The more observant amongst you will have noticed that there was no blog yesterday.  This was because I was working in Lytham all day and forgot to mention it on Thursday.  Still, not much happened apart from a brief respite from the unrelenting wet of the past few weeks.  It's always the way, when I have to spend time in an office the weather decides to take a turn for the better.  The drive over to the coast was pleasant enough though and the job went well.

It's back to normal here this morning with a heavy mizzle making everything wet again and a forecast that promises a river in spate by the early next week.  The reports I'm getting suggest that river fishing is proving rewarding on all beats with plenty of large wild fish in evidence.  I had a long chat with Neil Handy the Fisheries Officer on Thursday and he tells me that there are good numbers of spring run salmon in the river below the Foss and significant sightings of sea trout lower down on the Ribble.  With the way the river has been running recently I would be very surprised if some of these fish did not find their way to Horton.  Neil also tells me that the hatchery is settling in well and he plans to try out a few of the School fry in the tank in the next few weeks.  We need to sort out a predator cover for the tank and will talk about this again soon.

The pen is still sitting on her clutch of eggs so I'm hopeful that this time she will succeed in hatching them.  The challenge then will be finding a way of protecting the cygnets and I think a small refuge floating on the water may be the best short term solution.

More tomorrow.

Ian

I'm a bit late with this posting this morning because I visited the Tarn after seeing to my livestock and got talking to Peter M.  The good news is that conditions here today are much improved with high broken cloud, plenty of sun and a stiffish westerly breeze. 

A quick check of the Tarn water shows it to be in excellent condition for June with pH just above 8, temperature around 12c and an ORP reading of -42.  There have been few blank visits over the past week which contrasts sharply with this time last year when the water temperature was so high that fish had ceased to feed and most visits produced very little success.

The river looks in good shape this morning with plenty of clear water on the runs and riffles.  Again this is in contrast to last year when by this time the river was unfishable.  Since the forecast is for more rain up to the weekend these conditions should last well into next week.

Ian

The unrelenting wet weather continues this morning after a slight respite yesterday.  As I write this it's raining hard and looks pretty threatening from the west where the wind is blowing from.  Not a great day for fishing and little prospect that it will improve much until after the weekend.  Still, the river looks to be in fine form and in stark contrast to how it looked this time last year when it was down on its bones and barely running.  All the works that have been done at the hatchery, Cam Beck and Turn Dub are getting a thorough testing rather earlier than I anticipated, but at least the tanks and channel at the hatchery are getting a thorough scouring which may speed up the programme to introduce stock a bit.  I must have a chat to Neil H before the end of the week.  Other tasks keep pushing this down the list of priorities.

Apart from that things are pretty quiet here in the valley and on the fishery.  I'm off to Lancaster University this morning to talk to their IT network specialists about our wireless broadband network here at Horton to see if they have the expertise to help us improve and develop the network.  It will keep me out of the rain.

Ian

Let's start with conditions here this morning which are much more benign than yesterday.  We seem to have escaped relatively lightly compared to South Yorkshire.  A lot of rain fell in the morning, but by mid day it had mostly given over and we were left with a strong north wind.  Even that has diminished now and we are left with a bright start with a light north west breeze and high, broken cloud.  The river has fallen off the flood so conditions for fishing are not too bad.

For some time now we have been talking about drawing up a definitive map of the fishery showing all the named features and access points so that when a beat is referred to everyone knows where this is.  I have scanned in a large scale OS map and enlarged it to a size which will allow pools and other features to be identified and labelled.  What I intend to do is to put a copy of this map in the hut marked up with my understanding of the names we use for pools etc.  I would invite all members to annotate this map with their own names for the features so that in time we arrive at a comprehensive guide with all the various names currently in use.  We can then publish a final version marked up with the most commonly used names and their various alternatives.

This should make life a lot easier for new members who want to explore the full potential of this extensive fishery.  Long time members might find it useful also as we all seem to have our own names depending on whether we use club names or those used by locals.

Ian

What the hell happened to the summer?  It's blowing hard here this morning, its raining and its cold.  Not a day to be doing much outdoors.  I will just have to summon up the enthusiasm for some desk work that I keep putting off.

Rather than me rabbit on this morning I thought that you might find interest in an email I got yesterday from Gavin P. 

Ian

At last I had a couple of hours spare on Saturday morning so on my way home from Leyburn I came down over ribbleshead and whilst eager to fish the river I did need to be back home by 2pm so took the opportunity to fish the tarn.
The main reason for this email is that I had left my key for the lodge at home and couldn't file a catch report but the fishing was very good with large fish in evidence all around the tarn with plenty of terrestrial insects being blown onto the water with the breeze.

