Well, here we are, the last day of the season and we awake this morning to a covering of white on the fells.  There is a bitterly cold north wind blowing down the valley, but it's now bright and sunny with just a few clouds away over Ribblehead.

Time to think about shutting up for the winter, battening down the hatches to prepare for the winter storms and think about the season to come.

I suppose that this season will go down as the summer that never was, when the river ran full for most weeks and was fishable more often than not.  It will be interesting to see what the returns are like when they come in.  My real concern is the effect that the severe spates may have had on the viability of trout fry early on.  We won't know for some time, but the electro fishing planned for the main river next summer should tell us a little more about the numbers of young fish and give some indication as to the general level of recruitment.  There is certainly enough food to maintain a good population of wild fish over the winter so let's hope for a really successful breeding season and plenty of fry next spring.

As for the Tarn it's now really a case of watching and monitoring, keeping a check on cormorants and generally tidying up.  The main job this winter will be the refurbishment of the hut so that we can start the 2009 season in some style and comfort.

The next post will be on Sunday and each Sunday thereafter until March 2009.

Another bitterly cold morning with a sharp frost and ice on the pond.  It's good to get some seasonally cod weather though rather than the persistent wet, mild and windy stuff that we got last winter.

I managed to get the Turn Dub invertebrate check done yesterday which showed a healthy population of most species and a better than average population of gammarus including some quite large specimens.  Good fodder for hungry trout over the winter.

I sat in the hut for a while chewing the fat with a couple of members.  Fishing was hard (and cold), but some success was had. 

The real reward of the day was the gift of a rabbit from a couple of members who went bunny hunting with ferrets on Monday.  A nice plump well grown rabbit which will casserole nicely.  Ideal grub in this cold weather.

Ian

It's a tad parky this morning with a very sharp frost turning the fields and fells white and sparkly under the morning sun.  My hens are dancing around trying to keep their feet warm, hunting for insects in the leaf litter that is building up in the hollows in the croft.  All in all a perfect autumn day.

I managed at long last to get the October invertebrate check done at New Inn yesterday. No surprises, but it is good to see that both numbers and species compare well with last October.  More gammarus and stonefly this year and slightly fewer heptagenia, but overall the river looks to be healthy.

I will do the check at Turn Dub this morning once things warm up a little.  It's a cold spot at the best of times being tucked down in a fold in the hills that cuts off the sun at this time of year.  This morning it will be particularly cold even though there is no wind.

Only 4 days to go to the end of season and this blog will wind down to a weekly posting until next March.  Plans are already in hand though for 2009 with the refurbishment of the hut scheduled for the closed season and all the fish ordered for the Tarn.  We are using a new supplier next year and I have been invited to visit the farm to see our fish before they start arriving in March.  I am confident that we will get some real quality stock.

Ian

We had a lot of rain yesterday and all the becks and springs are still gushing, putting a lot of water into the river which is very dark and in full spate.  It's a much better day today, plenty of cloud, but also some bright sunshine and a lessening wind so the salmon should be running well now.

It now looks as if the forest managers will begin moving timber out of Greenfield forest down Newhouses lane in the spring of next year.  This is bound to have an impact on parking at the Tarn and access to the lane will become more problematic with heavy timber trucks making 4 outward and 4 return journeys every day.  We have a meeting with the company on 7 November so more on this when I have spoken to their manager.  The impact on our lives here will be quite significant and it's bound to affect the value of all our properties.  Particularly galling at a time of falling prices and general economic decline.

Ian

Oh well into the last week of the 2008 fishing season and the weather this morning seems to have relented at long last and has given us a bright start with the promise of much sun later.  The river has been far too high this week to safely do the invertebrate check, but with the threat of rain receding it may be possible for me to get onto the river later today.

I try to avoid fishing politics as much as possible, but there are two issues currently attracting attention.  Firstly the proposed hydro scheme at Settle weir has now gone before the planning committee at Craven District Council and has been turned down. At present I know not on what grounds although there was much opposition to the scheme from angling and conservation bodies who are concerned about the impact that the scheme will have on river habitat and migratory fish.  The point has been well made that no one is opposed to the scheme in principle.  However, there was far to little in the environmental impact assessment that addressed the impact that the scheme will have on water levels, the antiquated fish pass at Settle and the restrictions that abstraction at this point will have on salmon and sea trout.

