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Thread: tarns

  1. #1
    Master and MR
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    tarns

    why do some of the bigger tarns not have fish in them and some do
    and dont say thats cos there is no fish in them

    is it because its bad water and not good for fish, if so is it not safe to drink that water.

    and has anyone ever been fishing in one of those tarns with fish in

  2. #2
    Graeme
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    Re: tarns

    The mrs was talking to someone when she went up Dow crag, and I can't remember if it's Goat's Water or blind tarn that people fish, but apparantly it's got some amazing brown trout in there. From what I heard it was a case of chucking your line in and hauling them out.

  3. #3

    Re: tarns

    Quote Originally Posted by daz h View Post
    why do some of the bigger tarns not have fish in them and some do
    and dont say thats cos there is no fish in them

    is it because its bad water and not good for fish, if so is it not safe to drink that water.

    and has anyone ever been fishing in one of those tarns with fish in
    Is it because it needs a stream for fish to get there in the first place?

    If it is a tarn with no actual stream therefore stagnent water and no chance of fish actually making it up there or living in the stagnent pool.

    Pure guess work.

    Also, I have never drank from tarns, are they generally safe? Seem a bit still and not flowing enough?

  4. #4
    Graeme
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    Re: tarns

    My guess would be to drink from a very fast flowing area, once drank from the outlet to griesdale tarn and ended up being very very sick.

  5. #5
    Master Stolly's Avatar
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    Re: tarns

    Apparantly (and you might want to take this with a pinch of salt) many tarns have fish in, populated by fish eggs that have happened to pass through birds. I think that the tarns that don't have a fish population would be more down to them having nothing in them for fish to eat and survive.

  6. #6
    Grandmaster IanDarkpeak's Avatar
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    Re: tarns

    Quote Originally Posted by AJF View Post
    Is it because it needs a stream for fish to get there in the first place?

    If it is a tarn with no actual stream therefore stagnent water and no chance of fish actually making it up there or living in the stagnent pool.

    Pure guess work.

    Also, I have never drank from tarns, are they generally safe? Seem a bit still and not flowing enough?
    This was discussed between myself, Daz and marvin over the week end,

    Due to the number of people doing wild camps etc esp DofE and larger groups Tarn water is being contaminated with human waste. The BMC ML guide lines for wild camping state that you should bring all waste off the hill and if you have to leave a 'deposite' on the hills it should be a MINIMUM 50 m from a water supply and burried not just covered up.

    I've tried a bit of web surfing this morning but I know I've read in the past on ABMG website (I think ) that some Tarns due to there popularity are contaminated with Giardia and e-coli so if you want to use that water then boil in properly.

    I always drink from mountain steams and springs but would not drink from a stream supplied by a tarn.

    As Graeme says if it's fast flowing and above a tarn then there should be no problem.

    Lower down you must consider the animal popoulation, if you are below pasture land then I wouldn't risk it.

  7. #7
    Master and MR
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    Re: tarns

    looking on the map
    scoat tarn
    low tarn
    grisedale tarn
    red tarn
    stickle tarn
    angle tarn
    all dont show fish on the map

    why should codale tarn and easdale tarn have fish and not stickle tarn
    weird
    it must have been researched prior to maps being made
    maybe its just that some tarns have had fish introduced by man

  8. #8
    Senior Member Highy's Avatar
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    Re: tarns

    I used to work with a bloke who fished the tarns as a hobby, he told me that the fish (Arctic Char?) had got there during the ice ages and were left in the tarns as a result of the glaciers retreating.
    Doesn't explain why some tarns have fish and some don't though?

  9. #9

    Re: tarns

    Quote Originally Posted by daz h View Post
    maybe its just that some tarns have had fish introduced by man
    That is an odd thing to do?

    Where you off with that trout in a bag, oh just up to stickle tarn?

  10. #10
    Master wheezing donkey's Avatar
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    Re: tarns

    A non-running friend of mine is a keen fell walker and, in Lakeland and the wilder parts of Scotland, always carries a lightweight telescopic fishing rod in his rucksack. He actually keeps a record of the tarns and lochans that he has fished in and those where he's had a catch - almost an alternative to peak bagging. The same friend, an industrial chemist by training but now a retired science teacher, reckons that as long as you drink from where the water is 'tumbling' and is thus well oxygenated, there is no problem from 'biological' contamination. He cites an incident where he had a school group camping at the foot of some rapids/falls in the Highlands, and all drank from the burn. Next morning they broke camp and walked up stream. Above the rapids/falls, not 100m from their campsite, was a well putrified stag's carcass laid in the actual burn. No-one suffered any physical malady, but kids being kids there were a small number of certain psychosis to be dealt with.
    Drinking from tarns is a totally different issue. Even with incoming and outfall streams, the tarn itself is a body of static, unoxygenated water. Brennand Tarn in Bowland is a good ( or maybe that should be 'bad' ) example. It is a staging post for Greylagg Geese and it is claimed that the bed of the tarn is a solid strata of goose droppings. A late friend of mine who was an active member of the local MRT, one desperately hot day, drank from Brennand Tarn. He was spewing & sh****ng for 3 weeks, before he recovered.
    Last edited by wheezing donkey; 12-05-2008 at 12:56 PM.

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