Gosh, what a scorcher its been today.  Almost too hot to work out doors and far too hot to spend much time in front of a PC pumping out super heated air.  So the following advert is slightly delayed from Saturday.

A club member has two rods for sale as follows:


As usual if you are interested then please contact me and I will put you in touch with the vendor.

You know, as you journey through life you collect bits of information like fluff in the corners of your pocket or burrs on a dog.  Much of this stuff is of no practical use other than to fill a quiet moment at a dinner party or convince a fellow train traveller that they happen to be sitting next to the only loony in the carriage.

My latest bit of useless info is how much a cows head weighs.  Let me explain how I came by this absolutely indispensable knowledge.  On Friday evening my neighbour returned from checking his cows with the news that one up on the hill by Fawber had dropped its calf bed in giving birth to a very large bull calf (dead).  The vet was summoned and we went up to manhandle the beast into a position that would facilitate the reinsertion of the prolapse.  This procedure is a bit like trying to stuff several pounds of liver through a keyhole.  The operation went remarkably smoothly, the combination of military style planning and a very dexterous vet and the uterus was back in place in around five minutes.

The bovine declined to stand up which we put down to the effects of the epidural, but come the following morning she was still prone although feeding well and clearly in no distress.  A plan was hatched to get her down off the hill where she ran the risk of becoming rigged by rolling and we set a couple of pallets on the front forks of the tractor with the intention of carting Daisy down the hill on this platform. Now, we found most of the cow fitted the platform perfectly, but her head stuck out one end.  Solution?  roll the cow onto the platform and get yours truly to support her head.  It would have made an Oscar winning film.  Tractor proceeding backwards down a 1 in 3 hill for the best part of 400 yards with me marching in tandem cuddling a cows head trying desperately not to fall over and break the beasts neck.  The damn thing weighed as much as a very large dog and was about as cooperative.  When you have spent several minutes out of breath with your vision blocked by either a cows ear hole or its left nostril depending on how much the tractor was bouncing little else in life offers much surprise.

I'm glad to say that the operation was a success and the bovine is now installed on flat ground happily munching a neat crop circle in  the meadow.  Hopefully she has just bruised a nerve trying to expel the calf and will be on her feet shortly.  I would hate to think that all that effort had been wasted, but livestock is like that.  You do all you possibly can for them and they reward you by promptly dropping dead.

No Rain!!

Ian

I did the riverfly check at Turn Dub this morning and was rather pleasantly surprised by the amount of invertebrate life in a warm, low river.  I got good results for the usual seven families found at this site.  baetis were the most numerous followed by heptagenia.  Both sites on the monthly check are populated with large numbers of young bullhead and this creature seems to have had a very good breeding season.

Walking past the Tarn I stopped for some considerable while to watch the swarms of damsel flies on the water.  These are clearly popular with the trout as the fish were leaping clear of the water to take them.  Quite a feeding frenzy was taking place, the surface of the water was pitted with rises and broken by leaping fish all the way down to the duck wall.

The cygnets are still surviving and I was able to get a good close look at them today as they were hauled out on the bank dozing in the sun.  The cob was a little unsettled by my closeness to his family, but was not aggressive.  All three cygnets seem healthy and all are around the same size.  It's a bit too early to sex them, but my guess is that all three are female.  We shall see.

About an hour ago it clouded over and looked like rain was on the way.  No chance!  Its cleared up again and come hot and sunny.  The forecast is for showers, but these have been threatened all weekend without materialising.  Next week is likely to be intolerably hot so little prospect of improved water in the river just yet.

Ian

News reaches me that the much heralded Pennine Bridle way and its bridge at Drain Mires that was due to start construction at the end of July will be delayed for a further year.  It seems that at the eleventh hour problems are still unresolved with a landowner on the route so we will have peace and quiet for a further year on this reach of the river.  Plans to build the bridge were far advanced and a start date of 29 July had been advertised and we had contractors visiting the site to submit tenders earlier in the year.  There would have been major disturbance around the site with access tracks being constructed and heavy plant and equipment operating around the river.  Much of this would inevitably have had to cross and recross the river during the construction of the bridge, but all that is now deferred for at least another year.

It's a dreadfully midgy morning, humid and overcast with only a very light breeze.  I have just come back in doors driven nearly insane by the swarms of wee beasties down in the garden.  Not a morning for clearing undergrowth unless I wish to spend the next few days nursing a rash of itching bumps.