I was into my first fish on the first cast after creeping around to the far wall side and beating the swan of that appeared to take a dislike to me even though I was at the far side of the lake. I have attached a picture of this fish around 22/24" long but a little lean.

Second fish was taken from around the other side near the trees and it took me by surprise as it leapt clear of the water by what appeared to be 3ft and the continued to strip the full line and a great length of backing as it headed for the far side, which appeared to be the only thing that stopped it. After what felt like 10 minuets I had managed to recover the start of my fly line as this fish must have scoured the bottom of the lake until it surfaced about 20ft out from the bank covered in weed. At this point and a very aching arm I realised that I had hooked a very large brownie with what only could be described as having a tail like a spade. I eventually got the fish nearer to the bank but as I reached for my camera to take its picture the hook hold gave and the fish circled and headed for the deep. This was an incredibly powerful fish and the best brownie that I have seen for a long time.
My only regret is that I could not get a picture of this specimen for you and can only guess at what its length and girth was but its still there and no doubt will appear again at some point.
To end I finished with a couple more rainbow similar to the picture all within around 6 cast only as I was mindful of the limit and only fished for what appeared to be bigger fish. These fish all went for a Goddard's style Deer hare sedge all within seconds of the fly hitting the water after a rise. I was surprised by the pleasure I did get from fishing the tarn as I don't really have a great deal of interest in still water fishing but I am looking forward to further visits and avoiding that swan which I think I should make the efforts and perhaps feed this bird to get in its good books.

I did stop at Helwith Bridge on my way home and a note of interest there where 2 very large fish moving up the river I thought they might be early salmon but could have been sea trout both looked around 4lb in weight.

Regards,
Gavin P


Of course, I will file Gavin's return in the register later today as I have done for many members, but the real interest here lies in the account of the giant brownie that has been seen before in the Tarn and the possible presence of sea trout at Helwith Bridge.  As I said yesterday, it would be worthwhile trying to build up a record of sea trout sightings so that we can monitor their presence and whether the population is growing, declining or is stable.

Ian

There's not much to report this morning other than that we had a lot of rain in the night so the river remains high.  It's stopped raining now and is still and overcast with a lot of midges desperately seeking breakfast.  The forecast is for showers so river fishing should remain good for most of this week.

It's our annual Goat Gathering today over in Chapel le Dale so I may not get the chance for the usual Sunday perambulation round the Tarn.  This event often clashes with the Broughton Game Show and it's a always a hard choice as to which to go to.  Since Broughton has been cancelled this year the choice is somewhat easier so we will be able to see how the Old English breed has fared over this breeding season.

My problem has always been finding a suitable pedigree male and stopping one of my girls from aborting, but now that we have a young stud male in Chapel le Dale I may at last be able to get the other brown horror in kid this year.

With all this recent rain and the river in such good condition it will be interesting to see whether the sea trout are running up to Horton.  If any member has deliberately fished for sea trout or thinks that they may have hooked one recently do let me know how many and where they were caught.  There is some anecdotal evidence that these fish are increasing in population in the river and it would be helpful to get a better fix on this so that we can plan their conservation a little more systematically.

Ian

The main news this morning is that the Broughton Game Fair that was due to take place tomorrow has been cancelled .  I know that some members were planning to travel to Skipton to attend this so my advice is to have  a lie in tomorrow as the event has fallen victim to the wet weather we have had this week and the show ground is waterlogged.  This is a pity as the fair is always a good day out and a chance to see some fine country sports as well as contribute to a worthy cause in the Cave Rescue Group.  I have done a lot of caving in the past and whilst you always ensured that your group was, wherever possible, capable of self rescue it was reassuring to know that if an accident did happen then the CRO would do their damnedest to get you out.  The absence to the fair this year will put a severe strain on their finances.

There's better news from Cam Beck where a couple of hours yesterday saw the water gate virtually complete with only the steel mesh gate itself to hang now to finish the job.  There was much evidence of the recent flood here with very large grass tussocks hung up on the bottom rail of the fence.  But so far the whole edifice seems to have survived well with no evidence of loosening of any of the posts.  We will just have to wait and see how it stands up to a real winter spate.

The weather here this morning is grey and gloomy with very low cloud and a freshening westerly breeze.  Rain is forecast for later and it looks set to be wet on Sunday and Monday so we should have a fishable river well into next week.

I plan to ring Neil Handy later today to talk about what he wants to happen next with the hatchery site now that Philip has finished the main structural work.  There's a bit of general gardening needed to tidy things up a bit and to stop soil from running into the two tanks and it might be sensible to strim down the grass around the tanks but I think the aim here should be to allow it to become as natural as is consistent with encouraging invertebrates and so on without providing too much cover for herons and other predators.  Let's see what Neil has in mind.

