We have a lovely section of approximately 1 km of the River Lew that runs through our lower fields. The river rises near the village of Beaworthy and flows east past Northlew (its name sake), then turns north to run past Hatherleigh before joining the River Torridge.
In 2002 we entered our section of the river into the Westcountry Angling Passport fishing scheme to enable keen fishermen to fish for trout on a day-fishing basis. The scheme operates via a simple token system whereby anglers can purchase tokens to fish any of the 40+ participating Westcountry beats. The tokens are in 2 parts; the first is posted in a letterbox located adjacent to the parking place, at the start of the day's fishing. The second part is a ‘catch return’ and is posted in the same letterbox at the end of the day's fishing to enable us and the scheme operator to monitor how well it is fishing. Beats are rated according to their quality, ease of fishing and species of fish present; our beat, has 2 stars for Access, 3 for Fishability, and is open from 15 March to 30 September.
All proceeds of the scheme are returned to the riparian owners to support improved river management initiatives and is a way of encouraging sympathetic management of the river bank.
Tokens cost £2.50 each and our beat requires 2 tokens per fisherman per day to fish. Others that have salmon for example may cost 5 tokens a day to fish. Tokens can be purchased from the Westcountry Angling Passport by credit card via paypal on their website here.
We have 1000m single and double bank, with a number of good pools, and occasional sea trout in September. The fishing is ‘wild’ and we regularly undertake improvements. The best trout caught so far was a 16” trout in 2002 and a sea trout in 2006. Be warned though, the river can drop to very low levels in dry summers reducing the fishing to a series of pools. Over 100 trout were caught to 12” in 2005.
We do allow dogs under supervision only, but not when there are any livestock in the adjacent fields. Fly only. No more than 2 trout to be retained per day.
