It's a dismal start to the day with a veil of thick fog draped over the valley masking the river and fells opposite and severely restricting the view from my kitchen window.  No rain so the river is still too low for salmon and judging by the forecast for this week will remain so.

I thought that it was just me that suffered the baleful attention of Mr Sod and his well known law, but it seems that others fall within the scope of his radar from time to time.  A regular visitor to the Tarn emailed me yesterday to recount the sorry tale of his last visit on Monday.  he took the boat out to mid water and began fishing. The fishing was going well, too well.  On attempting to retrieve the anchor he discovered that it was held fast to the bed of the Tarn. 

Now I make it very clear to new members when they join that extreme care must be taken at all times when fishing deep for fear of snagging the plug that prevents the Tarn from draining away little thinking that this might actually come to pass.  Be that as it may, our esteemed member was now stuck with no means of summoning help and a set of self help options none of which were ideal.  He could cut the anchor line and abandon the gear, swim for the shore or make a further attempt at freeing the recalcitrant anchor.  He decided upon the latter and after much heaving, sweating swearing and exhausting effort managed to haul up the anchor together with a rather large carboy that was last seen many years ago when it was employed to anchor barley straw bales to prevent them drifting in the wind.

To have dropped anchor right on top of this hazard that has lain happily unmolested for years must count as very bad luck, but leaves me wondering just what else is lurking in the depths of the Tarn just waiting to ensnare an unwary fisherman.  A mermaid with a Yorkshire accent or a kraken like giant crayfish?  Happy fishing!

Ian