This system has been so prolific for Dave, other anglers have started to try and copy it. Julian Brown (Durham) watched Dave for a short while, then decided to try this tactic.
16:30hrs, “Time” was sounded, the weather did stay warm and dry but the sun came out in the afternoon and many anglers were now looking like lobsters, red faces and arms. Everyone had a great day’s fishing, the scales attended each peg:
1st Dave Brown (Northumbria) 92lb
2nd Julian Brown (Durham) 78lb 12oz
3rd Paul Hutchinson (Northumbria) 78lb 7oz
Northumbria Invitational
Match 5 Bowes Lake, Angel of the North lakes, Birtley
Monday 28th July 2025.
Another bright and warm summers day saw the anglers gather at the Angel of the North complex for the fifth match in this series. The draw was held at 10am and the anglers marched off to their allocated pegs. Hopes were high as Bowes Lake had been fishing well in the days leading up to this match.
Another good turnout from both Northumbria and Durham anglers meant this was likely to be a highly contested match. Before the match the organisers had walked around the lake and noted that there were fishing cruising near the surface in almost every peg. The omens looked good.
The all in was called at 1130am.
Ian Nicholson (Northumbria) on peg 4 was into fish straight away and was catching some good carp using a cage feeder and pellet.
Next door on peg 3 Paul Hutchinson (Northumbria) was fishing the pellet waggler and was initially catching some of the large ide before the carp moved in.
On peg 20 Vince King (Northumbria) was rolling back the years and was catching carp steadily on the method feeder using pellet hookbaits.
Kevin Hood (Northumbria) peg 22 plodded away fishing down the edge on pellet and on method feeder and caught steadily throughout the match.
Andy Bell (Northumbria) had draw peg 2 and was hoping for a great days sport. Andy was hoping to break the 100lb barrier. He had been close in recent matches just falling short. Andy fished a great match catching regularly on a method feeder with pellet as his bait.
Dave Brown (Northumbria) on peg 7 had a good days fishing. Dave caught regularly throughout the match catching carp up to 6lb on his trusty method feeder on the pole.
Time was called at 1730hrs.
The results were as follows ;
1st Dave Brown 141lb 8oz
2nd Vince King 111lb 2oz
3rd Andy Bell 98lb 15oz.
Well done to all those that fished.
After 5 matches the standings are as follows;
1st Dave Brown 8 pts 419lbs 8oz
2nd Paul Hutchinson 12 pts 327lbs 11oz
3rd Vince King 22 pts 244lb 5oz
Anybody who wishes to participate in any of the matches or who require further information regarding the Freshwater Fishing Section this can be found on the Northumbria Police Sports and Social Club website the point of contact being Paul Hutchinson.