As news of Sammy's tragic death spread within the club a number of members rang me over the weekend stunned and saddened by the passing of this fine fisherman and true friend of many.  Despite his advancing years Sammy was always ready to volunteer for working groups and events and I have lasting memories of the way he put me to shame with his vigour when we last put barley straw into the Tarn and of his wonderful pirouette before taking an early bath in the river at Horton duck race eighteen months ago.

A few who have contacted me have expressed the desire for some fitting tribute that will offer a tangible connexion with his memory.  We are sated with benches at the Tarn so my own thought is that since Sammy spent every Thursday at or in the Hut we might consider the practicalities of bringing the comforts offered by this fine club asset up to a more modern spec.  I open this up for debate and consideration.

We had very little rain yesterday and on a falling river considerable success was had with our Ribble salmon.  A number of fine fish were caught on Sutcliffes reach below the Pipe Pool and one member caught his first ever salmon this was a clean hen fish fresh from the sea weighing about 5lb, not big but in perfect condition.

Do remember that I have a good supply of salmon tags and even if you don't intend taking a fish it would be as well to have your quota (two) ready to hand in case a damaged fish needs to be killed.

It's a fairly decent start to the week with high broken cloud, a light north east breeze and no sign of rain.  The river has fallen back to offer good trouting prospects as well as fine salmon fishing and if we get a bit of sun later and a decent hatch then fishing conditions should be near perfect.

Ian