Ian

I has been said that as we get older we get wiser.  It would seem that this is not necessarily a universal idiom as events yesterday morning seem to prove.  Regular readers will recall that one of the crowning highlights of the Great Horton Duck Race 2007 was the sight of the Venerable Member performing a balletic pirouette and taking an early bath.  I came across the Venerable Member early yesterday morning up in the lay-by at Tarn Pasture in the process of dressing.  My curiosity aroused, I asked him why he had driven from Wigan in his underpants.  His response was that he had just been fishing on the river and had managed to catch his fly in the hawthorns along by the football field.  In attempting to retrieve his prize he had misjudged the depth of the water and managed a near virtual repeat of his performance on Gala day.

Some never learn!

I had a good tidy up in the hut and boathouse yesterday so it's now possible to get out of the boat without scrambling round the obstacle course of the bins and other detritus that seems to have collected on the boathouse landing stage.  I have also shortened the anchor rope and taken out the twists so it less resembles a rats nest in the bottom of the boat.  There is now a large dustbin in the hut which should be used for all non-perishable rubbish.  As I am often reminded, the MAA is a Gentleman's Club and its premises should reflect that fact not give the impression of the aftermath of a hurricane in a refugee camp.

We had a lot of rain again last night so the river is still in cracking form bolstered by the weather which is warm and sunny with white, fluffy cloud and just a whisper of a breeze.

I'm off later to do a bit more to the water gate at Cam Beck.  I recon that another couple of days work here will see the finish of the project.

Ian

I have now posted up 4 pictures of the hatchery site as it looks this week.  Find them in the "hatchery" folder.

Ian

I took about 20 members of the  Ausrwick Field Society for a walk round the Tarn and Turn Dub last evening and they all seemed to enjoy the experience apart from the voracious midges that cut short our visit to Turn Dub.  We talked about many things from the hydrology of the area - how the water makes its way underground to the various risings along this part of the Ribble and its tributary becks - to the invertebrates that live in the river substrate.  They seemed impressed by the amount of habitat work that we have done and asked a lot of questions about the river and the Tarn.  The Dub created a lot of interest as most had not seen this forbidding pool before and were fascinated by the thought that this water travels from Alum Pot under the river to reach the Dub. All in all a good evening and one which has helped in a small way to reinforce in the minds of some the good that anglers do for our watercourses.

The Tarn looked at its best last night with some sun and broken cloud and just a light breeze.  Even the fish put on a display with a number of larger residents performing acrobatics and leaping out of the water to take advantage of the hatch that was going on.

Conditions are still good this morning.  It's warm, bright but overcast with a very light northerly breeze.  The river is still bank full, but is dropping back and has lost the peat hue that it was carrying yesterday.

I will try to get the pictures of the hatchery posted up later.  Events transpired against this yesterday so better luck today I hope.

Its been some while since I last mentioned the old hatchery at Horton which the EA began to restore last year.  This is largely because there had been little progress with work over the winter.  I can now report that both tanks and the off line spawning beck are in water and after the heavy rain that we had last night the beck is flowing very well and really looks impressive with its series of cascades and little pools.  The tanks seem to be holding water very well, not bad considering that these are now nearly a hundred years old.

The water quality seems very good also with readings around pH8 on both tanks and beck and temperatures of between 12 and 11near the surface.  ORP seems OK too so the whole system is currently performing around what will be needed to sustain a healthy stock of crayfish and trout fry.

Now the site has to settle down and flush through to remove any toxic material from the new concrete before any stocking can take place.  I will post up some pictures later today which will give a better understanding of what this site looks like now.

As you will gather from the above it rained very hard last night and the river is currently in spate.  Provided that we get no more heavy rain today conditions should ease off by this evening, but it probably wont be until tomorrow before fishing conditions are ideal.  Still, it's satisfying to see so much water on the river at this time of year when fish are at their peak.

Ian

I went up to the Tarn early this morning to have a check around and get the returns and readings for last week.  Conditions are near perfect with high, broken cloud, just a whisper of a breeze and it's warm.  There was a good rise on with fish feeding right across the water.  The pen is still sitting and being jealously guarded by the cob so it's difficult to see how many eggs she now has without the bribe of a slice of bread.  No doubt Sammy W will have more chance to look when he comes up on Thursday.  Fingers crossed that she will manage to hatch this clutch.

The Tarn fished well last week and though the number of visits was well down the number of fish caught was well up with a 20 incher taken on Saturday.  This was despite some pretty nasty weather in the week.