Those of you who know Settle weir will appreciate that normal flows over the weir are pretty meagre and the availability of good water above and below the pass is vital for fish making their way up to Horton.  We shall see what transpires here.

The second issue is the long running debate concerning whether to stock the river with triploid or diploid trout.  This debate is fairly sterile and academic for us here at Horton as we no longer stock the river at all, but lower down knickers are getting fairly twisted and the EA who are imposing a ban on diploid stocking are getting quite a bit of stick.  My own simple take on this is that if you have to stock at all it's far better to stock with sterile fish as we know from our own observations that stock fish rarely survive their first winter probably because they lack river awareness possibly genetically induced due to the length of time that the strains have been captive bred.  If diploids in any way contributed to the recruitment of river trout stock we should be able to walk across the river on fish by now given the many thousands of fish that have gone into the Ribble from its source to the sea over the past one hundred years or so.  Far better to ensure that there can be no interbreeding between wild fish and farmed cousins to the genetic detriment of the former (and notice the use of the term 'wild' as opposed to 'native').  Even more to the point is the need for clubs on the river to move progressively away from stocking at all and adopt a strategy of proper river management that aims to encourage the natural recruitment of wild fish.  I fear that we are some way from that goal.

Ian

We had a succession of very heavy hail showers yesterday which put paid to invertebrate sampling.  It looks as if it might be a more settled day today with much less wind and more open blue sky.  So we will try again this morning.

I was stood in the kitchen early yesterday afternoon watching the birds at the feeders on the bird table.  The usual visitors were present; blue tit, great tit, dunnock, sparrow and blackbird.  suddenly from round the substantial wooden post supporting the table a large black and white head with red markings and a long bill appeared closely followed by the rest of a greater spotted woodpecker.  He or she spent some considerable time circling the post working out the best way of getting to the nuts and fat ball suspended from the table.  Clearly a great deal of thought was going into this and a number of strategies were tried.  Clearly these are quite intelligent birds and seem capable of reasoning and assessment.  Eventually it seemed to consider the whole thing not worth the effort and flew off much to the relief of the usual visitors who, throughout this performance were lined up in the clematis shouting disapproval.

As we approach the end of this 2008 season I ave been looking back at records for the past few seasons on the Tarn and comparing them with this seasons results.  I'm pleased to say that it looks to have been a very good one with the number of visits up on last year and the ratio of catch to visits up also.  This despite a dismal summer that made fishing a challenge right through the peak season.

Time to start planning for even greater success in 2009.

Ian

Today has dawned with some blue sky and a little autumn sunshine.  It's a little cold in the stiff westerly breeze, but on the whole a much better day than the washout we had yesterday.  The river is high and fishable with plenty of water to get the salmon running all the way up river.

If the rain keeps off then I plan to do the October riverfly check at New Inn bridge later this morning and perhaps go up to Turn Dub this afternoon.  So look out for the results on the spreadsheet later tomorrow.

Ian

It's a truly foul morning with heavy rain and a brisk south west wind stripping the leaves from the trees and sending them swirling past my office window. 

My hens emerged from the warmth of the hen hut and immediately headed for the shelter of the goat house muttering and complaining about the weather.  Most have now moulted so now look sleek in new plumage and far less tatty than they did a couple of weeks ago. The same can't be said for the cockerel who always seems to moult last and is now minus most of his tail feathers and a fair few on his cape and wings.  This loss makes him a little unsteady and clearly dampens his ardour so that his first thought now is food rather than attempted rape.  The leghorns I bought back in the early summer have been a great success with almost an egg a day from each of them.  Mind you they do have  a down side which is a strong tendency to be somewhere else.  They are a light breed with fairly good flying ability for a hen so clearing a 5ft fence presents little problem.  One in particular has taken to foraging on the village green opposite the house and has made a nest in the front garden which has become the laying place of choice.  I should really clip a few wing feathers to stop the great escape, but at this time of year they do more good than harm in the garden so I will let them wander for the time being.

