Yet another day when the sun has cracked the flags here, but we had a strange phenomenon earlier this afternoon.  For a couple of hours a near gale force wind blew out of the south east tearing the laundry from the line and raising dust in veritable devils. It's all calm again now and setting in for a super evening.

Last evening was similar except that we had a stiff easterly breeze that turned the Tarn choppy and kept the fish low.  I was up there till quite late watching the Hon Sec wet a fly or two. Just as I was leaving at around 8.45 the wind dropped and the air filled with buzzers and sedge.  Right on cue the fish began to rise and feed eagerly.  My guess is that they were pretty hungry as the two fish caught and spooned showed that they had eaten very little during the day, possibly because of the very bright, but windy conditions.

Coots are often regarded as the secret thugs of the waterways.  They look diminutive and as if butter wouldn't melt etc., but in reality they are more than capable of a spot of GBH.  I managed to get some video yesterday of two Tarn coots having a right old ding dong.  Whilst this battle royal was raging a third coot arrived and joined in just like a lads night out in Leeds.  The fight ended with one or the protagonists scuttling across the Tarn hotly pursued by the victor.  This unseemly behaviour impressed the swans on a jot.  They watched from a distance clearly unimpressed with the way the neighbourhood had gone to pot.  The three cygnets hid behind the cob until things settled down. 

I also got some video of a mayfly that landed on the Hon Sec's rod clearly mistaking the artificial clipped into the keeper ring as a potential mate.  It's all very well fooling a rather thick rainbow trout with a well dressed fly,  but to deceive a more discerning spinner is quite an achievement.

On the subject of well dressed flies, the hut now boasts a good supply of tools and materials for those of you who realise that the killer fly in the box you meant to slip into your pocket is still on the table at home.  You can now while away a few minutes creating the pattern that no 4lb rainbow could possibly resist.  Please leave the boxes of materials, hooks, etc. for others to use after you.

Ian

Warm sunny weather over the past few days has dropped the river level appreciably, but it's still fishable on the pools and deeper runs although clear water will make creeping up on our wild brownies a game for back woodsmen.

I was talking to our wild top end river specialist yesterday morning when he dropped by for a guest ticket.  Despite less than favourable conditions so far this season he tells me that he has caught 17 fish so far from the runs and pools around Lodge Hall.  This is true "wild west" country with almost no bank side herbage to cover an approaching angler from the ever watchful gaze of the timid brown trout that live here.  It's many years now since we last stocked near Lodge Hall so all fish found this far up the river will be wild fish.

I didn't get up to the Tarn yesterday so was unable to check on the well being of our new cygnets.  On Thursday the whole family was missing from the Tarn which caused some consternation.  However, they were all spotted later plodding up the channel that drains the water below the duck wall.  I assume that mum had taken the chicks down to the swampy area at the foot of this leat to feed in the shallower water.

It's another cracking day with not a cloud in the sky and just a gentle westerly breeze stirring the trees.  Far from ideal fishing conditions, but a late evening at the Tarn should be rewarding.

Ian

It's a nasty wet and windy day here in the valley, but the forecast for tomorrow is rather good so with a river somewhat replenished by today's rain fishing over the weekend should be rather good.

For some few years now plans have been hatching for the creation of a bridleway link between Clapham and the Cam High Road.  This will be part of the long distance Pennine Bridle Way which will cross the river at Far Moor between the Tarn and Dale Mire Barn.  The club has been consulted about the design of the bridge and the ancillary fencing work that will prevent horse riders ad other users from accessing the river at this remote and vulnerable spot.  I now learn from the project officer that work is planned to start here at the end of July and continue to around December.  There will be scaffolding in the river during the construction of the bridge and this normally tranquil spot will be busy with contractors vehicles and construction teams. You have been warned.  I have marked the crossing on the map on Angli Vespers.

