It was good to see most of Council up at Horton on Saturday for what proved to be a highly constructive and productive meeting.  The Crown Inn was warm, welcoming and very comfortable reflecting all the hard work that Thomas has done recently to refurbish the lounge.

Stocking for the coming season will be similar to this year with 600 rainbows put in over the course of the season.  It was agreed that I should try to get some brown trout to go in at the pre season stocking just to add a bit of variety to the fishing.  The plan will be to treat these browns as catch and release fish so as to give them a chance to grow on over the next few years.  It's evident that Tarn brownies do over winter and can grow to quite respectable size and these big fish do provide a bit of a challenge when they mistake a bit of fur and feather for a Tarn sedge.

The wildlife area will be fenced before the start of the new season and the stiles over the cross walls will be replaced.  We already have a commitment from the Woodland trust to plant a thousand trees between Turn Dub and the Bridleway crossing and a planting plan has now been prepared and agreed that should provide for much improved habitat along this beat without compromising access to fishing.

Some while ago I mentioned Mike Harding's new book on North Country Spider patterns and a couple of copies of this book turned up on Saturday.  One is destined for the club library, but you really should invest in this guide if you are serious about fishing the upper Ribble.  It's a beautifully presented ring bound book with a potted history of North Country Spider patterns and those who popularised this style of fishing fast rain fed high gradient rivers.  The photos of each fly are stunning with enough definition to enable even a cack handed dresser like me to have a serious stab at an imitation.  a very great deal of thought has gone into the planning, writing and presentation and it deserves to become a classic.  It's not too late to get this into your Christmas stocking so do yourself a favour and get it ordered.

The 2010 Hot Pot Supper has been booked already.  So put the date of 1 October in your diaries now and get booked into the Crown whist rooms remain available.

I had planned to get out and do the invertebrate check this morning, but the weather Gods have put the kibosh on that by providing a morning of quite heavy and very cold rain. 

Ian