It's not a day for faint hearted fishermen and the river is rising fast so I will postpone my October invertebrate check until later in the week.

Ian

It's a very dour start to the day here with heavy grey cloud and a light mizzle settling on the hills and fells.  The forecast is for more rain later which will run off the saturated ground quickly bringing the river into spate in short order.  We had a lot of rain yesterday which brought a spate by evening.  The salmon will be running, but in a very high and coloured water.

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words so what better way to sum up our Ribble salmon than this amazing photo of what looks to be a hen fish on Stainforth Foss on Thursday.  My grateful thanks to Andy Rushforth who took the shot for permission to post it.


Ian

Now here's a subject that I have not mentioned for some time - the Pennine Bridleway.  You will recall that the plan is for this route to come down from Clapham by South House and Borrins Farms, go across Low Moor and cross the river between the Tarn and Drain Mires.  Then it follows Darin Mires lane up to High Birkwith and the Pennine Way.  Of course, a bridge is needed at the river crossing and we have been involved in the consultation about this to ensure that it's design in no way interferes with either the ecology of the river or our legal right of access and fishing rights. 

Things have been quiet for some months now, but this week has seen a flurry of activity on the ground with regular trips by  YDNP rangers and contractors to the river bank at the crossing point.  Apparently they are drilling to discover just how far down the abutments for the bridge will need to go in order to get a firm purchase.  Judging by the amount of drilling that has been going on the answer is - quite deep.  This result is pretty obvious even to a lay observer as the ground here is incredibly boggy even in very dry weather.  Be that as it may it now looks as though plans are moving ahead to construct this bridge and we will watch proceedings with concern and interest.

I had a phone call from (Crayfish) Paul on Thursday who rang to tell me that the results of the crayfish plague tests that he undertaken at the foot of Ling Gill falls were back and that they confirmed the presence of plague at this point.  However, all is not lost as regards the future re introduction of native crayfish to the river as Paul is confident that a way can be found to prevent the continued wash of crayfish over the falls which are feeding the plague spot at the foot.  He is working up ideas which we will discuss again in due course.

It's a rather showery day with bright patches and a fairly brisk westerly breeze.  The river is still quite high, just about enough to get salmon running and they are coming up the Foss in good numbers.  I got an amazing photo of a fish on the Foss from a village photographer yesterday.  This looked to be a hen fish, slightly coloured and about 7 or 8 lb in weight.

I will try to get permission to post this up here tomorrow.

Ian

Members who arrived at the Tarn yesterday for a quiet day contemplating nature and a bit of fluff on the end of a line got rater more nature than they bargained for.  I was up on the fell during the morning and on my return found the lane by the Tarn full of cars with a good few people milling on the verge.  Suspecting either a mass poach or that fly fishing had suddenly become a spectator sport I stopped to find out what was up.  It transpires that for the first time in some years the local beagle pack was out attempting to flush foxes for the guns.  Now as regular readers will know we have a fox issue at the Tarn with regular sightings of a large dog fox which I suspect to be particularly partial to cygnets.

It would seem that despite the efforts of some very enthusiastic beagles which put up a fox below the Tarn he got away so unless they had more success later in the afternoon Reynard is still in residence.

It's  a sure thing that sex will often get you into trouble.  The same clearly applies to animals.  Later yesterday afternoon I got a call from a neighbour who had been told that her bull was astride a gate up by the Tarn. Up we went suspecting the worst and blaming the beagles for spooking said bull.  We found the boy in good shape with no obvious damage, but the cause of his predicament was also obvious for standing in front of him fluttering her eyelashes was a heifer who was clearly bulling.  As we approached contemplating the task of lifting a couple of tons of beef off a gate the boy decided that he was finished with looking stupid in front of his intended amour and vaulted the gate.  Last we saw of the pair was down by the Tarn seemingly walking arm in arm.  Members should be aware that the gate through to Tarn pasture is now fairly well modified, but will open with a bit of brute force!

