Cavendish Dock is without doubt the most unusual fishery in Cumbria and the unlikely outcome of number of unrelated factors.

The dock takes freshwater drainage from Poaka Beck but seawater also enters on the bigger tides resulting in brackish water. This aquatic mix is further complicated by the nearby power station that takes water from the dock for cooling only to return it several degrees warmer once the job is done.

Barrow Angling Club have stocked the dock with trout in the past. These fish grew rapidly, becoming more like sea trout, but mortalities were not uncommon during high summer temperatures and the practice was eventually abandoned. The next chapter in the story followed an escape of carp and coarse fish from a nearby small fishery and a consequent population explosion of cyprinids.

The end result is that today Cavendish Dock is essentially a Carp fishery – and there are thousands of them, thriving in the warm water and rich feeding. Fish of thirty pounds are present but the bulk of the stock will be in 7 -12lbs range. Rudd, Tench and Bream are also present and, apparently, a few Trout still remain.

Access around the dock is not easy with steep slopes on all but the western end where most of the fishing takes place. The setting is not the most scenic with nuclear submarine sheds on one side and a power station on the other – but if you want to pull out carp for ever more, or if you need a confidence boosting day,  then this is the place to be.