Bolam Lake

Bolam Lake sits in Bolam Lake Country Park near Belsay, Northumberland, with NE20 0HE the postcode to pop into your route planner. Northumberland County Council manages the park, and the fishing is on one lake rather than a complex of separate pools. It’s listed at approximately 10 hectares, so there’s a proper stretch of water here.

• 1 lake: Bolam Lake
• Fish: pike, perch
• Tickets from: 2026–27 adult Bolam-only coarse-fishing day permit — £11.22
• Find it: Ponteland · NE20 0HE

Based on how each lake is set up — not a ranking.

Bolam Lake sits in Bolam Lake Country Park near Belsay, Northumberland, with NE20 0HE the postcode to pop into your route planner. Northumberland County Council manages the park, and the fishing is on one lake rather than a complex of separate pools. It’s listed at approximately 10 hectares, so there’s a proper stretch of water here. If you’re looking around the Ponteland area for a coarse or predator venue, this is the Bolam Lake to have on your radar.

Pike and perch are the confirmed fishing options. That gives the place a clear predator angle, without dressing it up as a specimen venue or promising a PB. There are no checked fish weights or stock numbers to hang those claims on. Equally, don’t read the coarse-fishing permit label as a promise of a long list of other species. Pick it for the pike and perch fishing that’s actually listed, rather than a tale about unknown lumps.

The permit choice is nicely straightforward: adult and concession tickets are listed for a day, a week or a year, specifically for Bolam. That means you can choose between a one-off session and something covering repeat trips without needing to guess which ticket applies to this lake. The listed charges are for 2026–27. Concession eligibility needs a quick check when buying, because the age bands supplied come from the council’s earlier 2025–26 visitor tariff.

Sorting the paperwork needn’t be a faff. The council offers online fishing-permit purchasing, and the park page also names Belsay Post Office as a seller. An Environment Agency rod licence is required as well as the venue permit, so the two aren’t interchangeable. Another important bit for the tackle checklist: the general fishery terms allow one rod and line per permit. Don’t assume a single ticket covers a spread of predator rods.

For access, think daytime rather than an open-ended session. Park gates open during daytime throughout the year, while the car parks open at 9:30am and close at sunset. Check the entrance notices when you arrive and plan your pack-down around them. Those are park and car-park arrangements, not a separate promise about fishing hours. Getting the practical bits straight beforehand leaves less last-minute faff when you’d rather be sorting the net and choosing your approach.

The big thing to pin down is the closed season. The park page and general fishery terms give 15 March–15 June inclusive, but a separate 2025 fishing-regulations document gives 14 March–16 June inclusive. That’s a small-looking difference with a real effect on a trip at either end. Ask the council to confirm before planning around those dates. With that sorted, Bolam is a straightforward prospect on paper: one sizeable lake, two confirmed predator species and a choice of permit lengths.

Good background reading. Most of it is a few years old, so treat it as a starting point and ask on the day.

Videos linked by the fishery

• Our read

  Checked Sept '26 — “Bolam Lake is a single-lake coarse and predator venue near Belsay, with pike and perch fishing and council day, weekly and annual permits. A handy option for a predator session, but check the closed-season boundary dates before heading over.”

This is our own summary of recurring public feedback and the venue details we checked, not a copied customer review or a promise you’ll catch. Feedback changes, so we keep it separate from the Tackle Index score.