Yarm Angling Limited
Home About Us Match Scene Juniors Special Events Links & Contacts Venues News	YAL has control of two main stretches of the River Tees. The uppermost one is in the middle reaches of the Tees at Low Middleton, between Darlington and Yarm, and is commonly referred to as “Bowl Hole”. The other, longer, stretch is around the town of Yarm. This stretch was tidal prior to the Tees Barrage being built below Stockton. The main effect of the barrage has been to maintain the water level at a height typical of ‘high tide’ and hence the river in this area is approximately 6ft deeper than it used to be - see detail below. Middle Tees at Bowl Hole This 1 mile stretch of water is typical of the middle Tees with a mixture of gravel shallows, somewhat deeper glides and the 10ft depths of Bowl Hole itself. All styles of “running water” methods do well for chub, barbel, dace, roach, perch, grayling, trout and even the occasional bream. Lower Tees around Yarm. YAL controls the fishing around the town in a ‘pegged-out’ almost continuous stretch, totalling approximately 200 pegs. This is where most of YAL matches are fished, from Harkers Farm down to Eaglescliffe Golf Course. See the MATCH CALENDAR for a full set of match dates and results. Harkers Farm. – a stretch of 20 pegs [Nos. 1 to 18 plus 9A & 12A] Access is via the farm, following the track to our Car Park. Cross directly to the river (at peg 10). The river here is slightly narrower than lower stretches and hence there is often a little more flow, which can be beneficial particularly in summer or when the river is low. Most of the top pegs can be good stick float pegs. Scarford Hill Wood / Wards Lane. - Access is via Northumbrian Water Authority’s lane, with car parking off the track, on the left. Upon reaching the river, there are 6 pegs upstream in the wood (19 to 24), all of which are quite deep. Downstream is pegged continuously from 25 to 60, but normally matches do not go below peg 42 because at this point there are two overlapping stretches and peg 61 on the other side is where pegging resumes. 1 to 60 are right bank, 61 downstream is left bank. All of the pegs from the bridge (peg 25) downstream are good for float fishing as they are some of the shallowest pegs on YAL’s water, although still 8 ft deep. ‘Strickies’ /Lambies /Nellies. – Access from either end, this is a continuous stretch with deeper pegs from 61 to 75, followed by the shallower pegs (6 to 8ft) down to the 80,s, then deepening off down to the field below Nellies Beck. The shallower pegs are typically fished with top 4 sections of a pole or fixed float, whereas the deeper pegs are top 5 for the pole or long rod /slider floats. The last peg above the town is 104 and there is a short break until our first peg below the Blue Bell pub, which is peg 111.(There used to be 108 pegs above the bridge before being re-pegged, and the first two pegs below the pub (109 and 110) belong to the pub). Blue Bell / Fisheries Bend/ Leven Mouth / Golf course - This final stretch is again continuously pegged with 193 being the end limit. There is access from the pub car park, parking near to pegs 124 and 161 and another access via the path adjacent to Eaglescliffe Golf Course. Below the pub and some of the pegs in the 130/140s are ‘shallow’ but most of this stretch is top 5 depth and well populated with bream, particularly at the Golf Course end. It is difficult to predict what species can be caught and from where, but in the summer the mainstay of sport is roach and perch. There is an abundant head of bream well spread throughout all these stretches but they tend to be elusive unless there is a combination of some extra flow and colour. The effectiveness of the barrage in running off excess water is such that the river very quickly clears after any flood water has passed through and the river then resumes its ‘normal’ level, hence the window of opportunity for good bream conditions is often limited. In one memorable match, with conditions right, 86lbs was recorded and several others over 40lb. There have been many 20lb to 30 lb bream catches. Other species include chub (and chublets), some of which are resident all year round, but usually there is a migration of chub from upstream that arrive after Christmas. Dace also migrate downstream, arriving in numbers from the end of October and are the main target species well into the following year. Other species that are occasionally caught are eels, rudd, gudgeon (getting scarce) and there has recently been a stocking of barbel. Carp are there but are very rarely caught. Pike have increased rapidly over the last few years and can be expected from just about any area, although these do not count in matches. Matches are often pole orientated, but with extra flow there are many areas that are suited to stick float or long rod fishing and a feeder rod is also recommended especially for the bream in summer and autumn and for the chub during the winter. Stillwaters Halnaby Lake – A 5-acre mixed fishery with bream, carp, roach and perch being the main species. There are also a few crucians, tench and eels present although they are only rarely caught. Turlwick Pond - Dug out and formed by the club in 1997. This water has been stocked with tench (now to 7lb), bream (now to 3lb), roach, perch and a few crucians and ide. Other waters available to members of Yarm Angling Limited Members of Yarm Angling Limited must also be members of the Association of Teesside and District Angling Clubs (ATDAC), which has a further 8 miles of water available on the middle Tees with good stocks of barbel, chub, dace, roach, perch, grayling and trout. ATDAC also have 2 stillwaters available. There is also another stretch of the Lower Tees available, jointly owned by the Lower Tees Angling Association, at Bowesfield. This stretch is mainly bream and roach. Jointly owned with Thornaby Angling Association, a 2 mile stretch of the River Leven is also available but because of the overgrown nature of the banks and the relatively low stock density it does not get fished much. However, if you fancy a challenge on a small river it is worth a try.
Web Changes: Paul Richmond