We have had very little rain for the past 48 hours so the river is falling back a bit, but it still looks good even on the runs that dry quickest.  As with the Tarn, fishing conditions on the river toady should be near perfect.

I'm leading a walk tomorrow evening for Austwick Field Society.  I plan to take them round the Tarn and talk about the way we manage the water for the benefit of both wildlife and our members.  Then I'll take them down to Turn Dub and talk about the hydrology of this area and how the rain that falls on the east flank of Ingleborough rises to the east of the river.  Finally we will take a look at the tree planting we have done here and discuss how we are managing the river to increase the presence of invertebrates and the presence of wild fish.  It gives them a chance to see a part of the dales that they can't normally access and appreciate the amount of work that goes on unseen to help preserve and protect this riverine habitat.

Let's hope the rain keeps off.

Ian

I got back from Halifax to find a warm, sunny and still afternoon.  As I came past the pool at New Inn there were fish rising continuously all down the length of the pool.  Judging by the size of some of the rings these were either very voracious small fish or more cautious larger residents.  It remained dry last night, but has clouded over so that we have a rather muggy, but fairly bright morning with no air movement.  The river is still flowing well so conditions for fishing today will be excellent

I am off up to the Tarn shortly to have a check around and get the returns for the week just gone.  The rain and wind of the past few days should have freshened up this still water and i hope that the swans and their clutch of eggs have come through the bad weather OK.  We shall see.

I am toying with the idea of doing a quick invertebrate check at New Inn later today if I get time just to see what effect if any the recent flood has had on life in the substrate.  It's also an opportunity to remind myself how to identify the 9 key species we are monitoring since it's a good while now since the course and memory tends to fail as you get older.  If I do get chance I will report results tomorrow.

Ian

Just a quick update on conditions here at Horton this morning as I'm off to Halifax in a moment.  We had a fair drop of rain in the night so the river is a bit coloured this morning, but not in flood.  It's stopped raining now and just looks showery and overcast.  There's virtually no wind so fishing this afternoon should be good once the colour has gone off.

Look out for a much fuller posting tomorrow.

Ian

The storm of the past couple of days has now subsided and conditions here this morning are still, warm, cloudy and very midgy.  The river is still high and coloured, but should drop and clear by mid day if we get no more rain.  It looks showery so there is every chance that we will get a bit more wet before the day's end, but not enough, I think, to bring the river back into flood.  It was certainly high yesterday.  I can always tell because I can see a stopper wave from my bedroom window that always indicates a full spate.

I will take a walk up river later today to see just how much gunge has been moved by the flood and what damage the wind has wrought to the bank side trees.

I still can't pin down the insect I saw on Wednesday.  Various people have suggested names or websites which may help, but so far nothing matches what I saw. Mind you, after the easterly gales it's probably half way to America by now so a further look at Cam Beck armed with a camera may not prove fruitful.

Ian

I'm just back in from getting a thorough soaking seeing to livestock.  Goats don't do "wet" and take a considerable amount of physical persuasion to leave a warm , dry goat house to be milked.  Of course, all the while I'm standing in the rain getting wet, but that seems of little consequence to my capricious ladies who have the difficult choice between a slight damping, a measure of proven and more comfortable udders and  staying bone dry.  The proven eventually won as it always does.

Thankfully it's not quite so windy today.  We had a full gale last evening and all the hay meadows as well as my garden are blown flat.  As you can tell from the above it's bucketing down now.  The up side is the good that it will do the river over the next few days.

I was reading an article in the paper about the Bourne Rivulet, a tributary of the Test which brought back memories of summer (was it really only Tuesday?).  It would seem that for years there has been concern about the decline in the population of wild trout in this classic chalk stream and much of the blame has been aimed at Vitacress whose extensive cress farm borders the stream.  After exhaustive research it's now been concluded that effluent from the washing process is probably the cause of the decline by destroying the invertebrates on which the fish live, but not as some thought the trace chemicals used in the process.  It's now thought that it's the cress itself that's the culprit.  It would seem that cress contains a compound called phenylethylisothiocyanate or mustard oil as it is better known.  This oil gives cress its peppery taste and is hugely beneficial to humans as a powerful anti-oxidant, but the clue to the problem lies in the last part of the name - it's a form of cyanide.  The solution (in more ways than one) has been found in the way in which the effluent from the beds is discharged.  What the company has done is to divert the outflow so that it now passes through the cress beds.  The cress absorbs the oil from the water and the trout population seems to be recovering. 

You don't normally associate something as natural as cress growing with ecological damage and it just goes to show how vigilant you need to be when managing water courses.