The new crayfish posters that Paul B has devised and had designed are now ready and I shall put down loadable copies on the club website.  Poster one is designed to raise awareness of the risk to native species posed by signal crayfish and poster two gives information about our endangered native white clawed crayfish.  The aim of this initiative is to ratchet up public awareness of the need to prevent the further spread of signal crayfish and the vulnerability of one of our most fascinating fresh water crustaceans.

Ian

The draw down at Ling Ghyll on Monday gives considerable hope that this ambitious project will succeed in its main aim of preventing the perpetration of crayfish plague in the long term.  When the three ponds were empty a thorough search of the dry bed produced 22 crayfish in the top pond and one each in ponds two and three.  Given that the animal in the bottom pond was a female with eggs and with the knowledge that pregnant females tend to hide well down in the substrate my own take on this is that it's just possible that she was missed in earlier searches.  Be that as it may, the results of this draw down after a flood event show clearly that the system is working as designed and that too few animals are being washed down the chain of ponds to provide sufficient hosts for plague to persist.  The real test will come in the autumn when persistent heavy rain will provide more opportunity for animals to tumble over the dams, but the results so far are very encouraging.

The river is back to bare bones now with little prospect of rain over the coming week so fishing will be largely confined to the Tarn for the foreseeable future.  I was up there just after first light this morning and it looked stunning as the sun came up over Pen y ghent.  The swans and cygnets were out feeding as were the dabchick, but these beat a hasty retreat to the safety of the reed bed when they spotted me.

I have put a couple of landing nets in the hut.  These have been bought by the club to enhance our bio-security of the site.  Members are encouraged to use these when fishing either from the boat or the bank (there is a boat net and hand net) if their own gear has been in contact with water other that the Tarn and has not been dried or disinfected.

The more we discover about the plight of native crayfish the more important becomes the need to conserve the unique population we have in our stewardship. We really are most privileged to be the owners of a site of such national importance.

Ian

It's been a very warm and humid day with occasional thundery showers.  Enough to be irritating, but not enough to have any effect on a depleted river.  A breeze has got up this afternoon which has helped to freshen things just a bit, but the sky is darkening and I suspect that we are in for some more serious precipitation this evening.

I know not how the draw down at Ling Ghyll went yesterday because I have not seen Paul B since he headed north first thing yesterday morning.  This draw down is the first since we had a moderate flood last week so it will be interesting to see how effective the dams are with a good volume of water going over.  Crayfish tend to get right down in the substrate of the beck in a flood so it's unlikely that any appreciable number have washed over into any of the catching ponds.

I understand that the trip to Uist was a great success and was remarkably midge free. Some fish were caught and an impromptu Council meeting was convened to censure one member for an affront to good taste and public decency by wearing obnoxious socks.  We need an account of this trip on the club website.

Ian

I did the invertebrate check at New Inn yesterday morning.  This is always an enjoyable way to spend an hour or so and yesterday was doubly so as I was joined by the Hon Sec.  Having someone there to chat to whilst you sample and process adds further satisfaction as well as reassurance that your identification of the various families is robust and accurate.  We found things pretty much as I expected for this time of year and state of the river (fairly low).  Fewer heptagenia, but plenty of baetis and caddis, both cased and free swimming.  We got a good few tiny bullheads in one of the kick samples as well as a limpet and true mayfly shuck.  Just as we were leaving the river the Hon Sec spotted something wriggling in the water by the bridge abutment.  On fishing it out we saw that it was a worm resembling a thin strand of wire.  These have been commented on by one of our farmers at the Hot Pot supper, but I have not seen a specimen before.  On checking the identification keys I find that this is a hair and I plan to find out a bit more about this strange beastie later today.

The club has invested in a couple of landing nets.  A new boat net and a hand net.  These will be placed in the hut today and are part of our continued efforts to protect this vulnerable habitat from imported alien species and disease.  Please do use these nets if your own gear is still wet from fishing any water apart from the Tarn or you have visited any other water, including our own river, prior to fishing the Tarn.

Those of you who saw Countryfile last evening will have sen the piece on crayfish and the devastation that red signal crayfish can inflict on a fishery.  As you know, a group here are expending much time effort and money to bring native crayfish back to the Ribble and we can support their efforts through sensible and simple bio security measures that do not impact on our enjoyment of the fishery and contribute to the long term health of our waters.

