This will sort out the men from the boys.....

Have any of you hardy adventurers ever fished the Upper Tees (or even Trout Beck) above its inflow at Cow Green, ie around the Moor House area?
We're talking a serious hike into the wilds here and I'm sure any trout present would be small and that a good bit of water would be needed to make it viable. Just interested see.....

M

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Across the fields of hoar. And the river steamed -
Flint-olive.


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Hi, M,
Yes, a long time ago, I fished CG on a difficult day, ended up with dry fly near the inflow in order to get some sport. Fished briefly above, but the water was pretty barren, and I didn't persist. The beck below the dam was a far better bet, I decided.
Digressing, as I do, as a 10 year old, my little black cocker spaniel ( bred by my grandad ) was banished to Moor House for bad behaviour, much to my dismay. It became one of the keeper's dogs. The family lived in Alston then.
Speaking of the hardy, as a 16-year old, my mate and I slept overnight on the top of Cross Fell in a little 'bivvy' tent. We had our two terriers in the sleeping bags with us foe warmth. We missed the dawn chorus and the sunrise. Typical of that massive fell, the cloud came down and we woke up to find ourselves surrounded by 'cotton wool'. We eventually breakfasted in the shepherd's hut. We didn't repeat that exercise.
While waiting to join the BBC, after demob from the RAF, I worked for a while as a builders' labourer for Kearton's of Alston. First job was pointing the gable end of Moor House. It was then a Nature Consevancy site. It's a small world, M.
Good luck, if you ever get up there, man it is raw!!
Cheers, TC

M, Maise Beck used to attract worm fishers from the Eden valley, and was reputed to hold a lot of trout. Never fished it, and unlikely to do so now.
TC

Cheers Terry!

I was fishing dries myself a few weeks ago at the top of CG, and I looked up the valley towards Cross Fell, and all that infant Tees meandering down from it, and it just got me wondering.....that is some tract of wilderness up there isn't it?

Interestingly, I found this site which gives an archive of pictures of Trout Beck, taken from exactly the same position, every week for the last few years. It doesn't look an appetising proposition in low water does it??

http://www.ecn.ac.uk/photos/photos.asp?site=MOO

Nice Mayfly by the way......

Matt

__________________
The sun pushed dark spokes of melt and sparkle
Across the fields of hoar. And the river steamed -
Flint-olive.


http://northcountryangler.blogspot.com

hi, Matt,
Thanks for the kind remark; the Mayfly was Mrtrout's, I just snapped it. Hope to get better when more adjusted to digital SLRs.
No, Trout Beck does not look anything like as appetising as the Trout Beck that we know as a tributary of the Eden. The fish on the Alston side of the Pennines have a harder life than those of the Eden valley. They are bonny fish, but the Eden valley trout are certainly bigger on average.
I have been pretty close to the source of 'your' Trout Beck. Not walking, but driving a Range Rover up to the Civil Aviation site on Gt.Dun Fell --- 'The Golf Ball In The Sky'. The BBC had two receivers and two transmitters in one of the buildings there. In the event of a break in the TV programme lines to our main TV transnmitter site, signals from Pontop Pike were constantly relayed via the equipment on Gt.D F. It was a hairy drive in winter!
For years now, I have wanted to see Great Rundale Tarn, on the Maize Beck
system; but would need a 'chopper' now.
Cheers ,TC
The Civil Aviation lads must have been hardy beggars.

Re the Tees, I was talking to a chap (leading figure in Keswick Anglers, but can't remember his name) when I was on the Derwent nr Keswick last year. He was raving about the Upper Tees at Middleton - full of boulders but stuffed with fish, which he got by just dropping big dries into the pocket water between the boulders - almost like fast water dapping! Mind you, just looking at the map thats below Cow Green isn't it...

In the early 80s, student days, I spent 6 weeks geology mapping on the fells above Dufton/Murton/Hilton and I did see a few small trout in the becks, plus once monster that shot off with a huge bow-wave, so you never know...!

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Hi, Jeff,
Was it Mike Tinnion, who fishes for England? How far up the becks were you , Jeff? I ask because salmon and sea trout used to get up the fells into some tiny becks where they could hardly turn round. They nearly all have migratory fish runs. I used to monitor the redds on the Crowdundle when I was voluntary bailiffing. Hilton Beck is on the Go Wild In Eden system, as is Swindale Beck, which had a lot of parr in it last year. Rose about 20 to 30 on dry flies, and missed the majority. That's about par for the course. Sorry about that
Cheers, have you dried out yet? The Barbour took a full day. TC
PS Swindale has the best access of any of the little Go Wild beats. Fishing starts at the confluence with Eden.

No it wasn't him TC, it was the chap Dave couldn't remember either, the one who does a lot the invertebrate studies (and Dave's a fellow KAA member, so he has no excuse!).

Just looked at my larger scale map and the beck on the fells I was talking about would have been Trout Beck, but right up High Cup Gill. I spent every day solid for 6 weeks all over those fells and in was in 1983 or 84, when there was major heatwave. Best tan I've ever had! I didn't have a car then, but I was stopping on a nearby farm (at Brackenber I think) and I had to get up early to cycle to the foot of the hills, then trek up to my mapping area before the sun got too high and hot. Hardly saw anyone else in 6 weeks, but then I wasn't on the paths I was scrambling over the fells. Must've drunk at least a pint a day out of that beck, after my tapwater in my bottle ran out Strange but beautiful landscape with Whin Sill cutting across High Cup Nick and the limestone pavement and peat bog on top of the fells.

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Hi, Jeff, I remember both 83 and 84 were drought years. The sphagnum moss in the Oban area was so dry that when we walked over it, it crunched like weetabix. The year before, 83, on the Morvern peninsula, the rivers were so low that the Strontian Hotel manager said we could fish Loch Doilet free. Its record sea trout at that time was 11lb. We never even saw or heard one when we fished down the little Porlock River.
Can't think of that KAA lad's name. I won't sleep now. What's your telephone number. If I think of that name, in the middle of the night, I'll let you know!!
Cheers, Terry C

Hi Matt,

I dont know how low water levels affect fish in the becks, but when Lucia and I went walking from Cow Green to High Cup Nick along Maize Beck earlier this summer (I think it was the end of May) water levels were so low that Maize Beck was dry in places and the flow non-existant in others.
I have no idea how fish adapt to drought conditions but it must have an adverse impact, as i cant see that all the fish can migrate downstream.

The waters around High Force on the Tees looked fantastic, were full of fish and are on my list of places to visit next year. Might a camping trip up there for the weekend.

Mike

PS Am having a day off tomorrow to revisit a certain pool on the Ribble

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