My tickets for the Game Fair at Harewood House at the end of July turned up yesterday.  For any one who has not been to this vast feast of country sports you really are missing a great day out.  The fishing village alone needs at least half a day to go round properly and it's just as interesting watching the characters who make up the a fair proportion of the visitors as seeing the stands and exhibits themselves.  Tickets are £17 if purchased in advance so why not spoil yourselves at get along to this great event.

Ian

Don't you just get a wonderful sense of satisfaction when a plan comes together and stuff just happens as intended.  That's what we got yesterday up at Cam Beck when Gavin P and I set the remaining post for the water gate.  Despite the evil nature of the ground here an hour and a half saw a good sized hole dug and the post firmly set.  To cap it all the rain kept off until we had finished and got back to the farm.  A check showed that it's almost level in height with the post on the far bank that I put in last week so it's not only bedded firmly but also looks tidy.  We strung a couple of strands of barbed wire across the beck to keep the stock out.  This is a temporary measure until I can collect the weldmesh which will form the finished gate.  Surprisingly there were no complications and we even had time to admire this wonderful spot and watch the shoals of minnows darting in and out of the stones near the bank.  The best entertainment came in the form of a bit of a rise that came on by mid morning and one particularly athletic trout managed a leap of about a foot out of the water with a particularly fine somersault embellishment as it took a fly.

I came across a most unusual insect as I walked back down the new fence from collecting the reel of barbed wire.  This seemed to be dragon fly in shape but had jet black rounded wings with a long petrol blue body.  I have never seen anything like it before on the river and can find nothing like it in any of my reference books.  Ideas warmly welcome.

I am really grateful to Gavin for giving up a morning to help with this task, it turned a battle into a pleasurable task.

Talking of wonderful spots, did anyone else see that stunning programme on BBC 2 last evening about the Wye Valley.  This was an absorbing hour of simple, intelligent TV comprising staggeringly beautiful photography coupled with simple narration provided by those who live and work in the valley.  No crass commentary here provided by some bearded berk.  You were given a privileged insight into the day to day lives of real people as they ruminated on why the valley is so important to them.  We followed a year in the lives of a river keeper, hill farmer, cider maker and bee keeper each totally at ease with their lot and wishing for no more than they had.  A real tonic.

It's a pretty grim morning here in our valley with heavy rain and a stiff north east wind.  If it were colder then it would feel more like autumn than June.  Not a good day for fishing, but the effect of all this rain should be good news for the river which is already starting to rise.

    Here's one to bring on a small grin on a dank and gloomy morning.  As some of you will know, Settle boasts a farmers market on the second Sunday of the month.  This usually brings a feast of quality produce especially game and more unusual meat products.  I can recommend without reservation the excellent ostrich which is like prime steak and full of flavour.  Also recommended is the range of produce from Rushyforth Game which includes wild rabbit (a favourite) venison and mixed game packs.  But, last month I bought a pack of mixed sausages from Bowland and on retrieving one of these from the freezer yesterday I was intrigued to see that this particular pack could almost have been created for the benefit of the Club.

Perhaps we should adopt "The Manchester Dangler" as the official Club sausage?  It's not clear from the photo , but the key ingredient that gives this excellent sausage its Manchester connections is a liberal dose of Boddington's ale.  This particular pack was devoured last evening and turned out to be rich, flavoursome and of a wonderful texture.

The plan is for Gavin P and me to set the remaining water gate post this morning.  At present it's fairly dry , but we woke first thing to a complete white out with visibility down to about 50 yards.  The low cloud is lifting a bit now and despite heavy cloud cover it doesn't look as if it's going to chuck it down just yet so we may get the job done without getting a soaking.  I plan to string a couple of lengths of barbed wire across the beck as a temporary measure to keep the sheep out of the newly planted area.  The aim is to get a permanent closure using weldmesh which is lighter and more robust than the more traditional timber gate which we know from experience does not last long on this violent spate river.  I have a supplier in Bentham who is prepared to cut the stuff to size so it's just a case of getting one of my neighbours with a stock trailer down to Bentham to pick it up then the whole job is almost done.

We had a little rain last night and the river seems to be responding slowly.  Much more rain is forecast for tomorrow and Friday so watch this space.

Ian

Ye Gods was it hot yesterday.  By mid afternoon it was almost too hot to stand out in the sun and even my goats which like the warmth on their backs had retreated to the shade of the goat house to sit panting and looking peeved.

We had some rain last night.  Not a lot, but enough to bring the midges out in swarms this morning.  I can't recall seeing so many and all intent on feeding voraciously.  I suppose the mild winter ensured that a bumper crop survived through to breed this season.  Misery for me as I am allergic to the little buggers and come up in white lumps at the first bite.  So it's on with the Jungle Formula from now on.  As an aftershave it has limited appeal, but it does seem to deter the advances of the female midge (as well as the female human).

