Beat 40: South Penquite

The De lank river at South Penquite tumbles and flows through semi open moorland and ancient woodland, its waters are clear with the characteristic peaty strain of the moorland runoff. Granite boulders litter much of the river, breaking up the main flows and creating countless pocket waters, shoots, and glides. The largest pools in the lower section are generally short, narrow and surprisingly deep, with the wider, more shallow larger pools found in the upper 300 yards of the Beat. Much of the Beat is treelined, with overhung and submerged limbs commonplace, these offer the resident fish fantastic habitat and refuge, but does make casting tricky, we recommend using a 6-8’6”, #0-4 fly set up here, and the use of Bow & Arrow, Roll, Snake Rolls, side casts are the only ways to effectively present a fly. Being blocked by an impassable barrier downstream for the last century, the population of brown trout here have become unique, with fish up to the 2lb mark being caught in past seasons. The 2021 Season was a quiet one at South Penquite, we definitely hope this changes in 2022, because the fishing here is nothing short of tremendous, and with the right approach anglers have been able to land over 30 fish in a few short hours, these trout weren’t lacking in size either with fish to 12” landed and losses of fish estimated over 15”. The Camel emergency byelaw has imposed a later start to the season to help migratory fish, despite this having little or no bearing on the upper De Lank due to the barrier, it should bring the opening days some more productive fishing as this beat has always taken a month to get going.