Conditions here today are warm and damp.  There's a lot of cloud and almost no breeze so the midges are out in force. The river is low, but still fishable and plenty of fish were seen rising down by the pipe pool yesterday.

Ian

The Crown was heaving last night with dogs and people all gathered for the annual Terrier and Stick show.  This year seems to have been a bumper event with more people present than I can remember in previous years.  Terriers are not the easiest of dogs to marshal to some semblance of order for judging and much of the evening resembled organised chaos.  By far the worst offenders were the Lakeland Terriers.  These feisty little dogs seemed more interested in fighting it out amongst themselves to see who emerged as top dog.  Much of the owners attention during these classes was concentrated on keeping their charges from murdering the dog next door rather than presenting their animal in the best conformation for judging.

The sticks are always stunning examples of their maker's art and one that particularly caught my eye had a horn handle carved and painted in the form of a rising brown trout.  A bit flash for every day use, but great for posing with! 

The rain kept off and an added bonus was the stiff cool breeze that discouraged the midges from their usual feeding frenzy at this event.  A couple of pints in the bar whilst putting Horton and the rest of the worlds problems to rights rounded off a great evening.  Even better was the sight of scores of rising fish just downstream from the Garden Pool (opposite the Crown car park).  Once again it was impossible to see what these fish were taking and judging by the size of the rise form these were mostly small fish, but it's yet another indication that our wild brownies are recruiting in sufficient numbers to make the fishery viable into the future.  We stood here for about half an hour just watching these fish feed.  Whatever they were taking was tiny and they completely ignored the occasional large terrestrial caught in the surface film that floated by.  My guess is that they were feeding on midge that had been blown onto the water by the stiff breeze.

It rained a bit overnight and is currently very mizzley so the river is still carrying decent water.  The breeze has dropped a bit and it feels warmer so fishing should be pretty good today.  Be warned though that Horton today resembles a refugee camp in a war zone as it's the annual Heart Foundation 3 Peaks sponsored walk this weekend and there are plastic coated bodies and tents everywhere, especially on the football field which is the start and finish point.  Parking anywhere in Horton today will be impossible.

Ian

It's a blustery old day with a stiff westerly whipping across the valley keeping the temperature distinctly on the cool side and making casting a real challenge.

We had more rain in the night which has kept the river flowing moderately high.  Showers today will prolong decent water into the weekend so it would have been practicable to do a thorough invertebrate check tomorrow after all.  So be it.  You have to make plans and decisions based on best available info at the time and a bank side check tomorrow will provide all the main data we need about the health of the fishery.

It's been some time since I sampled the invertebrates down at the hatchery so I might give that a look later in the week.  After two years naturalising there should be plenty of invertebrate recruitment in the spawning channel.  This shallow, gravelly, well oxygenated water with plenty of cover should produce some interesting results.  It could also be just the place to trial a couple of small fly boards since the channel is never subject to severe flood.  Any eggs that are laid here can be easily transferred to more barren beats on the main river.

Ian

It rained steadily all day yesterday and by evening the river was almost bank full and carrying quite a colour.  We have had no further rain since about tea time yesterday so the river is falling and dropping colour making for good fishing conditions later today if we get no further rain.  However, the sky looks dark and there is a stiff westerly breeze so rain is quite possible during the day.

It's amazing how different the veg plot looks after a decent spell of rain.  You can water all you like during a dry spell, but this seems to have far less beneficial impact than a few hours steady down pour.  This morning I can almost see the veg growing despite the fact that it's far from warm.  Everything looks fresher and greener.  Even the swallows have noticed the difference and squadrons of them are hawking flies over the croft across the lane from the kitchen window.  There are many youngsters about now feeding up and strengthening wings in readiness for the epic journey south that they will make in a couple of months time.  The parents are now on to their second brood and the nests around the house are alive with the squeaking of tiny swallows.

I sat in the 4x4 yesterday and watched a pair of gold finch feeding on the tasselled seeds of a willow about a foot from the windscreen.  Judging by their behaviour they have a nest close by that I have not yet discovered.  We get a lot of these exotic looking little birds in the gardens around the house and lo and behold as I write this one has just arrived on the nut feeder outside my window.  How about that for coincidence?