Oh well, nothing for it but to secrete myself away up at Cam Beck.  That's for tomorrow now as that's more convenient Gavin P who is helping to set the remaining water gate post.

If this light rain continues as presently seems likely we might get a bit of a lift on the river.  That will be welcome and the forecast is for very heavy rain on Thursday so by the weekend if the Gods are willing we may have good fishing again up here.

Ian

Despite my best intentions I didn't manage to get up to Cam Beck yesterday.  There just seemed to be too much to do here and it got oppressively hot in the afternoon.  It's still very warm and muggy this morning, but the real change is that it's misty with the far side of the valley barely visible.  The forecast is for heavy showers later on so we will have to see whether these are sufficient to freshen up the river.

I did the analysis of fishing returns from the Tarn yesterday and these are encouraging with very few blank visits and a good number of quite good catches of well grown fish.  There are still nearly 300 fish remaining from this years stocking so numbers should hold up well until we stock again on 5 July.  The rather small trout that went in last month seem to be growing and given that these were all fine little fish they should give good sport with a bit more weight.

My plan is to tackle the water gate later this week with Gavin P.  If all goes well with setting the post then we will have a crack at clearing the old fence.  My plan is to use the old posts to form the supports for the bank protection that needs to go in at the foot of Cam Beck.  The idea is to ram these into the bed at the foot of the bank to form a palisade about 2 feet high and weave willow branches between them forming a wattle barrier that's flexible but keeps the flood from washing any more of the clay bank into the main river.  That's the theory, the practise may be different as experience has shown that driving anything into the beck bed here is a challenge.

Ian

I'm a bit late this morning and, no, I didn't lie in I have been up at the Tarn checking stock, taking the water readings and generally soaking up the atmosphere on this glorious summer morning.  The water is a bit low but crystal clear and in good shape.  I stood for what seemed ages and watched a hatch going on.  The water was absolutely peppered with rising fish interspersed with the occasional arched iridescent back as a larger fish joined in the fun.  This feeding frenzy was still going on when I left for home.  The Tarn pasture is alive with invertebrates, mostly damsel flies flitting round the margins of the Tarn, but further out in the pasture there is a whole host of species much to the irritation of Geoff's cows.

I walked up river to take a look at the trees we planted last month and these seem to be doing well despite having no guards fitted.  The margins are growing well now that the stock are mostly off the banks and here as well the air simply buzzes with fly life.  All we need now is some rain to flush out the river and we should have perfect fishing conditions again.

Mind you for some even the river in its current manky state is an attraction.  I sent packing a small group of worm drowners who had set themselves up by New Inn bridge yesterday afternoon.  Usually people move on without a fuss when told that it's private fishing, but this lot wanted to argue the toss and claimed that they were only after minnows.  Still, they did move off, but I suspect only down river to try again.

Alan M emailed me with a possible explanation for the dam which Mike wrote about yesterday.  It seems that this was put in some years ago at Drain Mires (Dale Mire on the map) by the farmer and met with a degree of disapproval from the EA who made him lower it. 

That's it for today

Ian

My pathetic bleatings on about the difficulties of getting the first water gate post in last Wednesday prompted a very generous offer of help from Gavin P as well as offers of materials for the swan fence if it proves feasible and thoughts on how we could encourage the swans to build more safely in future.  So there is much here for me to follow up.  I plan to go up to Cam Beck tomorrow and have a general tidy up by removing all the old fencing that's still standing above the beck.  This is a nice light job in this remarkably warm weather.  The second post can wait until next week when I will take up Gavin's offer of help as moving the post to the hole is a job for two to avoid a busted gusset.

I also got an email from Mike H, recently returned from Rhodes who has made the sensible decision to move out of Lancashire and into Yorkshire.  Mike walked the river at Selside in the week and I thought that you might be interested in some of his observations.

There really isn't very much to report this morning.  The weather is overcast, but warm with a very light easterly breeze.  If today conforms to the recent pattern then the cloud should lift and break by lunchtime to give us a rather brighter afternoon. 

The tarn continues to fish well and there are reports that just after lunch our rainbows were leaping to catch damsel flies, but were reluctant to look at any artificial.

Reports also reach me that someone has destroyed the swallows nests in the boathouse.  Yes, I know that the swallows make a mess, but this is easily brushed off the boat.  The birds have been nesting here for a long time and we deliberately designed the new door to give them access to their nesting sites.   The sight of these birds hawking over the Tarn is one of the delights of the place and the pleasure of being at the Tarn is diminished by their absence. This was a totally unnecessary act of sheer vandalism and I will invite Council to consider the matter.  If I find out who did it I will personally fill his waders with concrete.

