I had an email from a friend in Australia tonight

A suspect case of foot and mouth disease has been found near to Chew Valley Lake and thus it cannot open on March 22nd as planned. I guess that we were all expecting this would happen – I really do think that with all the possible bad press that there could be, we should be seen to be doing the right thing! So, there will be a two-week period during which there will be no access to the lakes. If the case proves to be a false alarm then maybe the fishing will open, but I do wonder, as I said last week, whether in the great scheme of things we should wait until there is a general “all clear”.I know from talking with many of my coarse fishing friends that there are many fisheries still open; so if you want to fish then you may well be able to find somewhere to go. But what sort of press do you think we would get if a case of foot and mouth were to be linked with an angler? This is an unlikely scenario, but there has been much talk over the last few days of starlings spreading the disease: hence, I am sure we are not far behind in becoming a possible scapegoat!I had an email from a friend in Australia tonight. Andy Scott is (or should I say was) looking forward to coming over to fish in Wales on Brenig and the River Dee in the Commonwealth Championships this summer. That event will surely be in doubt as all fishing in Wales has been banned. History doesn’t exactly give us a great deal of encouragement that this thing will be sorted out quickly!On a cheerier note we had our AGM for the Bristol Reservoirs Fly Fishers Association last night. I believe that I mentioned a few weeks back that Mike Gleave our long-standing chairman was standing down after eleven years “at the helm”. It looked for a while as if we might have been in an embarrassing position as the first three people asked to stand for the job refused. Thankfully though, long time committee man Lee Sennington was not given the opportunity to decline, and was duly elected as our new chairman.I believe that Lee will make a good chairman for, though he is a quiet chap, he is very much his own man and will not be swayed by weak argument. I am looking forward to working with him over the next few years. We have opted for our first committee meeting of the new year to be on the very day that we should have all been out wetting a line for the first time this season. I will keep you informed as to how Lee shapes up as our chairman.I hope that by this time next week we have some better news on the foot and mouth problem. For now though, I guess it is back to the fly tying.

Martin Cottis