When fishing a pacey river with a stick float and you are getting lots of bites and fish, make sure the bait keeps going in. You need to keep the fish competing for your hookbait. By trickling in a small amount of feed every single cast, you keep the shoal high in the water and aggressive, ensuring that the first thing they see as your float travels down the swim is your hookbait.
County Durham is defined by the deep valleys of the Wear and the Tees. It offers a mix of high-speed river fishing for silverfish and well-established commercial complexes that have become regional hubs for match and pleasure anglers.
The River Wear is the county’s crowning jewel for coarse fishing. Stretches through Durham City, Chester-le-Street, and Shincliffe are prolific for dace, roach, and chub. In recent years, the barbel population has also exploded, with fish well into double figures now being caught. The River Tees forms the southern boundary and is world-renowned for its deep, steady reaches around Yarm, which are famous for big bags of bream and skimmers.
For stillwater anglers, the Angel of the North Fishing Lakes near Birtley is the premier complex, offering three large lakes stocked with everything from carp to ide and golden tench. Aldin Grange and Carrs Lake provide smaller, more intimate settings. While the massive Pennine reservoirs like Grassholme are primarily trout-focused, they do offer "any method" fishing for those happy to pick up the odd large perch or roach while roving the banks.