Two natural loughs in the Northumberland moors at the headwaters of the Wansbeck — Great Lough (140 acres) and Little Lough (12 acres) — managed as a trout fishery. The moorland setting and peaty water give both waters a character closer to a Scottish loch than an English commercial fishery. Rainbows here fight hard in the cold, low-nutrient water, and the chance of a fish of a lifetime — the kind that earns an immediate retelling — is real enough that regulars plan trips around it rather than treating it as a quick-visit water. Blue trout are stocked in among the rainbows. They tend to sit deeper and show a stubborn streak, and they'll often take a slowly retrieved lure in the hour after the rainbows have gone quiet.

• Loch
• Acidic