YOU FISHED WITH HUGH FALKUS?!?!? Wow! Tell us more! I loved/love his book, Some of it Was Fun, a re-reader if ever there was one. Unfortunately I've heard that the shooting in Eskdale has stopped, the ramblers and the RSPB have put a stop to years of tradition and culture....Shaun Harrison wrote: I caught my very first salmon on that Knott End Beat of the River Esk.
Spent a bit of time there. It was also the first time I got drunk in the morning on whisky due to Hugh's insistence in the hut there whilst being 'talked at'. On that occasion, Bill Arnold had recently purchased the cottage and accompanying beat from the very impressively chested Georgina, so Hugh no longer had to poach what he used to refer to as his rive as Bill had taken to Hugh and sorted the casting lakes out for his use.
I love the upper Esk, the wild part looked down upon by Hard Knott Fort. I once lay looking over a cliff down into a deep pool at a large sea trout, 5-6lb I reckon, must have watched that fish for hours. Went snorkelling in some of those deep pools one scorching summer, they seemed quite barren, only saw some tiny brownies.
[/quote]Will have to come back to this one Scott, just a quick few words so you know I'm not ignoring you. I have a lot of Cumbrian tales as I used to spend time there every year mostly fishing the River Irt on the Cragg House beat, but would often go for a day on Knott End and elsewhere. During the 25 years I worked at Walkers of Trowell, it became part of the yearly routine and staff bonus - salmon fishing in Cumbria, the place John Walker loved so much and was soon to rub off on me. As well as loving Cumbria I also fell in love with salmon angling and quickly notched up catches from nine different rivers yet I've not even been this century yet, where does the time go?
John Walker's ashes were scattered off Cragg House bridge, just as his great friend Joe Walsh's had as well as many more, Joe ran the beat from the Scawfell Hotel for years. When John Walker's ashes were poured from the bridge another of his friends Colin Berryman broke the deathly silence with...
"You know what, I had never realised he was so tall"!
That broke the sombre mood and then it was party time but identical to Joe's ashes going into Cragg House Pool a salmon leaped at the tail of the pool, life moves on in its various shapes and what better send off to a devoted salmon angler? Even a salmon acknowledged him and seemingly paid it's last respects.
I've written more than I was going to, I have a river full of barbel to go sit by the side of and to try and meet up with one before the season end. I messed up with my two chances last night but look to put things right to-day or tomorrow. The river is lovely and high - big barbel conditions.