Rather better news is that the swans now have six very large and healthy looking eggs and the cobb is getting very protective.

Ian

After a bit of a struggle I eventually managed to get in one of the main water gate supports at the foot of Cam beck.  An interesting exercise and I'm only glad that there are just two of these posts to set.  The substrate here is a mix of small and large cobbles together with silt and clay which combined with water result in a substance not dissimilar to concrete.  Coupled with the fact that as fast as I dug the hole it filled with water and silt so obscuring any view of progress this all made for a frustrating two hours.  Still, the post is in, vertical and very well braced against winter floods.  Given the amount of water that hits this area from both the main river (Gayle Beck) and Cam Beck itself we will just have to wait and see how well my work stands up.

I made a start on the hole for the post on the near bank.  This is dryer, but as a consequence the concrete mix is even harder and will need a crow bar to get to a depth sufficient to hold the post firm.  I plan to tackle this on Sunday when my ageing muscles have recovered from the battering they took yesterday.

I think it will be all worth it.  Already the banks here are beginning to flush up with wild plants and the grass is getting to a length that will offer good cover for invertebrates.  The trees are growing away well apart from the oaks which are still a bit slow.

The other good news is that the sampling net arrived yesterday so we now have everything we need to begin riverfly monitoring.  A number of main players in this exercise are either away or incapacitated for the next week or so, but my plan is to try to organise a survey for Saturday 23 June.

It's much cloudier this morning than it has been for the past few days, but the weather remains warm with a light southerly breeze and no real sign of rain.  Looking at the long range forecast we may well get some decent rainfall early next week which will be welcome  both for the garden and the river.

Ian

We have another bright, sunny and warm day with no sign of rain until at least the weekend.  Despite this the Tarn continues to fish well.  Geoff B called in last night after fishing until dark and reported good takes all evening.  Geoff had called in earlier to pick up the bolt cutters.  Members who fish down below the pipe pool will know that the fine stretch of water opposite Studfold is marred by a long length of chain link fencing which the National Rivers Authority (remember them?) put in a good few years ago to stabilise the bank.  This wire has  collapsed into the river and in a couple of places is now about mid stream.  I was at a meeting last night, but Geoff spent some time removing much of this obstruction and we both plan to tackle the rest in the next few weeks.

The removed wire is now piled on the bank well above flood level so members are advised to watch out for this until I can get down to Cragg Hill and remove it.  The work that Geoff has done should vastly improve the fishing potential of this beat.

I have got hold of a picture of the comedy sketch that was the Great Horton Duck Race and have posted it in the "Photos" folder on this blog.  It shows Neil H, yours truly and the Venerable Member shortly before the latter took an involuntary bath.  Sadly very few of the "little yellow sods" are in view, most, by this time, being strung out along the net that kept them out of the bankside trees.  It would seem that there is a strong demand from locals for this event to be repeated next year.  I understand that it's regarded as the funniest thing most people can remember seeing in Horton and was the highlight of the Gala.

I'm off now to Cam Beck to try and sink the eight foot posts that will support the water gate.  The prospect of digging two four foot deep holes in the bed of the beck is daunting, but let's give it a go.

I'll report on the outcome tomorrow.

Ian

I've just got back from an early visit to the Tarn where the good news is that the swans have laid a second clutch of eggs to replace the clutch that was lost last month.  It's difficult to be sure just how many are in the nest because the pen is sitting tight and the cob clearly resents me being too close but the best guess is four or five.  We will probably have a better idea on Thursday when Sammy W comes up.  He feeds the pair regularly, they trust him and he gets a privileged look in the nest.  I am pondering whether it would be feasible to put a temporary fence round the nest since it's right on the water's edge.  There must be some way of preventing the local fox from getting to the nest without disturbing the residents.  I will have a chat with the landowner later today and see if we can come up with a solution.

It's a glorious day here.  Warm, sunny and crystal clear with a light north easterly breeze to liven things up a bit.  No good for fishing, but a great day to simply enjoy this stunning valley.

It will be a joy to work up at Cam Beck tomorrow if the weather stays like this.

Ian

We had just a little rain here last night.  Not enough to make any real difference to the river flow, but enough to freshen things a bit and perk up the garden.  Reports reached me yesterday that the Tarn is fishing exceptionally well with the larger fish rising freely to dry fly and taking like tigers.  What's odd though is that despite the fierce take they all seemed to be lightly hooked.  My source thinks that he might have been too eager and struck too quickly.  One 3 pounder plus took near the boat house and set of like an express train for Selside stripping the reel down through the backing before slowing.

