Duke of Northumberland presents prizes to Northumbrian Anglers Federation winners, and anglers qualify for the Big One

The Duke of Northumberland, centre, with, from left: Jacek Bernard, John Foster, Peter Robinson and Chris Richardson. Picture: Northumbrian Anglers Federation

Jacek Bernard won the Federation Shield for catching the first fly-caught salmon; John Foster received the Coquet Trophy for catching the first spring salmon; Peter Robinson won the Centenary Cup for catching the heaviest salmon last season; Chris Richardson won the Centenary Cup for catching the heaviest brown trout of the 2023 season and Dale Green won the Jim Hardy Trophy for catching the heaviest sea trout last season.

The first heat of the Big One Competition was held at a very windy Thrunton Long Crag on Sunday.

Despite the conditions, trout were being caught on a regular basis and the rod average was 5.2.

The six qualifiers were Dean Appleby, Tony Fox, Peter Appleby, Alec Harvey, Owen Palmer and Joss Piper.

Sweethope Lochs has reopened for the season under new management. A great deal of work has been done to improve the fishery and the lochs have produced some impressive bags during their first week.

Both lochs have fished to a variety of methods with dries catching trout during the calmer periods.

Chatton has fished well this last week with some impressive bags recorded. The fishery sent a four man team of Davy Parker, Carl Nixon, Ryan Matthews and Craig Crompton to fish a competition at Lough Insch in Scotland.

They came second out of 20 teams. This was a terrific result considering our local guys had not fished the venue before.