Great Langton: Pegs 1 to 15

Parking is in a lay-by off the main road on the north side of the river. Note there are two lay-bys either side of the bridge; ideally we should use the upstream lay-by and leave the one below the bridge for Kirkby Fleetham anglers.

Please note that that parking is not allowed on the south side of the bridge, which is an access to the farm used by 

some heavy machinery.

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This is the upstream limit of RADAS Great Langton water on the south side of the Swale; the yellow sign in the top left of the picture is the upper limit sign. This is also the top of Peg 1 - there are two peg markers here - black on white (new) and black on aluminium (old). This is a 20-30 minute walk from the parking.

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Access to peg 1 is through a gap in the barbed wire fence, a few yards below the peg itself. The banks are high and steep here and great care should be taken especially in wet conditions - there are many concrete/stone slabs on the bank covered in moss which are very slippery in wet conditions. There is a fast riffle at the top of the peg and deep water close to the near bank, sure to hold some big chub and maybe some barbel. Peg 1 is about 300 years long.

Follow the fence line about 300 yards downstream and you'll find peg 2. The access is about 25 yards below the actual peg, again through a gap in the barbed wire (be careful!).

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This is a picture of the river taken in late May, 2020, when the river was very low. There is a fast riffle towards the bottom of the peg (not shown in photo).

Continue downstream along the fence line to peg 3.

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Access is through the gap in the barbed wire fence. The peg numbers are in the background of this photo.

This is taken at river level when the river was very low in May 2020. 

The actual peg is on a silver birch tree which is in line with the farm gate in the adjoining field.

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This is the farm gate referred to in prior photo; the silver birch tree with the peg on it can be seen in the background. We saw a good number of fish rising here in May 2020....

The next peg is 4A. We assume there was a re-pegging at some time that necessitated the "A" designation.

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There is everything here a fish could wish for - cover, oxygen, flow and slack water i.e. lots of complex current flows.

Peg 5 is mostly shallow glides. Could be a good spot when the river is at normal level or carrying a little for trout/grayling on the fly?

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Peg 6 is about 100 yards below peg 5 and above peg 7. 

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The peg is set back from the path - we have cleared the bank so it can be seen (May 2020), but it will grow back over time and may be difficult to find.

A beautiful section of water with riffles, deeps, slacks and lots of structure provided by an old, collapsed bridge in the river. There are surely some monsters in here.... will you be able to get them out?

Peg 7

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Peg 8 and what used to be Peg 9 (we can no longer find the actual peg) have been destroyed following extensive work on both sides of the river - see next photo. 

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What's happened to our beautiful river? We assume this is work to address damage from the February 2020 floods. There is also a channel to the right of the photo. What's left is shallow and featureless, rather like a canal.

Peg 10 - very shallow water when river is low (like May 2020)

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Peg 11 - again shallow water when the river is low with a steep bank, so take care when accessing! The easiest way to get down is about 50 yards below the actual peg.

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Peg 12 - similar to peg 11

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Peg 13

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Peg 14

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Peg 15 is the last peg on R&DAS Great Langton water (it is the most downstream peg). It is unique in that it cover both sides of the river (all of the other pegs are South side only). Be careful if you do access the North side (closest to the main road) - the banks are steep and overgrown. There are known to be some big chub over there!

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This shows peg 15 when the river was low in May 2020. The edges were black with fry of different sizes, hopefully a good sign for the future!