Firstly, a very happy New Year to you all and it won't be long now before lines are first wetted in the 2007 season here on the Ribble.  It's been surprisingly dry this past fortnight, almost unprecedented for Yorkshire in December.  But, the lack of sun and any drying wind has meant that the ground is still pretty sodden so the heavy rain of the past 48 hours has quickly brought the river into spate.  Everywhere is alive with the sound of running water, even my front porch.  Yet another job for when the weather warms up a bit.

It's been a great week for unexpected visits and new contacts.  It was really good to see two members of the MAA Council who dropped by for a chat.  The next Council meeting should be a lively and productive one and a great chance to set out our plans for the new season.

Yesterday brought yet another of those contacts out of the blue prompted by this blog and our presence on the world wide web.  I had an email from Raif Killips who is editor of an on-line magazine for fly fishers called Fly Fishers' Republic.  This provides anglers with a resource and guide to conservation and restoration work around the world and is an absorbing read.  Find it at www.flyfishersrepublic.com.  Raif has close links with our friends at the Wild Trout Trust and has very kindly offered to publish an article about our conservation projects in the magazine.  This is something we will discuss at the next Council meeting, but it does offer a very good way of publicising the efforts that the MAA are making to be good stewards of the Ribble, its fish and the fishery.

I am becoming increasingly convinced that remote cameras at the Tarn and the hatchery are possible at a reasonable cost.  It would be fascinating to be able to see how these sites are used by wildlife when humans are absent and what impact this use has on the fishery.  I suspect that, like most wildlife monitoring, one will inevitably get hours of absolutely sod all punctuated by short bursts of the unexpected.  Still, it would be fun to find out and possibly quite informative.

Next posting will be late next Sunday as I'm off to miss a few more clay's.

Happy New Year

Ian