Stunned by the quick sale of the recent bargain that I advertised a few days ago a member has emailed me to ask for an advert to be placed for a rod that he has surplus to needs.  I can do no better than offer his own words:

Brand new and never even had a reel onto the rod. (but I don’t know where the warranty card is)

Orvis Zero Gravity 4 piece tip flex 10 (Genuine not a kit made up by other companies)

This rod retailed for over £500    I use a 9ft 4 weight and cannot fault the rod it compares and in my mind often excels over similar Sage and Loomis specs. This rod is tip action as denoted by the number 10 on the description. I have no idea just how quick the action is, but I would suspect it is similar to the sage XP or Z-Axis.

I would be looking for £250 so must be a bargain if anyone interested.

Contact me if you are interested.

Ian

 

After a fine and sunny weekend we had a few heavy showers last evening and overnight.  Not really enough to lift the river to any appreciable extent, but it's still fishable on the pools and deeper runs.

I did the invertebrate check at New Inn bridge first thing yesterday morning and despite not being able to sample the gravel banks where the best results are got because of low water the results I did get are encouraging.  All families included in the monitoring programme are present including, for only the second time in the two years we have been monitoring, a specimen of the true mayfly Ephemera danica.  You can't easily mistake this fine beastie.  It's large with feathery gills carried high and looks quite elegant.  Still, one E.danica does not a duffers fortnight make so fishing our little river will always be hard graft.

A member dropped by last evening after fishing the Tarn to report something that despite fishing here for over 30 years he had not seen before.  The cows are now out in Tarn pasture and many of these have calves at foot.  It would seem that one calf became separated from the main herd because it was too busy feeding its face to notice that mum and it's mates had moved some distance off.  On realising that it was now home alone panic set in and rather than gallop round to where the herd were now grazing it took a short cut - straight across the Tarn.  So if you do get a bite that seems to fight with extraordinary vigour just make sure that it's a rainbow and not Billy the bullock!

The clouds are lifting now and the sun is emerging.  The forecast is for a fine day up to mid afternoon when we may get further showers.  Tomorrow looks to be a washout with strong winds before a return to warm settled weather on Thursday.  If we do get a lot of rain tomorrow the river should be in good nick for the weekend.

Ian

Hot on the heels of the tale of the two large Tarn rainbows comes news of a very large Tarn brownie.  Now, it's about 5 years since we put any brown trout into the Tarn so any that do turn up here have spent a good few winters in the Tarn since unless evolution has taken a large leap forward in Ribblesdale they can't have walked from the river.  Malcolm B dropped by last evening to tell me that he had just had a major tussle with a fish that he estimated weighed in at over 4lb.  It was certainly too large for the boat net and had a tail that a salmon would have been proud of.  This monster brownie went back in so it's still there nursing a somewhat injured pride and cursing its greed.

The swans have hatched 4 cygnets overnight.  One unfortunately has deceased, but the remaining three look fit and healthy and are already out on the Tarn watching the parents dive for food.  There are two unhatched eggs in the nest so have a result from half the clutch that was laid. 

I was up at Turn Dub first thing to do the monthly river fly check.  Results look good and sampling in a moderately high river was much easier than the near drought we had last month.  I even found some gammarus this time along with a host of bullhead fry.  Our wild brownies will not go hungry.

Ian

I thought that the fishing on the river would be good yesterday provided that the rain kept to a minimum. So it proved to be.  Alan M dropped by just before 5pm to say that he had just spent a cracking 4 hours fishing down stream to Helwith Bridge and had caught 11 fish.  These were clearly all wild fish and ranged in size from 6 inch fingerlings to mature fish that would probably tip the scales at around a pound.  Not only is this great news as regards numbers of fish, but it also shows without question that our wild fish are recruiting as the fingerlings are likely to be the result of 2007 ova and 2008 hatchings.  There's no reason to doubt  that fry from this year's hatchings are in the river so it's hoped that the overall population of wild brownies will continue to increase.

When members do fish the river can I make a plea that you record your catch on the member's website (Angli Vespers) under "fishing returns". This not only provides me with a picture of how the river is fishing and helps to flag up any emerging problems (or otherwise), but it also shows newer members where good sport may be had and which fly may tempt our cautious little brownies into a take.