It's a cracking autumn morning here.  Not too cold and plenty of sunshine for a change with much less wind than yesterday.  The fells above High Birkwith where I was yesterday were constantly in and out of thick mist or low cloud blown to rags by a stiff north west wind.  No sign of the mist this morning so conditions are looking good for a session at the Tarn.

Ian

Well, here we are the last day of the migratory trout season and after the rain that fell all day yesterday the river is high and fish should be on the move.  It's much brighter here at present with just the faintest glimmer of sun amongst some high broken cloud.  There is a lot of low and rather dense mist down in the valley, but this is slowly lifting and between the forecast showers it might not be a bad day.

Up at the Tarn yesterday morning there were a lot of rises to something I could not identify, but some of the takes were quite violent so the fish must have been pretty keen on whatever it was.  My guess is sedge, but I could be wrong.

I have seen no sign of cormorants for some weeks which is all to the good.  It's far too early to tell if they are becoming less of a problem and we need to keep up the effort to record sightings so that we have the evidence to convince Natural England that we need to move to more persuasive tactics if we get the numbers of resident birds that we saw last year.  They do seem to be leaving our stocked fish alone at present.

I met a couple of members of the syndicate who own Cam wood yesterday.  They tell me that the environmental impact assessment they are completing prior to their application to clear fell Cam woodland is almost ready.  I will be interested to see what this contains about impact on the Cam catchment and its implications for the Ribble as a whole.  We agreed to keep in touch so more no doubt on this in due course.  The hope is that once the trees that sit on the Cam feeder becks are gone there will be a noticeable balancing of low and spate water in the upper river.  Time will tell.

Ian

It's a grey and gloomy start this morning with cloud well down on the fells and the promise of rain spreading in from the west later to give a wet day.  The river is still in good nick and well worth a try for the last sea trout of the season or a late salmon.  Tomorrow should be even better if the rain today gets the fish running on higher water.

We seem to have a glut of mushrooms here just now brought to fruit no doubt by the wet summer and relatively mild autumn.  Cow pasture is dotted with big field mushrooms which are wonderful cooked in butter and served with dry cured bacon.  They also make a great soup and my favourite method is to grind them to a paste with a couple of onions, add olive oil to a pan and cook down before adding thyme, tomato puree, stock and a generous amount of pue lentils.  Wonderful on a cold evening with warm crusty bread and butter.

Before we leave the subject of fishing huts for the time being I thought that some of you might welcome a bit more info about Jo Orchard - Lisle's book.  Attached is a flyer and order form that you can leave around the house as a less than subtle hint as we approach Christmas.

Ian

Oops!  I have fallen foul of the little devil of assumption that regularly makes an ass of you and me.  My reference to Jo Orchard - Lisle's book on fishing huts brought a surprise response from the author herself.  I am staggered that these often incoherent jottings which were  intended mainly to keep MAA members in contact with their fishery should find their way into a wider consciousness.  I am duly chastened, but it does perhaps raise an important issue.  Why does the MAA (and many other angling clubs) have so few female members and why do I therefore make the assumption that a book about fishing huts is written by a bloke?  Do we indirectly discourage women from applying for membership through some thoughtless way in which we present ourselves and our sport and should we do something to encourage more women to join?  Something to ponder over your toast and marmalade this morning.

Despite my faux pas Jo has very kindly sent me some extracts from her book which looks to be a work lovingly crafted and beautifully illustrated.  It should have a place on every piscators bookshelf.

Sorry Jo.

Bookshelves.  There's another thought.  As many of you will know the MAA once had one of the finest libraries of fishing books in the north of England.  This was disposed of some years ago and whilst the decision to sell it off was taken for valid reasons, in retrospect this was a sad loss.  Whilst we can't replace what has gone it may well be possible to build up a small library of volumes that members might find of interest.  We could start this off with an appeal for donations of books that have ceased to demand their place on members own bookshelves.  The refurbished hut will be dry and warm enough in season to house these safely in a bookcase and in off season they can be stored away in suitable containers in the storage we plan to build in the hut.  Something else to mull over during the closed season.

