Gatebeck Tarn Fishery

Jul 16th, 2022

Jan 20th, 2021

Lovely tarn to fish there are some beautiful looking fish in there n there sell bait there now so it good booking via email if u fancy going
Oct 6th, 2020

The pond is very idyllic and you can tell the owners have put a lot of thought into its design (great features to fish to, pegs carved into walls for bivvy/shelter, etc). You get excited about fishing it when you see it, as it looks bang on the money! However the important part is the fishing. After reading other reviews online, I read that it is very low stocked and bites are hard to come by. This is exactly what I have experienced... Using my polarised glasses and lapping the lake (5 times over 8 hours) to find the fish, you notice straight away that this place is teaming with Canadian Weed. It's very difficult to find the fish and when I finally found a group of around 5 carp huddled together in the shallows (probably 5-10lb in weight), I managed to false hook one with a stalking setup. It immediately took me to the weeds and I couldn't get out. Ended up losing the fish as I had to try to yank the hook free from the weed. The top left of the pond seems to be where they group, as it's shallow and more than likely slightly warmer. Having said that, the whole lake doesn't seem too deep. Probably 6-8ft at it's deepest. You can see the majority of the lake bottom with polarised glasses on and after being here for 8 hours, I can definitely say this is a VERY low stocked pond. On top of that, the fish spook easy so if you do fish this place - expect to blank. The website says it holds 6+ species of fish, but I highly doubt it. You're typical silverfish seem none existant. With the bottom being clear, I set up about 12 spots of bait all around the lake and came back to them throughout the session to monitor (as I had the whole lake to myself (another alarm bell)). After 8 hours, not a single patch of bait has been touched. I find it hard to believe that in 8 hours, silverfish did not have a rummage in those spots, feeding on the Groundbait and small pellet. If I had to take a guess, there's probably a handful of Tench and a handful of Carp in here and that's it. A disappointing session and I won't be coming back. I've heard it's suffered from predation, hence the Otter fencing surrounding the place. Perhaps this has affected the pond and the owners haven't restocked. Nobody has even come around to check I've paid, so I suspect the owners have given up on it. I feel sorry for the owners, as it has so much potential and looks amazing. However sadly, it just doesn't perform well. Also given the nature of the lake bed, this is not a suitable place for inexperienced anglers. Baits Tried: Pineapple Popup, Chocolate Milk Popup, Sweetcorn, Worm, Maggot, Sweetcorn, Groundbait (contains Hemp, Corn and crushed boilies), Sticky Krill Boilies, Sticky Manilla Boilies and Trout Pellet. Methods Used: Float Rod (bottom, mid and surface fishing), Carp Rods on Bite Alarms (PVA Bag with Pop up), Loose Pop ups and Bottom Baits (various mentioned above) on bolt and running lead rigs.
Aug 29th, 2020