It's a cloudy start to the holiday weekend with the prospect of showers during the morning.  The forecast remains good for the coming week though so a trip to Horton should be rewarded with ideal fishing conditions.

I have postponed the main riverfly check scheduled for tomorrow to 20 June as so many of the riverfly group are indisposed.  I will do a monthly bankside check to ensure that all is still in order with our invertebrates.  Any member is welcome to come along to the main check to see what goes on and learn more about the main food source for our fish.  It's a fascinating way to spend a morning and the outcome could be knowledge that leads to greater success when fishing the river.

Thanks to Alan M I now have  a copy of the menu for the MAA centenary dinner held back in 1978 which I will copy and put on Angli Vespers to complement and contrast with the 1893 menu that already on there.

Ian

Large trout seem to proliferating at present. After last week's large wild river brownie comes a report of to monster rainbows caught at the Tarn yesterday.  I was coming up the garden after collecting hens eggs yesterday afternoon when I spied a member and his guest advancing down the path towards me.  The guests ticket was handed back an I asked how much luck they had between the showers.  The answer was a near maximum take by our honoured member and two for his guest with a number of missed catches.  It seems that our member had been fishing well down in the water from the boat and got a strike which felt like a small dog on the end of the line as the fish was obviously rather large and was shaking its head violently to try to dislodge the tackle which it clearly objected to.  On drawing this beast to the side of the boat it became clear that it was well nigh longer than the boat net.  The conservative estimate is that this rainbow weighed in at around 4lb and was in very good condition.  Not content with this our member repeated the experience with another monster shortly after which he is sure was not the same fish.

Those members of slight build or frail constitution have been duly warned.

It's another showery day here, but with less rain overnight the river has now lost much of its colour and is in good fishing condition.  The forecast is for better weather over the bank holiday weekend.

Ian

A very wet night has left the river in very high water with a fair bit of colour.  It's dry now with a few blue patches between dark, threatening clouds.  It looks like a showery day with a fairly light westerly breeze.

The number of club songs on the website continues to grow apace.  Some of these are real gems, full of wit and reference to what were obviously contentious issues for our Victorian forbears.  Many of the tunes that these songs were set to are familiar, but some are less well known.  It might be fun to add the music notation for these songs and compile an MAA song book?

I saw something most unusual this morning when I went out to attend to livestock.  Sitting on the goat house wall was a grey squirrel.  In the 11 years I have lived here I have only ever once before seen one of these creatures around the house and that was just after we moved here.  It seemed most unconcerned by my presence and sat watching me sweep the goat yard before scurrying off down the garden.  Whilst we do have trees around us including one giant sycamore there are very few seed or nut bearing trees that would provide food for squirrels so I guess that it's this shortage of food that makes their sighting here such a rare occurrence.  Or perhaps they know of my fondness for squirrel casserole.

Ian

News reaches me this morning of a proposal to be put before Parliament that will encourage the introduction of beavers to the Hodder catchment.  Not surprisingly this has rattled a few cages and the RFCA has written a very well argued letter to the Lb Dem MP who spawned this idea suggesting that this might not be the idea of the century.  Beavers have been absent from these waters since the early middle ages and much has changed in the past seven hundred years or so.  Industrialisation has taken its toll on even the most remote rivers and becks.  Dams and weirs have been built that impede the movement of salmonids and prevent them from utilising all the available spawning habitat and if there is one thing an industrious beaver likes it's a good well built dam.  I know not what the bank side tree cover is like on the upper Hodder, but if it's anything like the Ribble then a colony of beavers will have the banks treeless in pretty short order.  So I strongly suspect that the cry "nice beaver" will not be heard on Bowland.

The Sage rod that I mentioned a couple of days ago has been sold.  Just goes to show the power of on line advertising and I didn't even charge a commission!

It's been showery rather than persistently wet here for the past few days so the river is in rather good water with just a touch of colour.  It's dryer today with only a light westerly breeze so fishing the river will be better than of late.

