North Yorkshire Without A Rod!

Having promised Lucia a day out together without me spending some part of the day fishing, i couldnt believe it when she told me the she wanted to visit the waterfalls of High Force and Cauldren Snout. Both of these falls are located on the River Tees in North Yorkshire and are located in prime brown trout territory.

It was a great place to go for a walk as the wild flowers in Teesdale are something to behold at this time of the year. I even managed to locate some Blue Gentians, which are extremly rare in the UK.

To get to Cauldren Snout we had to park in carpark of Cow Green Reservoir, a famous wild brown trout lake. Despite the gale force winds, i could see three hardy anglers braving the elements. Despite being on my best behaviour it was touch and go as to approach them to make enquiries as the the quality of the fishing.

I could see plenty of fish on the River Tees, and despite the 125 mile drive, it would be somewhere i could easily return to cast a line. The scenery is spectacular in this remote, sparsely populated part of the UK.

Our walk eventually took us to High Cup Nick, which is the viewpoint at the head of what is in my opinion THE classic hanging valley in the British Isles. The strong winds that we had experienced for most of the day became extreme at this point as can be seen from the photo, it was difficult to remain standing.


The only low point of the day was the seven mile slog back to the car facing into the wind, however hot tea, wine gums and good company kept our spirits high.

I only wish i was a better photographer as my pictures dont really capture the wildness, the open expanses of moorland and the lack of mans interference in this beautifull solitude.

This is a photo of Phil dropping the prize catch – half a second earlier and it would have been a photo to remember!

I had an hour free between appointments this afternoon so i used the time to explore a new river only 2 miles north of Phils house. After climbing down a steep embankment i discovered this lovely stream.
I still find it amazing that i can come across streams/rivers such as this where relatively few people visit and even fewer fish in the centre of an urban connurbation such as Manchester
Trout and Chub were rising in the shallow pools and i disturbed a kingfisher which was catching its dinner.
After following the course of the river downstream i came across a young boy fishing, who told me he had already taken three trout to about a pound using worm and stick float. He told me that other than his friend he had never seen anyone else fishing this river.
Unfortunatley i got a little carried away, and forgot to check my watch – i arrived at my appointment late, a little more disheviled than usual, with mud all over the bottom of my trouser legs and shoes. Good job ive known this client for a while now !

I cant wait to give this river a try tomorrow evening after work.

The Quays are the point where the River Irwell joins the Manchester Ship Canal, and like the rest of the river basin, its only been during the last five to ten years that the water has had a sufficient oxygen content to enable it to support a population of fish.

During a lunch-break walk around Salford Quays earlier this week, i saw shoals of carp, rudd, bream and also the occaisional pike. The clarity of the water was amazing, and it was possible to see the bottom 20+ft down. To say that it was similar to watching fish in an aquarium would be an understatement – i have never seen fish in the water as clearly as this before.

My grandfather used to work as a policeman at these docks during the Second World War, i am sure he could never in his wildest imagination believe how this place has changed.

Its been over a week since i have been fishing so it was a good feeling to finish work early and get out on the bank.
The skys were clear, the sun was out and i could see shoals of fish patroling in midwater around the Quays.

I was quickly into a couple of small perch, then a few nice Rudd and a smallish tench.

When Phil arrrived at 6pm he must have but some sort of a voodoo curse on me, as i didnt catch another fish for the rest of the evening. Phil however proceeded to catch6 more tench including a new personal best of 4lb 3oz. Congratulations Phil.

It was amazing that my bites dried up like that, i changed to a smaller hook and finer line but i couldnt buy a bite. At the same time Phil who was fishing less than 10feet away was catching fish after fish. The difference in our tactics was that Phil was using a float set up with slightly less resistance as his weights were attached using a running link whereas mine were attached directly to the main line. However he was using double maggot on a size 16 hook and i was using a finer hooklength with a size 20 hook at the end and still couldnt get a bite. I never put things down to being one of those days and am going to have bit of experimentation with set ups similar to Phils running rig before i go again.

It was a nice change to coarse fish on still water again, but its off to the river again this weekend.

After spending weeks concentrating on the local river, we decided to have a change of scenery and make a visit to one of Tonys favourite beats on the Ribble. Adam, an accomplished fisherman from Hungary joined us today, so there were three eager anglers tackling up on the riverbank.

Adam must have been eager as i have never seen anyone tackle up and start fishing as quickly before in my life – he must have been tying flies onto his leader in the back of the car!

Whilst Adam was making his swift start, Tony and i decided to have a look at the bug life on the river bed, and by turning over a few stones, we soon found that there were plenty of baetis nymphs and caddis larvae about. As caddis patterns have worked so well recently on my local river, using them again today, together with a weighted shrimp as a dropper was a familiar set.

I am slowly beginning to realise that despite tackle shops, and magazines being full of gaudy coloured flies, on rivers with wild fish in them, drab grey, brown and brown/green patterns seem to give the best results. As my box of flies consists mainly of flies that i have purchased in packs from tackle shops, its about time i learn to tie some of my own that are more suited to the job.

Despite struggling with wading in a deeper, stronger flow i still managed to catch a nice small brown trout, and bumped half a dozen others. Tony had some decent sized browns and a couple of nice grayling. Adam also took a couple of nice browns.

All in all it was a great experience for me exploring some new water, and trying to catch fish on water that has far more angling pressure than the riverthat i have become accustomed to.

It was a very enjoyable day and hopefully on my next visit i will catch a grayling, as its so long since i caught one myself that i cant remember when it was.

As ever heres a photo of Tony with a good fish on, unfortunately though, this one got away.

Heres the tiddler i caught – hopefully i might catch it again in two or three years time when it will put a bend in my rod.