River Tees

LiamNE

Well-known member
I don’t think I have ever heard anyone mention fishing the river Tees, is there a reason for that?

I pass over the Tees most working days via the A19 + transporter bridge and I have never seen a rod out - Just curios, especially with the rivers being so popular lately.
 
i live down stockton way mate and i never see no one up river, down on the gare u see a few lads, plus i think your line would dissolve in the tees
 
Haha, I knew it wouldnt take long before those comments came about :D
Another one is I would not like to fish there alone, even in a two I would not feel totally safe.

Seriously though, do yous reckon that is the main reason?
 
i know theres fish in the estuary area.

ive tried a few marks up to newburn bridge but failed to get a single bite.

its no worse than any of the other rivers in our area. in fact it has more salmon going up now than anyone can remember.

you get plagued with crabs so theres absolutely no reason why there shouldnt be flounders in there.

some years ago i tried to set up an open competition on the river. i had some of the big companies involved because catching fish would prove that the river was getting cleaner and any environment agencies could sample the fish caught.

i couldnt get past the coast guard who constantly blocked attempts quoting security and access issues, so it didnt happen.
 
The Tees is a strange one. It should fish like the tyne nowdays (no longer a dead river) and both similar sized rivers. There is very limited access on both sides though apart from the estuary area or further inland at the riverside stadium. On the south side the south gare doesn't fish for cod as good as it used to, as the channel was changed to a more central position (out of casting distance and the tees barrage installed). Prior to both of these, good catches of codling in both summer and winter could be taken from the corner facing harlepool. Massive bags of whiting used to be taken in matches 10 years ago from the cranes (into the river) opposite side to the tyres in teesbay, quite a few 100lb bags of whiting were weighed in matches 10 years ago and good codling bags taken in rough seas. Another problem in the tees is the seal colony of 150 seals!!!
After WW2 my great grandad used to fish the tees around the south bank area and owned a fishermans hut and fished the southgare alot. Plenty of fish down in the river in them days and they used to catch turbot in the river aswell!!!!
 
obviously inland from the barrage is freshwater and coarse fish.... this can fish really well and is very popular. downstream of the barrage is very strange as apparently the seals come upstream of the barrage to feed on bream and roach etc.. this begs the question why.. the obvious answer is theres a lack of sea fish in the estuary.
 
My mate and I have fished just downstream of the transporter bridge and had loads of whiting and dabs often a bite a chuck but the bottom is very snaggy. The seals go up to the barrage to feed on salmon & sea trout if you go to the barrage you con watch them feed. wore salmon & sea trout are getting upstream now the white water course is running all the time.
 
My mate and I have fished just downstream of the transporter bridge and had loads of whiting and dabs often a bite a chuck but the bottom is very snaggy. The seals go up to the barrage to feed on salmon & sea trout if you go to the barrage you con watch them feed. more salmon & sea trout are getting upstream now the white water course is running all the time.
 
deffo can agree with fishing downstream from the transporter bridge... loads of flatties and yting if fished on the flood ....but it still lacks a lot of tidal pull in my opinion...
and of course the seal population causes a problem especially whe they realise your catching fish and the follow your catch in and snatch it from the hook .i have had flatties, codling. and yting all with chunks took off them ..sometimes loosing the whole fish and sometimes snapping the hook snood...

moving further into the estuary region there is a bit more especially when fishing from bottom up and into the channel....but very rough seas are generally needed to push decent cod deeper into the river mouth..

i personally like to park at the zinc works on the north side of the river and walk to which ever mark i am fishing in the estuary from near the power station outlet pipe or near the marker bouys for the channel to all the way to the north gare and the beach beyond...

out of all the conditions i have found when its unfishable on most of the coast the channel tends to get decent cod ....when it rough but fishable try near the north gare and the ring of stones... when its calmer change tactics for flatties or yting from anywhere from the transporter bridge all the way to the blue lagoon...and if you lucky ya might pick the odd bass up if you target them from the pipe near the power station all the way round the blue lagoon to the outlet pipe on the beach past the north gare

in my opinion its not the greatest of river mouths ...alot less productive than the tyne and the wear and also a lot more hard work learning the marks than them.. but to me thats part of the challange of sea fishing....
cheers
Paul
 
My lasting memory of the Tees is crossing the Transporter bridge once and when I looked over I saw a big brown turd floating along on its way out to sea.
Mick.
 
More Salmon & sea Trout getting up river ?

More Salmon & sea Trout getting up river ?

My mate and I have fished just downstream of the transporter bridge and had loads of whiting and dabs often a bite a chuck but the bottom is very snaggy. The seals go up to the barrage to feed on salmon & sea trout if you go to the barrage you con watch them feed. more salmon & sea trout are getting upstream now the white water course is running all the time.