Finally, I am now getting a steady stream of material for the "History" section of the members website so expect to see additions to the site on an almost daily basis.  A lot of club songs (50) have turned up so maybe we should start future Council meetings with a rendition of selected verses.  I'm always happy to add stuff to the site for anyone who finds the technology challenging.  Driving a computer can be a dark art.

Ian

It's a miserable wet morning so the river is filling quickly and will be in flood by lunchtime.  Not the best of days for fishing.

The member's website is beginning to attract a good few articles including a recent batch of stuff about the history of the club.  So if you haven't visited the site for a few days it's worth another look.

I have been contacted by a member who has a rod for sale.  This is a two piece Sage XP 9' 6" rated 7 in original condition complete with Sage tube.  It can be yours for £180.00.  If you are interested then contact me and I will put you in touch with the vendor.

Ian

So far the foul weather that was forecast for this weekend has failed to materialise and in fact we have a good deal of sunshine right now.  There is still a nasty cold south east breeze blowing up river, but aside from this fishing conditions are rather good.  I was up at the Tarn at "cock leeat" just to check around and see if the pen had hatched her eggs yet.  It was pleasant sitting in the hut watching life on the water with just the calling of the lambs and piping of the oyster catchers to disturb the quiet.  NO sign of cygnets yet.

I mentioned last week that one of our regular fishers had scored a success at the pipe pool.  I shall let Andrew tell the tale in his own words.

I was up at Ling Gill early yesterday morning helping Paul to draw down the pools created by the new dams.  The site really does look impressive in full water and the whole job has been completed to a very high standard with straight, level dams that tumble a steady flow of water between the three new pools.

After Richard's funeral which saw a packed church, a very moving eulogy and an uplifting service well suited to his effusive character I went back up to Ling Gill to install the remaining facing panels on the middle dam.  These are smooth plastic panels that prevent determined crayfish from climbing the concrete and escaping over the dams.  Mind you, the concrete itself  is so smooth that the panels are more of a guarantee than essential.  Drawn down the site is an even more impressive example of civil engineering at this very remote spot.

At each draw down crayfish numbers found in the dry pools are becoming fewer and fewer, evidence that the installation is working as planned.  It's almost certain that most of the creatures we are finding up to now are those we missed during the initial clearance so now that the construction work is finished it's likely that very few crayfish will be bold enough to make it into the controlled area and those that do are likely to be victims caught in flood that wash over the top dam.

It's good to see that members are beginning to get to grips with the new website and a fair amount of new material has been posted up in the past few days so if you haven't visited the site for a while do take a look.  I have set up a "History" section as some of the new material relates to the long and illustrious history of the club.  There seems to be an interest developing in one past member, Harry Kershaw, who wrote the poem that's pinned to the notice board and who was, amongst other accomplishments, a very competent artist.  I was sent yesterday a copy of one of his pictures which I have printed and framed and will hang in the hut.  It really does capture the spirit of fishing on a small upland river.

It's now raining and this wet is being driven on by the east wind we have suffered for a week now so conditions out there are getting a tad unpleasant.  The forecast is not up to much either with a lot of rain forecast for later today and into tomorrow.

Ian

Two further days of sunshine and strong east wind although today the wind has backed round to a south easterly.  The wind is certainly having an impact on fishing at the Tarn.  I got an email this morning which, amongst other matters, tells me that fishing from the boat yesterday was akin to cod fishing in the north Atlantic with quite big waves threatening to swamp the punt.  It got so bad that it became impossible to row against the wind so our intrepid cod fishers had to bow haul the punt back to the boathouse.  Who says that angling is a sedentary sport?  Despite these handicaps the fish were taking well

I also learn that the Tuesday Boys scored success with a fine wild brownie at the Pipe Pool.  I look forward to a photo of this beast and I hope that it's just the first of a hat full for the duo this season.

Richard Hargreaves funeral will be tomorrow at 11 am in Horton Church.  I will go to pay my respects and represent the club if no other member can get up to Horton.

The timber has begun its journey out of Greenfield Forest.  Until we can arrange better parking facilities at the Tarn do try to park well off the road to lessen the chance of a side swipe from the rig that's shifting the timber.

