It's been a rather damp and blustery 48 hours so consequently the river is in fairly good water.  It's carrying a bit of colour this morning, but not enough to make fishing difficult.  The day has started grey, but dry and with much less wind.  The forecast for the next couple of days is for changeable conditions, mostly damp and breezy, but the weekend is set to be fine so Easter fishing on the river should be very good.

I went to the monthly Horton History Group meeting last evening to listen to a presentation about Tot Lord.  Now Tot was a renowned local character whose family have lived in Settle since time immemorial.  He was a legendary wheeler dealer who could make money out of virtually any project he turned his hand to.  Above all he was an amateur archaeologist of some repute who had dealings with such professionals as Arthur Raistrick and Sir Arthur Keith the anthropologist.  Tot excavated the caves around Settle collecting and recording and established one of the finest collections of artifacts in the north of England in a museum known as the Pig Yard Club.

What's this got to do with angling I hear you ask.  Well, Tot was also a great countryman keen on shooting and fishing. His long time fishing partner was Peacock the Headmaster of Giggleswick School from the early thirties to late fifties.  Tot's fishing methods were unorthodox in the extreme.  On one occasion Peacock was fishing at Settle and Tot was up on the bank with a shotgun.  You can imagine Peacock's surprise when Tot let fly with his gun close to his legs.  On remonstrating with him Peacock was told to just wait whereupon a large greyling floated to the surface.  On another occasion Tot arrived to fish minus any tackle and simply lobbed a stick of dynamite into a likely pool.

As someone said, they broke the mould after minting Tot.

Finally, I have been contacted by Alan M who is gong to Uist in the summer and still has a couple of places available.  Alan writes:

Uist is truly beautiful and a place never to be forgotten.  You will not regret the trip if you go.

Ian