Ian

As regular readers will know only too well the fishing hut at the Tarn has been much in my thoughts just lately.  I suppose that there is a time honoured tradition about blokes and sheds (or huts), that quiet often secret place where you can go to escape the hamster wheel of every day life, free from the tyranny of more mundane tasks such as decorating the kitchen.  Free to think loftier thoughts about trout and salmon and put a fractured world to a semblance of rights.

Now, coincidence is a strange phenomenon which, when it offers  favourable portents, gives one a little buzz of exited anticipation. You get to think that just maybe this is meant to be.  Possibly there is a current flowing in the scheme of things that will push aside the detritus of doubt and buggeration and confirms that what you plan is come of its time.

On opening the Weekend section of the Telegraph yesterday and turning to the Country pages imagine my surprise to find an article on fishing huts.  It would seem that Jo Orchard - Lisle has been roaming these isles seeking out those little havens on a bank. tracking down the ancient, modern and often quirky little shelters where anglers retreat to sink a dram or mull over just why the fish are being so uncooperative today.  Jo has compiled a book called simply 'Fishing Huts' which you can have in your Christmas stocking for £25.  He missed our own small haven at the Tarn, but seems to have found hundreds of other huts of all shapes, sizes and ages from Isaak Walton's temple on the Dove to a Nissan hut decked in flowers at Broadlands and an old bus on the Isle of Lewis.

This all leads me to the conclusion that the time is right to give our hut a bit of a lift and make it a place where members can sit out a sudden squall or turn their minds to lofty thoughts in comfort.  In short a place which the ancient institution of the MAA can call home.  Plans are well advanced, I have a budget and this week I will turn my mind to making the plans happen, ready to put to the next Council meeting on 15 November.

Ian

I have been away for the past two days helping Sheila's brother to knock his kitchen apart and reroute the wiring for his central heating.    This turned out to be like rewiring Sizewell B, but everything worked perfectly when we put the power back on so we can claim a success.

Coming back home very late last night I was surprised to see the volume of water going over Settle weir since we had been basking in warm sunshine all day in Halifax.  It seems that it rained steadily at Horton all day and the river had come onto spate by late afternoon.  It has continued raining all night  and still is.  The forecast is for brighter conditions later today so with a high river salmon should be running.  Be warned though, it's pretty windy with quite a stiff breeze blowing from the west.

I still plan to go n search of salmon at the top of the river later today if conditions here pick up a bit so maybe more on this tomorrow.

Finally, a member emailed me with the following:

Ian,  It might be worth reminding members some time that I can carry out machining jobs on my lathe at home for small screws,pins,bushes etc  on their old fishing reels,tackle or whatever.I can not work miracles but I may be  help someone out with a problem.
Regards Brian.

Thanks Brian, this may well help some members to prolong the life of well loved gear. If any member wishes to take up Brian's offer just email or phone me and I will put you in touch.


Ian

Some success was achieved yesterday by those who went in search of Salmo salar.  The President dropped by to tell me that he had a 7 pound hen fish in good condition just below Whit Beck.  This of course was returned to add her eggs and genes to future generations of Ribble salmon, but the Pres did say that despite almost perfect conditions he was surprised that he saw no more migratory fish.  It could be that the very high water we have had recently has encouraged most fish to seek the higher reaches of the Ribble above the Tarn and I plan to take a walk up to Lodge Hall at the weekend to see if I can spot signs of spawning.

It started off very foggy here, but as I write this looking out up the valley I can see that the murk is slowly lifting and we may yet have a decent day.  The river level has fallen sharply since yesterday so conditions now are less than ideal.  Still, what better way to spend a Thursday than wandering the river with a rod in hope rather than expectation?

Ian

Just a quick update on river conditions here this morning for those of you thinking about salmon and late sea trout.  We had a lot of rain yesterday which has raised the river considerably so there is plenty of water this morning to get the fish running.  It's a much brighter day now with blue sky and a bit of sun.  There is a light westerly breeze and its cold.

Moe tomorrow

Ian

Another issue that was effectively tackled over the weekend was the proposed refurbishment of the club hut at the Tarn.  As I have said before this is a facility that begs a decent use and could be made rather more comfortable and inviting with a little investment.  The good news is that Council readily voted a budget sufficient to enable us to carry out some quite extensive work that will make the structure warmer and allow us to fit out the interior to a good standard.

