The BBC comes in for some justifiable criticism for its editorial policies, it's warped sense of political correctness and a less than level balance of judgement from time to time.  But there is one area of programme making in which it still excels and is unsurpassed anywhere in the TV world.  The BBC natural history programmes (excluding anything involving that bearded twit  Bill Oddy and those which assume we have the attention span of goldfish)are by and large stunning and a classic example was the programme a couple of weeks ago about Pacific salmon.  The photography was spectacular and the scenes captured must have taken long hours of planning to set up and even longer to record on film.  I learnt much that I didn't know that I didn't know (if you follow me) and the shots of bears catching salmon in mid leap (the salmon, not the bears) will stay with me a long time.

Quite why the bears chose to hibernate so far from the river and so high in the mountains is a puzzle, but it clearly makes sense to the bears.  The next time I go looking for salmon jumping at Stainforth I will have this vision of sharing the rocky ledge with a fishing bear.  I feel disinclined to ask to see his rod license.

All is now moving apace towards the new season that starts on 15 March.  First we have the AGM on 6 March which is a chance for members to gather together after the long closed season, reflect on seasons past and make plans for the summer ahead.  There will be a few new members fishing at Horton this season and the hope is that they get some good water and plenty of wild fish coming to the net.

The hut refurbishment is nearing completion so all should be ready by 15 March when the Tarn reopens.  I have seen fish rising in the warmer, calm weather we have had this week so there should be sport for those hardy souls who like to fish in early season.

At the Council meeting last weekend the Hon Sec put forward an idea to restart the Anglers' Evenings that were such a feature of the early years of the club.  The idea is that once or twice a year members would be invited to come along to some convivial venue where good food and drink can be had and listen to a talk given by a member, invited guest or some other on an angling related topic.  If one looks at the talks that were given back in the early years it's clear that these were very much to do with individuals' areas of interest and were in no way restricted to fishing at Horton.  We still have members who fish in far flung corners of the world (and the UK) and it would be fascinating to compare these modern experiences with those of nearly a century and a half ago when much of the world map was still coloured red and the only way to get to foreign parts was by sea.  Get your thinking caps on let's have some ideas at the AGM on Friday.

Ian