Finally a warning about organised poaching.  A red van has been seen down at Settle the occupants of which are believed to be engaged in netting for trout certain pools on the Settle Anglers' waters.  If you see anything suspicious especially if a red van is in the vicinity ring the EA hot-line on 0800 807060 and ring me so that I can check on the EA's response.

Ian

It's a glorious sunny day here in the valley, but we do have a rather stiff east wind that's keeping things on the cool side and making casting a bit of a challenge up at the Tarn.  Things are set to go downhill tonight with rain and strong wind forecast for Wednesday.

The stocked trout at the Tarn seem to have settled well.  They are still rather shoaled up, but should disperse during the course of the week.  One of the party present on Saturday took a host of photographs.  These seem to show that tradition is still alive and well in the MAA as all members present seem to be standing around chatting with their hands in their pockets whist the keeper runs himself ragged netting 180 fish into the Tarn.  It was ever so! Mind you, the keeper had not realise just how much of his Barnet has been lost recently.  All he needs is a monks habit as he already has the tonsure.  A further sign of the onset of old age and senility exacerbated by a further birthday tomorrow.

The water crowfoot transplanting scheme that I mentioned on Saturday seems to be gathering pace.  The received wisdom is that these transplantings survive better if the plants are rooted in hessian bags and well anchored down in the river substrate.  I learn that even as I write this suitable bags are being made up ready for planting using a good supply of crowfoot that's growing in the Turn Dub leat.  This will be an interesting experiment which could teach us a lot about the establishment of water plants in a river subject to severe spates.  But even if the plants survive for only a season or two they will serve their purpose in providing shelter and refuge for mature wild trout.  The planting can always be repeated if the plants are lost during winter spates.

Right, I hear the kettle boiling.  Time for a brew.

Ian

We had a busy, but fruitful morning on the fishery.  About six of us gathered in the hut at 9.30 to consider a range of issues affecting the future state of the fishery and the quality of fishing available to members.  After some debate quite a few actions were agreed and plans made to carry these out.

Firstly the stiles at the Tarn need replacing and this will be attended to over the early summer.  The plan is to make any replacements easier to use for ageing muscles, but the exact nature of the replacements will be decided after consultation with the landowner.

Stiles lower down the river will be repaired and new stiles erected close to Studfold where bank erosion has made access difficult.  Again the timing of this work and the exact location of the stiles will depend on landowners wishes.

The remaining fencing wire in the river at Studfold will be removed as water conditions permit. 

Perhaps most significant of all is a plan to carry out some water herbage planting trials using native stock from the feeder beck at Turn Dub.  The purpose is to increase cover available to wild trout on selected beats so that they are less inclined to take fright when approached from the bank.  Evidence suggests that there is no shortage of fish in the river, but locating them and casting to them is made very difficult because they are easily spooked, find little mid stream cover and are inclined to take off upstream at the least disturbance frightening every other fish on the beat. 

We looked at overhanging trees at Parker's Wood and identified some branches that need pruning to enable casting to some choice water

There is plenty of work to keep us occupied over the summer and members are always welcome to volunteer to help.  Just contact the keeper via the link on Angli Vespers.

During our discourse the latest Tarn stock arrived.  Once again these look stunning fish. All are well finned with full tails and seemed feisty and full of fight.  They are around 2lb with some larger fish and a fair number of blue trout went in to complement the rainbows.

Weatherwise it's been another blustery day with some heavy showers and a little sunshine late this afternoon.  The forecast gives an improving situation for next week so with good water in the river fishing prospects are better than they have been for some considerable time.

Ian

It's been a much brighter day here with just the odd light shower interspersed with quite a bit of sunshine.  The most noticeable feature of the weather though has been a very stiff north west wind that has kept it feeling cold all day.  The wind is supposed to strengthen tomorrow which will make casting near on impossible.  If it's not one thing it's another! so far this season we have had drought, heavy rain and strong wind which have all conspired in their own way to make fishing a real challenge.  Let's hope for some more settled weather later this month.