If any of you are planning to be in Horton tomorrow evening then why not drop in to the Terrier and Stick show at the Crown Hotel.  This annual event starts at about 6.30 and many of the terrier men from the north of England will be there showing their working dogs.  There are also classes for dressed sticks.  These works of art display the skills of the stick maker using wood and horn to create handle patterns that often include creatures as diverse as ferrets and trout.  It's always a convivial evening and a true country event.

Ian

It looks like a wet day in prospect.  The clouds this morning are dark and heavy with rain which has just started falling.  Good news for a very depleted river, but it will take a few days of persistent precipitation to bring levels to a condition where fishing is at its best.  The river is really too low at present to do any serious kick sampling so the six monthly thorough check I had planned for Saturday is really a non starter.  I will do a bankside check at as many of the four locations that I can get to.  You can't fight nature.

I took a wander down the river last evening as far as the Tay bridge and was pleasantly surprised at the number of fish that I saw rising.  Looking over New Inn bridge I could see a few three inch trout close in to the bank busy feeding on midges that were falling on the water.  Further down at the Rock Pool was a very much larger fish stationed under an overhanging branch.  This is the first time that I have heard a fish slurp as it sucked in flies.  This sound is mentioned by many old writers and I had always assumed that the noise was quite gentle.  Not this one, it sounded more like your embarrassing toothless old aunt drinking soup!  All down the river to Tay bridge I saw rises, most small, but some large and quite violent.  What was bringing fish to the surface to feed I could not discover despite watching quietly for some time.  The weather was warm and sultry with not a breath of wind. The air was full of midges, but nothing obviously larger so like their tiny brethren at new Inn these fish may just have been taking midge, but that would not account for the slurping I think.

Ian

The storms and thundery showers that plagued most of Yorkshire yesterday passed us by.  Despite some distant rumbles of thunder during the afternoon and a very threatening sky all we got was a little rain about tea time.  Consequently the river is still bare bones and hardly fishable on most beats.  The Hon Sec did bring a guest up on Sunday and had some success fishing from Tay Bridge up stream on dry fly, but it was meagre reward for four hours work.

Wednesday is forecast to see some more persistent precipitation so conditions may be better later this week.

The cygnets seem to be thriving at the Tarn and are growing fast.  It will be some considerable time yet before they are big enough to be safe from predators so we watch, wait and live in hope. 

The draw down up at Ling Ghyll went well yesterday with not a single crayfish found in the ponds once they were drained.  Clearly the dams are working as designed and preventing the creatures from migrating down to the falls.  The real test will come when we get a spate that over tops the dams with violent water.  The chance is that the crayfish will hunker down when a spate comes so it's likely that even after a flood few of them will be found in the ponds.  We shall see.

After re reading Frank Sawyer I'm going to experiment again with fly boards to see if I can increase the population of olives on the river.  Getting a good hatch of fly is clearly the key to encouraging brown trout to rise to a dry fly and those of you who fish the river regularly will know that our wild fish are rather desultory surface feeders.  My guess is that it's because we don't get big hatches of upwinged flies to tempt the fish to the surface that we so rarely get the chance to cast to a rising fish.  Fly boards together with the judicious planting of ranunculus in some of the sheltered reaches may help to increase the volume of fly hatch.  It seems that Sawyer adapted the original idea developed by Lunn and instead of using floating boards he placed stone slabs in shallow areas of his river with enough space under them to allow the female olive to lay her eggs.  These slabs may work better in this river prone as it is to spates which washed away my last experiments with floating fly boards.  We have slate aplenty kicking around Horton since the quarry at Helwith Bridge used to produce the stuff so a few pieces in likely spots are worth experimenting with.

Whilst on the subject of flies do take a look a the Riverfly category in the picture gallery on Angli Vespers where the Hon Sec has posted a photo he took on Sunday of what I believe are olive eggs.  We would like a second opinion.

Ian

Despite the river being at least 6 inches below what I would consider decent water it seems to be fishing well. David R brought a guest up this morning who had not fished here before.  According to David the guest is a river expert and was looking forward to testing his skill against our shy wild brownies.