The plan is to provide new seating together with storage cupboards, work tops, sink, a book case and a desk.  The aim will be to do this work using materials that are robust enough to stand up to heavy use whilst ensuring that the interior looks pleasant and invites members to use it.  We have the kind offer of some solar lights which will brighten up dark mornings and evenings.

All these are rough ideas at present and I have been tasked with drawing up detailed plans which will be considered by Council at their next meeting on 15 November.  So if members have ideas about what should be included in these plans then do please email or ring me and we can discuss them.

After the severe floods of Saturday the river has fallen off quickly and is currently quite low.  We are forecast a lot of rain and bad weather today so I am anticipating higher water tomorrow for a time.  It looks as if Wednesday will be the best day this week for salmon.

Ian

I'll expand this morning on a couple of the issues that I introduced yesterday.  First up, electrofishing.  This was organised by Jack S the RCCT fisheries scientist who has agreed with the EA to survey many of the side becks and feeder streams on the Ribble and Hodder catchment.  What the survey is designed to reveal is the degree to which these side waters are used by trout and salmon fry as refuge.  Results up the river have been mixed with some very populous areas and some that show little evidence of fry presence.  The reasons for these variations will be assessed, but there are likely to be a number of factors involved.

Up here on our waters the results were fairly predictable.  Right at the top end on Gayle Beck we found no fry.  There is very little spawning gravel up there, the beck is pretty dry throughout even a wet summer such as the one we have just had and one years survey data does not tell you the whole story. What we did find here were plenty of bullhead and some stone loach so there are fish present and there may be bigger trout in some of the deeper pools.  Moving down we looked at Coppy Ghyl and Cam Beck.  The first once again is frequently dry in summer so is an unreliable habitat for fry.  It also produced bullhead.  The foot of Cam Beck is a pretty turbulent place.  Whilst it never dries up it does suffer violent spates and has little by way of spawning gravel low down where we surveyed.  Yet again we found lots of bullhead.  So for the top end the results so far are inconclusive as to the presence off fry in the becks.  What we do have is a good population of bullhead and the reason for this may be to do with the fact that these fish have no swim bladder and spend most of their lives under rocks on the bottom protected from spates and low water.

Moving down river the picture changes.  Brants Ghyll produced a number of salmon and trout fry both at the confluence and up beyond the hatchery.  I would like to see more and it may be possible to increase recruitment here with a little work.

The top end of Cam Beck also produced trout at the two sites we surveyed.  A fine small adult fish came up when we looked above Ling Ghyll bridge and another was found just below the cave at Brow Ghyll. 

What we now need to do is to compare the results with those obtained by the EA on the main river.  We now from club records that many fish are found high up in the Ribble and one member has recorded 20 fish caught on each visit to these high sites this season.  I would certainly be happier to see far more fry in the becks and we shall now begin considering how this may be achieved.

Just to round up a quick mention of the Hot Pot supper on Friday.  We began with a few words from the President and a minutes silence in memory of Sam then over 40 members, guests and farmers tucked in to  an enormous meat and potato pie followed by apple pie.  Conversation flowed freely and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves immensely.  The hangers on (including yours truly) eventually wandered home after 1.00am.  Perhaps what we should do in future years is to dig out some of the old club songs and poems and have a bit of an injection of low culture after the meal.

I leave that thought with you.

Ian

After an absence of two days there is much to tell you so rather than make this morning's blog over long and tedious for you I will just cover the main themes and return to add detail as we go through the week.

Firstly, we had a terrific flood last evening.  It began raining at about 8.30 yesterday morning and this got progressively heavier as we went through the day so that by late afternoon it was absolutely foul.  As we drove up from Settle at 5.30 we could see that all the riverside meadows were under water and the river below Horton had spread well beyond its banks.  The lane up to Newhouses was passable in my 4x4 only by dropping to low gear and just running slowly against the oncoming flood.  Even then it washed over the bonnet and reduced Mrs F who was driving to a state of nervous exhaustion.  It carried on raining all evening accompanied by a power cut from 7.30 to 9.45 just to make life a little more interesting. 