I live beside, and fish, the upper river for primarily salmon. The last 2 years have been the worst I can remember ! We did have a very few fish run the late floodwaters, but nothing like it should be ?
I personally didn't see a sign of a salmon, and I fished it extensively. Local lads who are on it more than me, said it was one of the worst years they can remember.
One problem is that what few fish do get through, are getting taken both legally, and illegally......I didn't fish the late run to try and allow what few fish there was spawn unhindered!
We now have canoes running all over the redds, not satisfied with buggering up the start of the river, they are on the upper river in ever increasing numbers....I am not anti canoe....but the salmon will not survive the pressure ....we will see ever decreasing no's.......:confused:
 
seals

seals

I was fishing the pilot pier at Hartlepool last winter and 2 fishery protection officer came on the pier for a chat to the anglers....[ they had travelled up from Filey to check the crab boats and catches but the weather was to rough for the crabbers to go out,so the officers rather than waste their day came on and asked us all to fill in questionares].....I asked them about how the seal population was affecting local fish stocks.... they said over 60% of the salmon and sea trout entering the river were caught by the seals.....they could prove this by releasing the fish counter totals taken at Darlington over previous years ... there were over 250 breeding seals at seal sands ... they said there needed to be a humanely managed cull,but it would never happen because their superiors were well aware of the fuss /outcry the [and I quote "THE TREE HUGGERS" would make] as the seal was at the top of the foodchain it would slowly get worse around the tees area, and eventually they would spread!!!!!
 
I was rubbing my ears and eyes in disbelief at the feature on seals the other night’s news, saying they are in very great danger of becoming extinct in UK waters - maybe so, but certainly not in our area.

Thanks for the replies lads, some very informative responses here.
 
I live beside, and fish, the upper river for primarily salmon. The last 2 years have been the worst I can remember ! We did have a very few fish run the late floodwaters, but nothing like it should be ?
I personally didn't see a sign of a salmon, and I fished it extensively. Local lads who are on it more than me, said it was one of the worst years they can remember.
One problem is that what few fish do get through, are getting taken both legally, and illegally......I didn't fish the late run to try and allow what few fish there was spawn unhindered!
We now have canoes running all over the redds, not satisfied with buggering up the start of the river, they are on the upper river in ever increasing numbers....I am not anti canoe....but the salmon will not survive the pressure ....we will see ever decreasing no's.......:confused:


I don't think that the tees is alone in this respect. I read recently that Atlantic salmon stocks in North America have completely collapsed in the last two years. Huge salmon rivers, like the Miramachi in Canada had almost no returning fish. The authorities are unable to say why it is happening... Disturbing to say the least.
 
World Salmon

World Salmon

I don't think that the tees is alone in this respect. I read recently that Atlantic salmon stocks in North America have completely collapsed in the last two years. Huge salmon rivers, like the Miramachi in Canada had almost no returning fish. The authorities are unable to say why it is happening... Disturbing to say the least.
There are pressures on Salmon in many rivers around the world, one of the main reasons, in my opinion, over fishing at sea.
The thing with the Tees is that the barrage was not, still is not, capable of allowing the free passage of migratory fish, which under British law is illegal!
If there was a clear, and effective, route passed the barrage, do you honestly think the fish would hang around in the 'Rats in a barrel' scenario that presently exists. You can't blame the seals it's what they do, just as salmon feed on bait fish ! If the easy pickings of trapped Salmon were removed you would see the seal population naturally adjust to self sustaining levels.
Don't believe the line taken / fed by any Local authority/ Water company / Environment agency....they have denying / failing to rectify this issue since the barrage was built. The headline seeking Angling Trust disappeared once the glory had gone !
There are certainly rivers around the world that are in dire straits, for various reasons....but non with such dramatic opposites within 30 miles of there mouths ? Last year , by all accounts, the Wear had an excellent run. The Tyne is now, and has been for a few years, one of, if not the best salmon river in Britain ! Why haven't the seals moved there, why isn't the Farne island seal population booming ?
There is one defining factor.....the barrage !....It ain't rocket science !
They got it wrong when it was first built, and now it will cost a fortune to make it right....and none of them are willing to pay.....So the Salmon pay !

Mel....
 
I wonder what effects commercial catches of Salmon at sea (wether legal or illegal) are having on stocks? Similarly, how much illegal netting is occurring along the coast? Water quality in the Tees catchment is not too bad, indeed it's improved exponentially since the 80's.
When I was a bairn we had a caravan at Crimdon Dene and I can remember that there more seals then than there are now, so blaming seals alone is being simplistic, seals eat a hell of a lot more fish species than just salmon and trout.
However, if you read this :
https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/media/library/7183-cefas-report-river-tees.pdf
, it would appear that few salmonids are capable of passing the barrage, and when they are immediately downstream of the barrage, seal predation is exacerbated.
Based on that document, it would appear that the main problem is the barrage - the seals are indirectly benefitting benefitting from the fish being forced to shoal in a small area.
 
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