When David dropped off he ticket this afternoon I asked him how the day had been.  It seems that his guest was well pleased by his visit to Horton and had landed 7 fish around New Inn. One of these was a pound and a half which seemed to delight him.  Another was estimated to be around a pound with the remaining 5 all in the 6" category.  Many more of these young fish were seen, but not caught.  So evidence continues to build that our wild brownies are recruiting well with plenty of small fish well dispersed throughout the fishery.  This bodes well for the future of angling on the upper Ribble for these small fish are now well past the most vulnerable stage of their development and most should mature into cracking trout that will make fishing here a real delight.

It's been a fine and warm afternoon with more good weather forecast for tomorrow.  The midges are out in force this evening making it virtually impossible to remain outdoors for any length of time.  It's at times like this that I regret giving up smoking a pipe 30 years ago for the only real way to combat the wee beasties is to get a good fug up going just under your nose.  Midges home in on carbon dioxide in exhaled breath so you either have the option of asphyxiation through holding your breath or contracting mouth cancer by pipe smoking if you wish to avoid being eaten alive up here.

Still, our Yorkshire midges are nothing compared to their Scottish cousins and my sympathies are with our club members who arrived on South Uist today.  if the weather is as warm and still in the Hebrides as it is at Horton they will be driven mad by the end of the week.

Ian

I have spent much of the day at Bradford Royal Infirmary having a six month check on my eyes.  I know from long experience that this appointment can take the best part of 3 hours moving from test to test and today was no exception.  At first light I was casting around for a decent book slim enough to slip into a pocket and absorbing enough to while away the time spent waiting for various bits of kit to become available and for eye drops to work their magic.  I happened upon "Keeper of the Stream" by Frank Sawyer which I have not read for some time.  As soon as I sat down on the train and opened the book I was transported to the banks of the Hampshire Avon at a gentler time by Frank's lucid flowing prose which conjures clear mental images so vivid that you can almost believe that you are standing by his shoulder observing with him the scene he describes.  His wisdom is legendary and the book must be essential reading for any budding keeper. 

His observations are minutely detailed and he has a scientists method of testing his ideas and hypotheses yet he never evever loses sight of the big picture - the preservation of brown trout.  He was years ahead of the conservationists in taking what would now describe as an holistic aproach to fisheries management  So a potentially rather tedious day turned ito a delight thanks to one old time keeper.

Thanks to the generosity of members I now have the offer of an air rifle so this 21st Century keeper will attend to his duties and attempt to remove one threat to fish that Frank did not have to contend with, the North American mink. 

The river is once again on the low side, but with some rain forecast here for tomorrow conditions on Sunday may be rather better.  At theTarn the fish are feeding well at the surface.  So well in fact that I was accused this evening of slipping in an extra stocking.  Not guilty Guv!

Ian

We had a fair drop of rain last night so the river is up a touch this morning and should be just about fishable on most beats.  The morning has dawned breezy with broken cloud and a fair bit of blue sky, but it looks showery and the persistent easterly breeze will complicate casting and make the Tarn choppy.  Still, At least the breeze is deterring the midges from becoming too much of a pest.  This past week has seen a fair few of the wee beasties beginning to feed as witnessed by the growing number of itchy bumps on my arms.

The Orvis Zero Gravity rod that I advertised for a member has now been sold.  It really is a beautiful piece of work and begs the question how our American cousins can craft something so perfectly designed and engineered yet their automotive industry turns out the most diabolical dogs on the planet.

Now a plea.  If anyone has a high powered air rifle or pistol (.22 calibre) that they wish to sell then I would like to hear from them.  My old .177 Webley is now too asthmatic to deal effectively with mink of which we seem to have a few at present that desperately need removing before they eat their way through our entire wild fish population.

Ian

 

It's a bright and breezy start to Tuesday with a rather cold east wind keeping temperatures well down and suppressing the inclination of our trout to rise for the few flies that are brave enough to hatch.  The river level has fallen back again so there is little good water on the runs and riffles.

A kind soul has donated a large collection of videos to the club library which I have put into the book case.  Of course, it's impossible to watch these in situ so members are welcome to take these on long loan for perusal at leisure.

If only we could locate the solar panel that the club used to own it might be possible to rig up a 12volt system, but my guess is that the panel is long gone together with the tin box that housed the old club archive.

I have some bags of Bentonite clay going begging if anyone wants them.  This clay was to be used on the crayfish project, but plans changed so if anyone feels the need for a major skin detox, bowel detox or is thinking of relining their pond just let me know before Friday.