Anyway, it's a marked contrast this morning with blue sky, sunshine, little wind and a rapidly falling river.  But I would recon that this flood was worse than the one we had on 19 January the day before I broke my leg.

Thursday and Friday saw me out at the crack of dawn with Jack S the fisheries scientist from the RCCT.  We were back pack electrofishing the side becks above Horton village and got some surprising results.  I will cover this in more depth tomorrow, but we what we were looking for was trout and salmon fry and we did find some.  What we also found was a strong population of native crayfish above the waterfalls in Ling Ghyll just above the old packhorse bridge.  What we also found up here added to the excitement as on one pass we turned up a very surprised brown trout.  Now given that there is little chance that a trout could climb the high falls on the Ghyll this population must either be a relic or have been introduced at some time in the far distant past.  Whichever, it surely suggests that we have not only wild fish in the catchment, but a native population as well whose genes may be vital in future for the welfare of our Ribble fish.

The Hot Pot supper was a tremendous success with some of us eventually crawling off to bed at about 1.30 on Saturday morning.  Over 40 members, guests and farmers sat down to the best meat pie yet and all were a lot heavier on returning to the bar afterwards.  The conversations flowed back and forth and new acquaintances were made and old ones restored.

Despite the late night the Council meeting on Saturday morning was a brisk, productive and lively affair to which the Bury Blond Bombshell added vocal accompaniment until banished to the car.  Much was discussed and I have been instructed to work up in detail my plans for the complete refurbishment of the interior of the club hut and bring these back to the next meeting in November.  The plan is to carry out the work during the closed season so that members returning to fish next April will be able to enjoy a facility that the club can be proud of.

That's more than enough to keep you going.  More tomorrow together with a few pictures.

Ian

The Tarn has been stocked this week which should lift catches this back end and compensate for the end of brown trout fishing and the recent high water conditions.  We only put in 100 fish, but these were mixed sizes from just under two pounds to over three pounds.

Still no sign of cormorants so I hope that these less wise fish will have a chance to settle in without being disturbed.

I'm off out this morning with the RCCT fisheries scientist who is coming up to do some electrofishing in the side becks above Horton.  This has been long planned and is part of a much bigger programme that has seen many of the becks and feeders on the Ribble sampled all the way up from Preston.  It will be enlightening to see just what the populations of brown trout are like in our becks since no work like this has been done for many years.  It will help to inform decisions we take about how we continue to manage the fishery and promote the recruitment of our wild fish stocks.  Conditions this morning are near perfect with a river about 4 inches above normal, a clearing water, quite a bit of autumn sunshine and no wind.

I will let you know how we get on especially as this is my first experience of electrofishing.

Ian

My Mother was wont to say 'be careful what you wish for as you might get it'.  Last week I stood in the river at Turn Dub and fleetingly wished for a flush through to rid the river of the filament weed that has grown in profusion in the dry weather we had a the end of September.  Yesterday I got my wish.  It rained hard and steadily all day and by mid afternoon the river at Horton was coming into full spate.  Interestingly I noticed that at about 2.45pm the weir at Settle was just a mere trickle, but by 4.00pm, on my way back up to Horton the weir was a thundering torrent.  It just goes to show how quickly this river rises (and falls) during heavy rain.

One member who fished with a guest on Monday prefers his river in full water when seeking salmon.  He mistimed his visit this week by 24 hours as what he got on Monday was bare bones.  Yesterday he would have found near perfect conditions for him.

The swans are back on the Tarn this morning after their regular late summer break.  I'm never too sure where they go during September, but every year they disappear during the day and return to residency at the start of October.  Our interest in dealing with the cormorant problem seems to have communicated itself to the birds in question as my regular early morning visits to the Tarn have revealed not one pterodactyl since we had a visit from Natural England.  Long may that continue.

It's a brighter, more showery day today with some sunshine and a lot less wind.  The river should fall off a bit by this afternoon so salmon and sea trout fishing may be worth a try.

Ian