Why keeping the Tees tip top really matters

WE strolled back to the car park in the fading autumn light – the river more audible than visible as we crossed the old stone bridge of the River Wear at Witton.

It was October 31, the end of another season of salmon, sea trout, brown trout and grayling sport on the Tees and the Wear. Already the talk was of next season; the plans, the hopes.

One hope is that Tees will one day match the Wear as a sea trout and salmon river. It is some way off, though there were reports this year of reasonable numbers of salmon, from mid-summer, in the Tees around Piercebridge and Gainford.

They moved up the dale as autumn arrived, and some were caught, including two trout anglers who were tested to the limit with a salmon on lightweight tackle aimed to target brown trout.

Rain brought good water levels to the region’s rivers from July onward, and that helped the migratory fish in their journey upstream to the spawning grounds.

Swollen rivers help all migratory fish, but on the Tees the water levels are particularly important as fish reach the Tees barrage. Work continues by the Environment Agency to improve passage, and it is now better than it has been since the structure was completed nearly 25 years ago. The more we fish for salmon and sea trout, the better an idea we will have of the number of fish present in the Tees, a river that was one of the very best in England until the chemical industry, then after its decline the barrage arrived at Teesside.

But for those lucky enough to also have access to the Wear or Tyne, it is difficult to justify a day on the Tees, when there are far more fish in the other main North East rivers.

I failed to hook or even see a salmon or sea trout in a couple of early September sessions on the Tees.

On the Wear it was a different story with eight salmon, and four sea trout landed, and several others hooked and lost. There appeared to be more fish in the Wear than for several seasons, and even on the several days when no fish were caught, they were seen.

The number of sea trout in the river was particularly encouraging, with one explanation being that rough seas made it a difficult year for commercial fishermen, as it was difficult for them to lower and control their nets.

“Your heart bleeds for them,” said one angler, the smile on his face betraying his true feelings.

Circumstantial evidence suggests that a bad year for netsmen makes for a good year for fish – and anglers.

With the Angling Trust is campaigning to reduce and ultimately end commercial fishing for salmon and sea trout, while addressing agricultural pollution as part of a plan to improve river water quality, there is hope that a nationwide decline in salmon stocks can be reversed. Especially if more licences are granted to protect fish stocks from fish eating birds such as cormorants and goosanders – both present in numbers on the Tees. Anglers are playing their part, with 80 percent of salmon caught being returned to the rivers, a far greater percentage than a few years ago, as more anglers grasp the need for conservation.

While some anglers keep an occasional fish for the table, one of the joys of the sport is seeing a released fish rest in the shallows to recover its strength, then slide gracefully away into the current. It is a huge privilege to catch a fish that has battled its way miles upstream from the sea, then free it to continue its journey to the spawning grounds and complete its life cycle.

Non-anglers may wonder why commercial fishermen should be restricted and some piscivorous birds controlled.

The reasons are that salmon and sea trout numbers are in decline, and anglers help protect the species. A severe decline in salmon numbers would cost the economy around £350million a year in England and Wales alone. So there are both conservation and economic reasons to keep our rivers in good condition and fish stocks healthy.

One of the important considerations for a post-Brexit Britain, is for environmental standards to be at least maintained, and preferably improved, so that areas such as Teesdale can flourish in future.

14,000 trout caught at Grassholme

THE dale’s reservoirs have again fished well this year, thanks to the skilled management of Don Coe and his team at Northumbrian Water.

With the stillwater season nearing an end at the time of writing, Grassholme has yielded almost 14,000 trout, mainly rainbows, at a rod average of three. The biggest trout caught weighed 12lb 8oz.

On fly-only Hury Reservoir (until November when worm was permitted) anglers caught 4,752 trout to 10lb 4oz at an average of 3.6 per visit.

As for those plans for next season, mine include a day or two on the reservoirs which I have tended to neglect in favour of the rivers.

If I can squeeze those reservoir days in, while still finding time for at least as many sessions on the river, that will add up to even more fishing next season. Roll on!