Ian
 

Well, the Horton Gala seemed to go off well yesterday despite the rather damp and gloomy weather.  A lot of folk turned out and seemed to enjoy themselves.  We even had a glimmer of sun during the afternoon.  The Hon Sec brought along his ferrets to engage in ferret bingo and made a bit of money for the Gala fund.  The main attraction of the ferrets seemed to be in cuddling them so perhaps we should run a 'cuddle the ferret' stall next year it would probably make more money.  Two other ferrets were present and one of these charming young ladies decided to snack on my hand.  It's not easy removing a recalcitrant ferret from the back of your right hand when it's clearly disinclined to let go.

The rain over the past 24 hours has lifted the river a touch so it fished quite well yesterday evening.  The Hon Sec got 5 fish between Cragghill and the Pipe Pool, 4 at around 3/4 lb and one at 6inches.  He also spotted a mink down near the pipe so that will need to be dealt with this week.

I have just got back from the Tarn which looks good in the brighter weather we have here today. The swans and cygnets still seem OK, but the water was far too choppy to witness any rises. A look at the returns for last week shows that fishing was very rewarding with an average of 3.5 fish caught per member visit.  Full details on Angl Vespers.

After a brief lay off I will get the hut refurbishment finished this week.  The bench will be covered, the pump set working and various tidying jobs completed.  The next spell of settled weather should give me a chance to attend to the outside which needs cleaning down and painting.  Then it should last for a few years.

Ian

It dawned bright and sunny after a brief shower of rain late last evening, but cloud is steadily building and we are forecast some more persistent rain by lunchtime.  The river is really desperate for a top up being just about at bare bones above Horton.

This lack of good water on the river has prompted most members to concentrate attention on the Tarn and at least 10 visited this water during the course of Wednesday.  I still think that the best time for fishing here is late evening.  The light is more diffused and fish are more ready to feed on the steady hatch of buzzers and sedge that are then present.  Besides, it's a stunning spot to be as the sun sinks behind Park Fell, the shadows lengthen and the birds begin heading for their night time roosts.

The dams at Ling Gill were drained down again yesterday to check for the presence of crayfish in the holding ponds.  Of course, without a good spate to provide a real trial of the setup it's too soon to draw conclusions, but the early indications are that the system is working better than anyone dared to hope.  Only two crayfish were found in the top pool yesterday, a juvenile and pregnant female.  The juvenile is so small that it was probably overlooked in the initial removal and the female will have also been missed as she was probably tucked away in a crack as is the inclination of crayfish in her condition.

We shall have to wait and see the results following a flood, but it's clear that in steady flow no creatures are managing to get past or over the dams.

Gavin P arrived last evening with new swivel seats for the boat.  These are very posh and once fitted will make fishing from the boat a much less painful experience for elderly joints and bones.  They should also make the boat that much safer as they will provide a waist high grab point when standing to move within the boat.  We will get these fitted as soon as practicable.

Finally, do take a look at the latest article on Angli Vespers.  This deals with the capture of the largest fish caught at the tarn some 17 years ago.  I'm confident that there are still some very large old brown trout lurking in the shake holes down towards the bottom end by the trees so who knows, this record may yet be beaten.

Ian

This remarkable run of fine weather continues unabated, but the portents are not good.  It's the Horton Gala on Saturday and a perusal of the forecast for the weekend shows the inevitable threat of rain for the weekend.  In all the 12 years I have lived here and attended the Gala I can recall only one or two years when the sun has blessed the event with its presence.  Normally it rains fit to bust and blows a gale.  This can produce some indelible mental images such as the year that the WI float featured "Famous Women from History" in a howling gale and Marilyn Monro executed an involuntary recreation of the lifting skirt event to reveal a remarkable pair of knickers.  Then there was the WI's "Pirates of the Caribbean" float which due to torrential rain arrived at the playing field looking like the wreck of the Hesperus.

Mr Sod has a quirky sense of humour and so the year that the school decided to run a duck race on Gala day saw blazing hot sun and a river devoid of water.  The ducks were persuaded to the finish line by repeatedly flushing them down with buckets of water.

I have decided to give a rest to the "Guess the Weight of the Fish" for this year since it would be difficult to get a decent sized fish up from Dunsop Bridge on the day. 

Anyway, the river is again too low for decent fishing and will remain so until we get some prolonged rainfall.

I may see you at Horton on Saturday.

Ian

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