Wonderful news for all those of you who invested your fortune with Bernie Madoff.  I understand that an auction of all Bernies worldly goods includes a fair amount of fishing tackle.  This is likely to be top notch stuff so if you fancy bagging a bargain (even though you probably paid for it in the first place) watch out for further news of the auction.

Even better news is that Mrs swan and her three cygnets are back from their autumn break and reunited with the cob on the Tarn.  The cob has been looking lonely this past few weeks and I was beginning to wonder if something untoward had happened to the pen and her family, but an early morning foray to the Tarn this morning to check around and batten everything down  for the approaching winter revealed all five birds happily feeding down by the duck wall.

There's a new on line presence in the local angling fraternity.  Settle Anglers have just put up a website that's already full of useful and interesting stuff.  Check it out at www.settleanglers.co.uk or MAA members can find a direct link from Angli Vespers under the Resources/weblinks menu.

One idea I plan to pinch from this new site is a page of favourite flies along with photos and tying recipes.  Over the next few weeks I will pull together details of all the artificials recorded in the river return on the MAA website and their standard dressings, but please do email me with your own favourites, when they are most effective (time of year, time of day, conditions etc) and where on the river they work best and I will include those too.  Even better if you can include a small jpg showing the beast in all its glory.

Ian