When you're fishing remote spots in Cumbria, one head torch is none, and two is one. Always carry a secondary, lightweight backup torch in your pocket. If your main light fails while you're half a mile from the car on a pitch-black Ullswater shoreline, that backup becomes the most important piece of tackle you own. Make sure your primary torch has at least 300 lumens for spotting distant snags or signaling for help in an emergency.
Cumbria is defined by its massive glacial lakes—the "Big Three" for coarse anglers being Windermere, Ullswater, and Derwentwater. These aren't your typical managed pits; they are vast, deep, and can be dangerous in bad weather. Windermere, in particular, is a mecca for specimen perch and pike, with fish growing to huge proportions on a diet of lake trout and charr. For the adventurous angler, these waters offer a "wilderness" experience that you simply won't find in the Midlands or the South.
Away from the big lakes, the county's river systems like the River Eden and the River Derwent are world-renowned for salmon, but they also hold incredible stocks of wild chub and grayling in their middle and lower reaches. For those who prefer a more contained environment, the Lancaster Canal terminates at Tewitfield in the south of the county, providing a rare stretch of "still" water for roach and tench. Cumbria is a county where watercraft is king; you have to find the fish in thousands of acres of water, but when you do, they are often spectacular.