It's the first time that this member has been up on a Sunday and he and his guest left Newhouses last evening well pleased with a great days fishing.

The forecast is for dry, settled weather most of this week so the river is probably not worth the trip until we do get some substantial rain, but as you can see, the Tarn is still giving exceptional sport.

My plan is to try to finish off the remaining work at Cam Beck on Wednesday.  The Beck is now low enough to allow me to put in the big posts that will hold the water gate.  This will close off the last remaining gap in the fence and finally exclude the sheep from the banks.  It's surprising just how quickly the river margins are regenerating here now that access is restricted.  The trees are growing away well and there is already a fair bit of shrubby growth on the high banks. 

The sampling net should arrive tomorrow so I might take it up to Cam Beck on Wednesday for a sneak preview of what we have living in the substrate before we do a proper survey here later this month.

We have a bit of a south easterly breeze this morning, but otherwise conditions are good with high, fluffy cloud and warm sunshine.

Ian

I have posted up a photo of yours truly manning the MAA stall yesterday.  Find it in the "Photos" folder.

Ian

We had a remarkably fine and successful day yesterday.  The fish raised about £30 for the Gala funds and I talked to a good few people about the work we are doing to manage the quality of the river. 

The duck race turned into a comedy routine staring Neil H (the EA's fisheries officer) a dad , a venerable member of the club and yours truly.  We probably resembled Monty Python rather than the Derby.  The problem was the lack of water, sluggish flow and upstream breeze.  A lethal combination when you are trying to persuade 600 plastic ducks to put on a bit of a spectacle.  We rigged a Seine net down the length of the course to keep the contestants out of the trees on the east bank and brought the net across the river to form a finish line.  Then we emptied the ducks in from a large tub, rigged a tarpaulin across the river above them to dam and release a bit of flow and hoped for the best.  They travelled about 2 yards then started chasing us back up the river driven on by a strengthening wind.  The dam technique was adapted to create a funnel, a bucket was employed to try to wash them downstream.  We learned quickly under the gaze of about 50 spectators and eventually got the little yellow sods to the finish line. 

And who won?  Only Neil H's son!  It wasn't a fix, honest.  Then came the crowning glory of the farce when the venerable member decided to take a bath and fell in!  There are mutterings about doing it again next year. We could always enter it for a BAFTA as best comedy routine.

I will post up a picture of the MAA stand when I have downloaded the stuff off my camera.

Turning to more sedate matters, the river is no go for fishing at present given the lack of water, but it's bright and partly cloudy, warm and still so the Tarn should do well today.

Ian

Mr Sod intervened this morning and I lost the post that I wrote at 8.15.  S here is an approximate repeat.  For the first time in living memory Gala day at Horton has dawned fine, sunny and very warm.  A frantic flurry of activity last night saw the WI float finished and costumes completed (don't ask!).  The rather pathetic rainbow trout for out "Guess the Weight of the Fish" competition is in my fridge, the ducks are raring to go for the race (it will be a bit of a dawdle as there is too little water in the river and all seems set for a decent day.

I snatched some time yesterday to update and tidy up the MAA website.  I have added a couple of new pictures and a page on flylife as well as doing some general titivating.  Alan M sent me  a long article from the Fly Fisher's and Fly Tiers magazine about the buglife conference in London which aims to get angler's involved in monitoring riverfly.  I will come back to this later in the week.

That's about it for this morning.

Ian

My report of novel fly dressings sparked a small flurry of correspondence yesterday, but before I go into that a late thought struck me that perhaps the obvious competition here is to name this creation. Snipe and Purple Variant seems a bit cumbersome.  So here is my starter for 10 - Sam's Indulgence.  I'm sure you can better that.

One of my regular correspondents tells me that when he fished in the UK he very rarely bought a fly.  He inherited quite a few and enjoyed tying flies especially if they were not copies of known dressings. It seems that if the Horton fish were "on" then they tended to take nearly anything and if they were "off" you got teased for catching a "blind one"

Colour did not seem to matter much though David much preferred a red and silver dressing (the Butcher) on the Tarn in combination with a mallard and claret.  What did matter was size.  Sometimes there were no offers to large flies at other times the reverse was true.

When it was known that small fish had been stocked on the river or Tarn the theory was to use a large fly so that the small fish did not bother you so much.  This often worked but not always.  David remembers making a large "Hackle" a good inch across, using a neck feather from a Rhode Island Red cock that he was keeping.  The fly was enormous and he fished it on the tarn as at first a dry fly and then as a slightly swamped dry fly. It was a fairly dour day but eventually he caught a reasonable fish followed by a trout that was not more than six inches long, how it got the hook in the side of its mouth was difficult to imagine.