Another cracking morning with just a hint of autumn mist and the promise of a fine, sunny day with only a light, warm southerly breeze.  A bit bright for good fishing, but the river is in great condition with a good flow and crystal clear water.

More rain is promised for Monday so conditions should hold up for most of next week.

My musings about the condition of the Tarn prompted a very interesting email from Mike Howarth who speculates about the cause of the cloudy conditions.   His observation is that the act of pulling up the anchor when fishing from the boat releases a massive cloud of detritus from the bed which takes a long time to disperse.  His research of the 'net' leads him to speculate whether the problem is either myriophyllium aquaticum or watermillfoil?  I simply don't know but some physical research over the weekend may give me a better idea.

Mike ponders the idea that we should have some hidden anchor points, similar to the old anchorages for the barley straw but less intrusive.  It may be that we should repeat the barley straw treatment this winter anyway to help to elevate problems next year.

Further thoughts would be welcome.

One final thought from the RFA meeting concerns the issue of health and safety.  My personal view is that we are all sentient beings and well able to assess risk for ourselves and consider mitigations without the dead hand of the health and safety 'police' but there are risks both obvious and less apparent that are specific to individual beats and particular stretches of water and it may be appropriate to give members, particularly new members unfamiliar with the Ribble and the Tarn some guidance.  I shall come back to this after consulting Council.

Take care and good fishing.

Ian