Many members will have known Richard Hargreaves at the Crown Hotel.  Its my sad duty to tell you that Richard died last night after a short illness. Richard was an MAA member for many years and although he had not fished these waters for some time he was proud of his membership.  Richard it was who first got me involved with the Association.  I well remember an evening in the Crown in 2002. The discussion had touched on fishing and Richard had talked about the MAA and its long history at Horton.  Just as I was heading for home Richard happened to mention that the club was seeking a new keeper.  I asked him what the keeper did and learnt a lot in the following 2 hours!  About a fortnight later two gentlemen arrived at my door.  "We understand that you want to be our new keeper" they said.  "We are here to interview you".  We had a chat.  They departed.  I thought no more of it.  A couple of weeks later I got a phone call.  "There's a working party up at the Tarn on Saturday" a voice said.  "As our new keeper you should be there".  I was there and the rest is history.

I will miss your tales, our conversations and your kindness Richard.  Thanks for getting me involved with a great bunch of people and a fascinating hobby.

Ian

It was a truly awful night here last night with a very strong west wind ripping the young leaves from the trees and very heavy rain.  Today the wind has dropped considerably, but we still have the rain.  Fine misty stuff, but persistent and the forecast for the rest of the week holds little promise that things will improve quickly.

It's good to see youngsters coming into the sport.  They are our future, but current child protection legislation really does make it hard for clubs to provide junior membership or supervised fishing events.  I read in the paper that a young girl has just won the national junior casting title.  Congratulations to her for a fine achievement.  The encouragement of young people and especially young women can only be a good thing.  If this goes hand in hand with an appreciation of the value of our wild trout and other fish species then the future health of our waterways can be better assured.

A member has just sent me a web link to a slide show of the most amazing photos I have ever seen of fishing ospreys.  How these shots were captured defies belief.  Not only are they unique studies of this beautiful predator in full cry, but they are technically highly accomplished examples of the photographers art.  Go to the members site and navigate to the "Wildlife" category from the "Web Links" menu item.

Ian

Ye Gods was it wet here yesterday?  the rain fell unrelenting from dawn to dusk, a drenching fine rain that penetrates even the most protective outer layers and leaves one feeling cold and thoroughly brassed off.  By evening the river was in full spate for the first time in weeks.  No bad thing as this volume of water will clear out all the accumulated algae and other dross that's built up over the past month or so.  It's wet again this morning with the promise of a damp and grey day.

I have said before that the Internet is a remarkable tool with almost boundless potential to enable the sharing of information and knowledge even between folk who would otherwise have absolutely no contact whatsoever. 

I started these ramblings to keep members of the MAA in touch with daily life on their fishery and to share with them the broad knowledge collected within the club.  But others have found their way to this site not just UK based but from around the world.  I opened an email this morning from a member of the Wildlife Service in the USA who had read my comments following the crayfish seminar at Grassington last year and wants to learn more about the plans to eliminate alien crayfish species. 

Before the advent of the World Wide Web sharing knowledge in this way would have been virtually impossible.  Why would a scientist working in America be aware of a small project on an insignificant beck in a remote corner of Yorkshire in the UK?  The answer is that they probably wouldn't to the potential detriment of both parties. 

It's been said that we live in an information age.  I think we are at just the beginning of that age.  We will see an explosion of ideas over the next decade facilitated by this wonderful invention that enables us to sit at a computer anywhere in the world and share ideas with anyone else on the planet who is similarly equipped.  The beauty is that for now its refreshingly free of state control and interference (at least in the western world). The challenge for us all is to keep it this way, but most important of all to also ensure that we do not create an underclass of the knowledge poor.

We have the technological means to equip every community with Internet access.  What prevents this is a lack of political will and finance.  Here at Horton we took matters into our own hands and with grant assistance built our own highly successful wireless broadband network to serve our scattered remote communities.  We have just rebuilt it at our own expense and it cost us about £25k to equip 80 households with up to the minute wireless equipment providing 6 meg connections to properties over 25 kilometres from the nearest telephone exchange.  A small price for such a remarkable tool.

