Fishing Catch Returns - River East Allen

Allen Valley Angling & Conservation, a new fishing club, which was established in 2011, now has 63 members, who have signed up to be able to fish the River East Allen in Northumberland for the coming 2012 season.

Our members are primarily from the local area - however, we also have members from Newcastle, Leeds, Oxford, London and Holland. These members are frequent visitors to the Allen Valley - either because they have family here, or visited the area on holiday and have fallen in love with the place and return when they can.

I was really pleased that despite the fact that Allen Valley Angling & Conservation only started to welcome members towards the end of the 2011 fishing season, 24 of our members submitted a catch return, recording between them 42 fishing days.

101 fish were recorded as having been caught on the fly and there was 100% voluntary catch and release - great news for a club that has environmental conservation at its heart.

The river has a healthy population of wild brown trout and unsurprisingly, this accounted for the majority of fish caught. Wild brownies are smaller than their farmed cousins - the average weight of fish caught was 6oz. Nevertheless, if you haven't tried river fishing before, don't let this put you off! Wild brownies are a challenge to catch and provide great sport.

Four salmon smolts and three sea trout were also recorded. You can find more details including the size of individual fish caught and the flies that were used on allen valley anglers website catch returns page.