Here's to the future!

Ian

Rain in the night and the prospect of a wet day today and again tomorrow will lift the river beyond levels we have had for some weeks and give conditions that should be favourable to fishing the entire length by next weekend.  With luck the accumulated algae will wash away leaving a much cleaner water for the next invertebrate check due around 20 May.  This will be the main 6 month check at four sites and new members of the riverfly group are always welcome.  It's a good way to learn more about the creatures that form the main food source for our wild trout and to gain a better understanding of their distribution and habits.

Of course, this damp weather has affected the crayfish restoration project at Ling Gill since the recent high water levels have made it almost impossible to draw down the new pools to check for crayfish.  Dryer conditions at the end of the week should hopefully enable this task to be done, but n the meantime work has concentrated on returning the site to its former pristine condition by removing all the construction equipment and materials and generally tidying and cleaning up.

Ever heard of a palomino trout?  No, neither had I until a conversation with Ian W last week at the Tarn.  This "ghost" trout looks like nothing you have ever seen before.  An apparition that would give you the heebi jeebies if you spotted it whist fishing alone late one evening.  Members can find more about this on the new web site.

Ian

Fishing's a funny old game as someone once observed and events at the Tarn yesterday certainly proved the truth of this old adage.  I went up to Tarn Pasture at about lunchtime yesterday to fix the high stile and found a member peering morosely down the length of his rod at a fly that was clearly not much to our rainbows liking.  I asked him what luck he had and it was clear that this was not the best of days he has had here.  I left him to his misery to attend to the stile which now has two new top treads so is safer than when I found it.  On returning to the hut our disgruntled member was ensconced within reconciling himself with an early lunch.  Whilst I had been busy he had touched a fish and lost a fish and seemed resigned to a blank day.  We chewed the fat for an hour during which time it began to rain heavily just to cheer things up a bit.

When I left him said member thought that he would try once more then pack it in as we had barely seen a fish rise and had begun to wonder if the Tarn was empty of piscine life.  I walked back to Newhouses getting soaked in the process mulling over whether I should have brought the May stocking forward a week.

Later that evening a knock summoned me to my back door where I found another member fresh from the Tarn seeking a dozen eggs.  I enquired of him what luck he had.  "Wonderful" he said.  "I have been fishing for just over an hour and got five fish"  It seems that as the rain gave over the fish came on to feed and what had been a day almost bereft of fish activity became one alive with feeding trout.

So there you go David, you should have been here when you weren't.  If you had fished yesterday evening you will no doubt have had great sport rather than a long drive, the doubtful pleasure of my company, a soaking and damn all else.  Still, look on the bright side, you did get the flask back that you left in the hut last visit.

It's been a glorious afternoon here today with wall to wall sunshine.  The river is in fairly good water after the rain on Friday.  More rain is forecast tonight so there is every excuse to abandon Bank Holiday plans and head for Horton.

Ian

We had another rather damp night so the river remains in fairly good water with just a touch of colour this morning. May Day has dawned grey and gloomy, but the forecast is for some sun later so we live in hope although I shan't be dancing round any may pole. 

The nearest I have ever come to this was a May Day many years ago in Somerset when we gave a lift in the luggage compartment of our old ford estate to a Morris Dancer in full regalia including bells and stick.  His other hand held fast a full pint of Butcombe bitter and it was plain that this was just the latest of many others that the hand had held during the day.  Despite being incapable of maintaining a vertical position for more than a few minutes, when we dropped him off at the next village pub some miles further on the pint was still brim full.  A feat that it would be impossible to repeat had he been stone cold sober.  By way of thanks we were treated to an impromptu and rather violent performance by his mates.  Like something out of an old Bill Tidy cartoon!  Remember Bill Tidy and the 'Cloggies'?  An every day story of Lancashire clog dancers who made the Mafia seem like a Girl Guide company.

I am aiming to try to repair the tall stile at the Tarn today as we are coming up to a bank holiday weekend and things at the Tarn may be busy.  I will confirm this later.

Ian